Prices, progress, project management
"Enjoying" the journey
The finish line is in sight. Over the last seven days we’ve had carpet, tile and trim installed, and painting done.
We’ve ordered a new mirror, hooks, a curtain rod, and I’m still working on a toilet paper holder (I know, I know).
It took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to decide on a mirror. This is because a lot of 48-inch vanities are either paired with rectangular mirrors hung in portrait with sconces on either side, or with rectangular mirrors hung in landscape with a sconces above. Neither of these are options I’m open to for two reasons:
We would need to hire an electrician to do some work for us in order to have the wiring in the right place to do sconces.
We have the exact same vanity (only larger, 60 inches) in our primary bathroom, and above that we have a rectangular mirror hung in landscape, so I don’t want to repeat this look.
There are a surprising number of alternative shapes for mirrors if you look well for them. There are the traditional shapes like circles and squares, but there are plenty of additional shapes too.
Tamsin Johnson is master of the funky mirror.
I did a lot of research for mirrors that would fit into our budget, and unsurprisingly, none of those Tamsin uses are in that category.
I kept looking for other ideas, and found this:
It’s an oval hung on its side, and while the shape and style are fairly traditional, the sideways angle is exactly the subversive element I’ve been looking for.
Respecting the house means sticking with tradition to an extent, but respecting us and the style we appreciate means still finding a playful, subversive element, and this is one both my husband and I agree on.
So here’s what we ordered:
You’ll notice it is in a brushed nickel finish. The hooks and curtain rod I ordered are not: they’re chrome. This is a little taboo, but sometimes I think it’s fine to “go there”. We did this in our primary bathroom, and weirdly, I think it works.
In the primary bathroom we have a brushed nickel mirror, a brushed nickel light fixture, chrome faucets, and brushed nickel cabinet pulls.
In the upstairs bathroom, we’re going to have a brushed nickel mirror and brushed nickel cabinet pulls, and the curtain rod, faucet, and robe hooks will be chrome.
The faucet is the same one from pre-toilet flood days: the Pfister LG49-COL0 in polished chrome.
The towel hooks are the Porter towel hook from Delta. We ordered them from Home Depot for less than $12 each, and got them in chrome, although they read warmer—a lot closer to nickel (a huge thing to be aware of by the way: not all chromes look the same and so on and so forth).
The curtain rod is also from Home Depot. It’s the Kingston Brass Classic 60 in. to 72 in. Fixed Shower Curtain Rod (with hooks!) in chrome. It’s a classic, simple design, and the fact that it’s fixed means we won’t have to worry about it damaging the wall (like previous tension rods did).
