In an effort to come up with finishes and an overall aesthetic for our master bathroom, I’ve been pouring over bathroom images online for weeks.  Originally, I liked the idea of hunting for a petite antique table or dresser, adding a sink to the top and converting it into a bathroom vanity.

Unfortunately, my antiquing and secondhand shopping haven’t turned up a suitable option.  The dressers I find are too large…too deep and too wide.  The tables that look like they’ll work are too ornate for our simple style.  Boo.

It just wasn’t working.  I wasn’t getting anywhere and I finally came to the conclusion that maybe it wasn’t supposed to work.  So, I dropped the salvaged dresser/table idea and moved on.  I still like the idea of incorporating antique furniture into our home, but I don’t think our small bathroom is going to be the place to do it.

Lately, I’ve been thinking that a floating vanity might work well in our small master bathroom.

They take up less space visually and physically.  They’re simple, usually with clean lines.

The options are endless, too.  An open wooden rectangular box with open storage in plain sight, two chunky concrete shelves hung parallel with textured baskets for hidden storage, or even a sink with a closed floating cabinet just beneath it are all variations of the floating vanity that could work.

Even a floating chunky wood countertop with a simple sink installed on top would provide space underneath for open or closed storage in the form of baskets or ottomans.  When I mentioned the floating vanity idea to Handy Hubby we was all ears.  He says it would be relatively easy to DIY. Plus, it would cost a whole heck of a lot less than the $400 sink/vanity combos I’ve seen at the home improvement stores.  And if we DIY a floating vanity, we have the freedom to customize it to our bathroom and its dimensions.  Just check out this DIY’d plywood floating vanity I came across and nearly fainted over…

Seriously?!  Isn’t that amazing?

The contrast of the sleek metal sink bowls against the warm plywood is spot on.  And by DIYing the project themselves, these homeowners created a totally custom piece that fits their bathroom and aesthetic to a T.

I like it.  I think we should do it.  Now, I just have to come up with a design.  I plan on adding hidden and concealed storage elsewhere in the bathroom to house toiletries.  It will also give us a good excuse to edit our already small arsenal of bathroom things.  But I think we can make it work.

What do you think?  Do you like the idea of a floating vanity in a small bathroom?  Maybe you have one yourself.  Or possibly you think it’s a horrible idea and I should ditch it right away.  I’d love to hear what you think.

images:  1) Rate My Space  2) Mirrors Mirrorsss  3) Bohemian Stoneworks  4) Rate My Space  5 & 6) Dwelement

“…reindeer pause…out jumps good ol’ Santa Claus…”

There are only 87 days until Christmas.  This makes me a little nauseous.  But that’s not what this post is about.  This post is about the Underdog’s roof.  Prepare to learn more than you ever wanted to know about it.

The backside of the Underdog is riddled with all kinds of venting paraphernalia on the roof. {Disregard the horrid landscaping and dirty brick.  We’ll get to those…someday.}  Several features were present when we bought the house but others have been added to meet code requirements and to make the house safer and healthier.

Three surface vents near the ridge of the roof came with the house.  Typically, they are thought to create adequate air flow beneath the roof so that condensation problems are avoided.  These vents will disappear with a new roof install and new foam insulation.

Along with the surface vents, there is a gas furnace vent and the chimney both of which are original to the house.  These will remain intact although the wood burning fireplace will be converted to gas.

Two plumbing vents {they look like small black pipes sticking up through the roof} were in place already and will remain as well.  The one on the left is for the bathrooms and the one on the right is above the laundry area.  Are you starting to get a feel for the house’s layout and {modest!} size just by knowing what’s what on the roof?  Kinda cool, right?

The old kitchen hood vent is located near the laundry area.  Previously, the stove was placed on the wall that separates the laundry closet from the kitchen.  We’re moving the range to the exterior wall of the kitchen at the back of the house.  It will be placed between the two kitchen windows to serve as a focal point and to make room for the refrigerator which was previously located along an interior wall that we knocked down.  Remember the wall between the living room and kitchen? Yep, that’s where the fridge used to be.  The new kitchen layout puts the fridge where the stove used to be.  Soooo…that old kitchen hood vent is going bye-bye.

As you’ve probably guessed by now, this bad boy is the new kitchen hood vent.  Handy Hubby installed it himself.

That’s the interior view.  Notice how the range and hood will be centered – albeit not perfectly due to space restrictions – between the two windows.  We also have plans to convert the window on the right side to french doors.  We like the idea of having direct access from the kitchen to a future backyard patio since we prefer to eat outside as much as possible.  But enough of that.  Back to the roof…

Also new to the roof is a vent for the radon mitigation system that we had installed.  {The house failed radon testing upon inspection.}  If you’ll remember, HH had the grand idea to locate it within the laundry nook’s walls to save precious space. The roof vent was part of the hired out install.

When we bought the Underdog, our inspector discovered that the dryer vented directly into the attic.  There was 50 years worth of lint in that attic!  Gross and not so great for preventing moisture in the attic.  HH installed a new dryer vent which vents to the outside through the roof now.  No more attic lint!

From the inside, you can see where the new dryer vent and radon mitigation system exit through the roof.

HH also installed fans for proper ventilation in each of the two bathrooms.  When we purchased the house, there were no bathroom fans.  Even before we uncovered a major mold and mildew problem in one the bathrooms, we were set on having proper bathroom ventilation.  I can barely stand to shower in a bathroom with no fan!  Like in hotels.  You know that can’t be good.  Nothing dries out.  Towels are still damp when you go to use them the next day.  Ew.  Me no likey.  So, two new bathroom fans it is.

This should also give you a better idea of the bathrooms’ size and location.  Even though we’re designating one as the ‘kid/guest bathroom’ and the other as the ‘master bathroom’, there’s really no difference between them.  They are mirror images of each other and exactly the same size. And there’s definitely nothing master-ish about the master bathroom – other than in being located off a bedroom.

In summary, several original roof vents are coming out and we’ve added a few new ones. Specifically, three surface vents and one old hood vent are no longer needed.  Instead, proper ventilation for the radon mitigation system, dryer, new kitchen hood and two bathroom fans has been added.

Why am I sharing all of this?  There’s a good reason.  If all goes as planned {which could likely NOT happen because we’re talking real life renovation here} the Underdog is getting a new roof this weekend.  All of that stuff I just bored you with beat to death had to be completed before the new roof could go on.  And since we were wanting to DIY most of those little projects {dryer vent, hood vent, bathroom vents} to save some money, it’s taken us a while to get around to it.  But they’re finished now and the roofing material has been ordered.  We’re just hoping we stay on the schedule for this weekend.  Fingers crossed!

In case you’re wondering, we did in fact decide to go with a metal roof which I mentioned a while back here.  It won’t be a standing seam style as seen here…

The quote on that style came back way over our budget.  Instead, it will be an Everlast charcoal gray roofing metal that contains more ribbing {i.e. humps}.  It’s not exactly what we would have chosen style wise if money wasn’t a concern BUT money is a concern.  The metal roof will look more like this…

Notice how there are large ribs every 9″ or so with lower rising ribs in between.  As far as color goes, we’ve pretty much been set on a dark gray or black since we began contemplating a metal roof.  We want something that looks great with the original brick color as is {i.e. the way it is right now} and that would look great with lime washed brick too since we’re thinking that may be in the Underdog’s future…far future…not anything we’d do right away.  We settled on a charcoal gray color just because we felt the black would too much contrast.  And you know I like gray!

Price wise, yes, a metal roof is more expensive than an asphalt roof.  But we really want something maintenance free that will last a long, long time and we’re trying to go as green as we can afford on some items whose aesthetic appeals to us.  We have money from an insurance claim that we filed back in June after a severe hail storm damaged the already weak and leaky roof.  The money the insurance company gave us was based on a new asphalt roof. After all is said in done, we’ll be paying $1,500 – $2,000 for a new metal roof.  This includes new gutters to accommodate the runoff from the metal roof and the installation of four skylights over the kitchen area which I briefly discussed here.

That’s the latest on progress at the Underdog.  Things have been sort of at a standstill for the last week or so.  For one, HH finally took a weekend off {the first I can remember in a long time!} to take Layne camping.  They had a blast.  Also, we’re awaiting the arrival of new doors and windows.  We were told they would be in this week but, lo and behold, now we’re being told it will be next week before they arrive.  HH has just about had it with contractors and their broken promises.  Luckily, nothing major has happened but HH is tired of getting the run around. Especially since he thinks he could do most everything himself if he had the time.  The new windows and doors arriving a week late pushes everything back…insulation, drywall, flooring, kitchen install, etc.

Oh well.  It’s nothing we didn’t expect or weren’t warned of when we initially told everyone our renovation plans.  We’re grateful that we have a roof over our heads and don’t have a pressing deadline.  Still, we’d like to get everything done and move in soon.  We try to remind ourselves daily that it’s all just stuff in the end and we’ll get there eventually.  Plus, we really do enjoy seeing our drab Underdog come to life – even if it is in gradual little spurts.

images:  1-12) Dana Miller for House*Tweaking  13) LGC Roofing  14) North Carolina Metal Roofing

I mentioned wanting to add a few houseplants in our apartment to help get rid of the inevitable ‘apartment smell.’  I decided to go with a few snake plants since they’re one of the top 15 NASA recommended house plants for improving air quality.

I picked up 2 snake plants {one large one and one small one}, 2 bags of sheet moss and one bag of potting soil at Home Depot for about $40.  I already had two large planters on hand.

The white textured one is from HomeGoods.  I bought it over a year ago and planted a bamboo palm in it at our previous house but it didn’t fare so well.  {i.e. my black thumb killed it}  The smaller black and white floral motif planter was an estate sale purchase.  I paid less than $50 total for them both.

I filled each planter with potting soil then added a snake plant.  I really needed a tad more soil in the smaller pot but ran out and didn’t want to buy more so I made do with what I had.

I’m so glad I did this outside on the balcony of our apartment as I made quite the mess!  Dragging a small trowel and gardening gloves out of storage just seemed like too much of a hassle at the time. So, yeah, I did it all with my bare hands.

I cut and placed a layer of sheet moss on top of the soil.  I’d never used moss on top of soil in a planter before but I wanted to give it a try since it gives the planter a more organic feel and hides the dirt.  I ended up needing only one of the two bags of moss.  I even had a little leftover from the first bag after covering the soil in each planter.

I love the extra green and added texture of the moss.  Makes me want to zap myself with a shrinking laser and traipse through the pot à la Lord of the Rings style.

Luckily, Handy Hubby was around to carry the {heavy!} potted planters inside from the balcony.  I had him place the larger one in the living room next to the sofa.

Snake plants can survive with little light and in this position, the planter receives north light so I think it will do okay here.  I just have to remember not to overwater it!  Snake plants can survive with little water, too.

I placed a cork circle beneath the planter to catch any run off and avoid carpet stains.  {The planter has a drain hole in the bottom.}

I placed the smaller snake plant on a wooden trunk in our bedroom beneath a north-facing window. Again, this one could use some more soil to bring the plant up a bit.  Maybe I’ll get around to that…

I love the oversized scale of it in the bedroom.  The patterned planter is one of my new favorite pieces.  So happy I broke down and bought it at an estate sale last spring.  {It belonged to the Underdog’s previous owner.}  I wasn’t sure what to do with it at the time but I think the clean lines of the snake plant are a great contrast to the swirly floral motif.  Plus, the upward reaching snake plant leaves give a clear view of the planter’s pattern.  I wouldn’t want to cover it up.

There’s even subtle pattern on the rim of the planter.  So charming.

With two snake plants in our houseplant mix, we now have 5 NASA recommended houseplants {along with a few succulents not on the NASA list} in the apartment.  While it’s a far cry from the 15 that NASA recommends {yikes!  That’s triple what we have!}, I still feel good about our plant arsenal. More than likely, I’ll continue to add to it when we move into the Underdog.  Plus, I don’t think HH would be too happy about carrying 15 large planters down the 3 flights of stairs that lead to our apartment when the time comes to move {which we’re thinking will be November} into the Underdog.

While I can’t say that the apartment smell no longer exists {I still get a whiff of stale air and old carpet every now and then}, the good news is that I spent less than $40 on this apartment project but it will completely carry over to the Underdog.  No money wasted!  The pop of living greenery really brings a fresh look to the apartment too.

What plants do you have in your houseplant arsenal?  Which is your favorite?  Are you closer to the NASA recommended #15 than me?

FYI – Snake plants are toxic even though they’ve been used in some herbal remedies.  Always use caution when handling them and use supervision when kids/pets are around!

images:  all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

Sorry this is going up so late!  I worked second shift tonight and just got home.  My entire morning was spent running around packing bags and coolers for my lil’ and big guys’ weekend camping trip. So that means I have the entire apartment to myself for one night.  It’s eerily quiet!  I barely know what to do with myself.  This is a rare occasion for me.  I’m trying to enjoy it.  I think I may change into my comfy pajamas and read one of the design books I checked out from the library last week. {Our new library has a much better interior design selection than our previous library and I’m taking full advantage of it!}  It’s Darryl Carter’s The New Traditional, if you’re interested and I’m loving it.

But enough about me.  I enjoyed reading through this week’s giveaway comments and seeing what everyone had to say about their own handwriting.  Many of you lamented the sad fact that typing has cursed your handwriting skills.  I guess that’s why it’s never a bad idea to write out a card or letter {versus an email, tweet or text} every once in a while – just to keep our handwriting in check.

Lucky for Sharon {the one who commented that she hates her handwriting, only signs her name and uses a fine tip marker to print everything else} – she’ll get the chance to improve her writing skills with the help of some Jack & Ella stationery! Congrats, Sharon!

Happy, happy weekend to the rest of you!  And happy first day of my favorite season…fall!

images:  book cover image via Gordon Beall

If you’ll remember from our apartment tour, this is the kitchen…

Looks like an apartment kitchen, doesn’t it?  It’s teeny but fine for what we need right now – which is just somewhere to store and cook food while the Underdog undergoes some major surgery.

Right away {even before we moved into the apartment} I noticed something about the kitchen that caught my eye.  The countertops appear to have been painted.  Not by us.

That’s the breakfast bar countertop above.  {Yes, I ordered the new Design*Sponge at Home book last week.  No, I haven’t even cracked it yet.  It’s just been sitting on the bar ever since it arrived. I’m waiting for a rainy day…}

The main background color is creamy with flecks of tan and gray on top to give it a little more dimension.  For an apartment countertop, it’s not bad.  Not bad at all.  It’s light, clean, stain-free and wipes down easily.

On the other side of the breakfast bar is the sink with a little bit of counter space on either side of it. This is where I prepare meals/snacks and where dirty dishes sit before they’re washed.  {I’m hand washing everything because, ironically, the dishwasher does NOT wash dishes.  It just squirts some water around and makes a bunch of noise, leaving our plates and silverware looking like they did right after we finished eating with them.}

I’ll be honest.  I don’t necessarily try to be nice to the countertops.  Sometimes, I put hotter-than-recommended pots and pans on them, cut directly on them and clumsily drop pointy/heavy dishware on them.  But the counters have held up very well so far.  No dents, scratches, blemishes or anything.  Of course, I have no idea how long the countertops have been painted. We very well could be the first to use the painted surface.  Still, it seems quite durable.

Even the edges are holding up.  I told Handy Hubby that I thought the countertops had been painted and he didn’t agree at first.  But we got to looking around and there is telling evidence that they have been painted.  Some of the countertop paint is on top of the caulk around the 4″ backsplash against the wall.  There’s no other explanation for it.  Must have been due to a shoddy tape job.  HH believes me now.

The surface is what I would call a satin finish.  It has some shine to it but it’s definitely not glossy. It’s textured too.  I’ve tried my darndest to figure out what the original countertop may have looked like because I’m weird/curious like that.  But the original surface is covered really well and I can’t find a single painting ‘miss’ that would give me a clue as to what it was. Because it’s an apartment, I’m guessing faux butcher block.  Oh, how happy I am it’s painted if that really was the original look.

I must say I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the durability and appearance of our painted countertops.  Although it’s not something I would ever want permanently, I think it’d be a great temporary holdover project for someone saving money for natural stone {or the like} who can’t bear to live with, say, faux butcher block anymore.  Needless to say, it’d be a DIY project for a rental too {as long as the landlord gives you the go ahead}.  And maybe even a good investment for someone trying to sell a home that has cringe-worthy, dark, hunter green countertops.  Taking a peek at some prices, it looks like you could achieve a transformation like this for less than $300 with one of the countertop transformation kits available at home improvement stores.

Have you seen painted countertops before?  Ever tried ‘em yourself?

images: all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

We’re not ready to paint the Underdog yet.  In fact, we don’t even have drywall up!  But that’s not stopping me from gathering a bunch of paint samples to get a color scheme going.  Handy Hubby is 100% on board the figure-out-the-paint-colors-now train. And he’s leaving it up to me.  He says he trusts my eye.  We’ll see if he really means it when the paint goes up.

In the past, I’ve mostly used Valspar {Lowe’s} and Sherwin-Williams paint colors and paints.  No particular reason.  Those were just the nearest stores to our previous home.  Things might be a little different this time around.  We live in a new city that has a Benjamin Moore paint store located just minutes from the Underdog.  Seeing as how many of the paint colors I find inspiring online hail from BM, I decided to hit ‘em up for some paint swatches.

That first image is a pic of some of the BM colors {Coastal Fog, Stone Hearth, Stingray, Mount Saint Anne, Old Navy, Gravel Gray, etc} I’ve been adoring from afar, online, in various settings.  I decided to grab them up for reference in case I ever want them but they aren’t available anymore. Yes, I have an ongoing list of paint colors I like on my iPhone…categorized by brand.  It makes things a lot easier when I’m actually in the store.  I just look at my phone instead of standing there blankly pondering “Now what was that color I saw online that I wanted to check out?”

This week I stopped by our new {to me} BM paint supplier store and browsed through all the swatches.  Let me tell you that paint swatches are to me what free crack samples {do they even do that?!} must be to a crack head.  No offense to the crack heads out there.  When I get back in my car with a stack of free paint samples, I’m on a high.  That’s healthy, right? Healthier than crack at least.  And completely legal.

I left with this assortment of swatches.  I didn’t really have a deliberate scheme in mind – just started pulling swatches that spoke to me or that I thought would work well in the Underdog and work well together.  So far, the only sure thing at the house is the kitchen cabinetry which we purchased over the summer during an IKEA kitchen sale.  The lower cabinets are black and the few uppers are white.  Pretty much everything goes with either of those neutrals, so, like I said, I was just feeling the moment and grabbing what tickled my fancy.

In the mix, I ended up with a few light gray-ish, tan-ish, taupe-ish neutrals that I could see working well in the main great room.  I have every intention of keeping that space light and airy since we’re working so hard to make it that way {removing walls, vaulting the ceiling, adding skylights}. Painting it out in a dark taupe or gray would totally defeat the purpose…even though there are some great darker colors out there that I do love.

I also chose a few whites {man, there are sooo many white choices!} as possible trim paint options.  Then there are those pops of contrast and color in the more saturated teal, gray and olive swatches.  Not sure that any of those will actually make it onto walls in our house, but I like the overall scheme.  Bringing those colors into rooms either as painted pieces of furniture, throw pillows, patterned curtains or artwork would be a more subtle way to incorporate them.  I’m already picturing one of the dark teals on the front door in a nice, glossy finish.

What’s more…when I got home from the paint store and started looking more closely at the swatches, I made a fun discovery.

My on-a-whim color scheme loosely mimics the original art that I purchased at the Underdog’s estate sale back in late spring.  {Yes, I finally hung some stuff in our apartment!}

Can you see the light grays, tans and taupes?  The whites?  The contrasting jades, teals and charcoals?  The dark olive is in there too.

We have big plans for this large piece of art.  Without giving too much away, we’d like to use it as a ‘unique’ focal point in the living room area.  So pulling color inspiration from it – albeit subconsciously – seems like a reasonable idea.  Who knows? Maybe this original artwork {painted by the Underdog’s previous owner} will become the color inspiration for the entire house.  I think it’d be a great way to pay homage to the house’s previous owner. While the house may be unrecognizable by the time we’re done with it, I like the idea of letting this artwork take center stage and pulling subtle color inspiration from it. I’m being nothing but sentimental when I think of honoring it in such a way.  But it feels good.  It feels right. Plus, I like the colors.  Guess that’s why I bought it in first place.

images:  all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

*THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED*

Remember these cutie patootie moving postcards I purchased from Etsy recently to officially announce our new address? I am smitten with them.

Now you have a chance to grab up some custom stationery from Jack & Ella Paper Press too! Lucky for you, the shop owner is offering up $40 worth of free paper goods to one House*Tweaking winner.

So maybe you don’t need moving postcards…that’s okay!  Jack & Ella carries a wide array of custom stationery for nearly every formal and informal occasion.  Weddings, birthdays, recipe cards, holidays, gift tags, life events…Jack & Ella has you covered.

Don’t forget those everyday moments either.  This Etsy seller even has lunch box and love notes available to let your someone special know that they’re, well…special.

With emphasis on simple style and eco-friendly design, Jack & Ella prints on recycled card stock and frequently uses twine to bundle orders.  To check out the shop’s entire inventory click here and to follow Jack & Ella on Facebook click here.

Do you have a special announcement to make or are you looking for fun yet stylish invitations? Maybe you just need some monogrammed notecards handy at a moment’s notice?  Whatever your reason, here’s how to win some custom stationery of your own:

• PRIZE:  $40 worth of paper goods from Jack & Ella Paper Press
• RULES:  You must be at least 18 years old and have a street mailing address {no P.O. boxes} within the U.S.  One entry per email address.
• HOW TO ENTER:  Leave a comment on this post proclaiming “WRITE ME!”
• DEADLINE:  Enter before Thursday, September 22nd at 9:00 p.m. EST.  The winner will be picked at random and announced Friday, September 23rd.
• WHILE YOU’RE AT IT:  Tell me a unique characteristic of your own handwriting.  I’ll go first…I detest my handwriting.  I’m left-handed so 95% of the time my writing is smudged.  My freehand writing {with no horizontal lines to guide me} is always slanted.  The only time I ever write in cursive is when I sign my name to something and, even then, it’s barely legible.  I prefer to print. I’d love to have beautiful handwriting but since I’ve been at it for close to 30 years now, I think it’s a lost cause.  To make my writing appear ‘better’, I rewrite almost everything at least once {usually more than that} and I write with a fine Sharpie or other fine marker.  My writing always turns out nicer in marker.  Weird.  The good news?  I’m much better at typing than handwriting.

FYI – I paid for my Jack & Ella postcards with my own money.  I am not being compensated for hosting this giveaway.  I just love sharing great Etsy finds!

images:  1) Dana Miller for House*Tweaking  2 & 3) collages by Dana Miller using Jack & Ella Paper Press images

It’s been two months since I last shared a recipe with you.  I got a lot of good feedback {get it? feedback?} and even requests for more recipes, so I figured maybe it was high time to bust another one out.  Again, I would like to point out that in general I am a novice in the kitchen.  I rarely find the cooking process to be fulfilling.  It’s definitely not my passion.  But I do love to eat and save money.  So I cook.

The Cheese Ravioli with Tomato & Caper Sauce that I’m sharing today is my all-time favorite quick dinner.  So much so, that I had to look back in the House*Tweaking archives to make sure I hadn’t posted about it already.  I can’t believe I haven’t! It’s soooo easy {takes 20 minutes} and tastes even better.  A co-worker of Handy Hubby’s gave us fresh, ripe tomatoes from his garden this week which prompted this post.  I’ve been on a tomato kick lately {tomato soup, BLT sandwiches, spaghetti with marinara, fresh tomatoes on romaine lettuce, etc.} and I guess word got around HH’s office.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 bag of frozen cheese ravioli
• 2 large ripe tomatoes of your choice
• 2 T. unsalted butter
• 1 clove of garlic {I use the pre-minced kind}
• 2 T. non-pareil capers {I use 3 T. because I like capers so much!}
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 t. dried basil leaves
• grated Parmesan cheese to sprinkle

Boil the ravioli according to package directions.  In the meantime, slice tomatoes then quarter the slices.  Set tomato aside.  When your ravioli is 5 minutes away from being done, melt butter over medium heat in a nonstick frying pan. Add garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add tomatoes, capers, salt & pepper to the garlic butter sauce and mix gently.  Top with basil and heat through for 4 minutes. Drain ravioli.  Top ravioli with tomato & caper sauce.  Sprinkle on Parmesan cheese to your liking.  Enjoy!

I usually get about 3 servings out of this recipe but we eat hefty portions.  This quick pasta with its light sauce pairs well with a mixed salad and Italian bread.  Or it’s good just by itself too.

Happy weekend!

Are you tired of hearing about one of the smallest rooms in the Underdog yet?  The kid/guest bathroom has been grabbing most of our attention lately.  Mainly because we need at least one fully functioning bathroom when we move into the house this fall. Unlike a family room or bedroom, the bathroom’s fixtures {toilet, sink, tub/shower, exhaust fan, lighting, etc.} can’t be left unfinished because we’ll need to use them right away.  In other rooms of the house we can get away with leaving some fixtures undone while we live there…lighting, ceiling fans, furniture, etc.  So, yes, this bathroom is stealing the show right now.

We already found our clawfoot tub and had our first major renovation hiccup which, ironically, didn’t even involve the house.

Next up, was to hunt down fixtures for the tub.  Since code regulations require us to have the tub’s faucet at least 2″ higher than the overflow drain and the vintage tub we bought didn’t meet that requirement {the original faucet is located just above the overflow…not even 1″ above}, we were looking high and low for a new faucet that would help our tub make it into this century legally.

We’d heard a lot of good things about Vintage Tub & Bath from magazines, TV shows and other sources, so when our plumber mentioned them as well we figured they were our best bet.  {We did check out craigslist and Ebay too…to no avail…the selection/prices weren’t any better.}

Basically, we were looking for a gooseneck faucet that would rise up above the overflow drain and give us that 2″ clearance we needed.  Something along the lines of this would have worked fine…{minus the sponged red wall and seashell soap}…

See how the faucet arches up over the overflow drain giving a good 6″ of clearance?  Perfect. Just what we were looking for. Until we remembered that a faucet like that would only allow our kids the ability to bathe…not shower.  While our two young boys still take baths as of right now, we know that won’t always be the case and we plan on living in this house for a long while so there’s a good chance they’ll graduate to showering while we still live in the house.  Onto option #2…

I absolutely adored the look and function of this gooseneck faucet with attached telephone handshower.  This way the kids could sit in the tub but still rinse themselves with the sprayer…sort of a shower in the bathtub position.  But I quickly realized that two boys with a handheld sprayer would mean water all. over. the. bathroom.  No big deal, I thought.  I would just add a shower curtain around the tub to contain their spraying mayhem.  That would require a clawfoot tub shower enclosure rod.

But with the cost of the telephone handshower faucet already over $450 {!!!} just adding this shower enclosure would cost us another $200.  Also at this point, Handy Hubby had convinced me that we’d really benefit from having a true shower function in the bathroom for when the boys were older.  Because, seriously, how many teenaged boys do you know of who sit in a bathtub {if they even fit} and spray themselves down with a handheld sprayer?  Zilch.  Good point, HH.  That brought on option #3.

This gooseneck faucet/shower head/enclosure rod combo met all our requirements.  It had the arched faucet we needed to gain inches above the overflow.  It had the capacity to deliver a shower function should our boys ever learn to give themselves a shower in the next 10+ years.  It included a shower enclosure from which a curtain could be hung to contain water play and stray sprays.  At $415, it wasn’t cheap.  But compared to the other setups we had looked at, it was priced well especially for all that it included.  And we actually liked its aesthetic.  The chrome faucet and showerhead were simple and classic…just what we were looking for.  FYI – the fixture does NOT include the soap dish or bath tray shown above.

After some initial huffing and puffing and “are we really going to pay $400 for a faucet and showerhead?!” we realized that spending $615 {the cost of the craigslist tub + the fixtures} on a tub/shower combo with a ton of character that would suit our kids now and in the future was totally worth it.  Yes, we still need to refinish the interior of the tub {which is actually in pretty good condition} and we haven’t decided whether that will be a DIY or professional undertaking…and that will add more $$ to the tub.  Still, we feel it’s one of those splurges that will make the room and function well.  Of course, we can’t afford to splurge on everything.  We’ll pare some splurges throughout the house with more economical, thrifty, DIY pieces…which makes for an interesting space anyhow.

Now that I’ve shared a splurge, let’s talk budget-friendly in the bathroom.

I originally happened upon this sink and vanity combo during a browsing trip to Home Depot a few months ago.  I snapped a picture of it and its shelf tag on my iPhone for future reference.  Turns out it’s the perfect petite size for our kids’ small bathroom.  I’ve been eyeing vanities with open frames and I really like the way they have a much lighter visual effect – especially in small spaces.  So the fact that this $199 version was open below the sink sold me.  I got a little nervous though when I finally got around to including it in this mood board last week.  I had some trouble locating it online, so I was sure it was on its way to being discontinued.

Sure enough, when HH went to Home Depot this past weekend to purchase the vanity he couldn’t find it on display in-store. He asked customer service about it and they hunted down THE LAST ONE in the back.  HH quickly bought it up and all is well in kiddie bathroom land. We’re very lucky we were able to purchase the last one in stock.  I think it was meant to be.  The vanity does not include a faucet, so we’ll be searching for one that complements the tub/shower fixtures to keep things cohesive.

Sorry, that’s a lot of words about a lot of money spent on a bathroom with not a lot of space.  A modern tub/shower from a big box store probably would have saved us some headaches {and maybe some $$} but it just wouldn’t have given us the feel we’re going for.  We’re trying to add character by using some vintage pieces in this house.

Have you brought a vintage splurge into your home that added a ton of character?  Was it a deviation from the easy, expected modern solutions out there? Maybe you have an antique armoire to house electronics or a reupholstered mid-century modern sofa?  Tell me what vintage piece you’ve given a second life in your home.  I’ll bet, in return, it’s given your home a whole new personality that was lacking.

images:  1 &2) Dana Miller for House*Tweaking  3-7) Vintage Tub & Bath  8) Home Depot

I shared the preliminary mood board for the kid/guest bathroom last week.  I included a clawfoot tub in the design of the bathroom and got a lot of feedback on the pros/cons of having one in your home.  I appreciate all the comments!  It definitely gave us a lot to consider.  In the end, we decided to go ahead with the clawfoot tub.

The bathroom will mainly be used by our kiddos.  Even though I semi-labeled it a ‘guest bath,’ the bathroom’s toilet and sink will be the only pieces really used by our guests.  Most of our immediate family lives in the area, so we rarely have overnight {i.e. bathing/showering} guests.  Plus, we won’t even have a designated guest bedroom at the Underdog, so I’d be surprised if we get one overnight guest visit annually.

For those rare overnight visits, we’re happy to share {what will be} a walk-in shower in the master bathroom with our guests if they should find the clawfoot tub too cumbersome.  ’Share’ as in let them use it – not as in take a shower with them.  We don’t have those kinds of guests.  That would be weird.

We will be adding shower fixtures to the clawfoot tub so our boys can shower when they get older. As of right now, they both still take baths.  I don’t mind that the tub will require more curtain around the shower.  I think I can finagle something out of multiple curtains sewn together.  I don’t use shower curtain liners now and I don’t plan on using them with the clawfoot tub either.  We just let the fabric drape inside the shower/tub and I launder it weekly.  It doesn’t get moldy or smelly and it doesn’t blow in around your body while showering like some liners can. So, even though we know that a clawfoot tub might not be the most practical choice for some families, we think it will work for ours.

With that decision made, we immediately started searching craigslist for a vintage clawfoot tub since I had already discovered that a new tub with the same look was priced anywhere from $1,000-$2,000!!!  Our plumber told us a few things to look for in a clawfoot tub: 1) The drain should be on the same side as the faucet.  2) The faucet hookup should be 2″ above the overflow.  Both of those details are required by code regulations in our area.  We ran into a problem with the size. Our small bathroom is only 60″ wide, so we were looking for a tub 54″ long or shorter.  Most of the tubs we came across were 60″ which must have been the standard size back in the clawfoot tub days.  So when a 54″ one showed up on craigslist listed at $250, we called right away to go see it.

It ended up being the perfect size and was in decent condition.  It met one of the two requirements…the drain was on the same side as the faucet but the overflow wasn’t 2″ down from the faucet.  Handy Hubby quickly looked at clawfoot tub faucets on my iPhone and discovered that we could add on a faucet that would make the tub meet code requirements.  HH asked if the sellers would take $200 for it. They said yes and in just a few minutes it was loaded up into the back of HH’s truck.

We were feeling pretty good about the find…for the moment.  In our excitement, we neglected to tie down the tub.  I guess we were thinking it was so heavy that it wouldn’t budge.  To make a long story short, a cast iron tub + plastic truck bed liner + rainy night + sudden braking = smashed rear truck windows.  Luckily, I had driven myself and the boys separately in our SUV {which, HH, I still think could have held the tub easily…just sayin’} and HH, who was driving the truck, didn’t get hurt. Well, maybe his pride was hurt.

The window repair cost us another $200, so the price of the tub just doubled.  The moral of the story??  Always secure your load.  Even if you think it’s heavy enough to stay put and you promise to drive slowly.  We learned our lesson.  The hard way. It’s one of those stories that gets funnier the more we tell it and the farther away we get from the real life version.  We’re very lucky no one was hurt.  I wish I had a picture of HH’s truck to show you but I think HH would have thrown the tub right out of the truck if I’d have taken a picture in the moment.  He wasn’t too happy about the situation.

I do have a picture of the tub sitting in the garage at the Underdog to share with you.

Isn’t it cute?  Try to look past the green exterior.  I plan on painting it a glossy charcoal gray.  You may be wondering why one corner is propped up on a piece of lumber.

HH had a little mishap with one of the feet when he was unloading it.  You can imagine how this made him feel after all the other chaos.  Let’s just say it wasn’t HH’s best night.  I was trying to stay positive, thankful that everyone was okay and that the foot itself wasn’t damaged.

All in all, $400 for a 54″ vintage clawfoot tub {$200 for the tub + $200 for the window damage} still isn’t awful.  $200 would have been better but we’ll take what we can get.  We’ve already moved on and begun to get things in order for the rest of the bathroom…the tub/shower fixtures and the vanity.  I’ll be back later to share those with you soon!

images:  1) Polyvore collage by Dana Miller linked within  2) Keith Scott Morton for Country Living  3 & 4) Dana Miller for House*Tweaking