Post number four on the cabin. This time, it's the utility spaces.
One of Brad's biggest doubts was my decision to use antique dressers for the bathroom vanities. And I think that choice is one of Brad's favorite parts of the finished spaces. It took many trips to antique stores, flea markets, Craigslist, and auctions to find three dressers that would fit three different spaces' measurements.
This is the upstairs bathroom, mainly used by the kids. In order to make the bathrooms tie together visually, I used the same light fixtures, flooring, sinks, and faucets in all three. That small decision also made things easier on me. The wall-mounted faucets were a last-minute change. After consulting with the plumber, the contractor realized there wouldn't be room for faucets on the counter, and I was never happier to order new faucets. My grandma Tucker had a wall-mounted faucet with a soap dish in her kitchen, and when I found this one, I knew it was the design I needed for the bathrooms.
Shower curtain, Wayfair. Rug, IKEA. Faucets and light fixtures, ATG stores. Sinks, Amazon.
The mirror was my great-grandmother Hazel Humphrey's, and I stripped and repainted and waxed it for this bathroom. I'm sure you can't read the sign on the vanity, but it says, "Do not flush sanitary products. It will ruin the septic. Use bags provided." I hated marring my beautiful design with these ugly signs, but ugly signs are much cheaper than ruined septic systems. So they stay.
Towels, HomeGoods. Flooring, Home Depot.
I tried to incorporate into the cabin at least one piece of each house we've lived in over the course of our marriage. When we lived on the fourth floor of a turn-of-the-20th-Century walkup in Chicago, our bathrooms had these spinning toothbrush holders mounted to the walls. I searched eBay for one, and when I found it, I snatched it up. It may be the first piece I bought for the cabin, and it sat on a shelf in my storage room for months. Took the contractor some thought and trial to find a place where it would fit, but it takes me back to Chicago and when I was a young motherteachingforcing my two oldest kids to brush their teeth. Good memories.
This vanity was bought at auction for . . . I think $35? The top drawer had to be sacrificed for plumbing, but the other two work. And I was so lucky that the sink fit in between the upper decorative shelves, because I didn't think to measure when I ordered the sinks. Whew. Dodged a bullet on that one. The tops of all three vanities were finished with a varnish used to seal and protect wood on boats, so no water damage--no matter how messy my kids get.
This is the main floor bathroom. I had a devil of a time finding a dresser that would fit this space. I ended up searching Craigslist for a few weeks and finally found this one listed in an antique shop in Glendale--almost an hour from my house and pricier than I had hoped. Deadline was creeping closer, so I had no choice really, but it's perfect. The top left drawer is sealed for the plumbing, but the rest of them work.
Mirror, flea market. Shower curtain, Wayfair. Frame, HomeGoods. Tea towel in frame, Nordstrom Rack.
It was impossible to photograph, but behind the doors of both of these bathrooms is floor-to-ceiling wood shelving. Heidi had exposed shelves in her last house's bathrooms, and every time I came to visit, I was glad to have open shelves for my short-term visits.
And this is the master bath. I had a hard time finding this dresser as well, because the space was markedly bigger than the other two baths, and I knew I'd want as much counter space as possible in here. When I found this one on Craigslist, I thought it would be perfect, because the top drawer was already divided into threes. Unfortunately, the plumber had to seal the drawer completely, severely limiting how much storage space we have in here. This bathroom is the only one without open shelving, and the lack of storage is a bit of a bother.If you look in the mirror, you can see an IKEA cabinet we added next to the door to help with that issue.
The mirror was an auction find that I had propped up on the towel cupboard on my patio for a few weeks. I had hoped Brad would hang it, but the wind blew it down, shattering the glass and damaging the frame. This was another thing I had saved for "somewhere" but who knows where. I used the empty frame occasionally, but when I had a hard time finding a new framed mirror that would fit the space in this bathroom, I measured this frame, and it was the perfect size.
Just a quick note from my plumber: If you're thinking about doing a project like this one--setting sinks on old dressers--square sinks are much, much, much easier to set in place than a vessel sink. He actually personally thanked me for choosing these square ones. I love the simple lines of them and how they modernize the dressers just a little bit.
I searched and searched for a shower curtain for this bathroom--one that would make a statement but not shout it. I fell in love with this one from Anthropologie, and it has a little outdoorsy vibe while still being really awesome (unlike the cartoon moose I found everywhere I looked).
Don't you love the 50s detail on the bottom of the vanity? Rug, HomeGoods.
Initially, I didn't include a laundry room in my design, but in hindsight, I can't believe I ever considered not having one! Duh! It's small and is a pass through to the garage, but I have already been so happy it's there. It has the same counter top and cabinetry as the kitchen (painted grey in here), and more storage than I really need.
Hamper and canisters, HomeGoods.
I'm sure you were wondering from the title what Harry Potter has to do with the cabin. Right? Or did you even read the title? Go back and read it . . .
Here is the small tribute to Mr. Potter:
I bought a pair of these shutters at auction for about $20 a few years ago and painted them with a robin's egg blue and aged them with a dark wax. The pair of them anchored my spring mantel decor one year, but I could never find another place or time where they would work. They became more stuff thrown in the Tchotchke Closet, reserved for "somewhere." The partner is still in that closet, but I knew exactly what I wanted to do with one of them. I brought it up to the cabin during the framing stage, and asked my contractor of he could use it as the door for the closet under the stairs. All he said was, "Sure," and I left it all to him.
This is what we got:
A hidden place where the kids can read, play games, or just hide from chores for a while. And the contractor is so good (as I mentioned before about the trim) that the door opens effortlessly and closes without a latch to keep it shut. It works like it was designed for the space, not like it was an auction reject.
Stay tuned for the rest of the cabin--master, loft and office, bunk room, and exterior--next week.
If you missed the earlier posts, you can read them here.
Living Room
Kitchen
Guest Rooms
One of Brad's biggest doubts was my decision to use antique dressers for the bathroom vanities. And I think that choice is one of Brad's favorite parts of the finished spaces. It took many trips to antique stores, flea markets, Craigslist, and auctions to find three dressers that would fit three different spaces' measurements.
This is the upstairs bathroom, mainly used by the kids. In order to make the bathrooms tie together visually, I used the same light fixtures, flooring, sinks, and faucets in all three. That small decision also made things easier on me. The wall-mounted faucets were a last-minute change. After consulting with the plumber, the contractor realized there wouldn't be room for faucets on the counter, and I was never happier to order new faucets. My grandma Tucker had a wall-mounted faucet with a soap dish in her kitchen, and when I found this one, I knew it was the design I needed for the bathrooms.
Shower curtain, Wayfair. Rug, IKEA. Faucets and light fixtures, ATG stores. Sinks, Amazon.
The mirror was my great-grandmother Hazel Humphrey's, and I stripped and repainted and waxed it for this bathroom. I'm sure you can't read the sign on the vanity, but it says, "Do not flush sanitary products. It will ruin the septic. Use bags provided." I hated marring my beautiful design with these ugly signs, but ugly signs are much cheaper than ruined septic systems. So they stay.
Towels, HomeGoods. Flooring, Home Depot.
I tried to incorporate into the cabin at least one piece of each house we've lived in over the course of our marriage. When we lived on the fourth floor of a turn-of-the-20th-Century walkup in Chicago, our bathrooms had these spinning toothbrush holders mounted to the walls. I searched eBay for one, and when I found it, I snatched it up. It may be the first piece I bought for the cabin, and it sat on a shelf in my storage room for months. Took the contractor some thought and trial to find a place where it would fit, but it takes me back to Chicago and when I was a young mother
This vanity was bought at auction for . . . I think $35? The top drawer had to be sacrificed for plumbing, but the other two work. And I was so lucky that the sink fit in between the upper decorative shelves, because I didn't think to measure when I ordered the sinks. Whew. Dodged a bullet on that one. The tops of all three vanities were finished with a varnish used to seal and protect wood on boats, so no water damage--no matter how messy my kids get.
This is the main floor bathroom. I had a devil of a time finding a dresser that would fit this space. I ended up searching Craigslist for a few weeks and finally found this one listed in an antique shop in Glendale--almost an hour from my house and pricier than I had hoped. Deadline was creeping closer, so I had no choice really, but it's perfect. The top left drawer is sealed for the plumbing, but the rest of them work.
Mirror, flea market. Shower curtain, Wayfair. Frame, HomeGoods. Tea towel in frame, Nordstrom Rack.
It was impossible to photograph, but behind the doors of both of these bathrooms is floor-to-ceiling wood shelving. Heidi had exposed shelves in her last house's bathrooms, and every time I came to visit, I was glad to have open shelves for my short-term visits.
And this is the master bath. I had a hard time finding this dresser as well, because the space was markedly bigger than the other two baths, and I knew I'd want as much counter space as possible in here. When I found this one on Craigslist, I thought it would be perfect, because the top drawer was already divided into threes. Unfortunately, the plumber had to seal the drawer completely, severely limiting how much storage space we have in here. This bathroom is the only one without open shelving, and the lack of storage is a bit of a bother.If you look in the mirror, you can see an IKEA cabinet we added next to the door to help with that issue.
The mirror was an auction find that I had propped up on the towel cupboard on my patio for a few weeks. I had hoped Brad would hang it, but the wind blew it down, shattering the glass and damaging the frame. This was another thing I had saved for "somewhere" but who knows where. I used the empty frame occasionally, but when I had a hard time finding a new framed mirror that would fit the space in this bathroom, I measured this frame, and it was the perfect size.
Just a quick note from my plumber: If you're thinking about doing a project like this one--setting sinks on old dressers--square sinks are much, much, much easier to set in place than a vessel sink. He actually personally thanked me for choosing these square ones. I love the simple lines of them and how they modernize the dressers just a little bit.
I searched and searched for a shower curtain for this bathroom--one that would make a statement but not shout it. I fell in love with this one from Anthropologie, and it has a little outdoorsy vibe while still being really awesome (unlike the cartoon moose I found everywhere I looked).
Don't you love the 50s detail on the bottom of the vanity? Rug, HomeGoods.
Initially, I didn't include a laundry room in my design, but in hindsight, I can't believe I ever considered not having one! Duh! It's small and is a pass through to the garage, but I have already been so happy it's there. It has the same counter top and cabinetry as the kitchen (painted grey in here), and more storage than I really need.
Hamper and canisters, HomeGoods.
I'm sure you were wondering from the title what Harry Potter has to do with the cabin. Right? Or did you even read the title? Go back and read it . . .
Here is the small tribute to Mr. Potter:
I bought a pair of these shutters at auction for about $20 a few years ago and painted them with a robin's egg blue and aged them with a dark wax. The pair of them anchored my spring mantel decor one year, but I could never find another place or time where they would work. They became more stuff thrown in the Tchotchke Closet, reserved for "somewhere." The partner is still in that closet, but I knew exactly what I wanted to do with one of them. I brought it up to the cabin during the framing stage, and asked my contractor of he could use it as the door for the closet under the stairs. All he said was, "Sure," and I left it all to him.
This is what we got:
A hidden place where the kids can read, play games, or just hide from chores for a while. And the contractor is so good (as I mentioned before about the trim) that the door opens effortlessly and closes without a latch to keep it shut. It works like it was designed for the space, not like it was an auction reject.
Stay tuned for the rest of the cabin--master, loft and office, bunk room, and exterior--next week.
If you missed the earlier posts, you can read them here.
Living Room
Kitchen
Guest Rooms
You are so talented, Jen. Seriously.
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