The New Loo

I know exactly where I was when adopted the word "loo" into my vocabulary. It was the early 1980s and I was a starving museum working living in Pittsburgh when my mother called to invite me to accompany she, my sister and my father on a business trip to England, Wales and Ireland. I had no vacation time and no passport and as I said earlier, no money. I slunk into my boss' office and asked for some time off without pay and he not only said I must go but gave me all of his tour guides. He was my first real boss and I was so lucky to have him. My dear mother whisked my sister and I off to DC the next day to stand in line at the State Department for our passports and the next thing I new we were flying off to London.

It seems as though through our country's short history that there have been times when our admiration for all things British sort of gets out of control. It is funny that as hard as we tried to sever our connection to England, we still go back to them for inspiration. I grew up in Scarsdale New York which grew up around the Metro North rail line in the 1920s. Tudor architecture was all the rage in that decade and that is where I must have gotten British architecture into my blood. Downtown Scarsdale - one of the prettiest little towns I know.

The early 1980s was one of those times as well. Princess Diana had just married Prince Charles (a wedding that I got myself up in the middle of the night to watch), we all tuned our TVs to see Alistair Cooke on Masterpiece Theatre every Sunday night and Laura Ashley stores were popping up all over the place (Pittsburgh even had one.). We couldn't get enough of that English country look in decorating. I had all of Laura Ashley's decorating books and poured over them endlessly, dreaming of the day that I could have a home that resembled those in the photos. I was still single and living in a efficiency apartment. Laura Ashley's products were way out of my budget so I decorated with sheets found at Kaufmann's department store and tried to get the look without the price tag.
The Frontenac - my apartment building in Pittsburgh.

You can only imagine my excitement at being able to visit Laura's London store.
My mother bought me a dress for my birthday very similar to this one (image found on the Internet under "vintage 80s dress - Jeez!). I wore it until it was thread bare. Later on when I could afford it, I purchased two jumpsuits similar to these. I have them in storage - maybe they'll come back
in style some day! When we moved to northern Virginia in the early 1990s, I plastered the kitchen and family room with Laura's Melrose wallpaper and curtains, bought a sofa when she opened her new home store at Tyson's Corner and loved those rooms up until about a year ago when we knew we were moving and our real estate agent said it all had to go. She was right, of course, and my taste has evolved over the years to a more tailored look so it wasn't that hard to part ways. I cried the day Laura Ashley died though, - I felt like she was a old and dear friend.

The British still have my heart when it comes to fabric and wallpaper. I always start out at Colefax and Fowler, Cowtan and Tout and Farrow and Ball when searching for inspiration. Which brings me back to the new loo. I mentioned in a post a long time ago about using Farrow and Ball paper in the loo. I got a recommendation from a local reputable paint store for a wallpaper hanger. I have had so many unfortunate experiences with wallpaper hanging for clients that I wanted to find the best person around. The man came out and gave me an estimate and I scheduled him for two weeks down the road when the contractor said the room would be ready. When the scheduled day arrived I went down to give the room one last inspection and realized that the room really wasn't ready enough and called the hanger to cancel and reschedule. He never called me back. My fault for not giving him more heads up but I'm not going to beg so I went out onto the Internet and searched for "wallpaper hanger Richmond, VA". The first web page that popped up belongs to Steve Boggess. Steve came out the same day and gave me an estimate and then came back later that week to hang the paper. If you live in Richmond and need a paper hanger - he is your man.
Can you use the word "pretty" to describe a toilet? In this case I think you can.

I painted the ceiling Farrow and Ball "Chemise" which is the background color of the lotus paper. Brian, the electrician, hung my star burst and sconces and now I just want to sit in there for hours and not let anyone use it for its intended purpose. It is so nice to have one room that is finished.

That trip to London made a huge impression on me. I adopted the word "loo" into my vocabulary when seeing it and hearing it used many times on that trip. To me it sounds so much better than rest room.

To update the rest of the project: we are chomping at the bit to use the kitchen but little things keep causing delays. A mistake in figuring out how much tile to order was made and so I had to order more - the tile installer is due back today to finish the wall by the sink and grout. The green dots are spacers.

The plumber connected the sink and dishwasher to some of Haven's existing pipes and now it is leaking onto the floor in the basement. The microwave and refrigerator are working and so now we have ice and can nuke Lean Cuisine dinners. It is so nice to have cold beverages and warm food again.

We spent the better part of the weekend moving everything that was being stored in the Living Room and Dining Room into the Family Room to make way for the floor refinishers to come and remove the prefinished mahogany installed by the previous owner to reveal the existing heart pine floors. Your guess is as good as mine as to what condition they are in. More on that later.

Have a good week.