Don't get me wrong, last night I finished painting the pocket door between the laundry and family room and Mike and I worked together to hang it and it was amazing and earth-shattering and there were high fives and hugs, but really how exciting is a pocket door? There's an opening, then it's got a door. I say this to explain my lack of posts, and to explain my posting in general. Sometimes our lives move too fast to document everything, so I'll wait until there's something worth sharing, (rumor has it that the bathroom vanity will be installed this weekend - fingers crossed).
This whole project has been a scheduling bitch. There are so many predecessors to every little task. For example, I want the toilet installed. I'm tired of having to stop in the middle of painting and having to give a full body inspection to make sure there aren't wet paint spots on me before running up two flights of stairs to the bathroom, (mark my words, our next house will have a first floor bathroom). Mike reminded me that he needed to install the bathroom trim before the toilet went it. I said "Then do it!" He then calmly said that he needed the vanity to calculate the trim height. I said, "Damn", since my task was getting the vanity. I hate when I get frustrated at Mike only to find out that there's about 3 steps that inevitability lead to me not having something done.
I decided it was high time to hit up the ol' Ikea to get the vanity. The reason I sat on this task for so long is that the closet Ikea is an hour and 45 minutes away. Not like a quick trip to a Target or something. I have to plan, prepare, pack a lunch. I had picked a couple of things from Ikea for my bathroom inspiration board, including the vanity, so it was time to gather the materials.
Even though the trip was mostly to pick up the big permanent items like the vanity and mirror, I also got some accessories that I thought would work in the bathroom. I thought I'd share what I got since it's one step closer to the actual basement being done.
1. I have been stalking this mirror since I blogged about it in the inspiration board back in October. Actually, if checking your ex's on facebook is considered stalking, I'd say I was more restraining order stalker, like one of those celebrity fans who creates illusions that they are real life friends, like break into their house and take baths and wear their robes level stalker. I fell hard. I can't really say why I wanted this mirror so badly, but for $40 I liked the size, simple metal frame, and did I mention the price? I didn't think it was going to be so hard to find this but since last year I've watched any store within 150 miles drain it's inventory, (and any store within 150 miles of family members in different states - I told you I went crazy). I even convinced Mike to take a trip to Cincinnati, (3 hours away), because they said they had some there. There was definitely a brewery visit bribe thrown in. We nixed the trip idea and I eventually came to terms with the fact that it wasn't meant to be. While I was planning my trip this past weekend I casually checked again, (mostly to watch my dreams die once more), and to my shock they had them in stock! I almost had a heart attack when I couldn't find it while I was running around until a worker looked it up and told me the were in stock at their pick-up location across the street. I restrained myself long enough to purchase it at the end of my browsing and drive over to pick it up, (I had to get the vanity over there anyways).
2. I had liked this vanity's lines from the beginning and had convinced Mike to allow me to buy it, all without seeing it in person. I had a lot riding on the cabinets being good quality, (Mike is a little more than a furniture quality snob), and was pleasantly surprised to see all the storage, nice sink, and even soft close drawers. The jury's still out on whether it was a good purchase as far as installation goes, but that's another blog post.
3. I picked this faucet up even though I'm not really a big chrome fan, but I want to try to mix more finishes and textures down in the basement. I also figured that with all the wonky Ikea stuff, it would be better to get all the pieces from the same place. I've heard more than a few horror stories about connecting our standard American connections to Ikea's European sizes. I liked that it had the same shape as our faucets in the upstairs bath, which we love.
4. and 7. I grabbed this 4-pack of blue and white kitchen towels and a couple of these red and white ones to use as hand towels downstairs. I figured if they're good enough for dishes then they'll work for Mike's dirty man hands.
5. I only got one bath towel because I plan to keep more in the closed storage and they don't need to be pretty, just durable. I liked that this one will bring more color, (the photo looks a little off, but it has navy blue stripes), and I won't mind if this ends up hanging on the hook more than it's folded and put away.
6. We've used both bath rugs and these that are more like heavy towels outside of the shower. I like these mats for the ease of laundering and figured being in the man bathroom would see more dirt than usual.
8. I've killed a lot of plants in my time so I figured fake was the way to go. It's also in the basement so it wouldn't have a chance anyways. I like the natural look of plants, but love the indestructibility of plastic.
9. Mike usually looks for the finish of a toilet paper holder and picks the cheapest. I'm way more discriminate and therefore take forever to find one, but when I saw this one I liked the industrial feel, the simple lines, and the fact that it didn't include any sort of spring ready to shoot across the room while you're trying to put a new roll on. I got the official apporoval when I showed Mike and he loved it!
10. I'm not sure if we'll use these or not, but I thought it would be nice to have a couple simple hooks to hang the hand towels from. Mike has since said he wants a hand towel that stays on the ring so we'll see what we do.
We'll I know it's not a big basement update, but having the vanity means that we are closer to getting everything done. We should at least have some bathroom updates soon. I've got a date with some trim and my paint brush tonight.
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