Handled That

With the holiday, we didn’t really do anything project-wise over the weekend other than pricing/planning the shower plumbing. While we were looking at galvanized pipe we noticed that the $11-each handles I saw on the Lowe’s website were special order, so I got to work hunting down two vintage shower handles on eBay for $7.50 (that includes shipping). Score!

Though we have yet to measure or talk to Ryan, our current plumbing plans are sort of a cross between these designs (below). Fortunately for us our shower won’t cost as much as either of those.

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Ideally I’d like a porcelain or metal handle that says “shower” for our shower diverter (like the second picture), but if we can’t find one we’ll use some sort of gate valve (as opposed to the ball valves in the first picture). I’m only slightly bitter that I missed out on the handle below (it came with a “hot” handle that we didn’t need, though, so I guess it’s ok).

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So, until I find what we want (or am convinced that something else will do), I am That Person who emails eBay sellers, vintage hardware websites, etc asking is they have a single porcelain shower handle they’re willing to sell me. Ugh. I wish there was a good architectural salvage place around here somewhere! Here’s hoping that all the begging/pleading/emailing pays off (or I’ll just say “screw it” and special order two of these or rig up a gate valve & a hose bib handle).

Is anyone else neurotic about details like this? Hopefully I am not the only one… Until then, I’ll the crazy woman wandering the plumbing aisles.

Edit: Mariah at Historic Houseparts has been so helpful in answering all of my questions. If you’re looking for anything specific be sure to check them out, and also their plumbing division Period Bath Supply Company. They even have air vents like the ones I was looking at a while back.

We’re Surrounded

Just a quick post to show our outdoor shower surround, since I forgot to upload them this morning, when I discussed what we want to do for plumbing.

As a reminder, our inspiration picture:

inspiration photo from houzz

We haven’t decided what color to paint or stain the wood yet, so we’ll work on making that decision while we’re working out the plumbing (our plumbing will run up the side of the house and replace the super classy hose).

I couldn’t take many pictures during the construction thanks to a helpful combination of dead camera battery and needing both of us to hold things, but I’ll post about how we made it later.

April Showers

With the weather beginning to warm up here in Florida, I’ve been thinking a lot about our outdoor shower (and our tank pool, but that’s another post).  The idea of rinsing off out in the sunshine after a long bike ride or a day at the beach sounds pretty heavenly.  It might even be a great alternative to washing the dogs in our guest bath during the summer (except that wet white dogs + dirt = terrifying idea).  I’ve been kicking the idea of having fun/funky gauges in the outdoor shower ever since this house tour on Apartment Therapy, and then seeing the shower in Emily at Merrypad’s post about Hamilton Productions pretty much cemented the decision.  I’m sure Robert can come up with something completely awesome, he has yet to let me down when I pose weird design problems.

Left from Merrypad, right from AT

Initially we thought a wooden shower stall around an existing concrete pad in our backyard (I would show y’all a picture, but it is housing a lawn mower beneath a pollen-coated motorcycle cover at the moment- classy).  After seeing Emily’s post we started thinking a 4×4 post frame with either corrugated plastic or the corrugated metal like Kara used for her headboard (which was recently featured on AT!)  Robert is leaning towards corrugated metal, and I was thinking plastic because I like the idea of it being at least semi-translucent, so that it’s not just a big thing in the yard (I am obviously always really eloquent).  It seems like it would get really gross, really quickly though (and it might be completely see through, we didn’t remember to look the last time we were at Lowe’s). 

Left from Merrypad, right from Charles and Hudson

For some reason I never noticed that gorgeous Dwell rug before! Now I love Kara’s guest room even more!

Here’s hoping the shower can be completed (oh hey, even started is good with me) soon!