Washcloths

Washcloths are one of those day-to-day realities of bathrooms that never get thought about, let alone talked about, when planning a bathroom. You never see them in photos of bathrooms, but in real life, they're hanging from anything, dried and crusty, looking like laundry. We use washcloths all the time, and there's never a good place to hang a wrung-out washcloth. I don't want to drape it over the tub spout; that erodes the finish, doesn't dry well, and looks awful.

So I'm toying with putting hooks into the showers, such as one of these.


Or maybe a short bar, like this. Think anyone will be able to tell what its true purpose is?


OK, laugh as you may -- but what do you do with washcloths? And before you make too much light of my plight, think about taking a drill to your brand-new tile! So you better believe I'm thinking about this carefully.

Bathroom fixtures

Bathroom fixtures are in! These were bought months ago, during demolition, and just now installed.

Nowhere are regrets and wish-I'ds keener than in bathrooms. As much as I love the bathrooms, I'm struck with problems in all three.

Bathroom 1 ("Downstairs main bathroom"). We should have just done a granite backsplash. The tile is beautiful, but interferes with bathroom accessories, and the granite is so pretty by itself. And I think a half-inch of granite would have been better to keep water at bay.


Bath 1's shower. I love the fixtures, but what's with the wall union? (Where the missing shower hose connects into.) It should have been on the other side of the volume control (the shelf would have gone elsewhere), and it's not at the same level as the volume control.

DANG! I know what happened. The plumbing was planned for the other wall, but there turned out to be too much structure that couldn't be cut into. So all the plumbing got moved to the opposite wall -- only the plumbers didn't reverse the layout of fixtures. So instead of being tucked against the wall, the wall union is on the outside. DANG. (There's always one sub you end up not being thrilled with, and in this case, it's the plumbers.)

But I love the chrome fixtures. Chrome was a last-minute decision, it was going to be satin nickel, but something (I forget now) drove the whole bathroom to chrome. Turns out, the lesser-expensive finish saved us about $800 all told. Yow!

And this bathroom is really, really, really small. I mean, so small I'm regretting there's an elongated toiled in there. Every inch will matter. It's really small.

Bath 2 ("Guest bath"). I love this one, and here the tile backsplash works perfectly (as opposed to a granite backsplash). But I wish I'd planned for this medicine cabinet to begin with, so we could have recessed it. As it is surface-mounted, it's too high and makes accessories (handtowel, anyone?) troublesome.


The shower is great. I'll regret having to cover this with glass!


Bath 3 ("Upstairs kids bath"). This medicine cabinet is adorable, but has several problems. The main one is that the mirror area, made smaller by a hefty bevel, isn't tall enough, and doesn't serve a wide enough range of heights. Mounted as it is, kids won't be able to see themselves for a few years, but it's too low for grownups as tall as Dave (5'10" if he's standing REALLY straight and needs a haircut).

With regret and irritation, I ordered another medicine cabinet today, a simpler one with just a wood frame around it (less molding to block the light fixture) and more mirror area (and crummy 3" shelves, I hate those).

The kids' shower. This has been the most trouble-free one yet, though unfortunately the glass tile border forced the handshower bar up higher than I'd have liked. Not the end of the world though.


My first impulse to paint this bathroom was blue, but then the vanity came in so dark, and green looked better with the dark wood. But now I wish it were blue.

Seems bathrooms attract the most regrets and wishes -- before they're used, that is. When hot water is running over me in any of these places, they will instantly transform into a sanctuary.

PG&E Milestone

We passed a "mandrel" test today, done by PG&E. That has something to do with verifying that the conduits are clear and cables can easily be pulled through. We also got a "meter release" from the city -- required for turning up our essentially brand-new electricity.

Our city inspector also did a walkthrough with our contractor's foreman today, a courtesy our contractor requested, to flag any issues before final inspection. None found! Words cannot express what hope and joy those things bring to harried homeowners -- not just that the walkthrough went well, but moreso that the walkthrough happened at all. We're on track for final inspection!

The light testing started today too. I got to see what my kitchen -- with real lights -- will look like!

That bowl light fixture is one we already had. Its finish doesn't match anything, but it's innocuous and in the absence of any other "bright" ideas, we decided to re-use it.

I never used to notice stuff like this, but the microwave shelf (the microwave will be on a shelf below the counter) has very roughly-cut edge to it. Not befitting the high standards of this kitchen!

My kitchen designer used her own cabinet-installation guys -- I know my contractor wouldn't have let this go. Neither will the kitchen designer, she notices everything.

TP holders

Is it possible to fall in love? If so, I want to marry this TP holder.

(Brand is Murray Feiss.)

Function over form, I always say. You should be able to put in a new roll of toilet paper with one hand, in the dark, and without any squishing springs or futzing with pegs in holes. The TP should roll freely but it shouldn't come off the holder if it gets pulled too quickly. For the holder to do all this, actually look cool, and be under $100 is too much to ask.

Maybe I'm too compulsive (OK, not maybe), but I've always found bathroom accessories hard to shop for. So many choices! I'm thrilled to find Fixture Universe, a fabulous Web site with a huge selection, really well organized and easy to shop.

The demanding customer

Am I really the only person who's ever noticed that dishwasher soap trays all suck?

I went to my contractor's preferred appliance store today, to place my overdue order for kitchen appliances. Apparently someone coming in with a detailed list of part numbers and features, with a kitchen designed around those appliances, cabinets ordered and installed and appliance-ready, isn't common. Every attempt the salesman made to do his job and talk features was met with a barrage of pros and cons. Never has a salesman had such an easy job -- all he had to do was write up the order. $10,000 worth of appliances in 10 minutes.

But the actual write-up gave me enough time to wander around the showroom and fiddle with appliance controls. Pull here, twist there....I idly played with a Thermador dishwasher's soap tray and discovered that when you move the tiny little blue latch over to open the soap door, it springs onto your finger, and it's sharp. Well that sucks, I thought. Then I noticed that our future Bosch dishwasher had the same exact mechanism. And that most of the high-end dishwashers had it too.

This led to a one-by-one rigorous test of every dishwasher there, and I was shocked to see that most of them have the same crummy cheap-sh*t pieces of plastic for the soap tray. Some have a flip-top and latch that won't close if so much as one tiny ball of dry powdered detergent gets on the latch, and it will unless the door is perfectly horizontal when the detergent is poured, and you pour very carefully. Others have this obnoxious slippery tiny little finger-eating latch, that also won't close well if dry detergent gets in there. We use liquid soap now for that reason, and I don't like it -- it's gooey and slimes your fingers when you open the top, and it smells bad, and why should you have to use it?

The salesmen (by now two were involved) didn't know what to say -- every complaint I had was completely legitimate, they agreed. One salesman said he puts dry detergent into a sugar dispenser and pours it from there. Why should you have to do that with a $1600 dishwasher?! Why does a $1600 dishwasher depend on a 50-cent piece of plastic serving an essential function?! They agreed, but what are we going to do about it?

Dishwasher soap trays are a secret monopoly: the two or three designs out there are made by the same company in China for a few cents each. (I don't know that for a fact, but test them for yourselves and you'll agree.) But they both said I'm the first customer they've ever encountered who's ever actually talked about it. They seemed to find it amusing, actually.

Now, don't even get me started on medicine cabinets. Apparently I'm also the first person to question why most medicine cabinets have only 3" deep shelves!

Many items of progress

[ It's time to move my remodeling "blog" from Google pages...it will take a while to migrate the old stuff, but I might as well start writing here. ]

Many things were resolved, finished, or decided on today at the jobsite meeting today.

Check out our new hidden closet in the dining room wainscoting. The dining room before demolition of the rest of the house.


The new hidden closet!


We are going to change the three focal 6x6s in the living room fireplace tile.

(The accent 6x6x are Sonoma Tilemakers, Stellar line, in matte-finish Sanchez. The center tile is their carved Monaco.)

The kitchen tile is coming along -- the niche is almost tiled!

(More Sonoma Tilemakers Sonoma Stone.)

The famous deck that is now a mere platform was almost completed today -- in one day!


The incorrect staircase angled door had its hinges reversed. Now you can stand in the hall, instead of on the steps, to open it.

I'm a nut about doors opening in such a way to maximize free access.

The recessed medicine cabinets are in...the ones that fit, that is. I love this little lark from Restoration Hardware in the kids' bath.


The guest bath floor grout color was replaced and looks a zillion times better.


The guest bath shower door was measured for, hardware chosen.

Finalized knobs, handles, wooden butcher block, and grout color for the family room fireplace tile. The latter is no mean feat -- I have great respect for power of grout colors now!

However, problems still came up. The surface-mounted Restoration Hardware medicine cabinet in the guest bath projects so far it will block the light fixture I planned for it. And it looks bad sticking out so far. I love the cabinet, but I hadn't figured out what to do for this cabinet until after drywall and so a recessed opening didn't get left for it. (A mere mirror with no storage space and no function other than to reflect back my age lines and gray hair is too much for me to take.) Besides, this cabinet was the "inspiration" for this whole bathroom.


Another recessed cabinet will fit its rough opening, but then it will block the switchplate next to it.

It will almost certainly cost less to buy another cabinet than to move the opening, but then, the opening is on the low side anyway. "Might As Well" make it right now. After ALL I've put into researching cabinets, making certain an opening was left for it, that it fit the opening, etc -- if it's too low, that sucks!

But if I do need to buy another one, downright cheap and very nice to work with is WG Wood Products, even if their Web site is a little screwy. Two niches and another medicine cabinet came from there, none more than $100.

Some more good news: the messed-up trim on the entertainment tabletop will be fixed, and if not, replaced. The messed-up dining room door will take 2-3 weeks to arrive, and if weather doesn't delay the finishing process, it's remotely possible it'll arrive before final inspection.

Which brings me to the best thing of the whole day. Quiet, please. All rise.

We have a tentative final inspection date: February 26, 2009.

I know better than to get too excited; there are many many things that could delay it before then (the flooring isn't in), but just seeing the words completely changed my outlook on life. There's an end?! It's unbelievable. It means we have to start thinking about furniture, packing, giving notice at our rental, and moving. Moving!

Dining Room Door Backward

It so happened that Dave and I stopped by the jobsite this morning after a teacher conference.

Our new dining room door is in! We waited 10 weeks for this funky combo from T.M. Cobb. It has an operable casement sidelight, providing the only ventilation into the dining room. It's not the main entry door, but is an entry from the porch on the wall adjacent to the main entry door.

BUT IT'S HUNG WRONG!!! I could SCREAM!!

The main part of the door (the wide part, with the note taped to it) is supposed to be hinged on the left, so that when it opens, it guides you into the room, rather than into a wall.


Instead, it's hinged on the post.


The order is correct, and it even has a drawing on it that shows how it's supposed to be hinged. I called our door guy immediately, and he said, "Oh good grief." He has to order and finish another one now.

Whose fault was this? The factory, initially. Who was supposed to catch it? The door store, certainly. But since we ordered the door, our jobsite foreman and the carpenter assumed it was hung right.

Who's going to pay for this? Ultimately, us, in one way or another. We're not paying for a new door, but someone has to pay the carpenter for the time he spent installing it. And, of course, it presents delays and scheduling complications that will certainly cost us.

ARRRHGHGHGHHHH!!

The good news is, it works beautifully and the finish is smooth and beautiful. It's going to be great. But what a missed opportunity to leave the jobsite thrilled about a major milestone.

Sliding Door Backward

Damn. This sliding door opens on the wrong side.

That corner on the left with the window is where I'd planned to put a guest bed, and I knew it would have to jut out and block the left side of that sliding door a little (with the red diamond sticker still on it). Fine, if it's blocking the inoperable side, which is really just a giant window.

But I noticed today, for the first time since it was installed months ago, that there are drill holes on the left for a handle. What?! The left side is supposed to be fixed,and the right side is supposed to slide open....nope, the right side is fixed. Damn!


First thing I did when I got home was to check the door order. There it was, my initials on the order, with the fixed section on the left side as I expected....oh no! As viewed from the exterior. Damn!

My affinity for doors, windows, built-ins, niches and nooks has taken a serious toll on wall space for furniture. I'm not sure where we're going to put everything. Anything.