Laundry Room / Bathroom

 We had a nice sized laundry room in our house, but only one bathroom.  

BEFORE

So I designed a combined space but made sure to include plenty or storage space.  It does make it seem much smaller, but it meets our needs here on our hobby farm.  This bathroom is off the mud room and easily accessible when you come in from doing chores.  We actually had to do some demo and building of walls to complete our plan.  And I am pretty happy with the final result. Take a look!

 I posted earlier about my floor problems in this space.  You can read about my creative solution here.  They were vinyl over the original wood floors. Here are some photos.

The finished product. 

I tried to use as much architectural salvage as possible in this house.  This door was a great find, thanks Jane, and so pretty after I refinished it.  It had a dead bolt hole that I had to patch and the doorknob seemed extremely high, but I loved it.  Turns out I needed the doorknob that height to avoid hitting the washing machine when opening the door.  I was completely unaware of that potential problem. I love when things work out!  

The oak moulding I salvaged from a local house built in 1900.  The house has been abandoned for years and will soon be gone. I'm glad I had the opportunity to save some of its beautiful woodwork!  Thanks Arlene!

 Below is the finished room.  You can see what I was talking about with the doorknob.  The pediment above the window was salvaged from an abandoned brick house in Wisconsin that was built around 1860 and the wood detail under the window is the original wood bridge that was in this house above the sink connecting the kitchen cabinets.

 I found the fabulous stained glass at an antique store and since this window faces the driveway it is the perfect screen as you exit the shower.

Speaking of kitchen cabinets, I reused some of them here in the bathroom above the washer and dryer.  I added some lath moulding around the doors to give a more turn of the century feel versus 1940 and the handles are from old window sashes. 

I searched for over a year for an antique medicine cabinet, any antique cabinet, and finally found one.  Well, I found 4 within a 2 week period!  This one had already been restored, YAY, but it was an in wall mount that needed a 2x6 wall.  So, I had to tweak my plan a little and put it on the shower wall instead of above the sink which is ony a 2x4 wall.   It made the nook a little tight since we needed to build a bigger wall, but what do you do?  Oh well.  It was a little strange to have 2 mirrors so close so I kicked it up a notch and added a third!  This allows you to see all sides of the head and hair...you know, cuz my husband really cares ;) 

I had the PeFeCT salvaged wall mount sink, but since this will primarily be my husband's bathroom he vetoed it due to the separate water spouts, boo!  So I had to concede to his wishes. 

 I also had to try to squeeze in a towel holder so I improvised.  I used the legs from a coffee table, my favorite repurpose                                      gone bad after I chose to drop it down the basement stairs versus dropping myself :(  

The corner blocks and woodwork in this room are also from the same house that had the oak trim. This woodwork was upstairs in the house and had several layers of paint that I had to strip.  Well worth all the work!

I love this tiny room!  Thanks for stopping by!

Kelly

New Bathroom

So the first room COMPLETELY finished in our new to us house is the bathroom seen below.  It was a pretty tight fit and not really my style.  The color was okay but other than that it just didn't work for me. 

 I did a quick paint job of the fixtures to get me through the first year.  

And I changed out all doorknobs on all doors.

We wanted to update all the electrical and make sure the house had plenty of insulation anyway so we gutted it.  Surprise...haha!

I had a vision of what I wanted and I had found a beautiful vintage pedestal sink and a phenomenal medicine cabinet, so I figured half the battle was done! 

Finding a 54" clawfoot tub was a little more of a challenge.  After making a couple trips to the Twin Cities and searching architectural salvage yards with literally dozens and dozens of vintage tubs only 1 tub was 54" and it was a pedestal tub, not my fave and way over my budget.  I took a break, regrouped and checked Craigslist for the millionth time....SCORE!  And it was only 30 miles away.  Added bonus...the guy had a 32" one piece shower stall for a new bathroom we were adding and a fabulous craftsman entry door.  YAY!  Who can say no to a door? (I seem to have lost the photo of the tub before I painted it...oops sorry .)

The hardest decision of all was the wall color.  I sorta liked the color the previous owners had used, and there was about half a gallon left so I mixed it with some white and baby blue that I had left over and came up with this periwinkle blue/lavendarish looking color.  The ceiling is low in this room so I carried the color over to the ceiling a little bit just to add a little more height or interest.  I may still put some moudling there as well just to jazz it up, but for now I am okay with it as it is. 

Next, I trimmed out the window with salvaged woodwork and corner blocks as well as the doorway.  

 Then I put down the floor.  Another hard decision.  I wanted wood floors, but did not want a little lip in the doorway threshold because of the thickness of the wood.  Mostly because I didn't want to trip over it in the middle of the night and I know wood is not the best choice in a bathroom, though all my bathrooms have been wood.  I had to compromise with vinyl flooring.  It was very thin which made it flush with hall floor and it was easy for me to snap and install.  

It turned out ok in the end.  We'll see how it lasts.  

So here is the finished room with my restored fixtures, cabinets (check out the wavy glass reflection from that 120 year old mirror) and painted and distressed tub.

I bought a $7 thrift store mirror and put it in an antique frame that my sister had gotten at a thrift store years ago.  I then painted and distressed it and I think it really pulled the room together.

The robe hanger behind the door is something I made from a salvaged piece of wood I found at a yard sale and some antique coat hooks. 

I stripped the blue paint from the sides and interior of this cabinet and stained it dark walnut, but left the back of the door blue.  I found some scrap wood to make shelves and they actually matched the door! 

I'm pretty happy with the finished project and am anxious to finish the rest of the house!

Kelly

Craigslist Staircase Leads to Many Treasures

                            So I found an incredible Victorian staircase listed on Craigslist.

 

But with the recent Craigslist murder of a friend, of a friend, in Idaho I was EXTREMELY cautious of making any more purchases in that manner.   But really, how can one pass up such beauty when this is just what is needed?

 

I got brave, contacted the seller, and got specifics.  (A friend tore it out of their house and put in a new staircase.  They were just going to TRASH THIS!!!  Luckily the gentleman saw the beauty in it!)

 

  Then I asked around for someone interested in riding along to pick up the treasure, as I was positive I would NOT go alone.   A friend instantly agreed (thanks Ann) but she lives 2 hours away and it's not exactly convenient for either of us on short notice. And...this was 1 1/2 hours away in a different direction from her.  So I called the seller, told him my concerns due to recent happenings, and requested that we meet in a highly visible, public location or I would have to wait a couple days until I could get a buddy to ride along.  He was very understanding and instantly agreed to meet anywhere I chose, even suggested the police parking lot.  We agreed upon a big parking lot (we needed space) on the main highway through town.  So I was on my way, feeling pretty comfortable.

 

The meeting went well, the location was great and the product amazing!  Turns out there were 5 newel posts and 5 sections of railings...SCORE!!!  Then the gentlemen not only suggested the local antique store but he drove in front of me and showed me how to get there, then introduced me to the owner and went on his way.  Nice man. 

 

THIS IS THE ANTIQUE STORE!!!!

 

  

Built in 1939 as the US Post Office.  Ivan lives in the basement and has been slowly restoring the building for 15 years!  He gave me a couple architectural lessons concerning the construction of brick buildings...which I found interesting

 

 

and he cut me some deals! 

 

                                                                                                




This HUGE screen door is from the old barber shop across the street from the Post Office.  Ivan wanted the striped barber shop pole but he had to buy the building to get it! (It's still there, in place.  But he put a storm door where the screen door used to be.)

 

I found a spoon carved drawer, purple glass, two antique glass sconce globes and a bunch of porcelain doorknobs!

 

   

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Just down the block was the beautiful County Courthouse built in 1904 (I believe).  There were so many amazing architectural details on this building!  What a charming town.  I definitely need to go back and spend some serious time looking around!

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 On my return home I decided I may as well hit more antique stores on the way since I had never really been in the area before.  In Mountain Lake I found another really, really fabulous shop.  Forgot to take pictures of it, but here is what I bought.



 

 

 

I could have spent HOURS in that store and brought home a whole truck load of goodies.  But I do intend to go back as Tammie said she has more architectural salvage for me, so I will get the chance to check it all out again!! 

 

 

When I was 10 miles from home filling up with gas, I checked my email as I had inquired about more salvage.  I had a message so I swung by to check out some doors I had seen. 

OH...MY...GOSH!!!! Talk about SpEcTaCuLar detail!!  So ornate and beautiful I just couldn't leave without agreeing to make them mine! 

 

(This photo does not do them justice...I will post better ones tomorrow when I go back to pick them up...my truck was full! The seller also agreed to throw in all vintage hardware that he has in storage down across the road...can't wait to see what that will be!!)

 

When I called the seller he recognized my phone number as being from Idaho.  Turns out his son lived in the neighboring town from where I lived for 23 years, and...AND the son was actually my husband's boss in Idaho!!  Small world!
 

UPDATE----- AWESOME DOOR PHOTOS!!!!

 

Yep...it was a good day!  Maybe even great!

Remember the staircase that started this whole journey?  It's very possible that the "extra" newel posts and railings that weren't initially in the photos that I saw, that I never intended to keep, will actually fit PeFecTly in our newly converted attic!!  Very possible, as you can see from the photo below...or maybe it's not so obvious ;)  

 

 

 

Anyway, I will have to sneak a spindle from one of the slanted rails to fill the hole where one is missing, and it won't be long enough because of the slanted cuts.  But...BUT...

 

 

there was this little piece of cut off spindle that Craig handed me as I got in my car.  "Oh," he said. "Here are some little pieces that go with it." 

 

 

Just enough to "fit" that patched up, borrowed spindle??? Hope so!  Guess you will have to check back to find out!

 

Keep pickin'

Kelly