River House Diary

The initial selections for flooring and fireplace surround tile for our river house. Flooring for our river house; personal collection I'm not a fan of the gray trend so you won't see any in our new home. I also prefer off-whites, bones, ivories, oysters and creams to a stark, pure white. For those who like details: Zuniga Interiors Encaustic Tile 8" x 8" in Sand and Cream Bedrosians Purestone Porcelain Floor & Wall Tile 12" x 24" in Beige Floor & Decor Heartwood Chevron Wood Plank Porcelain Tile 3" x 16" in Beige Bedrosians Tahoe Porcelain Floor  & Wall Tile 8" x 40" in Barrel Zuniga Interiors Hexagon Porcelain Floor Tile 8" x 8" in Crema Marfil Masland Carpets Urban Escape Carpet in Contented Masland Carpets Urban Escape Carpet in Rushing Hallmark Floors Alta Vista Collection in Ojai Oak Hallmark Floors Alta Vista Collection in Balboa Oak Update 30 March 2019:  Many of these items changed durin...

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...