Ahhh… Completion. The project started as a way to allow guests to have their own bathroom when they stayed with us, and to increase the number of showers in the house to two. It ended with a burst of charm in the house, and publication in This Old House Magazine. What a whirlwind!
The tub was the one real splurge in the room – I wanted a clawfoot, and Doug wanted something that had jets for his legs after a run. We were able to get a win for us both with an air bath tub from Vintage Tub and Bath. Since it has air jets, clearly it’s not made of cast iron, so it’s not insanely heavy, which is sort of nice! The other advantage to a free-standing clawfoot is that you can put it in front of windows (frosted or curtained windows if you live downtown!). This helped us to have the floorplan we wanted, without closing up any doors or windows. And, I really don’t think that there is anything more beautiful than clawfoot tub hardware. It’s so fantastic.
The floor turned out spectacular. I love pattern – so having the dark groutlines against the diamond really brought out the pattern. Continuing the floor into the shower was a no-brainer.
I know we talked about the shower in the last blog post, but it clearly needs mentioning in the recap. It’s pretty and sparkly and shiny and I love it. And I miss it, now that we’ve moved to Martin Place.
Building the linen closet was really fun! Staining it to match the original woodwork in the room was even more fun. Seeing the grain through the stain brought out the beauty in the wood, and the whole piece looked like it had always been there. And SO MUCH STORAGE. The shelves inside are about 3 feet deep.
The Vanity. I loved it. The base is an antique desk that we found around the corner from our house for $40. I had always envisioned re-purposing a dresser here, but when we found it, I thought : 1) It’s a guest bathroom. You don’t need much storage. 2) The wood tone matches the room PERFECTLY. 3) You love the floor. This doesn’t cover it up. 4) It looks more like a vanity from olden times. 5) It might be really, really cool to see the exposed plumbing. 6) It’s FORTY DOLLARS.
So, we bought it. To tie it in to the rest of the room, we used the same quartz from the shower bench as the countertop – after we removed the original desktop – and I echoed the door handles that I used on the linen closet. And I found this darling little bench at Midland Art and Antiques, and I reupholstered it to clash pattern mix with the floor.
The sink was a gamble. Which I think paid off? I don’t know. It’s CRAZY modern, but it went so well with the black quartz, and I loved the idea of trying to evoke an old washstand. But it’s still very modern. For the faucet, we chose a single handled faucet, which reminded me of an old water pump. All together with the desk-vanity, it’s a pretty unique look.
Here she is. I kind of love her.
I loved her enough to enter her (and her sister, Master Bath) into the This Old House Magazine Reader Remodel Contest. You know, why not? Let’s see how she does against 1300 other entries. I could only submit 6 photos. I was STRESSING. I kept asking Doug : “This one? Or this one?” He was so supportive : “Does it matter? There’s no way we’re winning.” I promptly hushed him, lest the bathroom hear, and think that he didn’t love her.
A couple of months later, I got an email.
“I wanted to reach out to you to let you know that you’ve been chosen as our “Bath” category winner! Congratulations!! Details on prizes are to follow.”
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK! (eek).
There was more to the email than that, but I just kept reading that sentence over and over.
See?
(I told you she was pretty and could win, Doug.)
The process was pretty cool. We submitted our own pictures, talked to a lot of copy editors, and filmed an online feature (which, we filmed ourselves – my dear friend Laura was our camera gal – and then This Old House edited it). Movie stars and coherent speakers, we are not. But it was fun. You can check out the video here:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20394750,00.html
The July / August 2010 issue of This Old House Magazine
Cover and Article Re-Printed with Permission
(Leslie Monthan, Deputy Copy Chief, This Old House Magazine)
It’s definitely one of the coolest experiences we’ve had. Maybe Martin Place will make it on the pages of a magazine sometime in her future!
One more room for Flashback Fridays is complete! I’m not sure what’s next. The kitchen on Jackson Street? We shall see!
