The bungalow project

[eclecticcottage]

So the sink I found might not work. Of course. HOWEVER I did more research on the so called 8" spread faucets and found out they are a MINIMUM of 8" and one I like (online, have to see in person) can go to 16". Which very well could work!

So, now I need to figure out if I can fix the rusty sink. It has a third hole already which would be great. I think-where the little plug is that the sink stopper (MIA) is supposed to attach to. It's not rusted out, but where the overflow "grate" is, one of the holes has rusted out to be larger than the others. I know there is probably a way to fix this. I just need to find it in a reasonably inexpensive yet quality way. This is one of those places I need to tread lightly and carefully-I need to make "old" look "cool" or someone will replace it. It needs to look good and clean and function like a new sink for this market.

This is the faucet I'm thinking of



I swear I'm going to take a break and do a boring ranch next that I don't have to worry about stuff like that lol. I'd probably be lost without all these things to figure out though. I could use that cool lantern tile on the backsplash in a ranch though...

Not the best pic but all I have at the moment-rust upstairs sink



I am keeping the original medicine cabinet (I do need to clean and repaint the inside on that too, also due to rust) and found really nice sconces that are now on each side:



Oh, and of course that great soap holder is staying!

[eclecticcottage]

Ok so I'm thinking some time with a dremel, some JB weld and epoxy paint for sinks/tubs might be in my future. I don't know how I forgot about JB weld. I just need to get the downstairs bath done so I can shut off the water to the upstairs bath (when you're there all day it's nice to have "facilities") then I can pull the upstairs sink and get started. I'll have to see if that faucet will work and make sure I like it, but this might just work-AND not kill my budget.

[Lily left the valley]

In looking at that picture, is that a soap holder, or is that a holder for a cup for teeth brushing? I've seen cup holders that have the higher side like that. It may be the perspective of the picture that's giving me uncertainty.

Is the rust from the water, or is the sink enamel over cast?

I ask partially because that may affect which dremel bits you need. They make specialized ones for porcelain/ceramic/glass. True porcelain is very dense compared to ceramic, and your work area will get much hotter than you may think it would. It can be just as easy to get a glance burn with these materials in general as it is working metal.

[eclecticcottage]

I guess I assumed it was a soap holder...it was used as one (build up evident) but it might not have been meant as one originally. either way, I'm leaving it!

Enamel over cast. It's not just a stain, it's full on actual rust. Rehab addict had one almost exactly like it in one of the shows, she kind of just stuck some putty on it, but I want to clean out the rust and treat it first, then use JB weld, then sand, then paint. There also might be some fiberglass involved. I am thinking of using the dremel to clean up the rust and to mold the jb weld so the repair is seamless. Or, I might just find a replacement vintage sink without rust if I cannot do this in a quality manner! I really want to save what I can, so I am rethinking my original decision to replace the sinks, but I need to make sure I'm not just putting a bandaid on this so the FO (future owner) has a headache later. That's not the point in this at all.

Side note: I've been reading a bunch of posts here and have to laugh at the hatred of vinyl. Not because I like it, but I do hope the FO of the Bungalow doesn't want to remove the vinyl to restore the original siding. Since, um, it was roof shingles that will be gone!

[mjt]

I'm pretty certain it's a cup holder. If it was a soap dish it would have a different shape.

Here's a photo from our old master bathroom with a pair of cup holders on either side of the medicine cabinet and the soap dish below:

[eclecticcottage]

Neat. Well, cup holder it is!

Also, I looked more closely at the sinks, and I will very likely be using replacements. The upstairs sink is worse than I thought, with rust in all of the overflow slots-crusty layers of it. The downstairs sink that I thought was fine also has rust in the overflow. While they may last a while, they will eventually rot out, and I don't want to just bandaid patch them so the FO ends up with puddles on the floor in a couple years! Original is great, but sometimes it's not functional anymore, and someone let these go to that point. I don't love the square replacements but I haven't found vintage ones (yet) either. If they come up before sink installation time, great-if not, then the FO will have new sinks. I will still sell the originals, someone can either restore/patch them (they might work for a long time in a seldom used bath) or repurpose them.

[eclecticcottage]

Well, looks like the roof will be done this week. Someone seems to have forgotten to tell me though lol. I've had some out of town family in for the holidays so I wasn't there yesterday. A friend drove by just now and thought I would like to know my shingles and roofing materials are in my yard . Hopefully the siding also appears and makes its way onto the house so all that is at least done. I have been really wanting it all done in one way, but I've been happy leaving that bit of money in the bank too .

The family left this AM so I should be back to being able to work on the house regularly again too. I really need to get drywall started so I can get the cabinets in so I can get the counters ordered-or I'll need to go with butcher block or something with a shorter lead time. I love, love, love the butcher block look but I don't know how it is for resale, what with pretty much every "house" show extolling granite and other solid surfaces (I will probably go straight black laminate, but the molded kind so there aren't seams).

[Kashka-Kat]

Big big fan of Wilsonart Sable Soapstone - with a square edge. The color is about the same as the inside of the laminate, so even though there are seams they are hardly visible. Black laminate is just so.... black! There are some other "soapstone" colors some more gray and some with more of a streaky look - What I like about them is they have some variation and pattern but without being super-busy like some of the other fake stone look patterns.

Btw for a rehab like this I would stick with some tastefully done laminate vs spend a lot on granite - use the savings to upgrade your windows from vinyl to real wood. The higher end people might not like laminate, but those folks.... they may not be crazy about granite either. The super-trendy folks on the Houzz forums are already ripping out their granite in favor of some other next big thing!

[eclecticcottage]

Thanks for the thoughts! I kind of like the black counters, with the white cabinets and walls. The faux stone laminates always look...faux to me. I did order some samples-I would go with the matte though, the gloss looked like a smudge nightmare to me. I think if there was a lot of counter I would agree-too much black-but with the sink and stove in the L, there is only about 27-28 sq ft of it.

The difference is about $1000 between granite and laminate, installed (it's not a very large kitchen and I'm doing wood on the built ins, like what was there originally). No where near enough to cover the "upgrade" cost of 24 windows. And those are already done anyway. They are lifetime double hung tilt sash (both upper and lower) though, so even though they are vinyl, they aren't the cheapie ones those companies always seem to be selling for $199 a window installed. Well, almost all of them are tilt sash-I have three fixed pane. Those were originally fixed and I left them that way since they are square-they are all on the 1st floor though so cleaning without the tilt shouldn't be an issue. My contractor will back up the warranty so the buyer shouldn't have a problem, but they are lifetime from the company itself as well in case something were to happen (his kids don't take over his business and he retires in 15 years or something). It did take me a little while to get used to the look inside (outside was a HUGE improvement), but since the trim will be painted white (the trim appears to have always been painted) the wood wouldn't have looked much different anyway once it was painted. I don't know that the "upgraded" wood windows would have really been much better than what I got.

I doubt I'll be getting many "higher end" folks with this house. It's a working class blue collar type area. I don't think any of my comps had actual granite-mostly the faux stuff and one or two with the old style square stuff with visible seams on the edges. I highly doubt I'll spend the extra $1K on the granite though. It is a really pretty stone (black pearl) but I think the money will be better spent siding the garage/fixing the "fix" in the corner.

[eclecticcottage]

So the framing is in for the fridge bump out and closet in the blue room. I started pondering something last night.

I have the extra doors from the built in, in the kitchen. I am thinking of using two of them on the top and making a storage area above the fridge. Then the closet will still be to the right with a door. BUT, do I still drywall below, or build shallow shelving-I think the doors with the drywall below will look out of place. I don't know if I want to make an extra project by adding the shelving. BUT, I made the bump out way deeper than needed for a fridge so the closet wasn't super shallow, so there is space for shelves. I need to frame a short window seat between the wall and bump out also, so as to make use of the odd little space there now too. I kind of see this as a playroom/craftroom, or maybe an office space so the shelving and storage would make sense.

I think I'd use the taller doors (I brought out one of each to see, I have a pair of each).



OR I could just drywall the whole thing on the outside and still build the storage area above the fridge with access to it from the closet-which would be easier and not cause a design dilemma. I can't visualize the doors and shelving...but I have the doors and they do belong to the house...so many decisions!

And the dumpster for the roof arrived this am. I am really nervous to find out what's under that and how much sheathing I'm going to need. With such a big roof, if a lot is needed, it could be thousands of dollars worth. *insert nail biting smilie* I highly doubt I'm going to get away with not needing any. It could easily eat up the $2,500 I saved by not going with the shake siding-which was originally why I wanted to wait to decide until the roof was done. But, it takes a couple weeks to order the shake and with the weather to work around...I hope I like the four over four. I've seen both, but shake seems more prevelent so I'm not sure if I'll like it or not. I'm still thinking it's going to look too cape like, but I just couldn't put that much extra into it without knowing about the roof. I think if the whole thing needs sheathing it could be $4-5,000. Looks are important, but a roof done right is more important, so I guess if it looks a little capey but has a good water tight non-wavy roof, I can live with it (I will see this house thousands of times after I sell it, I drive by it regularly).