Custom Medicine Cabinets

My favorite resource for vintage hardware and lighting is Rejuvination. If you know about my secret desire to make a living restoring old light fixtures, you understand why I love their catalogs so much. So, when it came time to buy light fixtures for our bathroom, I immediately when to their website. We purchased the Rufus fixture in white porcelain.

Steven was reluctant to have medicine cabinets above our sinks, but after much discussion about storage we agreed, they would be useful. Having come to this decision later in the game, we couldn’t accommodate recessed medicine cabinets so ours have to be wall mounted. We decided this would work well with our shelf back sinks, but were worried that if we mounted our new wall mounted Rufus fixtures above the wall mounted medicine cabinets, there would be an awful shadow; thus the Custom Medicine Cabinet concept. Steven came up with the idea of mounting the light ON the cabinet.

Using an old medicine cabinet that we removed from the old bathroom, and the new cabinets we purchased from Pottery Barn as inspiration we came up with this design.

We’ve visited with a carpenter about building them for us and are in the process of choosing the type of wood and mixing just the right wood stain concoction. We’ll be using the beveled glass from the old cabinets as well as the hinges and knobs.

Save the Date {Western Meets Sophisticated}

My Brother is marrying the most wonderful girl. I love her. She is perfect for him…I knew it the first time I read their posts to each other on MySpace. She’s adventurous, funny, brave, loving and beautiful. He needs her and he absolutely adores her. I’m super excited about their wedding and had loads of fun trying to design a “Save the Date” for their wedding that was “western AND sophisticated.” The photo is from their engagement photo session. Their rings have very significant meaning to their relationship. I’m really glad Sarah chose this photo and that she chose Joshua. The count-down to September 18 begins!

Refurbished Shelf Back Faucets

We are getting closer and closer everyday! Last time I mentioned plumbing was when we had the sinks and tub refinished. At that time we were still in limbo about what to do for faucets, and finally settled on the idea of refurbishing the old shelf back faucets. There were small details about the old faucets that we didn't want to sacrifice buy purchasing new ones.

Steven removed the old sets and dismantled each one carefully. We sent pictures of the faucets out for bids and finally settled on a company in Houston called Atlas Plating. They re-chromed one piece to make sure the metal would re-chrome well, sent us a picture to approve and then began the work on all the pieces. It took three weeks and we finally received the final product on Friday. They did a beautiful job. Next step: replacing the rubber washers and seats. Then the installation!

Reworking and restoring something old into something fresh and new makes me giddy!

Sources for shelf back plumbing options:

Plumbing Parts Depot

The Chicago Faucet Shoppe

Faucet Direct

Do It Yourself Plumbing and Heating (Antique Plumbing)

Reality...The Party that Never Was

So I went back and forth about posting this, but decided in the end I should. I was happy with the way we celebrated Marin's third birthday, I think it's something she'll remember for a long time. However, encase you were wondering, yes, I did have a party idea in mind and even had the invitation design complete! True confessions time: Poor Marin didn't have a REAL birthday party because her Aunt Kay Kay got married and her new baby sister cried ALOT and her Mommy, just couldn't pull together the energy or desire to host a party.

So, there it is. The truth. Krystina the party lover felt no love for planning a party for her daughter's third birthday. At times I feel bad that I didn't just muster up the energy and make it happen and then other times I tell myself there will be more birthdays. But what does this mean for our future? With each child will I have less energy? Will Marin even HAVE a 16 birthday party? Who knows.

Above is the invitation design for the Party That Never Was. It was just so adorable I had to share it. My good friend Cole created the illustration of Marin and I think it's perfect.

(To Marin: Mommy loves you so much. I'm sorry we didn't have a real birthday party for you. I hope that your time with Daddy at the Fire fire fire house will be a memory you'll enjoy. Here's to many, many parties in our future. Forgive me?)

Evening Summer Sun

I started back to work full-time this past week. So grateful that it's summer time and that after work we still have daylight hours to enjoy together as a family. Here are a few shots from Friday evening. The girls and I took pictures of each other while Daddy painted base boards. Marin is quite the photographer and Adalyn enjoys the feeling of grass on her feet.

Marin's 3rd Birthday {A Visit to the Fire Station}

Marin turned 3 today. To celebrate we visited Daddy at the Fire fire firehouse. No, I didn't stutter and that's not a typo...that's how Marin begins anything fire related. The word fire, must be said three or four times before the rest of the topic. Fire fire firehouse. Fire fire firefighter. Daddy's fire fire fireengine. TOOOOOOOO Cute. Love it. :)

As you can see from the pictures we had a wonderful time. Marin enjoyed her one-on-one time with Daddy. At the end of the day today she told me "I not 3 mommy. I 2." Oh, how I wish that were so. Time goes by too fast.

Happy happy happy birthday, my beautiful Marin.