holy crap... part deux deux

more progress on the bathroom!

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a little over a year ago (sad, i know), my "bathroom" looked like this:



but now, it looks like this:



and this:



and this:



and it all works.

yay is an understatement.

* * * * *

this process has taken so long that i almost stopped believing it would ever get to this point. i still have an overwhelming amount of work to do, but this milestone has renewed my inspiration and set me to daydreaming again about all of the possibilities, rather than stressing over the loads of work (not to mention money) involved in making my whims happen. (i may not be doing much for my resale value by putting a monogram in the floor, but that was never the point.) i'm excited again about working at my house, rather than feeling like i made the worst decision of my life.

I'm thankful that i have the resources to make my daydreams become reality – and i'm not referring to money here. mainly, i'm talking about my dad... and jeremy. honestly, i would have probably burned down the house for insurance money by now if my dad wasn't there every weekend offering up all of his heart and soul into making such a wonderful little nest. i could never sell it in the state it's in currently... but again, resale was never the point. this will be my HOME, not just somewhere i sleep at night.

one of the nicest compliments i have ever received was from a friend who said he had never in his life felt "at home"... not at his parents' or in any house he had ever lived. but he felt at home – comfortable and at ease – when he stayed at my house. i hope i can share that feeling again soon.

* * * * *

as a byproduct of this process, i've also come to accept that nothing will ever be perfect — particularly in an old house. as a designer, it is my job to be detail oriented and nitpicky. as the owner of a 90 year old home, i have had to let go a little bit -- and gradually. my new mantra for whenever i discover a minor flaw -- or one is pointed out to me -- is that "it adds character". and, typically, it does. hopefully, this "letting go" trend will carry over into other areas of life, as well.

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online resources for antique and repro hardware

house of antique hardware
van dykes restorers
killian hardware
charleston hardware company
classic accents

some of these sites are just horribly designed, which lends itself to
the question "what do these people know about detail and making things
that look good or right?" But I've ordered from all of them and been
happy with the results. They probably don't care if their website is
easy to navigate or not. or looks good.

but rejuvination sure does. and they did it right. very user friendly, educational and
customizable. okay, maybe not the "coolest" looking website. but more
than makes up for it in content, content, content.

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holy crap!

it's been a long time since i updated this thing. unfortunately, not nearly as much has happened by way of progress in the meantime. i've been a little burnt out, my dog has been very ill, and i've been a bit distracted by spending time with my special man-friend.

WINDOWS: about half of the window in the house are installed, with 5 more getting ready to go in in the near future. Then all i will have left is the dining room and the kitchen. The current hold up is determining exactly what type of sealer to use on the interior side of the living room windows. I've stained them to match the walnut doors as closely as possible, but douglas fir just isn't as convincing as i would like.

BATHROOM FLOOR: the concrete has been poured for the floor, with the radiant heat system embedded. We poured the concrete considerably thicker than initially planned, so hopefully the floor heater will actually work, and not just be a crawl space heater. I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed on this one.

BATHROOM TILE: dad is really kicking ass on this one. All of the subway wall tile is up (except the chair rail), and the border for the floor is in. This was quite a task since the design i created will show any and every crooked line and imperfection. Not the best choice for a crooked old house. But he's pulled it off and everything is (or at least looks -- which is really more important) perfect. Now we just have to lay the field tile and set the monogram. that's right, a monogram. i'm really looking to destroy any resale value this house might have.

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more windows

well the guest bedroom's windows are now fully functioning. just a little touch up paint where i had to notch the new sashes for the parting strip to fit just right, but not too tight.

i am so happy with them. they look so nice, and feel good about installing them all by my lonesome. weights, chains, locks, and all. small victories are what keep me going.

this, of course, does not mean that all of the trim is installed. still waiting on drywall before proceeding with that step.

i think i'll be a little sad once all the guts are covered up. i really like the look of the sash weights and the copper sash chain hanging in the wall pockets. it seems so elegant and primitive at the same time.

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pocket door locks

I'm having a difficult time finding a locking mechanism for the
bathroom pocket door that works and looks good. I really want to find
one that does not require a key (that I will lose in no time). Also, these bad boys can get pretty pricey.

I found these at pocket-door-hardware.com
but I'm not real excited about how clunky they look. I really want to
find something more elegant looking, or far less visually intrusive and obvious. Plus it looks like you have to have a coin or a really fat
thumbnail to lock or unlock the door. I've never used one of these, so
maybe I'm not understanding how they work.

I like how understated these are, but they don't seem very user friendly in terms of initially knowing it's there or what it's for. I'm pretty sure it attaches to (or mortises into) the side of the door that first slides into the pocket and pushes out like a rocker switch to keep the door from closing. This doesn't seem very intuitive, since people are used to having the lock near the handle or pull. right? I don't really want to have to give a training class each time someone new comes to my house and happens to need to use the bathroom. That's no fun. Plus, I'm not convinced of the claim that the strike plate really protects the jamb. It seems a little puny.

I have a couple ideas of things that could be manufactured, but it seems like someone has to have run into this problem before. Surely there is a simple solution that I am missing.

Maybe I'm overthinking this. I tend to do that sometimes.

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silent paint remover

one of the coolest things ever. for a lot of things. but quite slow on some others. at least for little ol' me.

make sure your scraper blades are sharp. this makes a huge difference. seriously.

silent paint remover

a little pricey. especially once you throw in all of the accessories.

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pocket doors!

Here they are framed out and hanging from the tracks! (temporarily). These will connect the master bedroom to the study/office/sewing room. There's still much left to do (staining, sealing, drywall, trim, threshhold, etc) but this is a big step.

I am so excited to see this.

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9 lite prarie-style french doors with beveled glass! Exactly what I
wanted! It took so long to find an affordable door that I actually
liked. I ended up going with simpson. Not cheap, but other companies
quoted JUST the shipping costs as almost the price of one of these
doors. Yikes. Craddock did not charge shipping.

(Dad's laughing too hard to look like the tough guy that he is. I am so impressed, proud and thankful to have him on my team)

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