Lane's Remodel

End result

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:18:00 +0000

It's November. No, it didn't take that long to finish, just for me to get around to taking photos and posting them. Here's the end result.

So close and yet so far

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:45:00 +0000

It's the little things that hurt the most sometimes.

The plumbers came last week to finish up, and discovered:

The sink was the wrong color (oh, and they only discovered this after installing it and then opening up the box with the toilet and recognizing that was a completely different color). Interestingly, the box the sink came in says "Biscuit," but the sink was white.

The toilet sits snug against the wall. So snug, in fact, that the tile base trim is too wide and would have to be removed before the toilet could be installed.

The carpeting went in without a hitch and looks great.

So here's what's left.

Touch-up paint (they come back on Friday)
Sink install (two week wait to get the right sink)
Toilet install (they'll do that when they come back to do the sink)
Fix the tile base around the toilet
Install the towel bars, TP roll holder, and robe hook
Shower door/glass and mirror (also about two weeks)
Carpet install in the hallway and stairs (I bought that separately from the carpet store down the block; it goes in next Tuesday)

I bought a bed and two nightstands; they were delivered today. Also bought a new TV (seen in photo below) that was delivered today and will be wall-mounted a week from Saturday. And I bought a Shoji screen to separate the bedroom area from the office area. I'm not sure when the window treatments will be in. But I'm going to try to get the bed set up on Saturday so I can move in (even though I'll still have to use the upstairs bathroom for a couple of weeks).

Here are two views of the bedroom. See my Panasonic 42" plasma and all the spots for touch-up.

And two views of the bathroom. See my shower fixtures and my uninstalled toilet.

Closing in on the finish line

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:49:00 +0000

Hard to believe, but it's down to the last week or so before it's all done.

The vanity top was installed on Monday; the tile guy came back and finished up yesterday and today. The finish plumbing is supposed to get done tomorrow, and the carpeting goes in on Monday. After that, the painters will be back to touch up the paint, and the last thing (which may still be a couple of weeks) is the glass for the shower and the mirror.

Here's how things look so far.

The closet: The hallway leading from the stairs to the bedroom:

My new bedroom:

My vanity with countertop and backsplash:

A closeup view of the backsplash as it wraps around the half wall that separates the vanity from where the toilet will be:
Another view of the vanity. (The sink is just sitting there for now; it's not hooked up yet.)

Color and texture and fabric, oh my!

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 03:59:00 +0000

Things are progressing, and it's all visual now. Light switches and fixtures starting going in today and will get finished tomorrow. Soon the vanity top will be ready and then the finish plumbing and the rest of the tile work gets done. This Thursday I'm taking a personal day off from work to help with figuring out how to install my new closet system.

I ordered window treatments today: Bali Flat Roman Shades (it's the style on the left):

And here's the color/fabric choice I went with (not that you can tell much from the picture):

I also ordered my new bedding from Overstock.com:

And I've been deciding on towels for the bathroom, and all the bath accessories.

I swear when this is over I'll never make another decorating choice for as long as I live.

Glorious Color

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:08:00 +0000

All the angst about color was worth it.

Up til now the painters have been doing priming and masking, but today there's color on the walls.

And it's even better than I imagined from the paint chips.

Here are my colors (or at least the best approximations you can get on your monitor), all from Benjamin Moore.

This is for the walls in the hallway leading from the stairs to the bedroom. It's the same wall color for most of the upstairs of my house: Baby Fawn. (Aren't baby fawns spotted?)

This is the bedroom walls: Bennington Gray. (I don't know why it's called "gray," but it looks beautiful on the walls; not too light and not too dark.)

This is the bathroom wall color: Fairview Taupe. (Taupe??? It just looks like the most luscious brown ever to me.)

And this is the trim color, for moldings, walls, and ceilings: Swiss Coffee. (Coffee??? I don't care if it's Swiss or anything else; no matter how much milk I've ever put in coffee, it doesn't come out anything close to this color.)

According to my project manager, we're about three weeks from finishing. Tomorrow the countertop folks are coming to make the template, and it'll be a week or so until that's done. I've been trying to set up a time to meet the glass guy and talk about shower door and mirror. But nothing much can happen until the counter is in place. Then they'll complete the tile (backsplash, cove base, and redo the shower tiles that were cut wrong), do the finish plumbing (sink, toilet, faucet, and all the fixtures in the shower) and and electrical (light fixtures, switches, plugs), carpeting, and install the closet system (which is in boxes in my garage).

Then comes decorating. I've already picked out my new bed:

And my new nightstands:

And maybe this armoire for my TV:

All are from http://www.affordable-beds.com/.

And I found this Shoji screen I really like at http://www.iroomdividers.com/ to separate the bedroom area from where my office will be: I'd kind of like to get a new desk too. I'm thinking of something like this (from West Elm):

But after all this is over, I'm not making another decision for a year!

Dizzy on the color wheel

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:59:00 +0000

All of a sudden things seem to be coming together really well. The tile is done (sort of, but keep reading), and all the carpentry is done. The painters started today with priming the walls, and they'll be painting for the better part of the next week.

Picking colors was the hardest part of this project, which is silly, since it's the one decision I am not locked into forever. If I really don't like the colors, I can always repaint. But I kept considering one color palette after another, asked all kinds of friends for advice, and never got any closer to making up my mind. Finally I went to a paint and decorator place near where I work and got some advice, and then I just went with them, because they're the professionals.

So, as for the tile, it looks just incredible. I'm very psyched. But it turns out that the tile setter cut the wrong size holes for the shower, and he's going to have to redo some of them.

See the blue box? That was supposed to be a template for the opening for the two shower tiles. But you can see he just cut tiny little holes for the shower tiles. That's no big deal, because he can use his grinder tool to cut them bigger. But he used that template to cut the holes for the controls -- the big square holes on the left -- and the only solution there is going to be to cut the tiles out and replace them. He'll do that when he comes back to do the backsplash, which won't happen until after the countertop for the vanity is in place.

The vanity looks great! You can't tell from the picture because it's so dark, but it really does.

Mud

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:04:00 +0000

The tile people have been at it since Thursday, but they still haven't actually laid any tile. Last week they built the mud pan for the shower, and today they got the floor heat down in what looks like a very liquidy mud pie. I guess it all has to dry before they can do much more.

I decided to go with the John Louis Home Deluxe Organizer closet system in Red Mahogany, along with some extra accessories to fill it out.

Color my world

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 04:35:00 +0000

So now I'm leaning toward another closet option:

I like this because it's made of natural hardwoods, and it's a lot cheaper than the other two options. Shipping is included, and I can have my construction guy, Dustin, install it. But it's a bit of a risk, since I can't see it beforehand to know if I like it. I'll make my final decision this weekend.

Here's my new bedroom, now that drywall is done.

Tomorrow they install the heated bathroom floor and the tile in the shower.

Meanwhile, I'm struggling to pick colors. Here are some choices I'm considering for my bathroom. There's the tile, the mosaic pattern that'll be interspersed, the vanity top I'm leaning toward, and the vanity. Of course, none of the colors is accurate in the pictures.

I'm really not at all sure which way to go. I am leaning to the very dark purple/brown in the top photo, second from the left, for the bedroom, but I'm waiting to get a carpet sample before I make up my mind.

In the closet

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 03:44:00 +0000

Fifteen days of construction are past. All the plumbing and electrical rough-in is complete, and they're almost done hanging drywall (but just hanging; they haven't started all the mudding and sanding).

My challenge this week has been in trying to select a closet system. I've looked at four options, and I've narrowed it down to two, I think.

The question is whether to go with a more built-in, furniture look (from Closets by Design):

or a more modular look that's also more flexible (from The Container Store):

The pictures are just samples, of course. They are very close in price. The Closets by Design is Melamine on particle board, kind of like Formica, and it feels and looks kind of cheap and fake. The elfa closet from The Container Store is natural wood laminate on top of what the saleswoman described as a "honeycomb-like" manufactured structure. Although the structure isn't real, the feel is more solid because it's real wood. Both come with a lifetime warranty.

Opinions, anyone? Help me get out of the closet and on with my life!

Day Ten

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 02:05:00 +0000

They've been at it for ten days. The framing is done, the plumbing rough-in is done, and the electrical rough-in is underway. Next week they'll be repairing the concrete and probably will start drywall.

I selected a light fixture for inside the closet. It's Energy Star rated, using compact fluorescent bulbs:

Here are some pictures after ten days of construction. This one shows the framing for the closet and bathroom:

Here's the shower, or what will be the shower. You can see the shower head and two body tiles just right of center, then just to the left of the tiles is the connection for the hand-held, and to the left are the three valves. The leftmost valve controls just the main showerhead. The next one over from that turns on water for either the body sprays or the handheld, and the one just below that switches between those two. I won't be able to use the body sprays and the handheld at the same time; it's the compromise I had to make to get everything I wanted without spending an extra $10K.
Here's where the vanity will go. There's a half wall on the left.
And here's my new electric tankless on-demand hot water heater (with the cover removed). This will hook up only to the main showerhead. The other three will draw from my existing tank. I was astonished at how small it is. But it draws 28,000 watts of power.

I had to make decisions about locations on all these valves and sprays this week, plus the locations of wall switches, outlets, and light fixtures. It wasn't easy.

Complicating it all, I had my new alarm system installed on Wednesday... and fixed on Thursday... and fixed again today, Saturday. He programmed it wrong, and there were other wiring problems, and he disconnected my phone in the process. Today I found out that he wasn't the only one who disconnected my phone. It turns out that when they removed the phone jack from the downstairs bedroom, they reconnected the wrong wires. I finally got it all working. Now I just need to paint where the old alarm sensors were replaced with new ones.

Fun!

Dust

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:54:00 +0000

It's everywhere.

I'm not sure it's right to call it dust. It's this layer of powder that settles on everything, in everything. It's white, except when I spray it and wipe it, it's dark grey.

I guess it's going to be my friend for the next couple of months.

I'm hoping the worst of it is from them breaking up the concrete slab, which happened last week, but I know there's be plenty more when they get to the drywall phase.

They got rid of all the debris, and they have put in the rough framing of the spaces. The closet is smaller than I imagined. It's going to be a good size to store all my clothes, but I don't think it'll end up being a dressing room. It's still hard to judge.

Anyway, it's exciting to see the space actually laid out after just one week. Still a long way to go.

Mezuzah

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:54:00 +0000

I have a home alarm system, and the remodel means moving a few things around. Motion detectors were on walls that no longer exist, or that would detect motion inside the closet.

In the past I've worked with one alarm company, but they've been just awful about responding to my phone calls, so I decided to look into a new alarm company. I Googled, and found a company. I called them last Friday, and I talked to the owner. We made an appointment for someone to come over this afternoon and check things out.

A guy named Sam showed up as scheduled. The first thing I noticed about him was that he was wearing a Star of David on a chain around his neck. This is Seattle, not New York, so while Jewish people are not thought of as a different species, we're still something of a rarity.

Anyway, he spent an hour with me looking over everything and figuring everything out. At the end he said he'd tell the owner to give me a good deal, and I said, thanks. Then he said, "You're Jewish, right?" I said, "Yes." I'm pretty sure the only reason he'd figure that out is from the Mezuzah on my door. (It certainly isn't from my last name.) He said that the owner is Jewish and he likes to give a break to Jewish customers. He asked me where I go to synagogue. I told him I'm a lapsed Jew. He said he is, too, but he occasionally goes to an orthodox synagogue.

I'm not sure how ethical it is to give favored pricing on the basis of religion, but I'm not unsure enough to reject it. I guess it pays to post a Mezuzah on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Day One

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 05:22:00 +0000

They started this morning, bright and early.

Yes, they were supposed to start last week. But they made up for it today with a great start on the demolition.

Lighting Redux

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:29:00 +0000

So I finally picked my light fixture of choice.

I settled on Number 5. It was a close call over Number 4, which was actually the audience favorite. I like them both a lot. In fact, I like all of the fixtures I was considering.

However, it turns out that I forgot to take one detail into account. There is a soffit, if that's what it's called, that comes down about eight inches from the ceiling and covers the heating ducts. You can see it best in this photo:

And in this photo, you can see how the existing lighting fixture, above the mirror in my ugly, soon-to-be-demolished bathroom, would extend up just a little higher than the bottom of the soffit.

And with the my fixture of choice, or, for that matter, any of the other fixtures, it would be much worse.

So I've decided to go with two sconces on either side of the vanity mirror. And as it turns out, there is a sconce version of Number 4:

I actually like this better than the above-the-mirror version. I like the way the two prongs extend both above and below the fixture.

So the actual starting date has been pushed back until this coming Thursday, the 21st. I'm excited, but also realize that it's going to be a noisy, dusty, inconvenient few months until this is done. The contract states 75 days, which puts completion into the first week of May. I am sleeping on the floor in my living room, and I can't wait until I have my bedroom back.

Vanity, thy name is...

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 04:39:00 +0000

I keep second guessing myself.

Here are samples of what I've picked out for the vanity wood and top and the floor and shower wall tile. I put them on the existing bathroom floor just for kicks. That hideous floor will be gone before much longer. (Click on the pics for close-up views.)

I really love the tile and the wood, but I might need to go back to the countertop place and look at some more samples, because I'm just not sure. I think I might like something darker.

The square tiles are 19 x 19. They'll be used for the floor. The oblong tiles are 10 x 19, and they'll be used for the shower walls. The shower floor will be a 1 x 1 version of the same tile. And there are decorative tiles that coordinate, and they'll be interspersed with the floor tile. There will also be a 4" band of the mosaic at eye level in the shower. And the backsplash for the vanity will have the same 4" band between two strips of the tile. It's going to be awesome.

The counter top is DuPont Zodiaq. The color is Antique Pearl. It's pretty much exactly the same thing as Cambria and CaesarStone.

I compared many samples of all three, and this seems to be the best choice to pull together the tile and the wood, but I just feel like there might be something better. It's so hard!!!

Onward!

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:32:00 +0000

I signed my contract today, so there's no turning back.

I met with Kevin yesterday and he went through the contract. I was surprised to see that the amount on the contract was $9000 more than the original estimate, and I asked him about that. He said it was based on some changes I'd already approved, plus the hot water heater upgrade. And that amount was increased by an additional $800 for electrical work that was not scoped out until I was able to provide the information on my electrical panel.

So when I got home last night, I did a line-by-line comparison of the original estimate and the new contract. There were a few things that came in lower than the original -- the plumbing fixtures I selected were about $700 less than the allowance -- and some things that were higher -- the carpeting was a little more than estimated, and the tile was a lot more. That plus the hot water heater accounted for less than $4000, but there was still more than $5000 I couldn't figure out. So I emailed Kevin and asked him to itemize the difference.

It's a good thing I did. Kevin called this morning and said that it was an error on his part, and he sent me a revised contract with the correct numbers. I mailed it back, and we're ready to go.

The final budget:

$57,406.56 + tax ($5109.18) = $62,515.74

At least the sales tax is deductible (because Washington doesn't have state income tax, we can deduct our state sales tax).

He's going to order the vanity and the fixtures next week, and we're scheduled to begin construction (or, I guess, demolition) on Monday, February 18.

Tomorrow I go to Fine Line Pacific to pick out the vanity top.

More hot water

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:45:00 +0000

Kevin called me yesterday with updates on the options for upgrading my hot water to accommodate my spa shower. He actually priced things down to the penny, tax included.

Here are the options:

12,403.06: Replace my existing hot water tank with two tankless gas hot water heaters, including gas permitting and having Puget Sound Energy do the gas service upgrade.
9,965.66: Replace my existing tank with two tankless electric hot water heaters; requires electric service upgrade and still requires permitting, inspection, and work by Puget Sound Energy.
7,940.12: One tankless electric hot water heater added to my existing tank, adequate size to provide unlimited water for all the jets in the shower. Still requires electric panel upgrade.
1,917.50: A smaller electric tankless hot water heater added to the existing tank, small enough that it does not require an electric upgrade. This would limit me to shorter showers using all the jets, but enable unlimited showers if I turn the jets off.

Sadly, the only option I can afford to consider is this last one. Part of why I'm sad is that if I can't eliminate my tank, I don't get any power-saving benefit. And, of course, I don't get to hang out for a half hour or longer in the shower with an all-over body massage going on. But I think it's an acceptable compromise.

Kevin is coming over on Wednesday with the electrician to evaluate my service and determine what's the biggest tankless unit that could be added without requiring a service upgrade.

Meanwhile, I picked out carpet and bathroom tile this week, and I made my final decision on wood and drawer pulls for the vanity. I'm waiting to get a sample of the tile so then I can go to the fabricator for the vanity countertop and pick that out, but I have decided to go with manufactured quartz, probably Cambria.

And I am still torn in my choice for vanity lighting. Most of you have picked #4, and I love that one, except that it uses standard bulbs and I prefer halogen.

My other top choice right now is #5. I found a detail image, and I really like how it looks:

Compare with #4:

So I guess I'm just going to postpone my decision for a few more days.

Well I hope the work actually begins before too much longer, now that I've pretty much made all the decisions I can make that the work depends on. The hot water decision is the last big one. (They won't even manufacture the countertop until the vanity is in place and they can come out and measure.)

You can be sure I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, let me know what you think about halogen versus standard lightbulbs, and #5 as opposed to #4.

Completely in the dark!

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 03:47:00 +0000

I am totally befuddled with trying to narrow down choices for my bathroom vanity lighting.

At first I was settled on a polished chrome fixture to match the plumbing, but then I found this hardware that is absolutely perfect: the Latitude collection from Gatco.

Since this combines polished and satin finishes, it gives me a lot more "latitude" on other accessories, like lighting fixtures and vanity handles/knobs.

So I've narrowed it down to seven choices. Please weigh in with your opinion.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Context

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:16:00 +0000

My friend Scott asked for context. So for those of you who have been to my house and can't picture exactly what I'm doing, or for those of you who've never been to my house, here's a little description.

My house is two levels with a split-foyer entrance. Upstairs is the living room, dining room and kitchen. Also upstairs there are two bedrooms and a full bath. The large one, in the back of the house, was intended as the master bedroom. The bathroom has a door leading into a hallway but also has a pocket door directly into the larger bedroom. The smaller bedroom doesn't really function well as a bedroom: it's very small, and it has French doors with glass, so there's no privacy.

The downstairs as-built was designed with the potential to serve as a mother-in-law apartment. It has a separate back door entrance into a large room that has a small kitchen area in the corner, and it has a small bedroom and a 3/4 bath. In the first post, you can see the "before" photos and the floorplan, with the existing walls as dotted lines. Coming from the front door and going downstairs, you enter a narrow hallway. The garage is on the right, and the closets on the left contain the furnace, hot-water heater, and laundry. In the floorplan, only the very end of this hallway is shown.

So that should provide context for what's getting remodeled. It's pretty much the entire downstairs area.

When I first bought the house in 1999, I had a roommate, and his bedroom was the small downstairs bedroom. We used the large room at the back as our TV room/family room. After he left, I had a few other roommates, but eventually I decided I didn't want or need a roommate, so I used the downstairs bedroom as my guestroom.

After I had my deck built in 2003, including having a sliding glass door leading from the upstairs master bedroom out onto the deck, I decided to move my bedroom downstairs into the large room, using the small bedroom as closet space and a dressing room. I made the upstairs master bedroom into a TV room/guest room, moved my piano into the small upstairs bedroom, and put my office downstairs, essentially in my bedroom.

After the remodel, I'll still have my office downstairs, but it'll be in the back corner of the bedroom, and I'll put some kind of screen between it and the bedroom area to help keep them feeling separate.

OK, I hope that provides the necessary context for Scott and anyone else who was confused.

A tough choice

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 00:50:00 +0000

I woke up at 4:30 this morning; it's not the first time I've lost sleep since the remodel process has started moving forward.

Unable to get back to sleep, I got up and dashed off an email to Kevin. (I keep referring to him as "my contractor," but perhaps it's time to start using his actual name.) He had emailed me to tell me that the electric tankless hot water heater wouldn't be adequate to do the job. So I wrote that I might want to think about scaling back on my plan. I'm thinking I might have to give up the two Water Tiles and just go with the single showerhead plus the handheld. Even that might require enhancing my hot water service, but I'm hoping it can be done much cheaper than the full deal. He's supposed to get back to me and let me know.

I hate to lose that. The whole spa shower idea was so appealing to me, but to spend at least $7000 just for two body jets in my shower is hard to justify.

In Hot Water

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:20:00 +0000

I met with my contractor this morning. He got the list from Ferguson's for the bathroom fixtures, and I came out about $700 below my allowance.

That's the good news. Unfortunately, the bad news is ten times that.

Since I am going to have a shower with a regular showerhead, a handheld, and two body sprays, I could potentially pull 2.5 gallons of water per minute with each of those. If I were to keep my 50-gallon tank, I'd have about 2 minutes of shower time before the cold water refilling the tank would pretty much end my hot water supply.

So the choices are to add a tankless hot water heater in tandem with the existing tank, or remove the tank and add two tankless. One tankless isn't enough because it can't heat cold water to shower temperature fast enough for ten gallons of flow. The combination of the tank and the tankless would expand my shower time to about 12 minutes, but for unlimited hot water, two tankless is the only solution.

The problem is that my gas supply is inadequate to drive two tankless hot water heaters (each of which uses a lot more gas than a single tank system), plus my furnace, plus my gas range. This means bringing a bigger gas supply into the house. The combination of installing the two new hot water heaters, removing the existing tank, and running the new line into the house is upwards of $7000; and if it requires them to dig up my landscape in the front of the house, it's a lot worse. They may be able to tunnel in; that remains to be seen.

But I was looking at the option of using electric tankless hot water heaters instead of gas. I might already have adequate electric service, and even if I don't, it seems to me that would be a lot less expensive. So I've dashed off an email to my contractor, and we'll see what he says.

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment to decide on my custom vanity. Next Tuesday I select tile, and probably this Saturday I'll go pick out lighting. I'll be back with details of what I select and what gets decided about the hot water situation.

Polished chrome it is.

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:26:00 +0000

Thanks to Melissa and Margot for the input. I really was torn, because I do like the serene feeling of the brushed nickel, but I also like the gleam and sparkle of the polished chrome.

It wasn't really a matter of the money, because if I had a strong feeling, I would've spent more to get what I really like, but because I was torn, I didn't see any point in spending more for the one over the other. And since the polished chrome is significantly less expensive, that seems like a reasonable choice.

And it's not a trivial difference. The retail price on the faucet alone is $312 for polished chrome and $452 for brushed nickel. Add all the shower features--showerhead, handheld, slider bar for the handheld, all the valves (1 temperature control and 3 volume controls), and I probably save around $1000 by going with polished chrome.

Here are some more pictures: the showerhead and the handheld and the temperature valve.

Next: I'm meeting with my contractor on Wednesday morning to talk about all the plans. I'm hoping by then he'll have the options for the hot water heater for me to decide on.

Polished Chrome or Brushed Nickel?

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:42:00 +0000

Choices! Choices! How do I make up my mind?

Some things were easy. I picked out this sink:

However, I wanted to go with a wall-mount faucet, and I couldn't find one I liked that also fit the specifications for the sink (which called for a 12" spout). And I really want a single-handle faucet, so when one hand is busy with a comb or razor or toothbrush, the other one has full control of water flow and temperature. So I think I've settled on getting the sink with single faucet hole and this faucet:

Meanwhile, I've selected this toilet. Not only is it cool looking, but it's a dual-flush (one low-volume flush for pee, and one higher-volume flush for poop).

And I decided on a showerhead, hand-held, plus two Kohler Water Tiles:

The thing I'm debating now is polished chrome or brushed nickel? Please give me some advice fast!

Also, I met with the plumber last week and got some bad news. It seems my existing 50-gallon hot water tank will allow me the luxury of using my new spa shower for about 2 minutes at a time before I use up most of the hot water. So it looks like I'm going to have to replace it with a couple of tankless on-demand hot water heaters. Well, at least it's more environmentally friendly.

Starting out

noreply@blogger.com (Lane) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:18:00 +0000

I could have started my remodel blog a while ago and gone through the process of selecting a contractor, but I didn't. So here's where things stand now: I've selected a contractor, emptied out the space, and approved a design.

Here are some before pictures.

When you come downstairs, this is the hallway you enter. You can see the door into the bathroom at the end of the hallway.

Here's my beautiful bathroom. Can't wait for this to go away.

This is the small bedroom and its closet.

And here we have the lovely kitchenette. I guess if my mother ever moved in with me, she'd have loved to stay down here and do her own cooking. And don't you just love that light fixture?

During and after pictures yet to come.