You know you're an old house owner if ...

[YinzerMama]

It wasn't old house related, I was refinishing a chair for my son that a friend gave me. Somehow I got a bunch of varnish in my hair - I don't think varnish is the word I want, I don't know, the clear hard stuff that goes over the stain... so I cut that part of hair out and then went to the hair place a few days later and said I wanted my hair cut. Explained that the missing chunk of hair was because I had gotten varnish in it and it dried and I had to cut it out. The hair dresser looked at me like I was insane.

I had been meaning to get my hair cut short anyway, it seemed like a good impetus.

[utopia13]

hehehe....you shellac'd your head!!!

[YinzerMama]

... when you go somewhere historical for a wedding (Soldiers and Sailors memorial in Pittsburgh) and take a picture of the bathroom sinks. Tell me this isn't cool as hell - it was like stepping back in time!!!!! The bathrooms were awesome.

[rehabbingisgreen]

Oh very cool sinks. I love to take photo's of everything too.

[YinzerMama]

You can see the stall doors in the mirrors - wooden - awesome. Old bathrooms make me feel like a kid again - that's how all the bathrooms were in the Pittsburgh Public Schools I went to. OLD. Lots of wood.

I am nostalgic for some reason about the old toilets with the black seats and always hope to find some place that still has them - this place did not. *sigh* You know the heavy black seats made out of the stuff that feels like the tables in a chemistry lab...

[Texas_Ranger]

Around here it is common to have a look at the schools before you send your kids there.

When I first saw my elementary school it still had wooden stalls (clear paint), but when I started school, they had replaced them all with pea green(!) fiberboard. Must have happened in the summer of '91 I guess (started school in fall that year). Back then we still had incandescent lights in some of the hallways and classrooms too - big white glass globes. Over the 4 years I spent there they were all replaced with flourescent strips. I don't think the older ones were original either - all public elementary schools were pretty much gutted in the 50s and 60s, replacing the beautiful tile floors in the hallways, the wood or coal stoves in each classroom, the oiled wood plank floors in the classrooms, the windows and everything. When my dad went to school, the janitor still had to go into each classroom to fire up the stoves.

My highschool had wooden toilet stalls, but they were painted baby blue, as were the walls. They even had high tank toilets with porcelaine tanks (most of the high tanks were painted cast iron or later thin steel). Most of the chains were gone and replaced with nylon strings, and we had handwritten signs "It is forbidden to cut the strings on the toilets! Signed: The principal"

[melissakd]

... when you go somewhere historical for a wedding (Soldiers and Sailors memorial in Pittsburgh) and take a picture of the bathroom sinks. Tell me this isn't cool as hell - it was like stepping back in time!!!!! The bathrooms were awesome.

DROOL!!!!!!

And oh, yeah, the MARBLE-covered walls (a minor detail, to be sure!).

Someone needs to put roller towels in there. I'll volunteer to do the laundry if necessary.

MKD

[YinzerMama]

... when you go somewhere historical for a wedding (Soldiers and Sailors memorial in Pittsburgh) and take a picture of the bathroom sinks. Tell me this isn't cool as hell - it was like stepping back in time!!!!! The bathrooms were awesome.

DROOL!!!!!!

And oh, yeah, the MARBLE-covered walls (a minor detail, to be sure!).

Someone needs to put roller towels in there. I'll volunteer to do the laundry if necessary.

MKD

LOL What I would like is those old soap dispensers you know with the metal rod you would shove up and wiggle and you'd get a handful of that gritty pink powder? That stuff sucked every iota of moisture out of your skin but boy did it feel nice and scrubby while you were using it.

eta - you can see each sink has its own soap dish, for bar soap... can't even imagine folks today being willing to share soap with strangers!!!

[lla]

I hear you. Here's a photo I took on vacation this summer:


The bathroom in the Old Faithful Lodge in Yellowstone. Gorgeous! Love the tile border.

Lori

[Enigma1923]

when you drive by an old house being torn down and suck up the tears and the rage to put on a faintly pleasant face while approaching the construction workers to ask if you can salvage (whatever) before the backhoe's claw strikes again. (yes, I have actually done this, just last week)