Antiques Mall Finds

There is a big difference between thrift shops and antique shops, but they both have their merits. Thrift shops make you work harder but you can get really good deals. Antique shops are curated for you and you pay for it. I've chronicled my thrift shop adventures here and here, but I haven't yet talked about antiquing. A week or so ago I made my way up to the Carmel Old Town Antique Mall and like most things with 'mall' in the title, it was huge! Most antique malls are set up so that different vendors can rent sections of the store. For that reason pricing varies from booth to booth. Overall I found this mall to be reasonably priced. I tried to walk out with only one thing but alas I left with two because I'm obsessed with weird things.

Can you spy what is new?

Okay, that is a little too far away to see her. Here she is up close.

Yep, that's a solid brass Nefertiti. This one booth had a solid brass seal with beach ball on his nose and I was sort of tempted by it because it was brass but the seal was very cartoonish looking. Then my friend spied this lady up on a shelf. She was $10 and I had to have her. Actually, I really debated whether or not I needed her but I'll get to that in a minute. First let's talk about how regal Bob looks here:

So serious, as though he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Anyway, on to the kitchen where the next item I bought is.

I know what you're thinking... you didn't even bother to put away the dishes before you took pictures? Yeah, it's true I didn't but no what you're probably thinking is... didn't you just buy a different rug for under the sink? Yes, I did, good observation! So apparently I'm now obsessed with rag rugs because I've purchased two in two weeks (the first one is here). I can't help it I just really like them. The best part about them is that you can just throw them in the washing machine - amazing. So the pinky coral one that I originally purchased for here is great and I still love it but when I saw this one which is a little longer I knew it would work better under the sink. So I moved the smaller rug to the bathroom which I'll show you a picture of in a minute but first another picture of Bob who was feeling very photogenic on the day I took these pictures. 

This picture makes me really happy for three reasons:

1) Bob is standing still. That never happens, seriously never. 

2) The new rug is so pretty

3) The. Floors. Are. Beautiful.

Here is the other rug, relocated. 

iPhone picture because I was too lazy to get out my good camera

As you can see I just laid it on top of the bath mat that is already in there. Why did I do that? Because I thought it would add texture and depth to the room, uh, just kidding, I did it because I'm lazy. But I actually like it sitting on top of the other one because it makes me feel like I'm standing on a plush carpet while brushing my teeth. So luxurious. Plus I love the bright color in there. 

But back to my big decision, both the rug and the Nefertiti statue were $10 so I was trying to choose between the two but I decided I liked both of them well enough to pay $20. That is the big difference between thrifting and antiquing. Last time I went thrifting (here) I paid $16 for five things and at this antique store I paid $20 for two things. 

Do you prefer antiquing or thrifting?

New Bathroom Faucet

As I mentioned in this post I have a very long to do list around here. Well this weekend I got to check one thing off of my list because I replaced my bathroom faucet. I've wanting to do this for some time but it wasn't until the faucet actually broke that I decided to get a new one. I don't really have a good picture of it before because it was just ugly enough that I attempted to crop it out of any 'glamour' shots I did of the bathroom. This is about what it looked like:

(source)

It was a basic faucet that you can buy at a hardware store for about $26. I went to look for a new one and I was really disappointed to find that faucets are crazy expensive. There was one just like the one I had for $26 and the next one in price was $60... talk about a price gap. Well thankfully my Dad came to the rescue. He had one from Sam's Club that he bought and didn't use because it was the wrong size. Thankfully, it was the right size for mine. My Dad and I got the faucet put it in but we didn't have the right tools to do the drain so I had a plumber come out and fix it all up.

I love it! It makes my bathroom feel so much more finished. You may notice that there are all kinds of metal in there now... the sink is brushed steel, the mirror is like an aged metal, and the towel ring and outlet covers are oil rubbed bronze. I like it all and I don't mind the mismatchyness of it. Since this bathroom is being curated over time and with little money I'm taking what I can find at a good price (the medicine cabinet is from craigslist, the outlet covers and towel ring are from Amazon, and the sink is from Sam's Club). I'm just happy to check something off of my very long to-do list!

Happy Weekend!

Bathroom Mini-remodel Part Two

Bathroom part two. After I got the mirror put in I waited a few weeks and then had the tile put in. The floor in there wasn't that bad in the sense that it was all intact, but it was so ugly that I could not stand it. Here is the before:

See what a good job I did covering it up? You barely notice it, but still... I knew it was there. Initially, I told my friend that I hired to do the tile work that I would do the demolition. I thought that I could easily pull out the floor... but I over-estimated my abilities. This is how far I got:

My dog was no help. So I left it up to the professional. Apparently I wasn't that off base because the floor was hard for him to get up too. He pulled up FOUR layers of old flooring! He stripped it down to original studs and the put cement board on top of that. Needless to say it was a big old mess, but it really needed a new sub-floor so I can't complain. Here is the project mid-way through:

Yeah, it was a mess. But, it was all worth it because it got done and it looks beautiful!

So pretty right? I chose white hex tiles from Home Depot. I vacillated between the all white and the black and white for a long time, but finally decided that the white may be better for reselling the house. I also decided to add some more art and storage to the walls. This is an old orange crate that my grandma gave me. I set it on it's side and added baskets for storage.

I went to a local salvage yard and found some more crates and decided to hang them on the wall. I also decided to group together all the pencil drawings I've collected which is a total of... three. My collection is a little young but it'll get better. Here is the final collection which is above the toilet opposite of the medicine cabinet.

I'm very happy with the way it all turned out!

Bathroom Mini-remodel Part One

Part One: Bathroom problems. Not like that though... I just really hated the bathroom when I moved in. And since there is only one in this house I was itching to make it look better fast. Here are some before shots:

It's actually not that bad. The toilet and pedestal sink are a classic style and they are white so I can work with those. The shower tile is okay. I like that the majority is white, but that green border annoys me and it all needs re-grouted. The medicine cabinet was disgusting. It was too small in the space and it was so rusty I could barely open it. The flooring was also pretty gross. Hunter green faux marble tiles, they were basically laminate stick on tiles... ugly. My game plan was this: add shower curtain, change out medicine cabinet, paint, and tile floors. A modest over haul. But since I couldn't start the remodel right away I added a few things to make it passable for a nice bathroom. I bought an awesome shower curtain from West Elm, I love the bold stripe. I also added a pencil drawing from Paris and my mini make over was done until I got the mirror installed.

While I was waiting for my handyman to make time for me (another story all together) I decided to paint. I made a rash decision at Ace Hardware one day and bought a light yellow color.

uh, it was HIDEOUS. I mean seriously, it was like a highlighter exploded in there. I couldn't stand it for even one day so the next day I went out and bought another color. This time I thought, how about a nice mint color? You'd think at this point I would have been more cautious and bought a sample but no I just went balls out and bought a whole gallon. Ugh

I really, really wanted to like this color for many reason. One, I just bought a whole gallon of it and two, I am super lazy and didn't want to paint again, and three, it wasn't that bad... right? WRONG. It was way too bright and just too much so I painted it for a third time. You should know by now I am super ashamed of how rashly I acted so many times in a row, but alas that is my personality. I decided to go back to what is was originally... a soft cream. I actually had a gallon on hand from another project so thankfully I didn't have to buy a third gallon. For now it looks good. It is a soft color that is slightly warmer than the stark white trim. Perhaps some day I'll try again but for now I'm happy with it.

My next project was the mirror. I am a Craigslist junkie so when I came across this Kohler medicine cabinet new in the box for $115 I knew it was for me. I negotiated it down to $100 and then hired a friend to help me put it in.

Unfortunately, I didn't properly measure before buying (a common problem for me) so my friend had a lot more work to do before it could be installed. After pulling out the old medicine cabinet he had to make some major cuts to make it fit. Because of the sizing problem he had to improvise by building a frame around the mirror. Here it is before I painted it.

And here it is after two coats of white paint.

I actually like it better with the frame around the mirror, it adds another layer of texture. I am so happy with this upgrade!

I'll come back tomorrow with the second half of the bathroom remodel.