Since we bought our post-war home in October, we've been hoping to fix some decor choices made in the 1970s. These, um, choices include the installation of a teeny-tiny vanity and sink in the bathroom. It's icky. It has gold flecks. You have to lean down to wash your hands.
We wanted something right for a 1955 house: a gleaming white, wall-mounted sink with chrome legs and a chrome towel bar.
It would look great with the vintage plastic tile and create the appearance of more space. Plus, no more sink suitable only for little people.
That's where Craig's List and a nice family in Lemont comes in.
See, we really wanted a vintage sink. Using a vintage sink meant no manufacturer was using new resources to produce our sink. And it would help keep an old sink out of a landfill. Green, eh?
But everything we found was a little, um, pricey. One repro similar to the sink we wanted is on eBay right now with a starting bid of $945. Gulp. Add the guilt of buying a new sink and the carbon to ship it to us ... double gulp.
Vintage bathroom dealers (yes, they exist) were charging -- and getting $450 -- for similar sinks. Plus, there's the shipping.
So I've been trolling Craig's List, waiting and hoping. If you're not familiar with Craig's List, it's a forum that allows, among other things, for people to list items they want to sell, buy or give away. It's regional, so you can restrict your search to the area, to cut carbon and hassle. I love it because there's no cost for listing, like eBay, and it's local.
I'd nearly given up hope when I saw a listing for two such sinks in Lemont for under $100. Could it be that easy? I e-mailed and found out they were still there. In a fit of joy, I said I'd take both.
Mind you, I have one bathroom.
We showed up Saturday and picked up the porcelain beauty. The legs were even better when we expected. (Yes, I'm still talking about the sink.) But I suddenly realized we had no place for a second sink and who knows if we could get both in my car with all of the other crap I had in there.
Gulp.
I asked, as nicely as possible, if it would be a problem if I only bought one.
They were so nice about it, but now they're stuck with a second sink. And I have guilt, and a gorgeous sink that I feel good about owning.
But there are other vintage-lovers out there who would rather save a sink from a landfill than buy something new, right?
If you're interested in the second sink, it's a white Kohler sink. (A similar one on a dealer's Web site says it's from the 1930s, but it looks 1950s to us.) This isn't the actual sink the in photo, but it's remarkably similar, so I'm using it for illustrative purposes. I believe the remaining sink has two towel bars (one on each side) and has new hardware. Originally, the seller was looking for $70 for the sinks together. I'm not sure how much they're seeking for this sink, with newer hardware, but it'll be less than $70. You'll need to pick it up, too.
If you're interested, drop me a line and I can forward your request to the family. Or you can e-mail them directly.
Julie Todd is the night editor at The Herald News in Joliet. She and her
husband are looking to cut the chemicals and get back to basics -- minus the
granola and hemp clothing. They live in a home they bought last year in
Plainfield, where they're making changes to create their own little patch of
utopia.
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