Bathrooms

Where was I on the new house? How about the bathrooms? The main bathroom is the one with the shower, and is the bathroom that guests use. It all started with the mirror we found at a salvage place and just loved. We got a cool stone basin and bought a mango wood desk to turn into a bathroom vanity.  I put up photos printed on metal of places we stayed in Ireland and Iceland because they make me happy every time I look at them.

To make the desk work with the plumbing, my husband cut an opening and put in little boards so the drawer is still functional.

My sons complained when they visited that the sink faucet made the water "flat."

Again, we were considering aging as we planned the house, and had a walk-in shower installed, with a bench seat. It is a joy to take a shower in it.

The floor tile is pebbles, so no slipping! 

The master bathroom is, of course, off the master bedroom. We found another cool vessel sink and a little shaker cabinet to convert into a vanity. We actually came in under the builder's budget on everything we picked out for the bathrooms.

My husband and I are both big fans of a long, hot bath and we decided it would be nice not to have one of us having to have the faucet up against our back. We asked to have the faucet installed in the middle, and the faucet itself swivels out of the way.

I found a salt light bulb to put in the light fixture overhead, so it is a warm pinkish glow with just that light on. As you can see, the cliff immediately outside the back window is solid rock and mud.  The builders had to grade down to a solid level to build, leaving the cliff. I am planting climbing vines on it (one of the things I've been spending my time on), but for the moment it is pretty barren.

Fortunately, when you are actually in the bathtub, you can see the forest up above. Eventually, there should be green covering the cliff as well.

Where does the time go?

I have been spending every spare minute working on either the house or the outside, when I'm not working at my job. I'm going to try to catch up here soon.

In the meantime, we got our final invoice from our builder. I'd been paying it one invoice at a time from proceeds from the house we sold, and money we were earning during the long build process. Unlike buying a house that's already built, we discovered you never really know how much a new house will cost until all is said and done. There were some unpleasant surprises (my God, who knew it cost so much to dig a well?!) and the usual pandemic cost over-runs and supply chain issues and we were both holding our breaths the whole time. It was a relief to send the last check off and know that we fully own the house now. We pulled out the bottle of Dom Perignon we bought a couple of years ago and my husband made us seared scallops, pasta, and roasted broccoli and cauliflower.  I am so very grateful for this house and land and that I am still here to enjoy it.