Enchantment Under the Sea
I recently shared my living room with you, my gentle readers. Today I would like to invite you into a little place I like to call “Undersea Paradise.” A less fanciful name for it is “the bathroom,” but for the sake of not being weird and hitting up the bathroom together, let’s stick with my chosen moniker.
When I moved into my current apartment, the bathroom was just awful. I wish I’d taken more pictures to prove it, but I only have a few. Here is one of my wonderful sink. Nothing says dark ages better than separate taps for hot and cold water. Burn your hand, freeze your hand, burn your hand, freeze your hand. (I won’t even discuss the nastiness festering in the bottom of that sink, but you can see it in the picture.)
The brush, pink thing and jar came with the apartment.
The “decor” consisted entirely of this fixture below. The prior resident didn’t even leave me any paper on the roll.
Here’s another “before” shot:
The first thing I did was bust out a crowbar and yank out the old sink. I swapped in a nice, lovely, new one. You will also notice that I put a mirror over the sink. Oddly, there was no mirror above the sink before. Just a plain white wall. I felt like a vampire in the mornings. Where am I?
Much better– my hands are no longer simultaneously blistered and frostbitten– but I didn’t stop there. I decided to create an Undersea Paradise. Naturally, that attracted fish, so I had to put up some netting. Oh, look! It attracts crustaceans too:
Here we see the catch of the day. He’ll be mighty yummy once he’s been basted with something spicy and grilled to perfection:
This little fellow insists he belongs; he claims he is a sea monkey:
When I moved in, the bathroom lighting consisted of a bare light bulb jutting from the ceiling at an odd angle, so I installed a new light fixture:
But that wasn’t bright enough, especially for a pretty little Peasprout like me. I must make sure I am appropriately coiffed each day, so I added some vanity lighting:
Believe it or not, there was no electrical outlet in the bathroom, so I had to put one in. And yes, I put the main fixture on a dimmer, so I can set that romantic mood. Actually it’s so I can go in there at night and not blind myself once my eyes have grown accustomed to the dark, but it does make for nice bubble baths as well:
The room still wasn’t quite jazzy enough, but some pretty fishy lights around the door frame solved that in a hurry. Thanks Fizzy! You can get a glimpse of the jungle-themed foyer in the background; perhaps I’ll detail that in a future post.
You can’t really tell in any of these pictures, but I also tore down the shower and rebuilt it with new tiles, plaster and grout.
And finally, here is a nice overview of the Underwater Paradise:
wow. that’s really incredible. (those sinks are the worst). i wish i were half that handy.
screw that, i’d just settle for being that motivated.
wow…what a job you did to the rubble…
And I really like that sea monkey of yours, cuz I picked up the same one couple years ago at UO.
……………………… what a charming loo.
how did you put the electrical outlet in? don’t you need to rip out the dry wall, do some wiring at the framing, then cover the wall up again?
i just now saw the other pics of your place. very hot.
do you by any chance have a book called “Pad?” i love it. you seem to have a lot of the same decorating styles and the diy attitude. if you don’t have it, you may want to look into it.
that’s the same sink i had in my dorm room last year. it was the original. nice, huh? and we were the lucky ones… honors students get to have sinks..
aren’t we special?
i really like the sea monkey!
*resists the urge to comment on the deodorant on the sink*
:P
@Bamber, You wouldn’t be the first person to tell me that is a ‘girl’s deodorant.’ I had no idea when I bought it, but after trying a handful of brands, I found that Secret is the one that works for me and stuck with it.
@Peasprout, Hey, if it works, more power to ya. What is it they say? “Made for a man, pH balanced for a woman” or something? ;)
*giggles* I noticed the deodorant and the Crew…=). I wish I remembered what I wrote in your guest book..Just goes to show you how useless they are. Cute bathroom.
@Bamber, And also– why were you so sure that it is *my* deodorant? I do live with my girlfriend after all. It could have been hers!
wow very nice!!!
hey look, i finally have my virtual pet. =o]
yay!! i finally know someone who has a birthday on the 25th!. hahahha i have friends who have a bday on the 24th and the 26th. =o]