American Standard One

This is the One collection from American Standard. I think we're settled on it for the master bath. We'll need a tub filler, wall mount lav faucets and the showerhead/valve.







We'd like to ditch the trim kit (big circle thingy) and see if it can be mounted more cleanly on the wall.



Since the valve has a diverter it may be nice to get a wand on a hose, too. Has anyone out there gotten stuff from this line?

More thoughts on fixtures. Railings, too.

Erin says:

We've almost decided to go with Hudson Reed for faucets. JP has been scouring blogs and forums for reviews, and most people seem to think that as long as you get the correct conversion parts, installation is okay. Our problem now is that he wants a more overhead-type "rain" showerhead, and I don't. Since I have long hair, I often skip washing it, and I prefer an angled head. We may go for both -- we have to ask if that's possible, or if it's a budget-buster.

We're also waiting to find our if we can have wall-mounted faucets without a weird sink. You know, those bowls that sit on your counter.

On a different note, I really want to get a dual-level handrail for the stairs, so there's one at adult level and one at kid level. I was looking for a photo online, but I haven't found one yet. Our Ikea has them on their stairs.

Looking for fixture suggestions

The plumber told me this morning that we need to have our bath and shower fixtures as well as the bathtub picked out sometime in the next week or two. This is normally the kind of thing we would obsessively research for months before coming to a tortured decision. Can anyone help accelerate this for us? Erwins, I'm looking squarely at you!

James, does the company that makes the knock-offs of highend faucets have a website?

Update:
This shower is nice looking, however I'm sure it's a bit on the pricey side.

Missing wall panorama

This is a spherical panorama of the living room wall's absence. You can click and drag the image to spin around the room.
Note: we've only got one cat, but he managed to move between my first and third photos. The software I use to stitch the three photos (PTGui) must like Kramer.

Wall demolition

The first interior demo took place today. They knocked out the wall and fireplace in the living room. It is seriously weird to me -- like when you catch a glimpse of yourself in a mirror after a major haircut.

Site cleaning

The trash is gone. Hauled away by a guy named Mario who had a chainsaw, a wheelbarrow, and a gigantic truck. He did a great job and it looks much more sane back there now.

The drama came in when, big surprise, the framer got involved. He was the one who hired Mario. He was also the one who never showed up to pay Mario. As usual, the general contractor, J.D. took care of things and saved the day. Mario got his money and a place to dump the wood (feel the eco-guilt along with me, please). The framer is no longer on the job.

I'm not gonna ask J.D. what he did with him.

Let the plumber plumb

These pipes were dropped off a few days ago. Some holes were drilled. The concrete has to be cut to move the sink drain back.

Wood haul

All of this is going away tomorrow. There's a guy coming in the morning to take it somewhere else. I don't know where it will go. I like to think it is being reused or recycled somehow, but I'm just not sure.

email box

Originally uploaded by JotaPeh.

From the post on gizmodo.com:
"There's something charming about attaching computer icons to physical objects..."

I want one of these to replace the evil little doorless slot on the front of our house we currently use for the mail.

From Chiasso.

Framers have finished

They got the stairs and everything else done yesterday, after working a very long day. I'll post some photos or panoramas soon.

Next up are the plumber to cut and move one pipe, and the electricians will start getting high voltage wiring in.

On a related note, we're going to be meeting with the low voltage guy sometime to talk about all the cool wiring: ethernet CAT5, coaxial, speakers, phone, and others. I'm thinking we'll try to terminate everything in the closet of the studio. I'm envisioning a huge patch bay and scads of blinking lights. James was telling us about having IR remote receivers in a few rooms that send their signals over wire to the media closet. That's where TiVo and pals will live. Does anyone have any other recommendations on serving audio and video up from a central location?

Screwed

Erin writes:
My husband insists that this is a bolt, but "Bolted" is not nearly as compelling a title. Whatever it is, it's currently sticking through the floor of the second story. I'm sure it has an important purpose.

Once again our framer seems to be fading away. The tools are gone, as are the workers. It's frustrating, because they're really, really close to being finished. I'm sure they're moving on to another job, but it sure would be swell to get this one done first. I know, I know -- everyone warned us this would happen at various points in the construction process, but somehow it's easy to believe that somehow you're going to be the ones who miraculously escape it.

Where'd the stairs go?

My son and I have a tradition of going outside when I get home from work to see what the workers have done. Yesterday as we were heading out I heard him say, "Where'd the stairs go, Dadda?". Huh?! Where indeed? They were simply gone.

I immediately assumed that it was collateral damage from the ongoing battle between the framer and the plumber, but there were not enough blood stains evident to support that theory.

So I called J.D. He said they were just doing it for fun. Actually, it turns out there was some confusion about the structural engineer's drawings of the landing height, so to correct it he's gonna rebuild it all today.