So finally, finally (well, a couple of weeks ago, but I'm behind in my posts) we got the glass door installed in the downstairs shower. We'd had this makeshift bar and shower curtain rigged up there before, but now our guests can shower in style whilst checking out the rest of the room from behind a beautifully appointed glass door. This has been a dream of my husband Josh's for a long time. I never really thought much about it, but am now a convert. It's another thing that we ended up having custom made, but it was well worth it. Here's a photo:

The thing that makes this door truly special, though, is the vintage glass knob. My mother went on a house tour, told me about this idea, and I blatantly copied it. Mark (Rist, our contractor-- see the end of this post for his info) thought we were crazy, but we gave him this great knob that we'd found at Sage Street Antiques (our favorite local shop) and he figured out how to make it work. This is why we love him. Or just one of the reasons. Here's a close up of the knob:

So much better than the standard handle, don't you think? Plus it's round, which echoes the shape of the crazy Kohler hatbox toilet we have (that I won in a silent auction 2 years ago and got loads of sh*t for, but I LOVE) I've also always had a thing for stars. This is when renovating your house is fun.

Just a quick post to show you all where the wicker Ikea light is going to go on the porch. Much love and thanks to our lovely spokesmodel, aka my husband Josh, for holding it up for the photo. I love it with the furniture, and though it feels pretty summery right now, it will be great when we can actually use the porch come spring.

To make up for the extravagance of the outdoor light, we found this great wicker light for our porch at Ikea. My husband says that going to Ikea is a relationship crusher, claiming that couples always fight when they shop together at one of their stores. But we came out of our recent visit with flying colors, lots of fabulous and inexpensive stuff, and happy feelings all around. They even have these great little rooms where you can change your baby (a new concern of ours!)

Here's the light:

I think it'll be really great against the bright red wall of the porch, plus we've acquired a bunch of wicker furniture from my folks (ah, hand-me-downs) so it fits right in with the theme. It's dark now, but maybe I'll get Josh to hold it in it's future home tomorrow and take a photo, so that you all can check it out as well.

First off, let me say thank you so so much to all of you who sent in suggestions on potential lights for the outside of our place... There were more that a couple that would have worked really nicely and probably saved us a nice chunk of change in the bargain. I'm sad that I don't have you guys to help me in all of the aspects of my life.

But matters have been taken out of my hands (happens all the time now that I've got a 6 week old to distract me from all other concerns!) and my husband decided that we should get the Manufactum light as a Hanukkah gift from his parents. It is the festival of lights, after all. It came today, and hopefully we'll get the electrician by to install it before the end of the first week in January when this blog will close its doors for good (yep, it's true....) so that you guys can see how it looks. But here's a picture of Josh holding it in place, just to give you an idea. I do really like it, and it'll cast a nice wide light on what is now a treacherously dark area.

Stay tuned... as this is my last week, I've got lots of stuff I want to show you all before I leave the reno blog world.

OK, here's where the exterior light will be living, once we settle on one. It will be placed right where that little white disc is now. The nice thing is that it will light up the driveway a bit and help lead people to the front door. Right now, folks often wander around looking for the back door... which is fine, but I like the entrance of a house to be the actual entrance that people use. Call me crazy.

Because the light is in the front of the place, I do want it to look good, and be either somewhat period or have a timeless appeal, which is what I like about the Manufactum light from the previous post. I checked out some of the lights from Restoration Hardware (thanks to a super helpful comment) but the ones that I liked were ceiling, rather than wall fixtures. Bummer!

Which keeps leading me to want to break down and go the not-so-cheap European route. Maybe I can make up for it by finding a really inexpensive porch light fixture?? We are slated for a trip to Ikea in the next couple of days...

Here's one option for our new front light. It's from one of my favorite websites, Manufactum. The only drawback is that it's a European site, so the shipping can be a bit lengthy and expensive, depending on what you're getting. The few times that I've ordered from them, it's been well worth the trouble.

Any opinions? We're driving out tonight, so I'll post a photo of where the light will be living over the weekend for you guys to check out.

It seemed like ages since we'd been out to the house, but finally, week old baby in tow, we headed out for Thanksgiving and the week following to hang out in what is now an almost complete house. Just a few minor technicalities and we'll have our C of O (certificate of occupancy) and be legit members of the community once and for all.

But No!

Because lo and behold, when the required electrical inspection is done, we FAILED!!! Not because of any shoddy work, but because no one mentioned to us that we needed an outdoor light (and a special exterior outlet) on the front of the house. The porch outlet and light that has served the house for probably 50 years is now not enough. What a drag! So now we enter the world of exterior light fixtures and try to figure out, as expediently as possible, what the hell we want to put up in the front of the place. The electricians have now done the necessary wiring-- it's up to us to find the fixture. And since it's on the front of the house, I don't want it to be just some run of the mill flood light. God forbid.

Anybody out there know of good online spots to shop for this stuff? My time is sooooo limited (I'm doing this post as the baby sleeps at 6:30 am)  I need to find something cool, but via the internet. My real-world shopping days are over for the moment...