8.28.2007

More on the bathroom


Since Daniel and I had the unexpected pleasure of finding a giant hole in the bathroom wall when we removed the mirror, we decided to commence with our mini-renovation plans. While small, the bathroom itself isn’t bad. The tile is still in good shape (with a few minor cracks on the floor), it has insanely good storage space in the closet, the color—while probably not my first choice—isn’t appalling. When we first were looking at the house, we considered redoing the entire bathroom (way on into the future) but ultimately decided we really liked it. All in all it’s a charming, retro bathroom. However, there are a couple of areas that could use improvement:

1) The sink area - Part of a renovation from the mid '90s if I recall, the cabinet is white laminate particle board with two plastic handles. While it functions, it doesn't add to the room's charm, and it just blends in with the rest of the room (which, right now, is a good thing since I also think it's on the ugly side). The faucet is also standard (stainless with two plastic "crystal" handles), so we're hoping to add a bit more personality with this as well.

2) The closet door - It's waaaaay too big for the space. While it's nice that we have so much storage in sucha small bathroom, I practically take Daniel out with the door when I'm trying to get something from the closet while he's standing at the sink. Folding/accordian doors are an option, although I think we both would prefer something a bit more sleek, so we're still searching on this one.

3) All hardware - The main problem with the hardware is just that it's rusted, so it should be a relatively easy fix to switch out hinges and door knobs.

4) Tile-mounted soap and toothbrush holders - While these were definite staples of the time period, they don't (and can't) hold pump soap or Sonicare toothbrushes. Basically, they're in the way and make centering a new sink and mirror a bit of a challenge, but we're hoping they can removed with relative ease. I will definitely be doing more research on this one though.

Currently, Daniel and I have plans to install a new sink, faucet, cabinet, and mirror from Ikea. We have family visiting this weekend, and they'll be passing through Atlanta. All the more reason to get a jump start on the bathroom renovation. While I wish Ikea were closer, Daniel made a good point: since Ikea isn't commonplace here in Charleston, it is still able to look unique.
We ultimately decided the STENSKAR series would look the best (with the HOLLVIKEN sink and the ENSEN faucet). It's made of beech, and I like that it will provide a nice "pop" of color against the tile. Also, since it's raised off the floor, it should help open the space. One important aspect of the sink is that it still provides ample room for the soap pump, toothbrushes, and cotton ball and Q-tip jars.



The finished result should update the bathroom nicely while still keeping its retro charm.




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8.27.2007

And all I wanted to do was paint the bathroom

It was a bit of a whirlwind weekend, and though we did accomplish quite a bit, we have even more work left to do. Saturday was filled with yard work and apartment cleaning (yes, we waited until the very last minute to get everything cleaned out of the apartment). However, we did manage to get both of those tasks squared away by the end of the day.


I had predicted that Sunday would be a nice, leisurely day of painting the bathroom, but as we have found out before, everything that we do on the house takes twice as long as we anticipate.


I had all of the supplies lined up and was taking down everything in the way (shower curtain, light switches, etc.) and went to unscrew the mirror. Yet even after unscrewing the mirror, it was still hanging on the wall. I probably should have stopped at this point, but thinking that the mirror might just be stuck from previous paint jobs, I wedged a screwdriver behind it, which put about a two-inch crack in the mirror. Now we're planning on getting a new mirror (and new sink and faucet), so I wasn't too terribly upset (although I did have plans for framing it and putting it in the guest bedroom). At this point, I called in Daniel as reinforcement... still no luck in getting the mirror off the wall. However, we did find this site from the Washington Post that offered a couple of suggestions (including hiring a professional). To start, we duct taped the entire mirror to keep it from shattering onto the floor:



And from there, we broke it into pieces and pried it (along with a nice chunk of the plaster) from the wall. About halfway into out mirror-smashing effort, we also realized that there was a huge, gaping hole behind the mirror that once housed a medcine cabinet.


Needless to say, we were back to Lowe's (yet again).

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8.24.2007

And with more guests, we need more beds

One bed works fine in a two bedroom apartment, especially since we made the other bedroom a studio workspace. And whenever we had guests, we'd just inflate the queen-size camping mattress. It worked really well... for the time. However, since we've nearly doubled our square footage, we're finally able to have a real guest room, and since in September alone we'll be having guests for three weekends in a row, it's a room that's definitely going to be used.


So now we're on the search for additional furniture. We're putting our current bedroom furniture in the guest room and have decided to get a platform bed for the master bedroom. My first thought was this platform bed in blonde from West Elm. Daniel and I both liked how low to the ground it was, and it also helped that we had seen it in person in one of our shopping ventures to Atlanta. It really does look as though it's floating, and the the blonde finish is airy enough without feeling too dark.


However, yesterday Daniel and I were browsing Design Public, and I think we found THE bed (from MASH Studios).





The walnut wood really adds a nice richness and depth, but the wall-mounted headboard is what is really fabulous. Powder-coated aluminum doors slide out of the way to provide additional storage (without looking like storage).



Not to mention, Daniel was really impressed by the overall design and craftsmanship (it's definitely a solid piece of furniture).

8.21.2007

Good intentions





Daniel has given me a bit of a hard time about this blogging endeavor, as I have been saying for quite some time how great it would be to start a blog about what it's like to be a first-time homeowner with a taste for modern design while living in a city known for its southern heritage. Needless to say, with the craziness of finding a house, getting mortgage paperwork in order, making an offer on the house, waiting out the offer, packing up the apartment, moving into the house, and attempting to get everything in some type of order, I pushed the blog to the back burner. Nevertheless, now that we've been here for a month, here I sit and type.
I thought about immediately jumping into the many projects we tackled this past weekend but decided it might be better to explain how we ended up here in this house.

From the time we got married, we've lived in an apartment community. While there are some definitely plusses to apartment living (no landscaping, nice pool, repairmen on call for A/C or bug problems, etc.), we really wanted a place that would reflect our personalities, we could customize and one that didn't feel so cramped. We were open to just about anything when we started our search (condos, townhomes, single family homes) but quickly realized what we really wanted was an older (40s, 50s, or 60s) house that was in a neighborhood without being in a subdivisions (regime fees and homeowner by-laws are a bit confining). We happened upon the Park Circle area by a stroke of luck (well, actually our friends from church live in Park Circle and told us it was a really cool place). Needless to say, we were pretty much blown away by its charm. It's part of a revitalization project by the Noisette company, which hopes to turn Charleston's abandoned Navy Yard into a more artistic, live-work community, and it's off to a solid start. While Park Circle isn't technically part of the old Navy Yard, it is considered Olde North Charleston and is complete with its own downtown area. We were instantly attracted to the older houses with mature yards, and in a whirlwind time period found  a house that really reflected our tastes. And after touring it once, we knew it was "the one." It had ample room to grow (with over 1900 square feet), a big yard, hardwood floors, and it wasn't flipped, which means we could do our own improvements without dealing with inflated prices based on someone else's renovations.
 
So in a whirlwind, we ended up with a 1959 house that was well maintained but hadn't been renovated. It was perfect.