The Cupola

HGTV Armchair Designer Audition

Preston thought it would be a good idea to have Philip submit this video to get his own show on HGTV. No results yet but here's a glimpse of the reality that they are missing.

360s

In searching for views of what this place used to look like a year ago we came across Preston's 360 surround photos from Day One (August 2008). See if you can spot any differences.
KITCHEN
DECK
YARD
STUDIO

There are also some pics from before the closing when we had to fix the deck and kitchen cabinets before the bank would agree to let the deal go through (even though the kitchen was to be gutted hours later).

You can see the arrival of the IKEA kitchen in the back of my Range Rover, coming to save the day. Every cabinet on the old kitchen was of a different size, never mind the mold, so could not be fixed.

The Last Bathroom

Out with the rot, beige tile, urine-soaked "drywall", all things white, and the dumpy loo. In with the purple walls, copper vessel sink and faucet, hot Italian porcelain tiles, Moroccan mirror, designer flushing toilet, Singer sewing machine base and marble surface (thanks, Craigslist and Reuse Center!). The skylight is unchanged and illuminates the space splendidly. It sure is elegant and Percy can turn on the water at any time. Phew, no more bathrooms to do.

Drew's room (formerly the shrubbery)

While the sun set rather dramatically I managed to finish the downstairs main room which had a nasty concrete floor, building debris and trees huddled from the winter. The knotty pine walls seem less cabineque now the cayenne paint is in place, the Johnsonite rubber floor tiles cut and artwork and blinds hung. There's plenty of room to swing a cat.

Washstands all the way down

So this was a dark gloomy space under the stairs where a teen kitchen might have been planned once. The yellow sparkly glass vessel sink (courtesy of Craigslist) with waterfall faucet was intended to grace the upstairs washroom but turned out to be too big. The downstairs room had no studs to attach the frame to, so I resurrected the existing pipes in this area.

With the addition of parallel Mylar reflective surfaces you can observe yourself washing your hands forever. Behind one of the walls I attached a loudspeaker; by pumping music through it the whole wall should vibrate and quiver the reflections. As yet untested.

Bathroom 2 of 3.5

This is the main bathroom. It was not a pretty sight, unless you were a microbe

Now it features a handsome solar tube to bring ghostly light in from the roof, copper plate decorations and towel rail, marble fireplace-turned-washstand, Po-Mo sink with pistol shaped faucet (impossible to attach hose lines to so had to get an ex-marine at the hardware store to struggle with it for hours).

There's tumbled glass on the floor and throne suitable for a regal dump.