My first press

I'm very excited today. A local newspaper did a little story about the teacher's lounge that the PTA and I did a few weeks back. It's the first time any of my work has ever been recognized in that way. Thanks to the PTA for contacting the newspaper, the Woodland teachers for posing for pictures and for all the nice things they said, and to the Johnson City News & Neighbor for writing and running the story. What a fun thing to see first thing in the morning.
If you'd like to see more, the full article can be found here [Johnson City News & Neighbor Online] and my own story and pictures from this project can be found here [A Gift for School Teachers] .

Powder Room Predicament

As a residential contractor and a designer, my husband and I have seen a lot of really interesting things done to houses over the years. Our own little fixer-upper is no exception. Welcome to our powder room predicament. 

Our original powder room was in a 38" x 40" closet. What's that you say? "That's too small to be a powder room"? Why, yes, it is too small! Nevertheless, there was a toilet and a sink in there. Now, here's the best part- there was no way to actually use the facilities without leaving the door open. I'll leave the details of that scenario up to your imagination. Obviously, this was a problem that needed to be fixed.

So, we got busy rethinking our main living level. We had a basement access under our front hall stairs, but it was rickety and dangerous to use. It is not a finished basement, and there is an outside access, so we decided to enclose that space for a new powder room.

Pretty scary stuff. Would you want to go down there?

 

The dimensions in the new powder room are small, but much more user-friendly. Finished, it came to 31" x 70". We used every trick we had to maximize the tiny room. The frameless, oval mirror is very flat, and barely projects off the wall. We combed the internet, and ordered the tiniest, wall-mounted, corner sink we could find. We even added an extra foot beyond the back of the toilet where we installed a shelf. 

That little extra bit of space gives our powder room a larger feel, some nice architectural interest, and a place to store extra soaps, towels, and TP. It's was a very small detail with a big impact. Best of all, the door closes completely, so no more T.M.I. (whew!)