great progress on the apartments

It has been a while since we've posted, and there are more craigslist finds that we need to document.

But you can check out some photos of the drywall going up in the back apartment here:





http://gallery.mac.com/patricios#100159&bgcolor=black&view=grid

Update! Stained Glass

Pat built cypress frames to hold the stained glass panels.

I stained the two interior frames so that they would match the old pine used to frame the opening and mounted the stain glass in the frames.

The final product looks great! It looks like it has always been there.

Some people spend over a thousand dollars for a toilet. . .

. . .but not us. Instead, we payed $60 for a $1200 (MSRP) toilet. Really, the cheapest I found this toilet was ~$800. (BTW, you can get a mahogany seat for this toilet for $500.)
Jonah D. did not like the way this toilet flushed. He was upfront with that fact. He knew that it was supposed to be a really nice toilet. It just wasn't working out for him.

There was some difficulty in meeting up with him. Finally, we met at his brewery's holiday party. I mean, where else do you pick up a used toilet?

We chatted awhile and told him our "story." Jonah seemed like a super-cool fella, even inviting us to the party. However, it was time to pick up another Craigslist find, so we had to pass.

Luckily, we have not had any problems with the toilet's flushing capacity. It has been well-tested.

A couple people have commented that getting a used toilet was strange, disgusting even. They are full of shit. ; )

10) bath vanity and medicine cabinet, 10/2/06, Tony O.

Not exactly in order. I'm posting this now because the front bathroom that contains this vanity is complete.

Tony had a townhouse in Capitol Hill. When we went to pick it up, there was a very swanky party dispersing from the condo 2 doors down. Tuxes and evening gowns.

Tony was unhappy with this mahogany sink vanity because he felt that the formal appearance reinforced the small size of his bathroom.

So it needed to go. Here is the ad photo that he posted.


He was very precise and concerned. We knew he was a lawyer when he wrote in an e-mail to Jacqueline, in the interest of full disclosure - the pattern on the mirror does not exactly match the pattern on the vanity.

The vanity, marble countertop, raised bowl sink, and brushed nickel faucet are striking. I'm very happy with the appearance as installed. The tub is from Jacqueline's Katrina destroyed house. John repainted it, and fussed with a replacement claw foot until it sat right. I don't remember if the claw foot was destroyed by the storm, or was already broken. The Kallista toilet in the finished bathroom is another craigslist purchase, from Jonah. See more details here.

The marble and the slate don't clash. That was one concern that we had for the installation. When renovating in the bricolage style, you never know.

Here are some photos so you can see the finished installation. I'm proud.