Shuffling Art / Why Art

The photo my husband took outside the Pompidou centre works so much better in the bar area than the bathroom!!  It's perfect!!  Why didn't I try this sooner?

I moved Killarney* (twin images by Karen Curry) from the bar to under the stairs - so moody!

I bought a small Peter Andrew photo. I need to get it framed. We contemplated buying an ultra large photo after viewing them at Pikto, however, when I saw a 9x14 was available and affordable, I went for that instead.

We are making up our minds as to which large photo by Sean Galbraith we want to invest in. His booth at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition drew me in (tractor beam). Everything else at the show faded away...I didn't notice another piece of art after seeing his photos. I am in awe of his talent. His subject, decayed abandoned buildings, provokes.

Buying a Sean Galbraith will be the most we have spent on art...it gives me a bit of a tummy ache, even though I know that prices for art can sky rocket from here. Gertrude Stein said to buy pictures, not clothes (or something). Can I commit to that? No, probably not (definitely not)...

Why is art ok? Because the artist is being paid, and can keep creating. Because I am still energized by art we purchased 4 years ago...it doesn't get stale, my reaction to it doesn't stay the same, but I still SEE it...unlike the many things we spent money on when we renovated that I take for granted now.  Because each piece will forever be associated with a certain time in my life...it's like putting up little markers on my personal timeline...

*Karen Curry calls this series "Avenues to Stillness"...large panoramic photographs, "elements of remote, natural landscapes" (Source)

Bar

 

 

I put the rag rug (purchased for $1) in front of the bar.  I like it here!

ps. We are still planning to install a floating shelf, made from salvaged wood, along the seam of the stainless steel back-splash. The art will sit on the new shelf/ledge.  This project fell to the very bottom of our to-do list.

Can I have both, please?

I found the ice bucket on the left today at Salvation Army...and the bucket on the right a few months ago at Goodwill...I want to keep them both on top of the bar!!  Can I?

ps...we still need to install a shelf over the seam in the stainless backsplash...I stumbled upon a source for some reclaimed wood (roncy vic)...now we just need to execute....
pss...retook both photos with higher ISO, then stood super close without zooming to get rid of the blurr in second image...then brightened those photos in photoshop - BAM!

Plumbing complete!

That's it for the plumbing...we have a fully operational bathroom!  We need a florescent bulb for the light, a mirror, a towel bar, toilet paper holder, some towels, art, etc...

I like the colour of the vanity! A-LOT!  Its too bad that the floors are still incredibly dirty...I gave the floors a once over, but I think I need to scrub them with something more toxic than green Palmolive. 

The drawers on the IKEA Godmorgon cabinet need to be customized, because the plumber could not get everything to fit nicely in the space provided.  We need to make the top drawer more shallow, and notch the back of the bottom drawer.  The plumber was cursing the 'hardware' that came with the IKEA Odensvik sink...definitely not high quality plastic tubes.

We went with square faucets, and square shower head.  Something we hoped would have good water pressure!  No rain shower for us...

The plumber also installed the bar sink and faucet! LOVE THEM!  Check out my stainless steel counter top too!  The back splash needs to be re-ordered because the guys measured wrong (it happens)..so we all have to wait at least another week before the full reveal of the bar area.

My greatest fear was realized tonight1 - we don't have enough storage space.  Of course I could see this coming.  We had junk sprawled out from one end of the basement to the other (click here to see the before picture)..how could we possibly contain it in the laundry room?  We should get rid of half of it.

This could be a problem.  We took back space for family, for living, for everyday...there is no longer room for things that live in boxes and never see the light of day.  What storage space we DO have is very open, so we should try to make it beautiful.  Its possible, it really is, but we have to let go of old baggage (Literally, where am I going to stash the suitcases?).  Or get built-ins. Or get a storage locker. 

I vote for letting stuff go.  Its just stuff...when did stuff get priority over living comfortably?

How do people in modern homes do it?  With not even a book out on display and no stuff in sight? 




1. That's not actually my greatest fear.  My greatest fear is getting older (too late!), but also giant flying spiders that swoop down from the lights and land on your face while you are sleeping. Oh and sea creatures, not sea monsters- that's just silly, but fish and whales and sharks and eels and sea horses and jelly fish and giant crabs and anything else that might attack me.

Bar area

We are getting down to finalizing design details.  The foreman/carpenter is going to build us a custom cabinet for the bar area. I used my mad computer skills to sketch out basically what we want on a photo of the space. 

It will be a three door cabinet with toe kick and stainless steel countertop. Standard cabinet height and depth.  The cabinet doors will be equal in size, flat front, and stained a medium brown colour.  We will be using european hinges and no door pulls, just pop the doors open when you press on them.  The first door will be locked in place and will hide the necessary plumbing/equipment.  The next two will each open outward.

There will be an over mount bar sink and faucet on the counter top to the right hand side.  Hopefully the chrome, stainless sink and stainless counter aren't all clashy.  I wanted a teeny tiny sink, but settle for the 'Blanco Winchester', available at Home Depot for $305 and Romand Bath for $285.  I like the Riobel bar faucet. Since we used Riobel in the bathroom, we might as well use it in the bar too. (I didn't get a price on it yet)

The stainless steel counter top will have a double thick edge at the front.  Making it look like a wide piece of metal. It will basically be stainless steel wrapped around plywood. The stainless steel will continue up the wall (back splash) and end at the bulk head.  I want two stainless steel floating shelves on the wall. There will be two pot lights in the bulk head to light the area.

I need to figure out the type of wood (maple?) and the colour stain....this is going to look like a million bucks, but hopefully it wont cost that much!