Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Television can be a bad, bad thing ...

... and so can books. Especially when you think you have a reno all figured out, and then low and behold you pick up a book and the ideas start to shift. Case and point, the beautiful bathroom above with it's antique reproduction console sink. This piece of lovely graces the pages of one of my favorite design reference books, The Home Book - HouseBeautiful. What caught my eye in this photo in particular, and why it referenced my reno so perfectly were the water lines for the sink coming up out of the floor. Go ahead, scroll back up and look.

See them? Well, mine are like that too. Originally Scott and I had talked to the contractor about moving the plumbing from the floor to the wall, but when I saw this picture I thought perhaps just a switch in the fixture would be easier, and perhaps - even less expensive? My search for lanterns went on back burner and my search for console sinks ensued.

Then, thinking that I had it all figured out with just the sink to tinker with - I went back to watch my tivo'ed Candice Olson to find her genius approach to covering panelling in this episode where she not only painted over the ugly paneling below:

Oooo, that carpet too! Eeek! But of course, Candice and her team, her amazing eye, wisdom, and budget came up with a lot of wow and drama in the space. She used wood battens to cover the grooves in the existing paneling and formed a geometric grid pattern on the wall while doing it:






The overall look, stunning. It also saved her client a pocket full of money, since they didn't have to rip the old stuff out. That got me thinking, perhaps that's how I could tackle the strange 1920's pressed concrete below the chair rail in my bathroom. Tearing it out is not only cumbersome, and frankly dangerous - but drywalling the area isn't going to be cheap. Can I fake it like Candice with some simple 1x1?

9 comments:

  1. Artie -- we had that strange stuff in our bathroom too -- I'm not sure what we did -- but we now have blueboard and tile where we had that stuff (I'm not sure they tore it out or blueboarded over it) -- That stuff must have been a 20's thing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks great!! terrific transformation!
    Karena

    ReplyDelete
  3. My contractor just did a v-groove ceiling for me out of MDF and you cannot tell the difference between that and the real 1906 redwood ceiling in the same house. He bought the sheet of MDF, ripped strips 5" wide, routed an edge and put them up randomly on the ceiling. I would do my whole house if I could. Would be perfect in the bathroom.......I'm just sayin! -Delores

    ReplyDelete
  4. LOVE the console sink! It looks just a bit more substantial than the standard pedestal type. Old house renos are sometimes all about being creative and I have no doubt you're up to the task
    xoxo pattie

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sounds like a great idea! I saw that episode too...isn't she genious? Love the sink.....

    ReplyDelete
  6. If I am understanding you correctly
    Artie I think there is a similar example to the wall on the HGTV CANADA website under the DYI Projects. (Scotch Mommy-Moving Mayhem Nov. 4/09)

    ReplyDelete
  7. That heavy wooden piece as a mantel is exactly what the fireplace wall needed! Now it makes a statement. Before it was pathetic.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Arty
    That after shot of the living space is a work of genius... I will need to keep this is mind when I resume house hunting... something that may seem a hindrance has become the statement piece of the room... incredible..

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh hecks yeah! and you speak Candace? Nice!! I love the idea and never really noticed the whole sink floor board thingy...LOVE IT!

    ReplyDelete