The House that Jack Built- Part 2

Part 2, was supposed to be easy. Really easy. As in, hey carpet guys, tear up the carpet and put down the new stuff.  Wait, hold up! First, we have to address THIS area:



Pre-Move In 2007.  My "hotel" sink area

After I had updated it in October 2010



What we have there is a 60inch "area" filled with a lovely seashell shaped sink and "vanity" area.  To complete the look, the "crystal" uni-knob faucet sets the tone for a perfect 1982 make-up session. Cue the aquanet and blue eyeshadow.  I can hear the Hall and Oats music blasting from the cassette deck.  Ah....

For 5 years, Papa John's Chair (my great-great Uncle) sat there, under that "make-up" area. And, it sat there, and I never once sat in that thing.   The cats sat in it and so have the kids.  I'm just not a sit down to get ready kind of girl.  When it takes all of 20 seconds to slap on eyeliner and mascara, it seemed pointless. 

If you read Part 1 of  "The House That Jack Built,"  you know this "update house-a-paloza" began with a simple conversation over an adult beverage or three.  My #1 hate of this home is the 1980's beige Holiday Inn carpet that is EVERYWHERE.  The worst was in our bedroom.  Previous owners MUST have had a waterbed; not only did we have permanent indentations in the carpet from the previous furniture, but there were a few rusted spots. The carpet was as cozy as walking on indoor/outdoor carpet.  It was gross.  After we did the step project, the hallway and Master Bedroom carpet was a necessity. 

Like any good consumer, I went to the carpet store.  In fact, I became friends with our carpet guy.  Like any good DIY project, we had a few issues with picking out carpet, keeping certain things in stock, and I initially picked out the TOP OF THE LINE carpet, with the TOP OF THE LINE pricing.  That gave me sticker shock and we kept looking until we found a nice carpet with a nice price.

With carpet install day looming (HA- looming, like a loom, like making a textile, like carpet! I am a DORK!!!). Let's start again, with carpet day around the corner, I knew we were tearing up the old vanity/sink area.  My chore was to find a simple vanity and sink top.  Easy, right?  Well, after trips to numerous stores and debating what to do with this 60 inch area, I happened upon a sale.  Lowe's was getting rid of all sinks, vanities, etc. from their special order display.  While sporting my sportiest yoga gear without makeup, I opened a dialog with the Lowe's guy asking for good pricing (which I got), and special pricing on the granite counter top (not my thing, but it worked), and then he threw in the faucet (as it was already attached).  He wanted to get rid of the display, and I needed a sink.  It was win-win.

The night before carpet day, Jeff and I moved some furniture and decided it was time to tear out the vanity. Should be simple, right?  Well, the house the Jack built had settled.  And no amount of cussing, wacking, or wiggling was getting that vanity out of that space.  It seemed the vanity was 61inches squeezed into a 60 inch space. It was not moving, it was a replay of the wooden bookcase trim dilemma.  Now, Jeff got angry - it was sort of like watching the Hulk get angry.  He began tearing out the wooden (ugly) vanity, chucked the drawer, and with a giant ROAR tore that stupid thing out.  (OK, really it was he and I cussing and wiggling the vanity with me going "Jeff, my fingers are there, don't mash them!")

After 20minutes, some sweat and two MAJOR drywall holes....the vanity was out. Again, the house did not want to let it go, and fought to keep the seashell sink and vanity.

Then came the glorious carpet. OMG. It is wonderful, so soft and luxurious and NOT AT ALL like 1982 Holiday Inn beige.  So, my 60inch hole had carpet, and 2 freshly patched drywall spots.  Next it was time to dry fit the new vanity.  In true Jack the builder house, the vanity did NOT line up with existing plumbing (I should have checked this before buying the vanity, but I did not.  The upright for the drawer slides was in a bad spot.).  Jeff moved some piping around, but it was still weird.  So, in true Kim and Jeff fashion, we decided to design a shelf.

The shelf would affix to the back of the vanity, allowing the piping to "do it's thing" without having a 3 inch gap between the wall and the back of the vanity.  Again, enter in Lowe's, we found 1 sheet of 1 inch glass tile of 0.75. Yes, seventy-five cents. So, we made a shelf.

Here is the shelf in action:

Pretty shelf :)
Wooden cup is from when my Dad served in Vietnam
Flowers, from my rose bush

 

Now, what does our completed finished project look like? Kinda like this....

The quote reads: "Where there is great love, there are always miracles."

Things I did not realize.... This vanity is TALL and I am SHORT.  I have a little adjusting to do for this.  However, it's so pretty, I don't care.  Maybe I will grow into it one day :)

Next up.... here is a preview of  Part 3 of The House that Jack Built (being updated by Jeff and Kim). 

Seriously, what the hell. Giant box in the master closet, they called it a laundry chute.  Want to see where it empties?

Yes, this solidifies my hypothesis that the Jack the Builder was indeed, high while building my house.