All Things Renovation
Guest Cottage: The Vintage Plumbing Fixtures We’re Using In The Bathroom + Our Final-ish Floorplan
If you were worried this bathroom couldn’t get weirder, you will be happy to know that it will, in fact, not only have a black urinal but an adorable (if not disgusting) powder blue toilet from the 1960s (and matching sink!). Yes, vintage plumbing! I swear I’m not rage-baiting you; I’m just genuinely excited to get a non-white toilet in a color that looked good with the stained glass door colors. And once I found this one, I squealed in absolute delight (and a tiny bit of disgust)! If this were for a client or if I were on a deadline, I would do the normal person thing, but this project, this room, is my chance for fun, learning, and experimentation, and I needed to check my “powder blue toilet with a ripped up puffy upholstered vinyl seat” box on my life bingo card. Bingo!!!
Now, this toilet was originally found at Portland’s beloved Hippo Hardware, where the owner himself (founded in the 1970s) charmed us with his passion for salvaged architectural pieces… and his wife, who recently passed away. It was all so sweet, and as a sucker for a sentimental dapper man and fearful that these would get snatched up like a package of nerd clusters surrounded by a group of 8-year-olds, I panicked and bought them. Mine! The sink and toilet were $500 for the pair, which felt expensive and yet reasonable. Of course, we didn’t know how much restoring them would be. That was a future Emily problem!
So we got the first quote back, which took weeks because apparently the few people who are still interested in refurbishing vintage plumbing are retired and don’t like to answer texts or emails (which is how I’ll be in my 80s, no shade). So the 14-day return period expired before we could get the quote. I was the owner of these two broken, busted fixtures without knowing how much it would cost to make them usable again.
The quote came in at $2,200!!!!!!! That is two thousand two hundred dollars to fix a gross old toilet (and sink that we don’t need).
“It’s not firm”. Ok? He said it might be a “lot less”. That he was “just preparing me for worst case scenario.” Listen, I have so much respect for makers and tradesmen, especially those who do something really historic and specific. But $2,200 after $500 stopped making sense to me (I’m literally laughing out loud right now, is common sense still a thing for this project?).
So instead of buying a normal person toilet, I found another retired and passionate antique plumbing fixture repair person who thinks it will be more like $600 for the toilet and not sure about the sink (but I loved talking to him on the phone – such passion! And he LOVED my toilet!! Such validation). At this point, I can’t return either, and I really want to make this work (clearly I’m invested in all the ways). But at the time of publishing, we still haven’t confirmed the exact price of restoration.
But I wasn’t buying vintage plumbing to save money on a toilet. I knew it would be more expensive than a new, simple white toilet. I bought it for the perfect color that you can’t get now. Not to mention the vintage vibes. The soul. The history. Think of all the people who have sat here and all the thoughts they had in the 1960s and 1970s. The Vietnam War. JFK assassination. The Nixon Era! Watergate happened right here.
Oh, and I also thought that restoring it would be a good learning experience for me and the seven of you who would ever attempt to do this. I can’t be the only lady off her rocker who has wanted a vintage colorful toilet from FBMP and wondered if it was doable? I figured I could walk you through my experience, and then those of you who have been waiting for the internet’s crazy person to do this would glean some information. Today is your day! Kinda!
There she is. The up-close moment she’s been waiting for. It’s been a long, hard life!! Kaitlin was like, “So you want me to professionally shoot… this??” I paid for her professional photographer rate to take these photos. And then when she didn’t get close enough, I was like, “Lady, get on in there. Give the people what they really want”. So she complied.
You’re welcome.
Ok, let’s get some facts straight here:
- The toilet will be totally cleaned and restored inside the tank. Like a Brazilian wax – shiny and smooth as a baby’s butt.
- The exterior will look brand new – it’s covered in grime, not poop, I promise. There are no cracks or stains.
- We’ll reupholster the seat in a fun vintage fabric. Thinking of my Boro fabric, I have a lot of scraps leftover.
- I’M JOKING. The seat will either be a new blue seat, a colored seat that doesn’t match but looks fun, or a wooden seat. All will be brand new, I swear on the lives of my children, I’m not a disgusting toilet-hoarding person. Yet.
- The sink will also be restored, likely with a new faucet. Mounted to the wall. Maybe skirted. Maybe with legs. Sexy AF.
- We’ll have another sink in the main part of the bathroom, so technically we don’t need this, but you can’t separate these two. They’ve been together for 75 years. Only a monster would separate these lovebirds.
- This is not a mid-year April Fools’ joke.
The toilet and sink will live inside the outhouse on the back wall. Now America’s favorite urinal will live on the right wall, behind the doors, so that when the doors are open, you can only see a little bit of it, but it’s not in full view until you walk in. The floor will be carpeted with the Flor tiles that I love. JK.
Yes, I bought the urinal. And it’s beautiful.
Now I seriously considered not having the urinal because I don’t like it when people aren’t excited about my ideas – it kinda takes the fun out of it, especially as a content creator. I love it when you guys connect with what I’m doing, care about it, and glean ideas from my design process. But as much as the anti-urinal brigade was coming at me, my in-house “urinal enthusiasm” club held strong. Brian and all of his friends (who are my friends, too) and Charlie and all of his friends were so excited (I didn’t ask his friends directly, I’m not that creepy of a freak. Charlie told me). And while I’m not a traditional people pleaser (at all), I’m extremely motivated by other people having fun and enjoying themselves in rooms I create. And the men in my family are so excited that no internet pushback could stop this urinal train. But it’s less visually prominent now, so you guys won’t have to look at it, and only the women in my life will have to suffer in person. I promise 🙂
So here you can see how it might look. There is going to be about 10″ of framing on each side of the door (thus obscuring the urinal). The stained glass is dark, mostly opaque. I haven’t decided what the walls inside are going to be. Maybe painted beadboard and wallpaper. Maybe carpet. Who knows!
The Vanity Sink
But we aren’t done salvaging and repurposing vintage plumbing fixtures, so we removed this sink from upstairs, and it’s pretty great. We almost used it in the kitchen, but I really wanted to explore powder coating it a color, and I knew that washing dishes in it would likely reduce its longevity a lot. Powder coating cast iron with a porcelain glaze is not a permanent finish; it’s prone to the paint chipping after years of use. So it’s not recommended, but anecdotally people say that if it’s in a bathroom that doesn’t get a ton of use, it can last for years and years, so I’m willing to take the risk for the learning experience (and to have a fun color).
It’s going to be centered on this wall between the wall and the shower. We’ll inset it in a table or vintage dresser/credenza. We might do what we did in the powder bath, which is to find a vintage table and cut off its back legs so it can be mounted to whatever depth we want and then skirt it. Or we find the right vintage case-good that we can inset it in. I’m open.
The faucet was already removed to get re-plated in polished nickel. But I haven’t got the quote back. I told the restorer that if it’s under $1k, I’ll do it, but if it’s more than that, I’ll buy a new bridge faucet (for much less). A few things as you are looking at that:
- The flooring will be a dark red brick in a herringbone pattern.
- The vanity is a placeholder for something vintage. It might be the perfect dresser or, again a skirted vanity that would allow me to bring in more color and pattern.
- The tile inside the shower is TBD (we are deciding this in conjunction with the sink color).
- Mirror and lights, TBD (location of lights is fixed).
- Walls will all be clad in our reclaimed fir, which is tonally the same as what we have.
But it’s worth it to me to see if we can get this old lady working again, in her new dress, rather than shove a new face on its neck. But the powder coating color is still up in the air. We aren’t 100% set on the tile of the shower yet, so that might make a difference in what color we ultimately choose, but here are a few of the colors we are getting samples for that Gretch mocked up for us:
Now my first choice was to powder coat it the color of the toilet, but there isn’t one that is close (we have more samples coming). And while I like that blue a lot (and will pop off the wood wall so nicely), there is a lot of blue already happening in here (the shower and the water closet are both in blue-painted structures). The green is a safe, awesome choice, as it’s one of our accent colors and will pop off the wood but work seamlessly in the design. The mustard could be the weird moment we need, OR be a huge regret. We haven’t chosen the tile yet for the shower and could incorporate some of these tones in there (or in the fabric that we might skirt the vanity in). Now the dark red would be AWESOME, but I fear that it won’t pop off the wood wall enough. But maybe that’s ok? Maybe it would catch the light and be a really dark, moody, and cool tone that is a bit more tonal with the walls?
What do you think? I know you don’t have alllll the information yet, but if you have a gut response, let me know. Vote below!
I’m still flushing out all the ideas. I’m drained from going back and forth on the urinal. But I’m back in a flow state and sinking into the reality that we’ll have a finished bathroom by September. 🙂
I want to give a shout-out to a longtime beloved reader, Kirsten Bell, who reached out re: the urinal conversation. Kirsten is an anthropologist who wrote an upcoming book called The Baggage We Carry, about the hidden anthropology of everyday life. There is a whole chapter about the history of the urinal and how, not shockingly, there are a lot of feelings about it. She referenced our conversation here in the book, which I felt very flattered by. Turns out I wasn’t wrong to think that the pushback was not just about the presumed issues with sanitation. Her book comes out in November and is linked here. I thought it was so funny and smart. Not what I was expecting at all, and boy, would I love to be in her anthropology class. Thanks, Kirsten. xx
*Photos by Kaitlin Green
I would do a black toilet seat. It’ll tie in the urinal.
I like green or burgundy for the big sink.
Second this. Black wood seats are pretty easy to find and feel classic.
Ooh good idea. I hadn’t thought of that!
I was coming to say the same thing about tying in the urinal—I jazzed up the toilet in our newly-updated basement powder room with a black seat and I love it so much I’ll likely swap out the seat on the first floor toilet as well. Really feels vintage in a great way.
Daniel Kanter (manhattan-nest.com)has restored and used a lot of vintage plumbing—might be worth checking in with him for tips!
Ha! I was imagining the glee in Daniel Kanter’s eyes were he to spy this blog post. His vintage plumbing IG soliloquies are hilarious.
Yes I was thinking a black seat would be perfect! I also love the green sink!
This is all so exciting! Look at Brian’s face — pure joy! Thank you for letting us follow along. And Kirsten Bell’s website is so witty. Thank you for sharing her insights and book preview.
Loving the puns and the jokes here!
I don’t see why you need a specialist plumber if the toilet isn’t cracked or chipped? The UK is full of ancient toilets and we just replace the flush mechanisms as needed, often as a DIY job, or replace the rubber ring between cistern and bowl. Look up replacement flush mechanism and you could get that for way less than $600.
I vote no powder-coating and no vanity, just the sink mounted on the wall and the underneath painted, as it looks so cute like that! Also, appreciation for the tiny soap dish!
During my bathroom remodel earlier this year, I was eyeing a vintage toilet, and my contractor implored me to reconsider, regaling me with tales and photos of an old toilet with no obvious damage but “microcracks” that went undetected for a long time and resulted in sewage seeping under the floor and drenching the underlayment. His experience may be unusual, but I was swayed away from that direction.
Yah my experience has been that plumbers don’t want to deal with it (similar to contractors not wanting to install ikea cabinets). I don’t think they have experience with it here. But I have a new plumber quoting this week and he seems motivated by the job so we’ll see.
Thank you, Emily, for this delightful blog post! I was literally cackling into my coffee over the prospect of a Boro-fabric covered toilet seat (also, bless the innocent hearts of all the Gen Zers who never had to use their aunt’s poofy-seated, rug-covered toilet in the late 80’s!). Love the personality going into this bathroom and how much fun you are clearly having designing it. There was a certain unhinged glee to the writing of this post that was so fun to read – keep it coming!!
(Also thrilled to hear about fellow anthropologist Kirsten Bell’s book – so cool!)
HAHAHA. I wrote it on saturday night with a cocktail if that says anything (which is how I started the blog 17 years ago – after work with a glass of wine). I don’t do it as much anymore for obvious reasons but it sure can loosen things up 🙂
“Unhinged glee” – haha, YESSSSSS. I am so here for it. Emily, I’m glad you stuck with the urinal. I do have hygiene concerns around brick floor. Yes, I know, we use brick outdoors all the time where animals do their business…but there is something about thinking of bathroom mess on an indoor floor that gives me the ick. But stylistically, I can see why you are planning to go that way. Also, I voted for the green sink but I think I am being swayed by the graphic that has green shower tile. If the shower tile really is TBD then I would consider the interplay of that tile with the sink. They don’t have to “match” per se, but speak to one another in a way that makes sense. Again, thanks for taking us along on this very fun journey – and I love how you are bringing authenticity to your posts in the age of AI (as you mentioned in your post on that topic the other day.) So glad for the Thursday cottage posts!
There is so much joy in this post! And yes, I wondered several times if I had lost track on the months and it was April 1st. 😅
I did look at the calendar. lol
Love!
When I told Brian that I was going to reupholster the toilet lid he didn’t really even blink. I’m not sure if its because he trusts me so much, knew that I was joking or he just wasn’t really listening.
When I told Brian that I was going to reupholster the toilet lid he didn’t really even blink. I’m not sure if its because he trusts me so much, knew that I was joking or he just wasn’t really listening.
I love this vintage plumbing adventure so much! We just don’t see enough risk taking in the online decorating space anymore. I love that the space is being designed to fulfill what makes your heart sing.
thank you! I’m having so much fun. Not being in a rush is so rare and gives so much more freedom.
This brings me back to the terrible (but epic) pink toilet my grandparents had their entire lives with the cushy pink toilet seat!
This brings me back to the pink toilet my grandparents had their entire lives with the cushy pink toilet seat!
“Powder coating cast iron with a porcelain glaze is not a permanent finish; it’s prone to the paint chipping after years of use. So it’s not recommended, but anecdotally people say that if it’s in a bathroom that doesn’t get a ton of use, it can last for years and years, so I’m willing to take the risk for the learning experience (and to have a fun color).”
But won’t this be the most heavily used bathroom in the house? Since it will be the main bathroom used by guests of your large parties?
So American Gothic that pic of you and elated Brian!
I’m team burgundy (feels properly grounded) + underskirt (rather than vintage dresser). Feels like that space needs a little breathing room next to the inside outhouse.
LOVING this project!
I think there must be something wrong with me because nothing about a urinal in a bathroom bothers me. In a design world still dominated by neutral colors, I’m really enjoying watching this whole quirky project come together. Stay weird!
Thank you!!!!! it doesn’t bother me either. but I think hiding it seems to win over most people. Brian says (and a lot of boy moms agree) that it is actually far less messy than having these boys pee trying to aim in a toilet.
YES, and the Seat Sitters don’t have to find any surprises the hard way!
Right? We have a urinal in our rental house and it’s fine!
This was such a fun and funny post. Thank you! I have never thought about the history contained in a toilet but you are totally right—lots of significant and meaningful moments were probably pondered on that throne.
Watergate happened here…ha!
Are you proposing stained glass at the shower? It needs to be tempered glass, as does the large panels of glass in your toilet room doors. Check the code. The building inspector will need it to be tempered, and you want it to be tempered for safety.
I LOVE the color of the blue toilet and sink. And an urinal doesn’t bother me – I am having a hard time with the black color though. I’ve lived in a house with a black sink and man – those water spots drove me insane! I would hate the idea of having to wipe down an urinal every day.
This layout (sans bathtub) is a huge improvement on previous! You get your cute outhouse, there’s no more confessional vibes, and your cool vintage fixtures will get room to shine
Came here to say the same! It’s finally clicked into place. 👏🏻
Thanks, ladies! I have to say that documenting it here and getting all the feedback really helped. xx
Daniel Kanter uses very old toilets frequently. I dont think he spends tons of dollars restoring them before use. They are pretty simple mechanically speaking. And cleaning isnt that hard. Im curious what all the money covers. Even $500 seems steep.
Love all of it wish we could all take a field trip to see it when it’s done so we can wander through and “ooh” and “ah”. 😁
I know! Re $$$. At hippo they made it seem like its so easy to make it work. I’m not done asking around but that first $2200 quote astounded me. I have another plumber coming today to quote on the whole job and maybe I won’t use the word ‘restore’ and just say ‘yah, this needs to work’ and see if they just fold it into the job.
I second looping Daniel Kanter into this conversation. He’s like the unofficial king of rehabbing old toilets and probably would have great insight.
This is what we call rich people / first world problems. Buying a gross, used toilet for a glorified outhouse. Think about it — poor people in rural areas want to get rid of their gross, old toilets and refurbish their outhouses to actual indoor toilets, but alas, they don’t have the money and means to do what the rest of us get to do. I get it, this is a design blog. But at some point, do we want to start using common sense and showcasing what actually makes sense? Just a thought, not a sermon. BLUF: you don’t have to agree with me, nor do we have to opine or debate about it.
BLUF is like putting P.S. at the beginning of a letter.
BLUF at the end is like putting P.S. at the beginning of a letter.
But is this really “rich people/first world” specific? It seems to me that repurposing what we already have on this planet can benefit everyone, everywhere. And, doing so in fun and creative ways can amplify that mission. Let’s inspire the next generation of vintage-toilet-repair-people to bring those refurbishment costs down!
I’m also not sure about your reference to “poor people in rural areas” with “gross old toilets” versus “actual indoor toilets.” That feels like a separate issue? I think we can all agree that access to sanitary living conditions is important. It doesn’t seem as if the design approach being discussed/showcased is dismissive or exploitive of such conditions.
Clearly, the design approach that is discussed may seem more complicated (and expensive) than what you would prefer, but I’m not sure how your criticism (“start using common sense”) lands here.
Well stated, Ashley, and yes, why not give a little love, energy, and money to an object that’s still here and still awesome. It’s not going in the landfill…
I think I see where you’re coming from. Like rich people wearing ripped jeans when poor people are chastised for damaged clothes?
The difference to me is that Emily genuinely likes old things, genuinely sees value in restoring, loves bringing things back to life and has a platform to educate others. She also gives back to communities in a way that I feel balances out with her work with the expensive furniture or regular changes to wallpaper.
I look at doors from Edwardian/Victorian houses and hate that they got covered in chipboard in the 50s-70s. But I can also see why a generation who grew up with so much dusting and cleaning from coal fires and panelled doors wanted things smooth and clean. Coloured sanitary ware was popular in the 30s and 70s and are coming back around and there’s some value in restoring what there is and paying tradespeople a wage to do it.
Curious about Portland code with sinks that don’t have overflows. I was desperate to get a vintage sinks when I redid my bathrooms and was told that we wouldn’t pass inspection, but I’m on the east coast. Maybe different laws?
Hmm. I hope this isn’t a problem, but definitely worth looking into. Thank you!
I enjoyed your enthusiasm throughout this post!! That’s delightful that someone’s written a whole book chapter about the urinal argument that you’ve just been living through.
Has it already been discussed how the roof of the outhouse will be cleaned? I know we’ve already seen those mockups before, but that question just occurred to me today (and so you can see how cleaning is not a big concern for me generally).
hmm. do you mean on top of it or inside the outhouse? And no, zero thoughts of that 🙂 Probably should though…..
The yellow (and maroon) colors really POP with the matching smaller stained glass colors of the shower. The blue and green match… but “too well”, for the lack of a better explanation. Your journey is so effin’ fun!! 🙂
The burgundy wasn’t my favorite until I saw it in the mockup. I like how it pulls from the stained glass. I agree with another comment for a black seat which would also tie in with the urinal color. Also, I also thought that water heater was one of those pull down baby changing stations, which would be awesome. Not sure how many babies are around for the parties, but that would be amazing to have.
Re: faucet plating, several years ago I had some vintage sink brackets replated in nickel. The main cost was a setup fee for the nickel bath and then a small incremental charge per piece, so you might want to see if there’s anything else you want to restore at the same time.
It was only about $300, and in NYC, but that was almost 10 years ago. Everything costs much more now.
Thats good insight and also what we were told. I’m curious if I have anything else to plate??? I do have a lot of old doors that eventually will need their hinges redone but I’d likely replace them in unlacquered brass …. But good to think about.
Ok I’ve never thought about plating baths except in the context of the FREAKY and awesome Dorothy Sayers short story “The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers” so I now urge you all to go read it!
Wow, I loved every second of this! I don’t really want this in my house, but I am very interested in how one does it, and I am glad you are putting the time and effort (and money!) in to figure that out. I love that it’s old and recycled, I love that it’s colorful, I love that it’s weird, and I love your absolute joy in all of it.
Thank you thank you. 🙂
I mentioned this in a previous post, so sorry for the repeat; but old toilets use a ton of water per flush. Realtors and inspectors have told me a 60’s toilet will use 5 gallons per flush. A modern toilet is more like 1.2 gal/fl. So for every 10 flushes and that is 50 vs.12 gallons of clean drinking water (or from the aquifer) literally down the toilet (unless you are using a grey water system). I’m surprised that for the couple thousand you may put into this vintage toilet to make it look good and function you can’t find a new toilet that is a color.
LOVE the blue toilet and sink! My house was built in 1959 and has the original pink toilet and bathtub. I wish I still had the matching sink … but I also wish they were all a different vintage color, like this blue, because pink is my least favorite color! lol But I’m not about to change them, unless I absolutely have to (for function reasons).
Curious why you picked a hipped roof for the outhouse instead of a more traditional shed or open gable?
Oh, I think I’m reading that illustration wrong and it is an open gable.
The schematic looks like a closed gable roof. I really hope they do an open gable instead.
It is open gable 🙂 and mostly for the shape and adorableness of it. In a perfect world it would be freestanding and have some space on both sides, but since the urinal plumbing has to be on one we are putting on the wall (although they could probably put it within the walls of the outhouse now that I think about it). We thought about shed style and put it in the renders but it doesn’t look as cute, like at all.
“The floor will be carpeted with the Flor tiles that I love”
Do I understand that you plan on putting carpet in a bathroom -with young boys using the urinal?!?
I remember when carpet was used in bathrooms (1960’s) and it is a BAD idea!
This part was a joke lol
She was joking! You’re right
This post made me chuckle. And that smile on Brian’s face is pure gold. Lol. Good for the men in your life!
I sure don’t get the disapproval for a urinal. We have 3 small grandsons. Using the guest bathroom during, or after a family gathering can be a gamble! Too often, I forget to look. In that case I do my best, but sometimes take a quick shower after our lovable guests go home.
This is my favorite lay out yet. And I love your urinal! Even when we ladies lay paper on the toilet seat there’s always the question if the dampness is boy pee or overspray from the flush. I don’t want that boy pee near my bottom! Urinals should be required in all bathrooms 😂
What a funny post! I had a good laugh reading about all the adventures with the toilet and the urinal. 🙂
I think it’s great that this blog covers such a wide range of topics. I can’t wait to see how it all turns out! Thanks for taking those risks and for sharing the process behind these decisions.
The hinges on the exterior door are shown here and they are on the interior with a right-handed door knob. That means the exterior door opens to the room not to the exterior. But the floor plan shows it opening to the exterior. Did you change it?
The hinges on the exterior door are shown here and they are on the interior with a right-handed door knob. That means the exterior door opens to the room not to the exterior. But the floor plan shows it opening to the exterior. Is that correct?
I needed this laugh today thank you! I love how bold and fun this all is (glad that the boys will get their urinal!) it will be beautiful and I can’t wait to see!
My (other) 2 cents:
Love all of this! Firmly on team urinal (how is pee getting sprayed in the nooks and crannies of a toilet better???) but maybe consider a very wipeable surface behind / under the urinal? Like tile or maybe a stone remnant so it’s all one wipeable piece…
Haha so many parts of this made me actually laugh out loud – the snark in those bullet points, lol XD The part about reupholstering the toilet seat in vintage fabric nearly got me ^^ Very excited about all your weird and wonderful vintage plumbing fictures you’re playing around with here!! (also excellent book rec!!)
I do not know where this room is going to end up and I’m kind of loving the unpredictability of it and “will it work” suspense! Ummm your vintage toilet… well it’s a very Emily blue and I like the shape of the base (love the sink no caveats).
I want the outer-room recoated sink to be a less dark color, as all your examples feel so heavy (and will be very hard water spotted, very frequently I would guess). Perhaps blush pink or a light rose? I like the burgundy color best if I had to pick a dark one, as some form of red seems to fit in that spot best when I consider the rest of the hard finishes. Anyway, maybe something to consider.
Yes, great idea! RAL3015 Light Pink or RAL3014 Antique Pink would really be a vibe.
There is no way our AI Overlords will be mining this one with phrases like “Like a Brazilian wax – shiny and smooth as a baby’s butt.”
Team urinal here. It means the seat on the toilet can always be down!
This layout is much cleaner, and the blue fixtures are really pretty. My only issues with older toilets is they use a lot more water and the flush is not as powerful. The colors are so fun!
Well except for yellow. I had a house with mustard-y yellow fixtures and yellow-brown tiles. Yellow-brown is not a good colorway for a bathroom, a bit too on the nose for me.
Ohh fun!! My immediate gut reaction was mustard when I saw the mockups. But I love mustard and the unexpected, so maybe take my opinion with a grain of salt, which I’m sure you will anyway as I am in fact one of many who I am sure will carry an opinion. I feel that I have a good eye for design but I can never explain why I like something, it’s just a feeling, and I typically don’t know for sure until I see the final result. Fortunately, I usually find a way to make something work by changing something else, and the never ending cycle continues ha!
Anyway, the mustard for me feels warm, different and unexpected and also doesn’t feel as dark(?) for me as the other colours, in an already dark space.
One of my favorite posts of all time! Love this – all of it!
Just throwing in my first thought re:urinal— tiling aaaallllll around it for easy-breezy clean-up (floor and wall). You’ll be glad you did…! 😊
Good lord! I just opened up the blog to do my daily read and about fainted when I saw the mention of my book the end. Thanks so much for the shoutout – you’ve made my week. Possibly my year!
Hi Kirsten
I’ve just pre-ordered your book in the UK. My mum is going to love this too as we talk about differences in regional colloquialisms and similar. Can’t wait to see if your definition matches mine between those two words that I probably shouldn’t write on Emily’s nice blog 😂
This has probably been mentioned but you can replace the innards of the toilet yourself. I pulled my toilet to replace the wax ring and upgraded the flushing mechanism at the same time. It cost $56 Belizean dollars. My toilet is 30 years old and I’m twice that age. Remove the mechanism and take to a hardware or big box store and find an old man who knows his business. He or she will direct you to the proper replacement. It’s a great chance to learn a new skill.
When a person quotes an exceedingly high amount of money to fix something, they are saying I don’t want to do this job. Don’t take it personally.
Toilets in Southern California all have to be low flow, that blue vintage toilet you bought has a huge tank that would not be allowed here in Southern California. What about Portland?
I’m not sure that Emily has a building permit or inspections being done (though should). I checked, and you are correct – per Portland Code UTL-2.01 – Water Efficient Plumbing Standards, the toilet needs to be 1.6 gallon per flush. Perhaps when they are refinishing it there is a way to make it meet code? This would have been an interesting tid-bit to include.
I have a house built in 1951 that I purchased in 2018 and the main bathroom was in yellow wall tiles and yellow floor tiles with blue tile trim and blue fixtures. All in great shape! (I’ll try to attach a photo or two). I purchased a new toilet seat on Amazon in Dresdan Blue (Bemis 500EC 464 Wood Toilet Seat with Easy Clean & Change Hinges, Round, Dresden Blue) and it matched perfectly. The water tank is a bit stained from build-up and perhaps some rust in the water, but no one ever sees that. I haven’t had to replace any of the inner plumbing. I would think your plumber could make sure everything’s in working order and suggest a cleaning solution to remove the rust and build-up so it doesn’t look quite as nasty. In my last house (built in 1960) the main bathroom had the pink wall sink, pink toilet and pink tub with pink tiles on the wall. However, the fixtures weren’t in very good shape so I decided to gut and replace. When the toilet was removed, like one commenter said, it had leaked and the subfloor was rotted and weak, and had to replace… Read more »
I’ve needed to order portable toilets several times for a 6-week camping trip for 20. When I asked very normal, non-messy men I trust if I could get ones without a urinal they were all VERY clear that we’d have a less messy, nicer-to-use “sitting toilet” if there was also a urinal present. I believe them even though as a woman I don’t understand exactly. It’ll be fun to see how this turns out!
This is so much fun! I love it and the whole post!