A Very Inconspicuous Home-Improvement Project

Plus a BOMP update!

As I’ve mentioned a few times over the past month or so, my girlfriend, E, recently moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn. I’ve written twice so far about inconspicuous details of her new home — one involving her clock, and another about a late-night light show on her bedroom walls. But the thing I’ve really been obsessing over is her bathroom sink.

The sink, which is shown above, looks ordinary enough. But let’s take a closer look at the hot water faucet handle — the one on the left:

As you can see, the hot water handle has a little red dot (and also a fair amount of pitting, but that’s not relevant to this tale). Red = hot, so that makes sense. I love how it’s so tiny but still communicates effectively — an admirably efficient piece of design that punches way above its weight.

If the hot handle has a red dot, then the cold handle should have a blue dot, right? Ah, if only it were that simple: