finishing touches have been tweaked and are ready for their close up

 

The vanity has been completed while the mirror will be getting some finishing touches added to it over the next few days. The bathroom now has a very spa-like vibe with the addition of some of my very fav items. I think it's important you have special things around you that bring back wonderful memories when you look at them... and for that moment you can see where you were, whom you were with before you're whisked back to where you are now in your life. This is what makes a home your sanctuary and not some random place to hang your hat.

                I love this hand-mirror. I've had for more decades than I care to remember.

 

The heart shaped voltive holder is a keepsake from Amanda's wedding. The battery operated faux metallic voltive is from a holiday shopping spree when I selected stocking stuffers for Emma, Zach and Landie this past year-- such a fun day!

 

 

This framed print is a birthday card that was given to me by a friend. I love what it says.

This collection holds sandalwood incense along with a dried flower from a bouquet that a friend had picked in her garden and gave to me. The heirloom perfume stopper belonged to my paternal grandmother and reaches so far back in my memory that I can't remember it not being in my life. It was a pair. When my grandmother passed my aunt and I each took one as a keepsake. This crystal voltive holder was one of the first things I purchased when I moved into my Forest Meadows condo when Dave was 19 and Amanda was 13. Tara then 18 and Kyle lived a few blocks away, in downtown Murphys, and were expecting Hali. I was suddenly all on my own. It was the most challenging year of my life but it was also one of the very best.

The two back prints, Jeff and I picked up one Saturday afternoon, while  we were gallery hopping through Harbinger, when we were dating. It was such a beautiful day. Sunshine, blue skies with balmy temps. We dashed into Alchemy afterwards for an espresso and Mexican chocolate coffee with whipped cream that they served in those wonderfully large over-sized bowls. I remember that tooled back up to my condo later and barbecued steak and tossed together a Caesar salad while listening to a jazz cd of all the great lady jazz singers; Ella, Billie, etc., a gift from Jeff. We sat out on the 3rd story deck where the aroma of bbq mingled with the scent of towering sugar pines aka ponderosa pinetrees.

How can I not like a room that contains all of these wonderful memories that life has given me?

Now, I can turn my attention to the guest bathroom that still has so very much needed to be done with it... Deep sigh.

                                                          These Foolish Things, Nat King Cole

Painting and other observations....

                                                        Our House, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Painting rooms. I used to love this. It was theraputic. I still love the thought of creating a different way of using space. I still love the end result. The process... not so much.

Our home was built in August 1956. Four months before I was born. When we moved into this house almost 8 years ago the house was 50 years old. While in fabulous shape with great bones it showed the wear and tear in the interior paint which had once been a pristine white which  then faded to a cigarette smoke infused white of sorts. Not beige. Not white. Somewhere in-between.

The only room we hadn't painted was the master bedroom bathroom. Which is more like a petite water closet. If you walk in you can take 3 steps before you hit the wall. If you're a guy, maybe 2 1/2 steps.

I'd say the bathroom overall is, having just measured it, 3' x 6.4'. Very small. It is a far cry from today's luxurious mega-hundred square feet rooms that display fireplaces, Carerra marble tubs and double basinery countertops with built-in sauna's that open onto a lush tropical garden that pop off the glossy pages of home magazines.

For years, I've walked into this room sighing deeply. Following this was always a very gutteral GACK! Sounding like I had a fur-ball that needed to come up. I hadn't formulated where I wanted to go with this room. It has a large circular mirror that is securely adhered to the wall. On the surface, this doesn't sound bad. Then you look at the darkened gold leaf mirror border with same darkened gold leaf stars circling the mirror. This mirror could easily have been in Betsy Ross' home and been her inspiration for the American flag. 

What I have liked is the original 'Boomerang' formica counterop/backsplash in perfect condition. In white with a gray/blue and light cranberry design. After sighing, I would tell Jeff, I haven't the strength to deal with this yet... one day I will. It's just not this day...

Fast forward to today: I can say I've found the strength (at long last) and tackeled it admirably. How to marry all of these oddities together was the challenge. I just hadn't wanted to deal with it.

How did we deal with it? First, Jeff removed the original 1956 built-in light. Sadly, I did not take a picture of this as a before. Darn. Then I chose a richly colored gray paint by Valspar named Vintage Gray. It has deep rich blue tones. It's a warm color that just envelopes you and is very spa-like. Which is the vibe I went with for this bathroom.  The camera doesn't really capture the beauty of this paint but will give you a kinda clue.

One of my greatest downfalls, if you want to call it that is... artwork, books, music and movie videoes. We have these in abundance. How can one (me) be a creative individual (which I am) married to an equally created individual whom is an artist (Jeff) and not have ALL this stuff in abundance? IDK. It happens.

So basically, all we had to splurge on was paint. We have everything else, one of the great things about age. I wanted this bathroom to be spa-like in it's simplicty and elegant with it's accessories. I brought out some of our fav pieces of small artwork. I added an African mask sculpture that sits on the window sill beneath a beaded creme-colored silk linen valance. The mask pairs next to a honey/vanilla glass encased candle (think possible necessity). Jeff hung a brass/glass new light fixture that has a mate in the garage. We've had these two fixtures for years and never used them. We had bought them when we lived in Angels Camp just before we moved into this house. Go figure!

I painted this atrocious monstrocity of a mirror white. It now looks contempory and the stars could possibly be starfish-- it has a new beachy vibe. I'm still working on the details of the mirror.

I snapped some pix last evening and this morning. The paint changes colors depending upon the time of day and light source. In a few months Jeff and I will be putting in new flooring tile, but that's later. So here are the pix... In the first pix we had just hung the light to see if it would work with the new plan. The last pix in this group is of the boomerang countertop/backsplash. The scratch is in the mirror but reflects towards the wall.

What the mirror looks like now. Still doing touch up on mirror.

My fav part is adding the accessories. Especially, artwork...

 

 

Valance and other things. It's funny. The blue bead on the African sculputure base is an opaque heavy glass blue but yet comes across on film as a solid blue bead.

 

 

A new thing I did purchase for the bathroom was an LED night light that is pretty cool. It comes on at when it begins to darken and turns off when light appears.

There we have it. Our new little bathroom that I don't have to cringe every time I enter and have to look at it.

                                              You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To, Sarah Vaughn