Four years ago when Mike Chervanick’s carriage-style house was being built in Reading, he knew the ‘’look’’ he wanted for the master bedroom and bath. But the overall design throughout the entire house he left up to his mother, Cathy Chervanick, owner of Cathy Chervanick Decorative Painting in Bern Township.
Mike, who is big on function, knew he wanted a classic look without any clutter. And Cathy, who has 26 years of design experience, knew without reservation how to achieve it for him.
She started by selecting fixtures such as rubbed oil bronze and black hardware to echo the utilitarian ‘’carriage’’ theme of the house. Years ago, a carriage house was an outbuilding used for storing horse-drawn carriages. Today, the term is used more casually to describe contemporary home styles that have some kind of living space above the garage.
Time to Relax
For the master bath, Cathy chose a neutral color pattern with very little contrast in the way of permanent colors. She treated the walls using multi-layers of neutral plaster tones that were waxed for a soft patina finish. The walls were completed in just two days; the entire project took less than three weeks.
“The overall look is organic,” says Cathy, who selected natural stone flooring and a mocha-wood vanity. The brushed nickel (on the fixtures) with its absence of sheen also relays a nondescript presence of functionality, she adds.
The room features a walk-in closet, whirlpool bath, his and hers sinks and spacious tiled shower. The shower walls and door, made by Wyomissing Glass, West Reading, were completed last because they had to be custom built. Delta fixtures, for their quality and clean lines, were selected for the shower, tub and sink area. The toilet area is enclosed for complete privacy.
The guest bath—with its dark color theme and highly textured plaster walls—is very different than the master bath. “The metallic color in the base makes it pop!” says Cathy, who wanted to add more drama to this room. “It has color,” she continues, “but it is still subtle enough to be considered neutral to complement the beautiful Peruvian stone that is through the house.”
Mike, 30, a human resources information systems manager at Godiva Chocolatier and owner of Chevrock Property and Construction Services, Reading, was a bachelor when he purchased the house. He now lives there with his wife, Terri, 28, a nurse at Reading Hospital & Medical Center.
Cathy believes that Mike and Terri’s tastes will evolve into their own style and will be translated into accents and decor when they see fit. “One of the things I tell my kids is if they need my help, I am available, but it has to be their style, not mine,” she says.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
When Chris and Alexis Rakoczy of Wernersville began planning the color scheme of their custom-built, traditional-style home, they agreed on blues, yellows and different shades of grey. “We went through many, many samples of grey paint before we picked the right one,” says Chris.
For their master bathroom they both agreed on shades of blue. “The color of the bathroom was really important,” Chris continues. “We wanted it to be calming and also to flow with the other colors in the house.”
Also, the couple wanted a beach retreat feel, but they didn’t want to use obvious shore-themed accents. To achieve the look, Chris used a picture of a bathroom that she liked and then custom-designed her own version of it. She played with the picture by changing colors, tiles, cabinets and other elements in Photoshop on her computer. After hours of research and meticulous detail, Chris shared her interior design plan with her builder and cabinet maker, hoping that they would be able to do the work. After months of construction, Chris says she was more than pleased with the result and that “it looked exactly like [her] picture!”
According to Chris, Jason High at Dutch Wood Kitchens in Myerstown went through countless versions of the drawing, making little tweaks to perfect the cabinets. “They did all of the cabinets in our entire house and we never, ever once heard the word ‘no’ to a single request that we made,” Chris shares. To get the cabinets to match, Jason created a version of Chris’s work in his company’s software program. “We make everything from scratch, so it is no problem to copy off of pictures,” he shares.
For color and design work, Cathy was called in to paint intricate patterns on the ceilings in the great room and dining room and to paint the walls in the master bedroom and powder room.
“Chris’s love of blue wound up in unexpected places,” Cathy says. “It takes a strong commitment to go bold and incorporate blue into custom cabinetry and granite.’’
River Rocks
Sometimes all it takes is one great feature to carry out a certain look or color in a room. For Chris, it was cabinet knobs made of river rocks that she had custom made to complement the tile work around the whirlpool tub.
Picking a great bathtub was the couple’s primary focus, though. For the ultimate in luxury and comfort, they selected an MTI Caribe Infinity tub with radiant heat and chromatherapy (color therapy). A remote control Roman Tub filler assures that the water is the right temperature and volume level.
The couple’s IO Digital shower spa system came with multiple body sprays and shower heads that can be preset for temperature and water volume level. “All you do is press a button on a remote control to have the shower turn on to the exact right temperature and water pressure,” says Chris. “The system also blinks to let you know when the water has reached the right temperature.”
The room with his and hers cobalt blue glass vessel sinks on Italian marble has high ceilings and an abundance of natural light. It is equipped with radiant flooring, hidden electrical outlets, a Dacor towel warmer, an iPad music system and a TV (hidden behind a mirror).
The Right Builder
Chris and Alexis chose Elite Home Builders Inc. in Leesport to achieve their dream home, which took about two years to build. “Allen, the owner, was great!” Chris says. “He accommodated all of our requests for the bathroom and the whole house, and everything turned out even more amazing then we had expected.”
Allen Henn, president of Elite, specializes in custom, higher-end buildings. “Chris and Alexis’s project was very complex and challenging, not only for the building portion, but for the design and engineering needed prior to construction,” he says.
The powder room, he says, like the master bathroom, posed many challenges from reinforcing the wall to hanging the custom-made vanity to installing electric eyes to operate the modified waterfall faucet. The cement sink, according to Chris, was custom made in Arizona.
Cathy did the faux finish on the walls. The finish, she says, combined a very soft undertone of metallic peeking through just here and there with depth coming from a wood-toned glaze.
“They wanted a Zen feeling in this room,” she continues. “There really is a wonderful sense of balance, harmony and relaxation as you enter it. The water comes on automatically and it gently flows onto pebbles in the sink. It looks and feels like a gentle rain.’’
And it doesn’t stop there. Even the family’s pampered pups, Molly, 5-and-a-half years old, and Bailey, 5, have their own bath. This charming space located in the mud room features an above ground stainless steel tub with pull out wooden steps. Custom tile work with irresistible images of the two beagles adds life to the backsplash. A whimsical chandelier with glass crystals and beagles sets off the room with oodles of glamorous fun.
Finally, Make it Your Own
Just one small modification can pick up the mood of an old, standard bathroom. Start with a coat of paint. “It’s the single, most cost-effective way to improve the bath,” says Cathy. She also suggests painting a tired vanity and replacing hardware, faucets and towel bars. For drama in the tub area, use eight-foot length draperies. You will still need a shower curtain liner, but the drapes would be stationary, as Cathy suggests for a fresh new look.
SOURCES CATHY CHERVANICK DECORATIVE PAINTING 610.926.0525 | cathychervanick.com ELITE HOME BUILDERS 1 High Meadow Lane | Leesport | 610.926.6379 | elitehomebuilder.com DUTCH WOOD KITCHENS 1317 Hilltop Rd. | Myerstown | 717.933.5133 THE COMPLEAT BALDWIN BRASS CENTER 623 Penn Ave. | West Reading | 610.373.1040 | baldwinbrasscenter.com
BY MARCIA WEIDNER-SUTPHEN | PHOTOS BY JOHN SECOGES
