Habitat for Humanity, Kijiji, eBay, Antiques & Auctions...

So I'm thinkin'.... the cottage should be vintage, yet modern, individual rooms with synchronized

threads:  lighting, plumbing, paint.  And to my rescue comes the world-wide catalogues, I go all eBay and Kijiji, for sinks, faucets, old clawfoot tubs, kitchen hardware and multiple other items.  As the only constant location for receiving deliveries, I have e-purchases delivered to the school... it's a thrill to sign and see what the box holds.

I travel to Chatham, Windsor and points in between for the buffers, tubs and cupboards. It's an act of faith, on the part of both buyer and seller, contacting, arranging a meeting, but all transactions turn out low key, easy.  We end up with 2 iron tube beds.... I thought they were both 3/4, but the mattress falling through the refinished bed 6 months later persuaded me that I had one 3/4 and one double.

The tubs are found in a dirt floor cottage barn and in a farmhouse kitchen garden.  Both are in surprisingly good condition.  It'll turn out we only use one.  Kee brainwaves that many people may not be able to leg-over on a high rimmed clawfoot, so we should keep the one modern height tub.  The subversive imp in me wonders if we should do a "Bathtub Mary".... maybe not.

We'll turn a left-behind antique wash stand into a vanity for what we're calling the 2BBath (the miscellany room), so a round ceramic vessel sink comes to the school, followed by a chrome faucet - actually two of the same faucets, one which won't work out because when mounted on the compact English corner sink for the small bathroom, a full turn of the taps fountains water over the rim of the sink..... another notch on the learning curve.  This one will be used later, hopefully.

I definitely envision a bridge faucet for the kitchen sink and find a perfect one from Vintage Tub and Bath online.  When it's delivered, the "Cold" ceramic button is cracked... I email the company who immediately, no questions asked, send out a replacement, but the font is different from the "Hot" button... email again, a replacement again, all is perfect.  Vintage Tub and Bath's service is as excellent as their products.  I'm a big fan.

A little present to myself is the beautifully handcrafted dragonfly handle, of brass, mother-of-pearl and tortoise shell (ethically harvested), to be mounted on one of the kitchen cupboards - which I am diligently searching for in the local kijiji site.  The cottage's old, minimal cupboards have been torn out, some will be mounted on the shed's wall for storage.  Storage is the sun in our solar system now, we revolve around that purpose as we renovate.

I'm hoping someone's doing a kitchen redo and wants rid of, cheaply, a complete set.  I want to faux them to a bleachy, grainy finish, ragrollering low-gloss melamine in the kitchen cream/grey/taupes shades.  I've done this before in our current house and love the finish, and the great durability and washability is a proven factor.  We go look at a couple listings... not in good shape.  Then, I see another cupboard post, emails are exchanged, we arrange a looksee and they're right outside Wheatley!  These are perfect - great shape Hanover cupboards, a large kitchen of them, two lazy susans, a big corner unit, even a built-in, newish, stainless steel KitchenAid dishwasher, great - as our built-in will stay with the current home.  We barter, they're ours.  The handles and hinges will be replaced with brushed steel hardware and we'll do a granite tile top.  They stack up in the shed while demo and reno continue.....

CanPar and it's competitors trudge up to the school, lugging vessel sinks, corner sinks; faucets:  trough, bridge, high and low arch with single and triple holes; a lovely chrome shower/tub filler unit with matching rectangular shower curtain rod for the blue bath, an oiled brass rain shower/hand shower/tub filler unit for the green bath and a white ceramic rimmed shower and hand shower unit for the small bath.... even - just because - an ornate silverplate service for 12.... bit of a future scheme on this one.