Things I'd Change

The house is wonderful, don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. But a common question I get is "So, what would you have done differently?" And I must admit, after living here for nearly a year, I've noticed a few things that aren't quite as wonderful as they could be, such as:

#1 - The door to the sunporch opens directly into the inside-corner pillar supporting the porch roof. There's plenty of room to open the door, but it does rather spoil the view out the window in the door, and it makes it a bit tight if you are carying something large through the doorway. There's no structural reason the door couldn't have been located 3 feet or so further to the right, putting it squarely between the two support pillars... we just didn't notice until it was done.

#2 - We shouldn't have run the radiant heat into the pantry, it gets really warm in that little room when the door is closed. It doesn't really need to be heated, but when we were laying the floor we just didn't think about leaving any spaces unheated. It's not really a problem for dried goods or canned foods, but I've stopped keeping garlic, onions, potatoes, apples, squash and the like in there because they tend to go bad. (On the other hand, the sun porch being unheated makes it a great storage area for that sort of thing. In the future when we have bumper crops of fruits and vegetables out of our garden & orchard, this space is going to be filled to the brim with harvest bounty.)

#3 - The upstairs bathroom door opens right next to the sink/vanity, making the space tight and awkward, right where you want to stand to use the sink or look in the mirror. It's cramped enough that the right-hand drawer on the vanity won't open if the door isn't closed completely: There's also the wierdness of having the closet door open right behind the main door. I should just close the door to the bathroom before opening the closet door, which but I seem to be incapable of remembering to do that. I'm forever banging the closet door into the bathroom door. Both of these issues would have been solved by using a pocket door for the bathroom door. Unfortunately, it's too late to change that. I don't even know if its possible to retrofit a pocket door into an existing, load-bearing wall, but if it is I bet its a real hassel.

#4 - No overhang on the kitchen countertops. They are faced flush with the cabinet fronts. It looks really nice, and I'm not even bothered that it makes clean up slightly more difficult because you can't catch the crumbs in your hand as easily when you wipe off the countertop. No, the real problem is that whenever a liquid spills and runs over the edge, it somehow suctions itself into the crevase between facing and the cupboard or drawer. Sometimes I don't notice the spill right away, only to later find a little puddle in the silverware drawer, or a half-dried sticky dribble down the inside of a cupboard door. What makes this worst of all, though, is that my little brother accurately predicted that this would happen. When he first visited the house, shortly before we moved it, he took one look at the countertops and said exactly that would happen. Of course I argued with him at the time, declaring it preposterous to think that having flush-fronted countertops would make any difference at all. It pains me greatly to admit, Jon, but you were right. I hope you'll be up for helping us redo the countertops - with an overhang this time - in a few years!

That's it so far - and it's really very minor stuff. There are also a few light switches and outlets that could be in better spots, but I don't really think you can ever get that sort of thing 100% right.

Indoor Plumbing - teh R0x0rz

As you can see below, I remembered my camera last night. So here's pictures of all the bathroom plumbing fixtures & faucets for your viewing pleasure. First, the lovely downstairs bathroom vanity, with its glass tile backsplash all grouted:
Here's a close up of the faucet, photographically proving that when you turn the handles, actual WATER comes OUT. Gotta love that!
Here's the clawfoot tub, in its nook in the downstairs bathroom. The drain and input lines are hooked up, but the faucet is not - yet. But it will be soon. I'm pretty impressed with how NICE the tub looks. For comparison, here's a post on the restoration process. Or you can click on the "clawfoot tub" tag at the bottom of this post to see a round up of all the posts about it.
Also, there is the toilet. I can't think of anything particularly interesting to tell you about the toilets, except that I'm happy to see them. Most people take them for granted, but not me. See, when I was little, we lived in a one room cabin out in the woods which did not have a toilet. We had an outhouse instead. (Why yes, my parents were hippies. Why do you ask?) Let's just say I have a thing for flushing.

In the upstairs bathroom, we have the mexican sink, looking lovely as always with its brightly colored tile backsplash - now with grout! - and its oiled bronze faucet. This is actually the same faucet as the one for the downstairs sink, the only difference is the downstairs one has porcelain handles.
Here's the shower head we chose, in oil-rubbed bronze of course. I can't wait to try it out...
This is the faucet and temperature control knob thing for the shower/bath. It's part of the same line as the sink faucets, so they all go together.

I've got about a million photos to post today, but I'll do separate posts for different topics. Check back later!

Tile Backsplashes

Yesterday Robin glued the tile backsplashes in place in both bathrooms. Here's the upstairs bathroom, with the Mexican sink. I really think it looks amazing. So bright and cheerful! I look forward to staggering groggily into the bathroom to brush my teeth some monday morning and being greeted by this happy little space. It may not make waking up easy, but it can't hurt, either.
Downstairs, the almost-clear glass 1" tiles were glued in place, but she didn't have time to finish putting up the skinny black edge tiles. This bathroom is going to be so classy, with the clawfoot tub, oil-rubbed bronze fixtures and everything except the walls black or white.
Here's a close up of the one section of black edging tile that was in place last night. Of course, it will look somewhat different once the grout is done. Right now you can still kind of see the webbed backing that the individual tiles are attached to, but it's still just beautiful.
Today, the plumbers are there putting all the sinks & toilets & faucets and things in place and hooking them up. In fact, Steve just called to find out if Cary and I are right or left handed. I was a bit confused until he told me it was so they would know which side of the kitchen faucet to put the lever on. I can't wait to get out there and see it all...

Mexican Sink

As I was preparing to leave work to go to the plumbing store, I realized I hadn't posted a picture of the cool Mexican sink that Mom & Dad gave me for my birthday last year. It's going in the upstairs bathroom. So here it is:

The other major fixture that I already have is my great-great-grandpa's clawfoot bathtub. I don't have a picture of it (it's still sitting in the bushes behind the barn) but it's a standard 5-footer, white enamel on the inside and greyish-black on the out/underside. It'll be going in the downstairs bathroom. Aparently it's going to be quite a challenge to find faucet hardware that will fit, because the holes are 3.5" apart on center, and the standard is 3 3/8".

The story of how my great-great-grandpa's tub ended up behind my parent's barn is a pretty good one. When I was a little kid, my dad's cousin Joyce bought a fixer-upper in East Wenatchee. When Grandma Mary went to see the new place, she immediately recognized the house as having been HER grandpa's house, where she (my grandma) was actually BORN! She had also spent her summers when she was a girl, so she knew it well. All the original fixtures were there, although the house was in need of serious remodelling & repair. They took everything out, and I guess they decided not to put the tub back in when they were done.

So my dad took it home, and used it to water the cows and occasionally to hold beer & ice at outdoor parties (for instance, at my brother's wedding). The feet were taken off for safekeeping. It's in great shape, considering. Just a couple little nicks in the enamel, which we'll repair. I didn't know its history until we were about halfway through the house design process, when Dad offered the tub to me. Of course we immediately made room for it in the new house. It's great that even though I'm building a couple hundred miles from the old family homestead(s), I can bring some family history with me.