Kitchen & Bath Business - October 2019 - 24

NKBA STUDENT DESIGN COMP WINNERS

BLOOMING BATH

The winning bath design came from Victoria
Sharkey, who graduated summa cum laude from
Front Range Community College in Fort Collins, Colo., earning a Kitchen & Bath Certificate
and a Fundamentals of Interior Design Certificate. She's studying to take the AKBD certification exam as well and is active in NKBA's Rocky
Mountain Chapter.
"I wanted to follow what the Reddings wanted
and encapsulate my design sense," she said. "I
didn't want to do anything traditional. As students, it's our job to push the limits of design and
do something out of the ordinary. At some point,
design has to take a left turn somewhere - otherwise, everything would look the same."
The centerpiece of Sharkey's design was a black
rock wall made of polished natural pebble tile
separating the soaking tub and shower.
"I love using natural materials and am very conscious of trying to design with sustainability in
mind," she explained. "I used a sage green color to
create a modern oasis."
One key for the judges in the decision process
was the level of problem solving in the designs.
"The rock wall separating the shower and bath
was interesting, but it blocked light," said Burger.
"So, the designer added skylights to compensate.
Connectivity was important here, too.The winner
had a thermostat and digital valves...we saw a lot
of this trend."
Haddad added that the rock wall provided a
way to run the plumbing and thermostat controls.
Sharkey, originally from Michigan, moved to
Colorado four years ago. She initially was in a
nursing program but switched to design, deciding
instead "to improve peoples' lives by improving
design." She got her job at Specialty Appliance,
a local luxury showroom, after completing her
internship there. She's in sales at the moment but
said her design background helps clients make
good purchasing decisions.

"At some point, design has to take a left turn
somewhere - otherwise, everything would
look the same."
VICTORIA SHARKEY, Student Design Competition Winner, Bath

ABOVE A focal point of

Sharkey's winning bath design
is a rock wall using polished
natural pebble tile.

Although in the student competition labor and design costs don't need to
be accounted for, the judges concurred that it's good for students to learn that
budget constraints will apply in the real world.
"Some did a great job with figuring out pricing and budget," said Junker.
"This points to having some experience as an intern, or in one case the student
said they got pricing guidance from the professor."
Others, however, had money left over - they didn't make full use of
the funds.
"This was a fictitious project," said Burger. "They should have used all the
budget! Do something creative with the extra funds. They weren't scoring
points by saving a client money."
Among other finer points that come with real-life experience, Haddad
added that some students specified the least-expensive appliances to stay
within the budget,"but you'd never put these in a million-dollar home in San
Francisco; that's just not realistic."

/ OCTOBER 2019 / KBBONLINE.COM / The official publication of NKBA (NKBA.org) and KBIS (KBIS.com)

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Kitchen & Bath Business - October 2019

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