You see, I didn't like the plain square mirror that hung above the bathroom sink when we bought this place two years ago. I wanted something more suited to an old house, but could never find a mirror I liked at a reasonable price. So the square mirror and ugly light fixture, that should have been recessed but for some reason wasn't, stayed. Along with the lovely 1980's faux gold fixtures that were loosing their faux gold.
Before we moved in:
Then came the five dollar mirror. There is a big festival around these parts Labor Day weekend. Pretty much the entire community is for sale, everyone has a garage sale. One of my neighbors had the perfect mirror and only wanted five bucks for it. So our seemingly quick and easy little fix up to the downstairs bathroom started. A new mirror, some paint and a few new fixtures, how hard could that be?
Whah, ha, ha, ho, ho, hee, hee...
When you own a 100 year old house, NOTHING is ever quick and easy. We know this, yet we always forget. The mystery of why the light fixture was never properly recessed was quickly revealed. The junction box was off center. Why on earth would the junction box be over there you ask? Because the previous owner forgot to consider the electrical when he was doing the plumbing. The vent pipe for the sink is smack dab in the center of that wall, exactly where you would want your light fixture to be.
Luckily I married the Engineer, and he was able to make it all better.
After:
Then there were the fixtures inside the shower. There is a reason they don't sell the gold fixtures anymore. The peeling gold flakes were kinda gross and although we don't use this shower much, since this bathroom serves as our guest bath it only seemed reasonable that we should try to make it look better. That was our second major mistake. We were able to replace some of the parts, but those handles ain't coming off for nobody, no how. The only way we can get them replaced will be to knock a hole in the wall on the other side and replace the whole shebang. The other side is my laundry room and I'm not really up to tackle that project at the moment, so for now we still have gold handles.
Before:
After:
Notice we did get a new light fixture up with no problems. There was even a bonus included in the box. Not only do we have green eggs and ham, we now have a cat in a hat! How fun is that?
7 comments:
Love it,green eggs and ham and the cat in the hat, are your chickens crying the sky is falling? That is the only thing that comes to mine when I see the news. You do have Henny Penny don't you?
Patsy
I just love how those little projects turn into big projects! Not!
The vanity and mirror looks really nice. Pat yourselves on the back!
And to think it all started with just a $5.00 purchase..these projects take time, more money than you would have thought or perhaps the budget can allow (except over a period of time) and enduring the mess....but then the results are so great...you just know you will do it again.
It looks fabulous! But I can't help but think how cool a primitive looking quilt block as a shower curtain would look. Evil aren't I? I'm on a total shower curtain kick lately!!
Nesting dolls. That's what old house projects are. A project inside a project inside a project--but when you start out, all you see is the one. I like the bathroom. It's very pretty. Love the fixture above the mirror.
It doesn't have to be a hundred year old house to have problems like that - my house is only 35 and it's the biggest mixmatch jumble of stuff I'm amazed every time we go to fix something. I too have those gold faucets and hate them. Some day. blessings, marlene
Have to agree, hate those gold faucets. We have those in our home in Aspen and they are tacky. Give me the plain old chrome everytime.
Really like that $5.00 mirror. What a bargain that was.
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