Latest Obsession: Lighting Part II

There are some weeks when eBay is the perfect crack-like addiction. The last two weeks must have been a case of perfect timing, and I've barely come up for air. The dogs are thoroughly bored, and I haven't talked to my mother in a week, but damn if I haven't come up with some fun things to look at!

I've been scouring through lighting listings, looking for the ideal combo of great looks and moderate price. While I'm not trying to recreate some kind of museum vignette in the bathroom remodel, I would like to keep the feel of an older cottage. The house was built in 1917, and believe it or not, it was built pre modern conveniences like an indoor toilet. (There is evidence of the old privy in the basement, but let's not talk about that.) Since there' s no real bathroom to match up to, I figure anything from the 20's to the 40's is fair game for the look I'm going for.

So here' s some more images that have caught my eye....


I shopped victoriously alright, so a few items will be winging their way to me soon via priority mail. I'm really excited about this one:

I think it ties in nicely with the carved flowers on this:



Yes, the painted mounting fixture at the top is garish as hell. I was thinking about painting it white, but Smithy insists that it's been like that for going on 70 years, so I'd probably just screw it up if I painted it. (Thanks for the vote of confidence, Babe.) I'll leave it as is for now; the space is small enough that you may not ever have distance to catch of a view of the ceiling mount anyway. Especially if you're 5'-2" like me.

Due to my eBay addiction, I also got a little carried away, and 'victoriously' landed myself another project.


This one is slated for the bedroom. I think it has great potential, but right now it needs everything: new wiring, new mounting fixture, new sockets, slip shades. Not exactly a smokin' deal. However, the folks at my local lighting store, Lamp Arts, are going to love me soon.

Post brought to you by the latest member of Ebay Addicts United.

Latest Obsession: Lighting

With the great bathroom makeover of '08 on my mind (constantly), I've been on the prowl for interesting vintage or vintage-looking lighting. In fact, I've been rather obsessed!

Here are a few lovelies that have caught my eye; sadly, some were out of my budget or I was outbid on eBay.

I've gone from interest in straightforward, fairly modest styles like these porcelain sconces, to progressively more elaborate ones.

I'm even starting to like the look of antique brass:

This eBay miss is my favorite though. The mustard-gold vertical thingy, whatever it's called, is made of bakelite!

Bathroom Renovation: the basic plan

I've mentioned previously that I've been mulling over some ideas for a bathroom renovation, also known as Jimmy's Bathroom. As a quick refresher, here's some basic info on our house, and here's the starting point for the bathroom:

I know, it's awful, in a bare bones contractor-mentality kind of way. Horrible shell-shaped sink, bland vinyl floor, very little trim work, awkwardly placed window. So the plan has been to work around what is already in place, i.e. we're not changing that stupid window placement, and the tub and commode are staying in the same general area.

Instead, the goal is to do a cosmetic makeover by putting in new flooring, a new sink and vanity, new lights, a bit more trim (at least a baseboard!), and generally making things look more cottage-y and stylish. I've been making slow progress on repainting the room as well, although no pictures at the moment.

I've been wanting to do a sort of deconstructed vanity and sink combo, in order to use some cool art deco nightstands that I already own. The trick to the idea is that the space between wall and commode is pretty tight. It's been tough to find a more traditional chest or larger cabinet for a vanity that would actually fit the space, so the nightstands seem like the best option. And they're lovely as well!

Because of the height of the nightstands, originally I'd been thinking about doing a wall-mounted sink with the cabinets. Then I found a pedestal sink on Craigslist that will do the trick, and look a little more finished. It's nice and simple, with a sleek pedestal column. So here's the latest mock up of where we're headed:

The dashed line represents the door opening and the basic view into the bathroom from the bedroom, and you can see straight in from the living room as well. It has to look good!

The nightstands are part of a set of furniture that I purchased from an antiques dealer at the beginning of the year. They're French Art Deco, in tiger oak, with gorgeous pinkish marble tops, carved flowers, and some stepped detailing to the top and bottom of the cabinets. I love the whole set; the biggest downside is that the dealer painted everything a horrible sludge green color. So, before jumping all the way into the reno, I've been spending the last few weekends stripping paint from 70+ year old cabinets. Here's an in-progress shot of one of the pieces:

Jimmy's Bathroom

Have I ever told you about Jimmy?

Probably not, it's a little embarassing. You see, almost a year ago, while I was on a construction site at work, I sustained an injury. That sounds dramatic and conjures up all kinds of garish images doesn't it? Well, that's not the case. At all.

What really happened is that I was doing an easy-peasy walk through on a completed residential site, with a contractor. We were both stepping up onto a very low wall. Think one tall step. I felt a weird pop in my knee. I shook it off, bent the knee a few times, and continued on with my meeting. A couple doctor's visits later I discovered that it was a torn ACL with additional cartilage damage. Nice.

(Not my knee, image via HERE)

Apparently, I'm one rickety dame when it comes to outdoor physical exertion. Who knew?

Fast forward to knee surgery at Christmas, when I received a 'donor graft' of a shiny, slightly used ligament.

Smithy and I were talking a week or so afterward, and he was teasing me and saying that if I developed Restless Leg Syndrome now, it might require an exorcism. And that the Seinfeld reference to the Jimmy Leg took on a whole new meaning. Naturally, my right knee is now called Jimmy.

(photo)

And Jimmy has opinions. He doesn't especially like cold rainy days, but when it comes right down to it, he can't actually predict rain. He can be kinda grouchy without actually doing anything extraordinary like being prescient. Nonetheless, I am glad and grateful to have him aboard.

So imagine my surprise, when a month or so ago, I got a call from my insurance rep. While Jimmy is marvelously functional, he's not quite 100%. Apparently, this entailed me, as Jimmy's new host, to a small amount of compensation for that tiny percentage of not-quite-rightness. Right on.

After much mulling, I've decided to put a small sum towards a bathroom makeover.
Naturally, it's Jimmy's Bathroom, and he has lots of ideas.....

Bathroom Renovation: planning stage part II

(Click to enlarge image)

Sorry for the lightweight graphics, but the picture above is my sketch for re-working the bath vanity, etc., while maintaining the current layout. I was inspired by an old article in Domino showing separate cabinets, with a pedestal sink inbetween. Since I don't have enough actual floorspace between the left-side wall and the commode to put in a pedestal sink, I'm thinking about a wall-mounted sink like this:
I like the vintage look of the separate hot and cold faucets, but is it a bad idea in reality?

And I would like to use this pair of Deco nightstands as a sort of deconstructed vanity.





















The nightstands aren't as tall as a typical counter height, but I think that with the sink at the proper height, it will all make sense. The nasty colonial green paint will be stripped off the cabinets, so that the beautiful golden oak will show.

And in a possible step of overkill, I've already painted most of the bathroom white (Pratt and Lambert's Seed Pearl), and in an attempt to use up old paint, I've added 2 horizontal bands of darker paint (P& L's Lambswool and B. Moore's Alexandria Beige) starting at the baseboard. Then I'm planning on adding a hand painted motif like this in the corners of the room, just above the top band:
I think the pattern will reinforce the carved pattern on the nightstands - if it doesn't just look insanely tacky instead. Here's some of the carving on the nightstands:
It sounds sketchy, but I think it's going to work when it's all together.

There are still some decisions to be made and a budget to be worked on...This is not going to be a quick project!

Bathroom Renovation: the planning stages

Is there such a thing as looking at too many design magazines and design blogs? All of my research has helped inspire me, and give me some interesting ideas for a bathroom overhaul. But it's also given me a big case of bathroom envy!

I've posted about the house in general here. The master bath was originally a side porch on our little 1917 cottage, back in the days before indoor plumbing, at least in our neighborhood! So, it makes a bit more sense that our master bath has always been a very plain, tacked on rectangle of a space. We have the basics: a tub/shower, toilet, and a sink cabinet, even an oddly placed window for some natural light. The clear floor space measures about 5' x 8', plus the tub/shower at the short side of the rectangle. What we lack is any kind of built in storage or even moldings. And the floor has a very definite slope away from the main body of the house. (Makes a certain amount of sense for a porch to sheet rainwater away from the house. Makes less sense in a finished bathroom!)

I've lived here for about 10 years, and over time the bath has been a couple different colors. Paint tip: avoid olive green paint in any small space in which you have to apply makeup or see yourself first thing in the morning! It casts a definite corpse-like glow to the face. I ought to be terribly embarassed to post this, but here's a Before pic when the bath was a more soothing taupe.

Bland and awful, no?
The current plan is to stick to a mostly cosmetic overhaul of the bathroom. I'm simply not going to have the budget to change walls or the window location, nor are we likely to level the floor at this point due to labor costs. I think that we can accomplish a lot with freestanding furniture and maybe some wall-mounted shelves for storage. The list of improvements looks a little like this:

1) Paint the walls - already in progress.
2) Replace sink cabinet with vanity.
3) New sink with vintage looking hardware.
4) Add baseboards and maybe molding at the ceiling.
5) Replace light fixtures.
6) Replace sheet vinyl flooring - what we have is intact, but not pretty.
7) Keep the tub/shower combo but change out the faucets, re-caulk, etc., and add a subway tile surround.