A skeleton key to the rescue

I once read that bloggers should never apologize for posting bad photos. Instead they just shouldn’t post them. That is probably good advice, but I’m going to completely ignore it for today.

These photos deserve to be apologized for, because if you thought the photos coming out of my iPhone were lacking, wait until you see these gems from my iPad. Oy vey. (Rest assured, I’m working on a solution to this problem, hopefully sooner rather than later, so hang in there with me, OK?)

They do, however, get the point across. So let’s pretend they are arty, shall we?

It is always amazing to me how I can manage to let the smallest, simplest tasks go undone for so long only to do them and find out that they took but a matter of minutes and bring me unexpected joy.

When we used the door from my grandparents’ house for the new bathroom door we had to buy a reproduction lockset for it, I think from Van Dyke’s, because that’s what fit in the hole in it. And because I believe in locks on bathroom doors, the only kind that would work was the thumb turn variety with a skeleton key.

Maybe this is showing my paranoid side, but I was not at all comfortable with a door in a second-floor bathroom (no access through a window) that could only be unlocked from the outside with a key. Usually bathrooms have those locks you can just pop open with a bobby pin or turn with a credit card so if there were an emergency—I have visions of a little kid locking himself in there or a person passing out or something—you can easily get in. But it’s a little more complicated if it only opens with a key and that key is not totally handy, right?

Anyway I didn’t want that key to go missing during said emergency, or have to root around in the junk drawer for it, so I thought perhaps it could become a small decorative element. I looked for a cute vintage knob for ages and never really found the right thing and then I thought maybe thing was one of those places that could be well served with a small nautical touch. Although I obviously love sailing and water and all that comes with it, I’m reluctant to go too nautical in my decor. Rope picture frames are not in my future. Anyway, I had Mr. Much More Patient pick up the smallest cleat he could find at the marine supply store.

That was probably six months ago. Why it took so long to hang the darn thing up, I have no idea. But I did, and then I stuck the key on a bit of navy velvet ribbon and away we go. Upon further review, I think I need a small piece of three-strand line instead of the ribbon, but the line will cost me 32 cents plus tax but the shipping is $9.95, so that too will have to wait until the next time someone runs to a ship supply store.

In the meantime though, I think it’s kind of cute (which you could tell better if the pictures didn’t look like they were taken with a disposable camera) and it is amazing how much better I feel knowing that we are ready for any kind of bathroom lock-related emergency. It’s the little things that matter, right?