Submitted by Brenda Miyake
“Inspiration: From the first day we moved into our 1951 house 12 years ago, I hated my bathroom. The previous owners painted over what was originally ’50s Pink’ tile, which over the years started peeling and cracking. This was our main bathroom, where my two boys (now teenagers) learned to go potty! While I am a very nostalgic person and hold onto memories of my son’s ‘firsts’, I could not stand this room – and it made me depressed every time I used the loo. But I was too busy and overwhelmed to even put thought into remodeling, and frankly, I was intimidated. Our bathroom had never been remodeled since it was built. I even have proof from a stamp on the toilet lid that shows we’d been using the same toilet from Feb. 23, 1951! While I’ve known we needed to upgrade, I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the expense, and I wanted to do it right… I just didn’t know what I wanted. I’ve made mistakes before and ended up paying more than I should have on some projects. I also got caught up comparing my little rambler with the other bigger and more beautiful homes in our neighborhood. So disgusted in my bathroom, I rarely invited anyone over! Sounds so dumb, but all the disrepair in my home really brought me down.
Creation Process: Over the summer, my brother-in-law helped switch out a light fixture. I brought the old one to a salvage place and this was the impetus that got me going. I hired a great contractor, Ben Davidson, who helped guide me through several iterations on my bathroom layout. Tim was my first intro to Second Use. I was looking at these 16×16 porcelain tiles with a bit of uncertainty. He probably saw my bewilderment, and he literally sat down in the tile section with me and drew out on a piece of cardboard the layout of my bathroom, based on no real measurements. I bought every pack of those shimmery slate-colored porcelain tiles, which became the inspiration for everything else in the room.
Materials Used: Slate-colored porcelain floor tile, silestone quartz countertop and backsplash, sterling by Kohler sink, travertine-style porcelain wall tile, hafele cabinet drawer pulls.
I LOVE my new bathroom, and I love that I was able to salvage my old sink, and some of the fixtures. I also love the fact that I was able to find pretty much everything I needed at the salvage yard!”
Do you have a salvage project to share? Email [email protected] a few pictures and a description of the project and process. All submissions will be entered to win a monthly raffle for $10 Second Use store credit.
