Tiny Bubbles

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For some reason, some of my most vivid childhood memories are of the bathroom displays in the Bon-Ton at the Uniontown Mall. Yes, I am fully aware that most people do not look back on their childhood and remember such things – they usually think back on dance recitals, ball games, vacations… I think about the mall.  This gives you a bit of insight into not only my love of shopping but also a bit about how most of my time as a child was spent – in the mall – with my mom – most likely returning things  – and buying new things that would soon be returned.

My absolute favorite display was all white and had fake bubbles coming out of a teeny tiny tub. I don’t know if I imagined it or if they actually had the song, “Tiny Bubbles”by Don Ho playing in the background, but that’s how I remember it.. and I just loved that display. I even named it “The Don Ho Bathroom.” Not too creative, but give me a break, I was a child. When I stood in silence, looking at The Don Ho Bathroom, I was transported to a clean, calm place. I wanted to take that display home, put it in the corner of my bedroom and listen to Don Ho all day.

Now I am finally able to design my own bathroom. Unlike the dream bathroom of my childhood, there is very little white and it won’t even have a tub. I will, however, find a way to get “Tiny Bubbles” playing on a loop in there!

We probably won’t have a finished bathroom until late August, but an enormous amount of work has been done to it already.

A few weeks ago, my father brought with him the “big guns” aka Josh and Frankie.  Joshua is my brother and owner of Cooleytown Construction and Frankie is the lead carpenter. They managed to accomplish in two short days what would have taken Jeffrey and I three months to do. Actually, that’s a lie – Jeffrey and I could have NEVER been able to do what they did.  

Like the majority of houses in the historic district, we have horsehair plaster walls. I cannot wait to have drywall that I can actually drive a nail into in this house.

Just a reminder where we started…

And now for some demo and progress pictures…

Bye-bye horsehair plaster…

Bye-bye closet…

Bye-bye tub…

Hello framing and hardie board and plumbing!

These photos do not do justice in showing the amount of work that they did in those two days. Shower walls went up and plumbing is ready for fixtures. My bother wired the bathroom and even put up with my demands of moving outlets and lights around.  A heated floor was installed, which the salesman at Lowe’s warns us that we will never use.

We removed a small closet from the back room so that we can move our washer/dryer from the deep dark recesses of the basement and into the bathroom. Jeff wants to replace the washer and dryer, but despite its age and appearance, I’m holding on to it.

Here’s a quick look at the floorplan.

As for the design of this space. I’ve had a LOT of ideas and some pretty grandiose plans for that shower. None of which are truly in my budget.

When designing this room I was really going for a modern, warm, natural feeling. I wanted it to be sleek and classic with just a touch of whimsy.  Of course I had dreams of an over-the-top custom Ann Sacks tile installation in the shower and the very best fixtures that Kohler had to offer. Not only did I have a budget to keep in mind, but I also had to create a space that will help with resale. To quote Marie from When Harry Met Sally, “Everybody thinks they have good taste and a sense of humor but they couldn’t possibly all have good taste.” This, my friends, is why you must think about resale value when designing your home.

Here are just a few of the designs I’ve been contemplating.

**Keep in mind, I am republishing these blog posts from over 9 years ago. I too am laughing at some of the designs I had come up with!

Realizing that our budget would have been blown on tile with no money for a toilet, I had to come up with a budget-friendly solution.

Inspiration came while my mother and I did what we do best, we went shopping. A stop at Mid-Atlantic Tile revealed the answer to the budget-busting bathroom design. I think it was a little sign from Don Ho as well. You didn’t think I had forgotten about him, did you?

The accent tile is my “Homage to the Don Ho Bathroom” These are my tiny bubbles…

And here is a little peek of those tiny bubbles installed in our shower.

I’ll share more updates on the bathroom in the coming weeks and I’ll leave you with this gem from demo day.

And just for fun…

Step by Step

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If you are like me and are still in love with NKOTB…you’ll get the title. If not, you better ask somebody.

Before we purchased the house, we found out that the front stairs were dangerous and should not be used. I wasn’t lying when I said that caution tape had been put around them. They were an obvious assault on our eyes, and now it was clear that they could also inflict pain to the rest of our bodies.

I failed to get a good before photo of the stairs before the work was done.  But don’t despair. I have this fabulous artist’s rendering that portrays quite accurately the previously horrifying condition of the stairs.

artist rendering of front steps

The artist’s identity still remains a mystery. Like many other great works of art, you can see evidence that a previous work was lying under this masterpiece. Picasso was known to not only have painted over his own works but also the works of other artists.

This was beyond our capability as DIYers, so we relied on Jason Swafford of New Vintage Construction to do all of the work on the stairs. Rusted metal was removed, sections were rebuilt, and supports were added so that we could walk safely into our money pit.

Yes – the following images are after photos. Now I understand that they are unsightly, but at the time, they looked beautiful to me!

The stairs and railings have since been painted black. A bit more pleasing to the eye. In honor of Rogue, a black Cocker Spaniel adorns our steps. It’s also a little nod to a downtown Frederick tradition. 

My dream is to eventually get rid of the brick and existing railings. I’m obsessed with NYC brownstones and would love to replicate one of these beauties. I just don’t have the budget right now, nor do I have the patience to fight with the historic district!

NYC brownstone 1
NYC brownstone 2
NYC brownstone 3
NYC brownstone 4

A girl can dream! And until that dream becomes a reality, she will make endless trips to NYC to get even more inspiration and shoes. 

In the beginning

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As many of you know, Jeffrey and I recently closed on what we are affectionately calling “the money pit!” We couldn’t be more excited to start this journey together. I am starting this little blog to record our progress. Jason Swafford, owner of New Vintage Construction, will begin work on the major renovations next week.  

 

Here’s a little background on how we got ourselves into this wonderful mess:

Last summer we decided that we had outgrown our little apartment on 5th street…not only because of our stuff but also because of our growing waistlines!  We looked at too many “charming” apartments in downtown Frederick and quickly realized that we could have a mortgage payment for less than a one-bedroom apartment off Market Street. 

Enter Abby Zanger: the funniest, best dressed, most determined, honest, and just plain damn amazing realtor on Earth. Abby tirelessly took us to house after house and patiently listened to my unrealistic demands. In July, we stumbled upon a powder blue townhouse in the historic district.  I really fell in love the minute we walked into the filthy living room. Room by room, it got worse and worse, but I was falling hard. Envisioning chandeliers, fussy wallpaper that my friends would secretly envy, dinner parties, stainless appliances, and the all-important double sinks…I saw our future home. Undeterred by the hole in the roof, damaged walls, and even the sensory deprivation in the basement… I saw the potential. Unfortunately, it was just out of our budget after we factored in renovation costs.  

Months went by. We saw more and more houses, but we were constantly thinking about that crazy blue house.  In late December, the house was relisted as a bank-owned property and was now in our price range. We were ready to put in an offer and while on vacation in St. Thomas, we did.  Only to get a call before our snorkeling tour telling us that the bank had just accepted another offer before we got ours in.  Needless to say, I handled this news in a less than graceful manner and may have scarred the little girl on the bench next to me for life. I did recover and went on the snorkeling tour…

Dejected, we gave up. That’s until Abbey called one day to let us know that the house was back on the market. This was fate… it had it be. We put in our offer and got it…well, kinda.  It seemed like with each passing week, something went wrong and pushed us back. Electrical problems, a flood in the dining room, hazard tape being put up around the only entrance. It wasn’t looking good. We had even gotten down to our last extension before the bank was going to dissolve our contract. Friday, April 29th, 2011 was do or die.  I waited at work until 4 pm and knew that since I hadn’t heard from Jeff, it was over. 

He came to pick me up to go drown our sorrows and the phone rang…Abby was screaming “Get your ass to Old Town Title. NOW.” Less than an hour later we were homeowners. Scared, nervous, excited homeowners!

In this blog, I’ll attempt to document the work we are doing on Our Little Nest on South.  Stay tuned… more pictures to come!