Before and After: Katherine Power's Petite Powder Room
For an interior designer, one of the most thrilling parts of the process is the big reveal—when every last accessory is installed and your client finally sees all your hard work come to fruition. It’s especially exhilarating if your client has been hands-off during the project. Such was the case for interior stylist Peter Dolkas (our former market editor), who was recently hired by Clique Media Group co-founder and CEO Katherine Power to transform a powder room in her new home: “I gave him a budget and told him to surprise me,” Power tells us.
“She pretty much gave me free rein, which is an unusual thing for a client to do, but so much fun,” Dolkas says. Since he’s known Power for years and helped her style her previous home in Beverly Hills, Dolkas felt he had a firm handle on her aesthetic. “She has great taste, so I feel lucky to work on her home,” he adds.
Rather than going bold or dark with heavy patterns and daring color, pattern, or colors, Dolkas chose a neutral palette and timeless antiques. “I’m not a big believer in ‘jewel box’ powder rooms that make a big statement,” he says. “I prefer when a house flows nicely from room to room.”
Bringing in a mix of Eastern and Western antiques (a Moroccan lantern, a Persian rug, and an English side table), the stylist sought to steer the 1930s Spanish colonial home away from its roots to fit her more European style and modernize it a bit. “Katherine loves European antiques but also likes to keep an edge,” he adds. “I think the mix of the antique marble basin with the streamlined faucet is a good example of mixing the two styles.”
The powder room is beautifully restrained—with just enough interest and functionality but not too many superfluous accents. “It’s all about finding the right balance of minimalism and decorating every inch,” Dolkas says.
The key to decorating a small bathroom, the stylist tells us, is where you begin. “Start with something you love—for me, it was the antique marble basin—and work around that,” Dolkas says. “It’s amazing how much of a statement a few antiques will make if you give them room to breathe.”
How would you decorate this powder room? Share your thoughts in the comments below.