Master Bath Sink Begins

Keith from Cretedog came over to make the template for the concrete trough sink.  He also brought 2 color concrete samples (grey and white) and a pamphlet of concrete colors to choose from! 

We purchased the faucets and a pop-up drain.  But when Keith's partner brought a pedestal sink for viewing, I fell in love with the drain he had in there.  The drain top rotates!  It was way cool.  Not only that but the diameter of the pop-up drain I bought was too big, so we decided to go with the rotating drain.

We also decided to go with the grey (aka natural concrete).  Not only did it look classier, but it looks like concrete.  And it would be easier to select tile for the backsplash.  

So with the concrete sample in hand, we went to the Tile and Stone Warehouse, The Tile Shop, Lowe's, and Home Depot.  LD fell in LOVE with some tile from Vogue Bay, but it was toooooo expensive, even for a backsplash.  So I told her we had to find something in our budget.  We have looked at so many tiles in the past, but it helped to have the concrete sample in hand.  Well, we finally found some tile that was perfect for the space.

We also purchased a couple of the Vega faucets by Price Pfister in the satin nickel finish.  The style has been discontinued, but we found some on ebay.

It will take about 3 weeks to get the trough sink, so stay tuned for more of the process.  We will be taking pics when Keith makes the forms.

Concrete Trough Sink Plans and Drawings

Well, it's finally going to happen.  We are going to get a concrete trough sink made for the master bathroom.  We decided to go with Keith Mueller from Cretedog (www.cretedog.com).  I stumbled across them on the web, and LD has been a fan of theirs on Facebook.  They do some wonderful work, so we decided to go with them.

Keith came over and talked to us about what we wanted for the bathroom.  He was very nice and easy to talk to, and took our ideas to heart.  The very next day he sent us several schematics and a model of the sink.  It is exactly what we wanted!

The drawing looks great!  When Keith comes over to make the template, all we'll have to do is choose a concrete color.  We'll post more on the process!

Score! Eames Shell and Thonet Attiva Chairs

The New Orleans Saints are not the only ones that won big this weekend.  Our hunt for some dining room and sitting chairs has finally been successful.  We managed to score four vintage Eames shell chairs and a couple of Thonet Attiva stacking chairs for a steal.

The Eames shell chairs are a little rough and faded, but I am going to try to restore some color to them by following chairfag's restoration tutorial.  However, that will have to wait for warmer weather because it involves wet sanding, and I don't really have any indoor space to do that.  I'll post about that process when we can go outside again and the water doesn't freeze.

We would also like to replace the side chair legs to the Eiffel legs.  So stay tuned for that!

The Thonet chairs just need a good cleaning, but they are not in too bad a shape.   Each of the Thonets are going in the bedrooms as a sitting chair.  The master bedroom still has space to fill, but it will take some time before we decide how to fill it.

Puppies, Puppies Everywhere!

LD and three of her USAR teammates were supposed to be in College Station this weekend training at Disaster City.  Unfortunately the winter storm that hit Oklahoma made travel conditions too dangerous for them, and their plans were cancelled.With her weekend plans cancelled, we had a free weekend.  So we decided to head to St. Louis and do some shopping.

On our way to St. Louis we stopped to visit some friends.  One of their Portuguese Water Dogs had a litter of puppies, and they asked LD to evaluate the puppies' temperament using a puppy aptitude test.   I know it was very hard for LD to be objective, and evaluate them because she has been watching them grow online.

After spending a few hours assisting LD with her evaluation of some adorable, furry puppies, we went inside for some delicious spicy lentil soup.  After pigging out on two bowls of soup, we were treated to some delicious bread pudding/custard dessert.  I am jealous of our friends' culinary skills!  I would sign up for some culinary classes if I thought it would help, but I am a firm believer that people are just born with talents (I am still trying to find mine).

OMG-Look at that adorable face!!

As if the gift of our friends' company and delicious cooking were not enough, our friends also surprised us with a beautiful Persian rug.  It is a flat woven Kelim, wool on wool hand-woven rug, used by nomad tribes to protect them from the sand, and also used as windows and doorways.  The rugs are woven with open spaces to allow the breeze to go through while keeping the heat out.

We actually managed to leave without taking a puppy with us, but it was very hard because they were adorable and intelligent.

We got into St. Louis and did a quick stop at REI.  I was under the impression that I would be able to spend my dividend, but after speaking with one of the cashiers I learned that they would not be available until the third week of March.  So the big shopping spree I had planned, will have to wait until my dividend is available.  We headed to our hotel, and after unloading our stuff we headed out to Westport Pizza for dinner.  The pizza was very good, it tasted like some pizza we had before, but we could not figure out where.

The next day after breakfast, we went shopping at Trader Joe's.  It would be a crime to go to St. Louis and not pick up some groceries there.  I am addicted to their chile spiced mango.

We missed a "sale" on contemporary furniture that had been advertised on Craigslist, but we went to the location (it wasn't really a store), and peeked through the windows to see what we had missed out.  There were several nice pieces in there, so LD contacted the seller today.  She found out the prices on some of the pieces that interested us.  Let's just say that we know why there was so much furniture left; you had to have some very, deep pockets to afford a single piece!  And the items were supposed to be 50-80% off!!