Sunday, February 20, 2005

I love faucets more than shoes

During the time we've lived in our current house, I've pretty much done a top to bottom facelift and made a lot of changes that I think make a 70's rambler about as pleasant as it can be without spending a fortune. When we moved in it was truly like stepping into a bad 70's movie set. There were brown and yellow crocheted lace curtains on the windows and wallpaper on one wall of every room in weird pastel abstract patterns. The living room was peach and the house numbers were painted six feet tall on the garage door in brown and yellow. Makes you wonder who came up with that great idea and what drug they were on.

One of the things that desperately needed help was the upstairs bathroom. The gold flecked formica countertop and rust stained sink just didn't do it for me. Sourcing materials locally left a lot to be desired in the cool, fun category and it was during this adventure that I ran across Lavabo, a UK based fixture supply house that has some amazing things. I found a sink and faucet that was far more interesting than anything I found in the US at the time and a lot less expensive.
Here's what it looks like installed:

Although the exchange rate is pretty ugly at present, there's some great stuff to had from the UK via the internet. Although I see more and more good, American designed and produced fixtures we've still got a long way to go when it comes to cool as the norm.

The counter is a glass mosaic I made using the by-products of my stained glass work. Originally I had decided on a really cool tranlucent solid surface material but the quote I got for just a 48" countertop was insanely expensive. Since it's always my goal to maintain a sensible budget when it comes to interiors, I looked around for a cheaper alternative and found it right in the next room. As it turned out, I liked the result a lot more than what I was contemplating spending a fortune on and I think it has a lot more personality.
I did all the fabrication, installation and plumbing myself.

Comments:
Now that is one thing I'll miss about your 70's rambler!
 
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