Things are rapidly changing – last week, we took the windows out of the front porch, opening it back up like it was originally. We got the antennae down from the roof this week (they were huge – over 10 ft. tall!) and Bruce, our friendly neighbor, power-washed the limestone wall in front of the house. We’ve also been doing a bit of yardwork while the weather has been so nice and the house is looking a LOT different. We’ll put a bunch more photos up later tonight.
Archive for May, 2005
Dramatic Changes
Tuesday, May 24th, 2005Progress Update
Saturday, May 7th, 2005Floors: The floors are finished and look fantastic. We are extremely happy with our decision to go ahead and have them refinished.
Guest Bedroom: We installed a ceiling fan in the guest bedroom which doesn’t sound like too big of a deal, however that required updating the electrical (all the way from the breaker box to the switch and then up to the box in the ceiling, as well as actually cutting a hole in the ceiling and mounting a box. The previous light had only been screwed into the lath. We also have the first coat of paint on the walls in the guest bedroom.
Bathroom: New electrical boxes are in place for everything. I installed recessed lights the other night, as well as an exhaust fan (there hadn’t been one previously). All that’s left to do for the electrical is put in the 4 outlets and the switch for the light that mounts on the wall above the vanity.
Kitchen: The apple wallpaper is off, decades worth of shelf liner is removed and the kitchen is almost ready for paint.
I think that’s most of what we’ve done this past week. Our top priority is the bathroom, as that’s what is keeping us from moving in. Our furniture and stuff arrives sometime in the early part of this next week, so hopefully we can make a lot of progress this weekend.
Choices: A Bathroom Sink
Friday, May 6th, 2005
When we started planning the new bathroom, we inevitably came to choosing a sink. We quickly remembered two years ago, when we were camping at Starved Rock State Park, in Utica, IL. In Utica is a small pottery studio, Clark Street Studio & Pottery. We loved their work and watched as the owner was making a basin for a client.
He explained that they had just started making them as custom orders for a few clients. We were super impressed, loved the idea and filed it away for “someday if we live in Illinois and have a house and are redoing the bathroom”.
Well, it just so happened that we now live in Illinois, have a house and are redoing the bathroom. So, I looked up their phone number online to make sure they were still around and were still making the basins. Sure enough. So, on a Sunday afternoon, we drove an hour south to Utica to see about having one made.
Not planning to do anything but visit, inquire and hopefully order one, we were thrilled to find that they had a few already made that were available for purchase. We chose the one pictured and were excited to have purchased the first piece of our bathroom.
We can’t wait to get the vanity built and the plumbing installed so we can see how it’s going to turn out. It will be different from a “normal” bathroom sink, but I think that it will be a welcome departure from normal.
Because of limited storage space in the bathroom, a pedestal sink wasn’t an option. It had to be a full vanity, so we decided to build the vanity ourselves, put the bowl on top of the vanity (more on the vanity top later) and then have a wall-mounted faucet (more on that later, too!). Note: the table the basin in sitting on in the photos is not the vanity. It is just a small oak table.
Pros:
- Gorgeous
- one-of-a-kind
- handmade
- deep
- unique
Cons:
- No overflow protection
- unusual
- high sides
- requires a lower counter-top
- requires a special faucet (either wall-mount or high faucet and handles)