Bling'n....

Well, the shipment from Horton Brasses came late last week and I am nothing less than impressed with the quality and the price. The hardware is just like the stuff from Rejuvenation.  The metal on the bin pulls is not too thick, not too thin-juuuuust riiight :)   The only thing that I don't love is that the slotted screws for the bin pulls are not rounded on top and are flat-I fixed that by spending $13 (I know that sounds ridiculous) on rounded polished nickel screws for the bin pulls.  A lot of cash, but otherwise it would drive me nuts each time I looked at them.  Still cheaper than buying the bin pulls from Rejuv.
 I've already taken all these jewels (worth a small fortune) off to the cabinet builder.

The latches, switch cover plates and appliance pulls are from Restoration Hardware. 

And we went to the most gorgeous wedding two weekends ago at Gorge Crest Vineyards near Stevenson, WA.   I loved all the vintage decor that Tricia's collected over the last year!

 

Bling

In order for the lovely cabinets I discussed yesterday to work, you gotta have some hardware or what I like to refer to as kitchen bling....sometimes I feel like it costs as much as the bling on my finger:)

So I counted once, twice, thrice and came up with needing 12-14 bin pulls (not decided if I want to use pulls on the tip out sink tray & on the pull out pantry) and 42 hinges. 

I originally planned on purchasing the hinges and bin pulls pictured above from Rejuvenation, then I figured I would buy the hinges from Restoration hardware (less expensive) after using them in our bathroom.

But then I came across Horton Brasses, a company that has been around since 1936.  Must make good stuff if they have survived this long in America.  The only difference I can see in their products (they are made of solid brass) is that the slotted screws for the bin pulls are flat instead of rounded-something that I can live with at half the cost.  Anyways, I placed the order last night (only $6 flat rate shipping) so cross your fingers that they are as nice as they sound.

Oh yes, and I can't forget about the latches for the cabinet doors.  We purchased those months ago when Restoration Hardware was having a 20% off sale.  They exactly match the ones in our bathroom.  They are pretty much exactly the same as the ones sold at Rejuvenation.

You found any great home products that are sort of like the designer knock offs?

Hardware sale

I noticed a week or two ago that Restoration Hardware is having a sale and everything, yes everything that is full price is 20% off which got me thinking. (btw, the sale was extended a day and ends tonight)  I also had a small store credit that I needed to use.  Everything on sale is an extra 10% off so of course I had to buy a snow ball maker (I know, I'm a wimp but what's a So-Cal girl to do when her hands get all cold making snowballs?  Well, get a snowball maker of course). 

I was going to take Woodworking class again this winter in order to make a bathroom built-in, however decided against when my dad mentioned he was looking for projects when they visit at the end of the month. 

Enter bathroom hardware.  I figured that I would need 6 ball tip hinges and 3 latches.  We (well my dad with Steve and I helping where we can) are building a cabinet that will be about 13" wide and deep and 9' tall.  It will have 3 cabinet doors in order to break things up.  Originally I wanted 2 cabinet doors as well as a drawer at the bottom but when Steve and I were talking it over, we decided against the drawer for a couple reasons.  Sure, it would look nice, but do you really need a drawer for a cabinet that is only 13" deep?  Also, being that the cabinet is right next to the door and the door swings into the bathroom, Steve imagined disaster the first time that someone tried to open the bathroom door while the drawer was open.  Drawers are also a lot more work to build than a cabinet door. 
Anyways, so that means that we need 2 hinges x3 doors=6 and 3 latches in Polished Nickel.  Well, the hinges aren't too much cheaper than Rejuvenation, however the latches are much cheaper ($25 a piece at Rejuv or $11.50 + 20% off at Restoration Hardware), even after shipping,  We decided to get one extra latch so that the latches on the cabinet match the one on the medicine cabinet. 

R.I.P. Little mirror

I am happy to say that we finally have a mirror back up over our bathroom sink which means that we also have our door back up on the medicine cabinet.  Steve took off the door to strip the paint, patch holes, sand and repaint before Ben came in early April and well, as of early last week, we were still using a 5x6" mirror the we would move up and down on the shelves as we would get items out of the medicine cabinet or need to adjust for each of our heights (we have an 11" height difference). 

Our friends were in town two weeks ago and Katie accidentally dropped little mirror, cracking it in the corner and then I dropped it again, shattering it. 
With my sister coming last weekend and my parents this coming weekend (yes, my dad summited Mt. Everest and is safely home-Yea!), I told Steve that we needed it done by the next wave of guests.  It took him most nights during the week but it is done and looks amazing.  It even smoothly opens and closes now that layers of paint have been removed. 
Rejuvenation stopped selling the reproduction hinges that we wanted but I was lucky enough (with the help of my friend Chris) to find a polished nickel pair in salvage that was still nice and shiny and then purchased some new slot screws from Rejuvenation.   We already had the nob-a gift from friend Chris when we first moved into our house.

Hardware Stripping

Thought I would share a quick post on stripping all of our door hardware.  I stripped all of the plates for the knobs when we first moved in but was left with all of the hinges painted with many coats.  When we had the paint stripped off of several of the hall doors several weeks ago, my friend, Chris, stripped the paint off of those hinges however we still had three closet and bedroom doors that needed work. 
Well, I figured that I better strip them before we put them back up (we had to remove our doors to refinish the floors).  Stripping paint off of solid metal hardware is quite an easy and quick process...

1. remove hardware
2. put into old crock pot (mine was from college but they have them at goodwill or estate sales all the time)
   
3. add a tablespoon or two of TSP
4. cover with water
5. heat for several hours 
6. wash hardware off in warm/hot water using a scrub or tooth brush and the old paint just melts away

Here are a couple pictures of the hardware soaking in the crock pot and cleaning it up in the sink after. 

Also a picture of the new nickel hinges that I purchased from Rejuvenation for the bathroom-the original nickel hardware was missing and the new hinges fit right in with no adjustments needed-wow, we were lucky!  Now just to stain the doors and put it all back up!  Living without privacy is interesting but I guess a necessary step in home restoration. :)

Bathroom Before and Current

I realized that I have never posted pictures of our bathroom and there are reasons for this but hopefully those reasons will disappear by spring, so what the hell, why not show off our little gem.

Our bathroom has been let's say less than desirable since the day we moved in.  During our inspection and all the rest, no one seemed to notice that the bathtub had somehow survived almost 100 years without a shower attachment.  That was for starters. Not to mention the hideous wallpaper, baby blue paint, miserable 1980s sink and vanity, peeling vinyl floor and just overall awful. However, the bathroom did have it's original medicine cabinet which I just fell in love with and it is a decent size.

lack of shower and lovely set-up the day we moved in

Steve geri-rigging by adding galvanized pipe with 90 degree fitter and shower head attached.

Bathroom on inspection day

Well, we thought that this would be a very short term solution and I pictured us having a brand new, lovely, sparkling white with everything new (but of course looking old) within 3 or 6 months, tops.  Three years later, here we are with shower curtains still stapled to the wall, a thermos (yes, I typed that correctly) and closet bar holding up the outer shower curtain and our gerri-rigged set-up.  However, I do have to say that despite that it almost scares our guests away, it has been practical and has kept us clean.  Not to mention, no leaks (knock on wood).

For the last 2 years, I have been collecting parts to our bathroom (excluding the clawfoot tub we bought within the first couple weeks we lived in the house and stored for two years but sold because we realized that this was not exactly practical for kids and I do not love the shower experience of a clawfoot tub...too many shower curtains sucking you in).

These have included:

• sink bought in the seconds dept. at rejuvenation because it had been used in one of their photo shoots...we broke down one day in the last year, ripped out the old sink and vanity and put it in
  
• rejuvenation toilet-had an awesome coupon
• pottery barn side drawers for near the sink-hooked up my little bros discount when he worked there
• some towel bars and toilet paper dispenser-pottery barn discount
• california faucets sink faucet-again, the little bros discount from pottery barn
• cal faucets shower and tub faucet-awesome online sale 
• tub-found on super discount at rejuvenation-exactly what we currently have but drain on opposite side (right now it is by the window which is less than ideal)

So while we have a garage full of parts, the bathroom will seem super cheap when all we really have to buy is tile and toilet and get a cabinet built for the side of the tub. Right?  I really do mean it when I say that we will have my dream bano in the next 6 months as that was part of my criteria for having a baby (along with an awesome vacation (check) and hardwood floors being refinished (in process of quoting and scheduling).  Will post tile ideas soon (have been collecting for 3 years now).  Also, does anyone know where I can purchase a solid black, wood toilet seat with old-style polished nickel hardware???  I have searched far and wide and yet to have luck.

Here are a couple pictures of our bathroom in it's current state-Steve is chipping off layers of paint which have exposed the faux plaster tile (poor mans' subway tile).  While Steve doesn't want to save it, I would love to but it is doubtful based on the poor condition and the fact that is is completely destroyed where the original wall toilet and sink were hung....let alone that when Steve makes up his mind it is a bit hard to reason with him but we'll see.