1923 Bungalow

More About the Arts and Crafts Show

We were talking about our Arts and Crafts show experience and realized that the show was a let down in one key way.  Very little bathroom stuff!  In fact, we are fairly certain there was NO bathroom stuff whatsoever.  No plumbing catalogs.  No bathroom sconces.  No medicine cabinets.  And not a sink or fixture in sight.

Further discussion led to the realization that almost all Arts and Crafts erotica (meaning the pretty books with lots of interior pictures bathed in golden light) is living and dining room focused.  If other rooms get footage, it will usually be the kitchen.  Only bungalow bedrooms are ignored as heartily, and I believe that is because all you can fit in the average bungalow bedroom is a bed (queen sized if you are really lucky) and a nightstand.

However, there are a number of decisions to be made when designing a bathroom.  We have had to hunt and hunt for the resources we have found.  With the exception of "Bungalow Bathrooms", we have found most of the resources to be lacking.  In fact, many other resources reprint Bungalow Bathroom pictures, to the point where we sometimes think there are only 25 vintage bungalow baths in the United States available to be photographed!  And even Bungalow Bathrooms isn't giving us the details we crave. 

I guess we'll just keep buying vintage plumbing catalogs on eBay and researching, researching, researching until we find what we are seeking...

So Much Planning Before the Doing

Over the weekend, we plugged away a little at our bathroom planning.  We went to Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware to view the fixtures together.  The S.O. was underimpressed with the Pottery Barn quality as well.  He liked Restoration Hardware better, but felt that both places liked to put a twist of modernity into their designs.  He prefers the designs to be original.  Actually, he prefers everything to actually be original instead of reproduction.  I am perhaps a bit more flexible.  That, and the thought of a used toilet thoroughly creeps me out.

We did surf eBay a little and have an outdoor light I've seen restored at Lightworks in our sights.  The one on eBay could be MUCH cheaper.  We saw a lovely set of deco sconces that we didn't bid on.  And we had some casual discussion of house number placement and other small details.  I checked out bathroom fans on Consumer Reports and found that the one we've been considering got top marks.   However, over the next few weeks we need to really buckle down or the bathroom may not happen!

Escape To Shopping

I left work at 5:45 today, thinking, "I'm leaving at the tail end of rush hour.  I should make it home sooner than usual."  Major jinx.  About 45 minutes later, I had made it 4 miles.  With 10 miles to go.  This was the kind of traffic I expected with snow.  Not in August. 

Then, it started to rain.  Realizing that traffic could actually get worse, I decided to exit into the most dangerous part of Edina for a homeowner - Gavidae Mall.  Gavidae is a rather snobby mall, but it has an unbeatable combination of stores on its west side.  Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, and the Brass Handle (a fixture store with faucets, handles, house numbers, and such) all in sight of each other.  Along with an oriental rug store with hundreds of beautiful (and thoroughly unattainable) rugs.  I could easily kill a little time while I waited for traffic to die down.

At Restoration Hardware, I checked out the fixture set I have been considering and the medicine cabinet that speaks to me (these items will be added to the Bathroom Ideas photo album for your viewing pleasure).  I liked the towel bars and most of the fixtures in the Devon collection.  However, I found the towel ring flimsy.  It really seems to be plastic with metallic paint.  I liked the medicine cabinet.  It's 7 inches deep - most I've seen are only 5 inches.

At Pottery Barn I checked out the magazine rack I've been coveting.  I was disappointed.  It also seems rather flimsy.  The toilet paper holder is tough to change paper on and looks unable to manage the super ultra rolls of Charmin I like.

I did buy their bathroom design book.  Although they are a mass produced corporate entity, I find I am very fond of their style.  It makes me happy.

The Brass Handle disappointed me.  The fixtures were either modern or unappealing for other reasons (too boring, too overdone, too too, I guess...)  So I will need to look at fixtures a little bit more online.  For I will have my magazine rack.  The legions of magazines invading my house every day demand it.  After all, I just added subscription #10 (or so, I've truly lost count) to that new Arts and Crafts magazine by the Old Home Interiors folks.

After 45 minutes of browsing, I ventured back out.  Still raining.  Same traffic.  (At 7:30!)  And an accident (SUV in the ditch) that closed a lane on the stretch of road that's usually without traffic!  Good times.

On a more positive note, I found out I've been accepted at HouseBlogs.net.  17 people have viewed my blog today!  I feel so much higher profile than yesterday.  Wow.  I might have to write something meaningful now.

Can a Bathroom Make Me a Better Person?

A few weeks back, we were perusing wall sinks at Frank's Plumbing in SE Minneapolis.  It became clear that my signicant other wanted a sink without prominent edges.  Or rather, he wanted a sink that I could not perch tolietries on.  At all. 

Which brings up the question - can the correct bathroom choices change a person?  Or will I simply learn to balance my toiletries upon the narrow sink edges as if playing Jenga with dental floss and contact cases?  Will I start hanging magazines from towel bars and light fixtures?  Should a bathroom be designed for who we are or who we wish we were?

I, being the designated changee, am a fan of the former.   

I have picked out a fabulous combination magazine rack and TP holder from Pottery Barn that I think would work great (as seen at your left).

I have built in niches planned for the end of the tub to hold bubble bath and candles at the ready. 

In short, I am more than ready to accomodate the person that I am.  However, I knock stuff off the sink almost as much as my SO.  And the idea of an uncluttered, happy bathroom is a seductive one.  We will share our evolution as it unfolds.