Antiquesiluver - I used some tricks for the staining and floor laying. I didn't really stain the pine. After the dirt and paint was removed, and the old crusty varnish scraped off, it was the color you see on most of the board area. It got a scuff sanding and a light "whoosh" of stain to even out the color. (like a henna rinse for a redhead, not a dye job on a blonde) You can minimize "grabbing" on pine by wiping it with mineral spirits and then the stain while it's still wet. 1 - Ignore color names, and run stain tests on the new flooring, comparing with the old floor by laying the samples on the old stuff and seeing what blends. Sand and stain just like you will for the real floor. Doesn't have to match, just blend shades and have the same undertones. For oak, it's shades of golden and reddish brown. 2 - Pick three colors that are close to a match with the existing boards. Match the darkest, medium and lightest shades. For this floor, it's Minwax Golden Mahogany, Light Cherry, and Birch. 3 - Sand and stain the individual boards before installation. About 20% darkest, 20% lightest, the rest the middle shade. This mimics the natural variability on an old floor, where different boards have reacted differently to light. I shoved several pieces together and sanded and stained them as a group, then took them apart for install. I had to plane down the strip of new oak next to the pine because it was a teensy bit higher than the pine, just enough to be annoying. The trick is to plane a taper into the top of the new board so the height change is spread across the new board, edge to edge. It's a ramp, but on a tiny scale. The trick with the toilet stack's hole is to have a long strip running across the front and back of the hole: lay the boards so you have no seams within a foot or so of the hole. Those boards start at the tub and end well past the door opening. =============== Enduring ... Clean it and RENT IT! We have a roommate arriving Friday, a grad student. All the student is looking for is clean and functional. The vanity (to the right in the pics, under the window opposite the tub) is one of those oak things with molded plastic sink/top, which we might paint or do the cheap gel-stain trick on later this year. It's in great condition, but butt-ugly and not as functional as we'd like. Long term plan is - because this is a bathroom that needs storage and counter space - to build a wall-to-wall single-sink vanity under the window with shelves and shallow drawers. The overall house is, despite the adobe walls, a very plain Craftsman bungalow, so we're sticking to that woodworking style with NM trimmings and colors. New Mexico Territorial Style ... I've always liked it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_architecture Here is a link that might be useful: [New Mexico Territorial Style[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/new-mexico-territorial-style-phbr0lbl-bl~l_43230)

Wow here I sit wondering the same thing. To make it worse do you know Kraus offers the sink/faucet combo? I mean you get everything you need: drain, grid, and faucet. It's a hard decision....I'd really want the rear drain but in a classic style because we are doing concrete. So I'm wondering if the 23" d-shape is what I want because the only other reasonably priced 30" inch sinks are all 18 gauge. My husband insists on stainless steel. Have you seen the elkay perfect drain? I actually saw one at Home Depot for a reasonable price. Didn't touch the strainer but to me looks kinda thin. There are too many decisions!

Well I don't want to discourage people from trying :) Try and decide which pieces look related, then try and decide which one of those came first. Some are related, some aren't. Also look at construction. Do any of the pieces look like the idea preceded the ability to make it work well? For example, this is the Salvador Dali "Mae West" sofa (1937)--a surrealist piece that looks like lips from the front: It seems pretty successful, in a deco way, until you see the Salvador Dali-inspired Bocca or Marilyn Monroe Sofa (1971) which also looks sofa like from the side, lip-like from the front. The technology (fiberglass, foam, etc.) had changed enough to make a lighter, more (sur)realistic version of the lips sofa. (I sorta prefer the Mae West simply because it also looks like a conventional deco sofa.)

I have no idea about that picture light... It's interesting, to some extent you can tell how long someone has lived in the house by whether they still have iron gates on the doors or windows. On more recently sold houses they tend to get removed, but some people leave them on just because of inertia. I don't think they are quite as necessary now. On the other hand the complex I used to live in removed the razor wire atop the walls on the alley entrances, and the incidence of people climbing in and stealing bikes and packages went up immediately.