At least twice a day

  new bathroom mirror shot 
  Originally uploaded by emira.

Our bathroom reno project took officialy months longer then either of us thought it would. And in keeping with that delay, it is has taken me much longer than it should have to post anything about it. Not wanting to break that theme, I plan to delay finishing the final paint touch ups for at least another couple of days or so. Why mess with a good thing right?

So... how does it look? Well sadly our bathroom is small enough that getting any kind of representative photo for you all to vicariously experience the simple joy of our shiney, clean new bathroom with its plywood boxes and glass circle doors, and stainless steel circle sink. So you'll just have to trust me that bathing in this room is even more relaxing and lovely than it used to be.

The strangest thing about our (nearly) completed bathroom is the sink. For the last three months we've been brushing our teeth, washing our hands, and nightly our faces in the kitchen. Which at first seemed like an imposition, but slowly became very normal. So normal in fact that by force of habit I still find myself staring out the kitchen window before bed wondering where the toothbrushes have got to. And, I have to admit to a small sense of unease each time I turn on the tap in the bathroom as I wince and do a quick double check to make sure the water isn't draining out onto the floor. Plumbing really is magic.

Speaking of plumbing, I must point out that our new sink was not part of the original plan. Initially we had planned to keep the original white ceramic sink, but somewhere along the timeline there, there was an "incident" involving the sink, the floor and very nearly my right foot. Fortunately my foot made it out alive and unsquashed, but in the process the sink received a serious crack up one side. Reluctant to spend much more money -- we blew most of our budget on the marmoleum -- and the recipients of a brilliant stroke of good renovation timing, we ended up being given a spare free sink with fixtures from some friends and we ended up using those fixtures with an old sink that Martin had rescued ages ago (before we bought this house I think) from the heap of discarded junk that his dad used to lovingly cultivate. Our bathroom is too small for a full counter, so Martin built a wall mounted box, with a sheet of plywood that extends down the back to the baseboards and ties in with our plywood box recessed shelves.

While I feel like I put my share of sweat, tears and stinky unwashed elbow grease into this bathroom project the full reno props and most of the creative vision have to go to Martin. His endless font of creativity and unwavering faith in a project even when it is months off the rails beats my perfectionistic fussiness hands down. For the renovation enthusiasts out there, I do highly recommend checking out the full set of before & after shots at Flickr.

Comments

[meegan]

it turned out really well! i like your candy jars (cookie jars?) in the cabinet to organize the littler things. nice!

[emira]

Thanks! Yes I love the candy/cookie jars there too. I'm afraid I'm a bit of a bathroom hog and use those all myself. I've got one for lotions and things, one for eye shadow, one for lipsticks, and one for hair things. Martin picked them all up at Value Village, I was pretty thrilled.