THE CAVENDER DIARY

“Do you know the Allsup’s in Sachse?”

“Nooooo. I don’t even know what a ‘Sachse’ (pronounced Sax-ey) is.” Eddie is trying to give me directions to his auto body shop and it already sounds like an adventure.

Maybe I should start at the beginning.

Which, of course,starts at Ikea….and our master bathroom overhaul. Yeah, we’re back on that again.

For the sink – we chose the Odensvik 1-piece ceramic sink/countertop combo; nice size, easy to clean, and reasonably priced.

We like the 39 3/8″ Model. (Guess it was too difficult to round-up to an even 40 inches)

Something not everyone knows about Ikea products, is that they are only compatible with other Ikea products.

So, we agreed that we are just fine with the Lundskar faucet, in stainless steel.

Honestly, it’s…….fine.

What we’re not “fine” with is Ikea’s options for sink bases. If I have to settle with the faucet, I’m not settling with the vanity base. We want something more open, not made of cardboard, and maybe a little industrial.

Jamie and I were sitting in a restaurant, Quesa on Cedar Springs if you must know, discussing just this issue, when Jamie excused himself to use the little boy’s room. He returned moments later visibly excitedly. “Go look in the restroom”.

“EEEEwwwwww”, was my first thought. ” I think I’ll pass”.

Look what was in there……the exact sink, the Ikea Odensvik that was currently sitting in the back of our car, on a custom base made from 2 inch steel tubing.

Game Over. We just need a welder.

Flash forward almost 2 years. (That’s right….2 years later) We still hadn’t found a welder when our dear friend Rodd Grey was featured in The Dallas Voice for the incredible remodel he accomplished on his Richardson home. Read all about the transformation here. Rodd did almost all the work himself……including weld his own industrial vanities for both bathrooms.

We’re getting warmer. Rod learned welding from Eddie, the owner of Wheelhouse Auto Design. Eddie can do it all; complete car builds including; wiring, upholstery, heating/A.C., audio systems…

And best of all, Eddie can weld our vanity base between other projects.

So last December, I sketched up some dimensions,

…and trekked out to Saschy, Texas to Eddie’s shop. (Just around the corner from the Allsup’s that’s about a half hour north-east of Oak Cliff.) He explained what he could do, using several words that I wasn’t familiar with, and I mostly just smiled and nodded.

A few months later, I got a text from Eddie…

 It was even more spectacular in person…

Eddie got all the little details we chatted about just perfect; adjustable feet, a little lip to hold the glass shelf, and brackets to secure the unit to the wall. Rodd’s vanities don’t have brackets. Eddie even made a template for the glass shelf on the bottom. Such a great guy.

I have to tell y’all. This project has been so long in the making, that Jamie and I couldn’t get this thing in our bathroom fast enough. And honestly, I was a tiny bit worried that something would be off. Be it my measurements or Eddie’s interpretation of what I wanted. But there was nothing to be concerned about…….it fits like a freakin’ glove.

It looks even better with the sink on top of it….

Now this would normally be the part where we schedule a plumber,

And we’re going to….soon. (Plumb the 3 fixtures and add glass to the shower enclosure is about all that’s keeping this bathroom from being functional)

But we have an adventure scheduled this week, and as usual, our focus is elsewhere.

But don’t lose hope, gentle readers, I assure y’all that we’re almost done.

(Insert huge sigh)