Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Survival on a toilet, makeshift sink and cold water

This reno thing...it's not so bad. A little tense but all in all it's going well. I knew seeing my bank balance would make the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention but I'm doing my best to keep on budget. Okay, I have to admit....I've blown it in a couple of areas.
There are so many decisions. I knew there would be but I wasn't expecting to make so many decisions so quickly. Luckily I've done a lot of planning. Did I say a lot? I mean constant. I spend every morning on the computer looking for the perfect item at the perfect price for my perfect home. I need a personal masseuse to ease the tension in my neck from all the worry I'm putting myself through. I haven't been writing on my blog because I've been so busy finding, picking and ordering "things" for this mid century jewel.

I'm quite smug about a few of my decisions. I've decided to use two IKEA fridge cabinets butt together to make a floating vanity for my ensuite bath. I was truly battling using my original idea, which was taking my dining room credenza and turning it into the bath vanity. Why the struggle? The style... and it would only allow one sink. It's a beautiful piece but really doesn't fit into the "mid century modern" design I'm so eager to achieve. While scouring IKEA hackers website I saw the fridge cabinet idea turned vanity. I didn't like how they had decorated it but it was a fantastic idea and cost effective at that. Yes, it would be more costly than using the dining credenza I already had but I knew that I would regret it if I didn't go for it. Now I can have two sinks...always better for resale in a master bathroom (always think of resale...always).
I'm using the fridge cabinets idea for another project as well. I'm leaving the under portion of my stairs open and I will be making a seating bench to fit under with two fridge cabinets. I found this idea on the internet as well, although not for under the stairs. The cabinets will sit on small pieces of wood (unseen plywood pieces perhaps) just enough to be off the floor so the doors can open to store things inside. I will then make a long pad with nice material to be the cushion on the top of the cabinets. Wa-la, storage and a seating area to sit and put your shoes on. I'm going to ask the electrician this morning if he will put lighting on the wall below the bench so the light will shine up behind it.
The meeting went well with Lorie from the bath store. I ended up splurging a bit here and got two soaker tubs but I was a good girl and selected vessel sinks for my ensuite that were mid range in price. The ones I liked were upwards of a grand each...cough, cough. I spent a sufficient $200 each and achieved the same look. They are on back order until April 22nd, which I'm sure will be fine. My bathtubs should be in next week. Keeping on the bathroom subject, I was thrilled to find some bathroom vanity lights for the main bathroom at a decent price. I found them at Canadian Tire of all places. I was there yesterday on a work mission and spotted them. I really like them because the glass looks like linen. I have tried to purchase all my lighting from Rona because I have over a grand to spend there from Airmiles. I have found some cool wall sconces for my upstairs hall but I just wasn't keen on the vanity lighting selection. I have pinned down some lights for my ensuite but I don't know if they will be powerful enough. They are from Rejuvenation Hardware and they are Atomic style which are awesome and just my cuppa tea. The kicker?...they are more than I would like to spend (what's new) and I will have to pay shipping because they are from the U.S. This company also make reproduction 50's drawer pulls I want for my linen and washer and dryer closet doors. I tried to steal some real 1950's ones from someone. (You know who you are)...but it just didn't happen :).

I have a lot of recessed lighting going into my home. I do love recessed lighting but the real reason I have so much of it is from bulkheads that have had to be built in to hide plumbing pipes. I knew it was going to happen in the kitchen because of my ensuite bath above but now it will be in all the bathrooms as well to hide the ugly wall fans that have to go in. It is going to look cool though, but it's also going to be more ca-ching.
All the framing is done upstairs and most of it is done on the main floor. The electrician will be here today to finish the downstairs wiring so I'm trying to be prepared to make decisions on where the lights will be...most of it is recessed lighting. My vacuum rough-in was finished yesterday and my cable and phone has been ordered to be put in.

On the weekend I went with my oldest daughter to Rona to exchange some wall sconces that I decided were not right. I spotted a Sears Home Center on the way and decided to pop in to see if they had lots of appliances on the floor. Well, indeed they did. In particular I was looking for an Electrolux side by side refrigerator because the french door version was way over my budget. I have changed my mind about the Fisher and Paykel fridge and stove and started veering towards Electrolux. I absolutely fell in love with the Electrolux stove because the warming drawer turns into an oven if you want it to be...think homemade pizza.
Lucky me, I found an Electrolux side by side fridge floor model marked down almost a grand.
It had a couple of scratches on the side but what did I care, my fridge was going to be built in so it would never be seen. I bought the stove and fridge and ended up getting a Kenmore dishwasher.
On a separate note, I also picked up my chromed backplate for my door knob. It looks terriffic with the chrome door knob! I can't wait to see the whole door put together.

Well, that's enough for now...I have to save this entry and post it later with some updated pictures...and more importantly....I need to scour the internet for more deals and ideas before "the men" arrive.

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