Shopping and Subfloors

I'm on a roll now...posting two weeks in a row!

Let's see what 16 hours can get us. Well, really 15 because I have an hour still to do for this week. Don't look at me like that--I still have time!

First, we did a lot of shopping last week. I told you we were going to look for a faucet for the shower and tub and we found one. No, it didn't knock my socks off but good enough is good enough.

Delta-Dawson model

I did get the "waterfall" tub faucet which I like and didn't think we would ever get. (Don't ask me why. I think I just assumed Troy wouldn't like it or there would be some plumbing reason it wouldn't be as good.) Anyway, one decision down.

Since we were there we thought we should look at the matching sink faucets. They had a couple styles in the same series which we didn't like, but we found another one from the same company. We bought three--two for the master bath which will have a double vanity and one for the bathroom downstairs where the sink faucet's drip had become a solid stream of water.

Delta Porter model

One handle control was a must for me and I think the styles are simple enough that there aren't a lot of ridges or valleys to make it hard to clean. #fingerscrossed

While Troy was picking out plumbing parts to fix the downstairs sink (he knew it was bad enough that the shut off valve was going to break when he started working on it...and it did!), I wandered over to vanities and sinks to amuse myself.

When Troy joined me, I had this one to show him:

Avanity Brentwood collection

We both liked it a lot but we didn't want something with legs (and yes, we did talk about ways we could alter that) and it wasn't in the store to see and touch. That was a big drawback.

Long story short, we ordered this one:

Magick Woods Wallace collection

(We still have to pick out a countertop and sinks.)

We both really liked this linen cabinet:

Magick Woods Bellemont collection

and bought it. It had a very nice matching vanity with the same rounded front but it didn't come in the larger sizes. I know the finish colours of the two pieces don't look like they match in the pictures, but they were right beside each other in the store and Troy and I both thought they looked good together.

Fortunately I liked the mirrors that matched the linen closet:

because I really did not like the ones that matched the vanity.

So that was a bit more than we went in for but what a relief to have those decisions made. (Tomorrow we're going to look at flooring options. Who knows how much stuff we'll end up buying!)

Meanwhile in the rest of the week, Troy installed the first of the plumbing to the tub (the drain and overflow pipe), framed the wall that needs to be installed at the end of the tub and started to plan for how he was going to frame the linen closet.

I continued on the ribs for leveling the floor.

We are making our way to the other side of the room, slowly hemming in the tools and whatnots. Between doing the floor and Troy framing walls inside the bathroom,

it feels like we do a lot of shuffling stuff around!

Today I had the satisfaction of installing the second piece of subfloor in the bedroom.

It is cut, fitted and all screwed down. It is a marvel how much nicer it is to walk on! Level, flat, and solid.

And Then There Were Two

I am very happy to announce that I now am the proud owner of a two-sink kitchen.

I'll try not to carry on too much because I know some of you thought I was crazy about my first sink (and I don't want to make her too jealous as I welcome her little brother).

I was tempted to put it into action right away and start cleaning some random vegetables (what I intend as its primary function), but that was going a bit far and might lead to actual cooking...

Just to be complete in my documentation, here are the plumbing works.

Troy had the drain hooked up last night and worked on the supply lines today. When we turned it on the first time, we had a leak, but it turned out to be a faulty o-ring that was quickly replaced.

And now a couple of glamour shots because really...how much can I say about putting in a sink?

Well, actually I can tell you it's a single basin porcelain sink from the same company as big sister. It's a full 9" depth. It's been sitting in the corner of my kitchen for quite a long time, and I am very happy to have it installed! The faucet also matches the faucet on the main sink, but it's a three-hole instead of a four-hole style. (The sprayer comes out of the base instead of out of its own hole beside the base.) But otherwise they are the same.

Welcome to the family, little guy!

Story of a Spigot

Kitchen Faucets design by New York Kitchen and
Bath ExpressDecor.com

When we were first talking about ideas for the kitchen and hadn't even started a design, someone asked if we were going to put in a pot filler (also called a pasta tap).

"Oh no!" I said. "We don't need anything fancy like that." I mean, I'm not into cooking. I don't need any bells and whistle.

But the idea stuck. And Troy said it would be easy to plumb, and he thought cheap.

Over time I became convinced. "Why not?" was my biggest argument, but I also realized that it would help a lot with canning. Those big pots are unwieldy to fill with water and move around (to say the least).

So we planned on a pot filler. But which one?

I had been looking through a lot of magazines, and they all showed pot fillers like the one above--two-jointed contraptions with a couple of taps to turn the water on and off. They were way too much for what I wanted, and I didn't think they would suit the kitchen at all.

I then found a couple of examples of simpler and smaller faucets, like the one to the right from Chicago Faucets. It's about 6" and has just one joint and one tap. I thought this would suit me and my kitchen much more. I dutifully cut out the pictures and put it in my binder for when we would need it.

Then one Thursday when our walls were still open and Troy was working on the plumbing, he tells me he needs the faucet by the weekend because he's going to plumb the pot filler and needs to have the faucet in hand to do it. So I start researching where to get it. There is a retailer that carries Chicago Faucets so I head there on Saturday morning. They don't have what I need in stock (they can get it in two weeks), but they have a few models like in the first picture. They are in stock. (They're not really what I want.) And they start at $1,200. Yeah. Ouch.

So I do a marathon run of the local big box stores (the other plumbing supply place is closed on Saturdays, but that doesn't mean I don't have to drive all the way there to find that out) and find nothing. Some of them have similar faucets as low as $800, but all of them have to order it in.

I return home in defeat and Troy says that he can do it with basic fittings, copper pipes and a ball valve for $20 or less. Guess what we decide to go with.

We saved a lot of money, but it wasn't all clear sailing. The first ball valve was defective and started leaking after Troy had it installed. There was also the time he sent me for plumbing parts. No specifics, just "I need parts to connect this type of pipe to that type of fitting." It didn't get off to a good start when the store staff told me the first part that I asked about didn't exist. (I knew it did; I had bought one before.) So I wandered the aisle looking for various ways I could make the connections. Not only a mental exercise in what combination of options would work but also an exercise in cleaning up the stock bins.

But anyway, we got it done and for months we have had this "faucet" poking out of the wall above our stove. It's plumbed, there's water there, but we couldn't use it because it wasn't finished with pipes to direct the water into the pots.

Until last night, that is.

Troy added a copper pipe with a 90 degree elbow. The height is perfect over the canner.

For smaller pots, we have an extension to keep the water from making a mess:

I'm happy with how the faucet doesn't dominate the stove area.

Oh? You want to see it in action? Ok, here you go: