River House Diary

The painters finished up Monday and all the protective plastic is gone so we had a chance to see how the master bathroom was coming together. We love how all the tile works together to evoke sand and shells of the coast in a calm, tranquil spa retreat. Master bath shower; personal collection Master bath vanity; personal collection

When we stopped by the house Monday, they had not only installed the countertops and sinks in the kitchen, but also in the master bath. We chose the same quartz counters for our bathroom as we did in the kitchen -- Cambria USA Fairbourne . Cambria USA Fairbourne quartz; personal collection The sinks are Kohler Verticyl under-mount sinks (K-2882). I thought the rectangular shape worked well in our bathroom as the layout of the room is very rectangular. We also used these sinks in Bath 2 -- the guest bathroom. The 4" backsplash made out of the countertop material will be removed and instead we'll use the glass mosaic tile we're using in the shower for the backsplash.

We stopped by the house yesterday and several "pretty" things happened Monday in the kitchen. The countertops and sink were installed as well as the kitchen backsplash tile. I have been swooning over this tile since Zuniga Interiors sent us the design concept for the kitchen and it certainly didn't disappoint. Roca Tile USA Maiolica 3" x 12" ceramic tile in Aqua Crackle ; personal collection I selected a single-bowl under-mount sink for the island as I am not a fan of how most farmhouse sinks are installed. The cabinets, sink, and countertops have to be installed perfectly for it to look good and that doesn't always happen. For the countertops in the kitchen and master bath, I chose Cambria's Fairbourne quartz. Fairbourne features a creamy foundation highlighted with swirls of white and light beige. It blends perfectly with the CabCraft Canvas cabinets, allowing the tile to be the star of the kitchen. Cambria Fairbourne quartz ; courtesy of...

Our lot has 15-foot drainage and utility easements on each side centered on the property line — so 7-1/2 feet on each side is the building setback. The side property boundaries are not perpendicular to the road but the house is. It pretty much takes up the entire buildable area side to side. When we walked through the house with our project manager last Wednesday, the main sewer line came out of the left side of the house. This meant the sewer collection box and pump would be buried in the drainage easement. This concerned me. I called the Craven County planning department and spoke to a very nice, informative planner. After providing a verbal legal disclaimer, his advice was basically don’t do anything in the easement area that would expensive or inconvenient to change. I emailed our project manager and relayed this advice, but he was already on top of the situation. He had made a site visit with the subcontractor who will be installing the pump and collection box, and they decide...

We have passed this dilapidated building on Old Cherry Point Road countless times. Who knew they would be fabricating some of our counters? Pete tells me not to worry. It’s just like “hole-in-the-wall” restaurants that always seem to have the best food. I’m still a bit skeptical, but TAB hasn’t steered us wrong yet. CreeKraft Marble Products; personal collection

The rough-ins for the sinks in the Kitchen and Pantry as of last Friday. Kitchen sink rough-in; courtesy of Dawn Jennings Pantry sink rough-in; courtesy of Dawn Jennings

It seems a silly thing to blog about but every house needs them. The plumbers got the toilets roughed in Friday. Master Bath toilet rough-in; courtesy of Dawn Jennings In the next photo, the Master Closet is to the left and the Laundry Room is to the right. Half Bath toilet rough-in; courtesy of Dawn Jennings Bonus Bath (upstairs) toilet rough-in; courtesy of Dawn Jennings I don't have any photos of the toilet rough-in for Bath 2 (guest bath).

My sister-in-law stopped by our house Friday and took a few photos. The tub/shower units for the guest and upstairs bathroom were delivered. I don’t envy the person who has to carry one of them upstairs. Tub/shower units for Bath 2 and the Bonus Bath; courtesy of Dawn Jennings

The house plans specified two shower heads in the master shower. We've had that before in our Oakton home and changed it to a single shower head during a remodel. For River House, we opted for a rain shower head and a handheld shower head. In preparation for the plumbing rough-ins our builder had a couple of questions. Where to put the bar for the handheld shower head and where to install the valves? They proposed putting the valves on the half wall, but we decided not to do that because that wall will have two niches and a handicap grab bar. Shower configuration changes; personal collection

The plumbing rough-ins were scheduled for this week and preparing for that raised a couple of questions. One was where do we put the hot water heater. This question was easy to answer -- in the garage storage area. Proposed location of hot water heater; courtesy of Austin Bayliss

With the exception of the blindingly bright red jacuzzi tub we acquired as part of our first house, our tubs have always been made of cast iron. Acrylic tub/shower inserts have molded shelving that "eats into" the 30-inch standard width. Plus the cast iron tub surround provides opportunity to install goregous tile! But in another case of dreams crashing against budget realities, there will be no cast iron tubs for us. Our builder recommended the MAAX Professional Series tub/shower insert. It's 33" wide and the molded shelving is in the corners of the unit, hopefully making it feel more spacious. MAAX Professional Series tub/shower insert ; courtesy of MAAZ

I went back to Houzz.com for advice about how to choose the right kitchen sink . The farmhouse sink is on-trend now and I like single-bowl sinks, but they have to be installed perfectly or they just look off. The cabinets, countertops and sink have to all be aligned just so. I'm also not a fan of stainless steel. I've read a lot about how difficult copper and brass sinks are to maintain -- must be wiped after each use and require special cleaning products -- but that's no different than a stainless steel sink. I find them practically impossible to keep clean. Give me a good enamel and cast iron, deep under-mount sink and I'm happy. Kohler Cape Dory sink ; courtesy of Kingston Design Remodeling We are using an Elkay stainless steel, double bowl under-mount sink in the pantry. It's the sink I'll use to handwash most of the things that can't go in the dishwasher. If you go in my pantry, you might see water spots in my sink. You have been forewarned! ...

Something as simple as a bathroom sink can overwhelming unless you've thought through how it will be used and what style, or look and feel, you are trying to achieve. Houzz.com has a good article about all the various choices, How to Choose the Right Bathroom Sink . When we remodeled our hall bathroom and master bath in our Oakton house, Harold introduced us to rectangular shaped sinks and I really liked the look. I'm also a big fan of under-mount sinks for all the reasons cited in the above article. We chose to use the same Kohler sinks we used in Oakton for Bath 2 and the Master Bath -- the Kohler Verticyl in white. Kohler Verticyl Undermount Bathroom Sink in our Oakton house; personal collection

I'd seen hand-held shower heads before, but Moen has one that attaches and detaches from the wall with magnets. Thank you TAB for recommending it for Bath 2 and the Bonus Bath. Moen Chrom with Magnetix Eco Performance Handshower Handheld Shower ; courtesy Moen

A person can go absolutely crazy spending money on kitchen faucets and there are some real beauties on the market. But we didn't do that. We stayed with the faucet our builder recommended because it ticked all the boxes. It has a high neck for rinsing large pots and the finish resists water spots. Moen Brantford Spot Resist Stainless One-Handle High Arch Pulldown Kitchen Faucet ; courtesy of Moen We'll need two for the kitchen and pantry sinks.

There are many plumbing decisions to make when building a new house. I liked that our builder steered us towards Moen even though we'd never used this brand when renovating our previous houses. A brand recommendation narrows the selection universe. Our builder used Moen Dartmoor faucets in chrome for the bathrooms when pricing our house. Dartmoor Chrome Two-Handle High Arc Bathroom Faucet with 4" Center; courtesy of Moen The style was nice but I do not like 4"-center faucets and find them hard to clean. We decided to use this faucet only in the upstairs Bonus Bath. We'll use the Dartmoor faucet in Bath 2 but with an 8" center. Moen Dartmoor Two-Handle High Arc Bathroom Faucet with 8" Center; courtesy of Moen And Moen Weymouth faucets in the Master Bath (chrome) and Half Bath (brushed nickel). Moen Weymouth Two-Handle High Arch Bathroom Faucet ; courtesy Moen Moen's website says the Weymouth model has "gracious Victorian de...