Appliances Installed. Tile nearing completion. Wood Floors Moving Forward

   We're in single digit temperatures this week with a surprise Christmas snow dumping of 6 inches. While it's not as much as other places around the country, it's enough to appreciate the installers drudging through the un-cleared driveway to push for the final installations.  This week saw progress with the tile installations, wood floors, and lighting/Control 4 installations.  All the rooms are now individually controllable by the light switches, but it will still take a final tweaking to get everything fully functioning.  All the final plumbing is now installed and functioning, but we're swapping out the shower heads in the second floor shower.  They just don't spray as well as we wanted and seem to be more of a rain shower than sprayer.  There aren't a lot of tasks left, but there's a good amount of man-hours ahead of us before we can call it our own.

   I lugged my little single stage snow blower out to the house this visit to try to remove as much snow as I could.  Mike is trying to find a local to clear the snow from the driveway, which is good since there's some compacted snow and ice I can't chew through with my blower.  I did clear the snow from the motor coach.  It didn't take a ton of time and it was fun blowing the snow off the wall into the woods.  I'll probably need a better solution when we move in, so I see a large two stage in my future.  Distinctive designs was on site installing shoe molding on the first floor and the wood floor installers were working on the second floor.

   The holes left by relocated sconces were patched and painted so it's like they were always in the right place.  Unfortunately, one of the painters broke the glass shades, so we had to order another one before these can finally be installed.  One step forwards, half step back.

   The electricians and The Sound Vision coordinated to get nearly all the lights functioning and programmed.  The individual switches for each room control the rooms lights, dimming them on and off.  The dimming can be interrupted with a second button press so we have lighting control from the plates.  All the other buttons on the plates aren't programmed yet and will be functional after we decide what we want to do with them.  They can be used to control other lights in the house, set lighting scenes, or control music volume.

   Winter is here, or at least it's now lit.  Lighting was finally connected to the dining room so the recessed and Hubbardton Forge Winter is now functioning.  The frame of the light illuminates with LEDs to make the geometric shapes look like they're falling out of some kind of dimensional portal.  The light hangs at about eye level and even while sitting, the lights don't glare too much in your eyes.  The light is mostly for ambiance lighting, but it does shine down to where the future table will be.

   Here's a close up of the geometric shapes.  They have a sand blasted finish, so they don't reflect much light, but surface does illuminate a bit against the LED lights.  We didn't get to see what this looks like without any natural light in the room, so we don't know how much it illuminates the room on its own.  I don't expect much light from it, but it will make a good mood light.

   The Comet 21 installation was also completed this week with the hanging of the metal/crystal leaves.  All the LED lights were installed and all but one of the LEDs were functioning.  I'm not sure if it wasn't installed properly or if the bulb itself was faulty.  We're really happy with how the light looks and it's installed at the perfect height.  From the entry way, we can still see the second floor fireplace and the bottom of the light.

   We had the light hang within the boundaries of the rotunda railing and second floor.  I was a little concerned with the width of the light and how much of the rotunda space it would fill, but there's still plenty of air space around the light fixture so it doesn't feel closed off.  The Comet 21 is the perfect light for the space.  When we first saw it, I pointed it out on a lark since it seemed so outrageous and over the top, but I'm glad we selected it.

   You get a better view of the light as you climb the stairs, getting to eye level about halfway up the stairs.  You can still see the skeleton a bit, but the leaves mask the shape a bit.  It's kind roughly diamond shaped. and provides a good amount of light.  We illuminated it alone right before we left.  It provides enough light to see where you're going, but isn't excessively bright.  The leaves cast reflections and diffraction around the rotunda which was an unexpected effect.

  A last look from below.  I'm not sure if you can spot the light that is out but it's in there somewhere.  There are a few leaves that stick out more than others and Tanja will want them normalized, but I like the slightly unorganized look.  I didn't center myself but the light is centered in the tin ceiling.

   The hood, fridge/freezer, and dishwasher was installed this week.  The remaining tile above the hood was installed, so the lower hood could be installed, but we're still waiting for the chimney to be installed to hide the vent pipe.  The halogen lights in the hood are functioning as well as the blower.  I turned both on.  The blower didn't seem excessively loud and it didn't seem overpowering, for all the effort we went through with the make up air.  The built in lights are bright but I might swap them out with LEDs some day.  We discovered that the fridge panel wasn't delivered with the initial shipment so we need to swing by the store to pick it up before we can finalize the fridge and freezer.  The cabinet panel supplied by Omega isn't fitting the Miele dishwasher well so Mike contacted Cobblestone Cabinets for a solution.  The mounting points on the Miele didn't line up well with the wood of the cabinet face so it wouldn't attach well.

   Both of the island pendants were brought to the final height.  I might switch out these LED bulbs with something a bit brighter, but the lights are otherwise functioning well.  We're having some issue with the loss of adhesion on the crystal strips that line the inside of the sphere.  I don't know if it's a fault of the fixture itself or if there was some issue with the installation.   Every time we visit the house, we need to press the adhesive strip back into place.  We could probably add a bit of glue to fix the problem, but we'll only do that after we've exhausted all our other options.

   The faucet was replaced since the previously installed one had a slight tilt to it.  We were skeptical that replacing the faucet would fix the tilt, but it appears to have been corrected.  The faucet was also hooked up to water and power.  It uses power since it has touch control capabilities.  You turn the faucet on to the volume and temperature you want then touch anywhere on the fixture to turn it on and off.  There's a small LED at the base of the fixture that turns on when they touch function is operational and the water is running.  It changes from blue to purple to red depending on the temperature of the water.  It works really well and should be helpful on a daily basis.  The faucet has a pull down hose and sprayer that covers the entire sink.  I didn't take a picture of the drain, but it's a little different that what I was expecting.  You can see the strainer/stopper in the picture.  The drain and garbage disposal doesn't have the normal rubber baffle installed, although it came with the garbage disposal.  I think you're supposed to used the strainer/stopper during normal sink operation and lift it out when you want to put larger items down the disposal.  As far as I can tell it's not a batch disposal so I'm not sure why it's installed this way.

  Here's a look at the fridge and freezer installed.  As mentioned, we still need to install the stainless steel panels.  Other options were to have cabinet panels made to cover the front exterior, but we like the look of the stainless steel panels more.   The freezer on the left is a 24" unit and the fridge on the right is a 32" unit.  They each have their own compressor and water filter.

   Here they are opened up.  The door hinges allow for about 95 degree opening.  They don't slow close, but they air sealing doesn't really allow for the doors to slam shut either.  The upper door shelves on the fridge and all the door shelves in the freezer are adjustable.  The door shelves aren't deep enough to fit a gallon of milk, but they can fit a half gallon.  The lower door shelves on the fridge door aren't moveable and only really fit a can or condiment bottles.  They're not full depth units and are fairly shallow compared to even other counter depth units.  I'm not sure what's in the back that takes up so much space, but the full columns should make up for the lack of depth.  There's a handy pull out card that shows which foods to place in which drawers.  There's supposed to be an air filtering system that removes the ethylene gas produced by ripening foods so that the other foods will last longer.  The shelves are adjustable but don't have a fancy adjustment system found on other fridges.  We do have refrigerated water but the dispenser is inside the fridge unit on the inside left.  There's also an ice maker and storage bin in the freezer.  The energy start sticker in the units adds up to just over $100 of annual operating cost, so they're definitely efficient.  It seems like Subzero eschews fancy features in place for reliability.  I hope their philosophy holds true.

   The Miele dishwasher was installed and powered on, but waiting for the front panel to be installed.  All the control are on the top edge of the door so there's nothing visible from the exterior.  I did play around with a neat feature on this model, knock to open.  While we'll have hardware on the cabinet face, you can knock on the front of this unit and an arm will push open the door for you to further open.  This arm also pops open the door after a wash cycle to vent the steam and facilitate in drying.  The door is a little stiff and the springs will need to be adjusted.

   There are three levels of racks in this dishwasher.  The top rack is used for flat cutlery washing.  The center of the top rack can be lowered a bit to accommodate larger knives and cooking implements.  This rack removes the need for a cutlery basket, allowing for more space for dishes and glasses.  The second level is slightly height adjustable and should be used for medium sized plates and cups.  The lower rack is sized for large plates and pots.  Multiple internal LED lights slowly illuminate as you open the door providing good light to the interior.  We didn't run it yet, so I'm not sure what the noise level is like, but I'm expecting it to be as quiet as our current Bosch.

   A box of cabinet hardware is waiting on the kitchen island, waiting to be installed.  These will probably go on this week as the hardware in the rest of the house is already installed.  We're just waiting for the kitchen, master bathroom, and guest room for final hardware installation.

   The remaining tile was installed at the top of the hood location and the lower part of the hood itself was installed.  We still need to install the chimney section of the hood before we can call it complete, but it's a big step to have all the backsplash tile installed and mortared.  The cooktop still doesn't turn on yet but since there's no gas smell nor any lighter clicking, I think both need to be turned on before it's operational. 

The pot filler was also installed but I didn't have the guts to try it out since I didn't have anything to catch the water in.  I think the pot filler will occasionally be nice to have around for when we sous vide or cook a big pot of corn, but don't see using it for normal pot filling.

   Here's a shot of something I didn't get last time.  The kitchen backsplash tile doesn't have anything to terminate against on this side of the kitchen so a pencil tile was needed as a termination.  We couldn't go straight down from the edge of the cabinet because it would have placed the tile through the switch.  Luckily we had the option to install the pencil molding tile at the edge of the counter top, which should provide enough space for the switch plate.

   The backsplash tile in the mudroom bathroom has been installed but still needs grout.  The tile is a clear glass mosaic topped by a thin clear glass tile.  It matches the colors of the rest of the mudroom and provides a clean appearance.  We're also replacing the faucet in this room.  We love the faucet itself, but when combined with this sink, a longer neck is needed since the distance from the mounting hole to the sink is more than that of the other rooms.  This faucet would need a longer neck or stronger spray, but it has a standard neck and laminar spray pattern.  The water falls too close to the back of the sink, so we're replacing it with something that has a longer neck.

   Lights have been installed in the garage.  The garage doors came with lights that can be tied to the operation of the doors, but we opted for these LED worklights.  They provide a ton of light for the entire garage and will do well to serve us, even in the cold.  Normal fluorescent tubes have trouble lighting in the cold, but since these are basically strip LEDs in a tube form factor, we don't really have to worry about temperature.  Since these are in the garage, we had the code requirement for no ceiling penetrations, which lead to surface mount only.  Recent advances in LED technologies make these a great alternative to the old shop lights.

   A little progress on the installation of the Tesla Wall Charger, but it's not hooked up yet.  The electrician needs to get a security torx bit to open the unit to hook up all the wires.  There's also a breaker box around the corner but no NEMA 14-50 installed yet.  After these are installed, we can call DTE to install the EV charging meter.

   The correct parts for the Hubbardton Forge Theta were finally delivered and installed so the light could be lowered to it's proper location.  They sent us some extension parts, but in the wrong color so we needed to return them and wait for the correct parts to come in.  After we finally got them, the electricians got to work installing the pieces.  The Theta sits about level with the Comet 21, sitting in between the railing and the floor.  It's still high enough to not impinge upon where the TV will be mounted so everything will be lined up perfectly.

   The recessed sconce that wasn't working last time is now functional so all the lights in the greatroom are now hooked up and working.  We didn't stick around until dark to see how well everything is illuminated, so we've done it in the past.  The overhead lights provide a good amount of light and we plan on having table lamps for more directed lights near seating areas.

   The shoe molding is going in quickly, already finished in the great room.  The nail holes will need to be filled and maybe some touch up paint applied.  The pieces are being painted in the basement and have been prepped for the past week.  There are still a good number of pieces left in the basement, ready to be installed on the second floor when all the wood floor is finally installed up there.

   All the floor has been installed in the second bedroom upstairs and the installers were finishing off the closet.  This is the first room on the second floor to have completed wood floors, with the master bedroom probably being second.  From there, they'll move onto the rotunda and finally the turret bedroom.

   The backsplash tile in the second bedroom is also installed.  It's similar to the mudroom bathroom tiles, but they're not transparent glass and the molding tile is black instead of clear.  Like the other rooms, it still needs to be grouted, but after that, this bathroom will be completed.

   The hardware for the second bedroom bathroom was delivered and installed before we could even see them off the doors.  We only needed three knobs in this room since there was only two drawers and one door.

   They're a stainless steel metal with a silver carbon fiber inlay.  We planned a little more of a masculine look for this bathroom as opposed to the more feminine appearance of the turret bedroom.  If plans work out for us, we'll have an occupant for this room that will fit the appearance.

   The metal backsplash tile in the laundry room that was installed last week has now been mortared.  Once we get the machines set, this room will be completed.  This room was the first to have the floor installed and will probably be the first completed.  We're planning on installing a craft table in here, so in a sense, it won't be completed for move in, but it will be the first finalized within the scope of the build.

   The grout is a gray color that compliments the steel tile well.  All the grout is a sanded grout, which adds strength and durability to the compound.  I guess there's not much to say about this besides that I like how this turned out.  This tile selection was always a favorites of Tanja's and it's nice that we got to incorporate it into the house.

   The panel to the upstairs Control4 switches was attached so they must be done with the physical installation of the system.  There's still a little more programming needed to get all the lighting circuits on line, but most of the house if functional.  After we move in, I might paint this panel white to match the walls, so it's not so obvious.  There's also one space that's not occupied by a controller, so I'm hoping there's a blank we can insert into the panel.  I'm planning on installing some rigid hanging bars in front of this for drying clothes.  As long as the clothes aren't dripping wet, I'm not worried about water infiltration.

   Here's the progress on the wood floor in the master bedroom.  They took the section that came from outside the room and expanded it to go around the dividing wall, then filled in the portion on the bed side of the wall, seen here.  You can see the light brown glue they trowel onto the floor before setting each piece of flooring.  They'll work towards the wall in both directions until this room is completed.

   The in-wall faucets were installed in the master bathroom and are fully functional.  All we need for this room is the hardware and medicine cabinets.  The under cabinet light is still having some issues that The Sound Vision needs to work out so their operation is a little spotty right now.  I haven't seen or felt the in floor heating yet and the panel that controls them, located in the water closet, doesn't seem to be powered so I'm not sure what the status of that system is.

   Here's a closer look at the Dornbracht faucet.  It flows well into the sink and the controls are easy to use; left and right for hot and cold respectively and tilt forward for volume control.  I think Tanja is going to make me re-index the temperature control to the 12 o'clock position every time I'm done using so it looks nice and pristine every time.

   The thresholds for the master shower were also installed.  It's the same material as the counter top, window sill, and shower bench.  We did notice something odd about the installation that I've already made Mike aware of.  The outside of the sill has returns on both sides, but the inside here doesn't have one, being replaced with a blob of thinset.  I think something wrong happened with the installation and it's all on the tile installers.  The thresholds came to us as a single piece and I think the tile installers needed to cut some out to fit the wall and form the returns.

   Here's the other entry into the shower with the return intact.  Either they accidentally cut the one side off and couldn't epoxy it back into place or it broke off and they didn't think we would notice the discrepancy.  As I said, Mike is aware of the issue and will bring it up with the tile installers.

   The bench supports were also installed in the master shower and all the grout in the bottle nooks have been applied.  Other than swapping out the anemic shower heads, this shower is completed.  We're happy with how the bench turned out and the angled supports should make cleaning the tile a bit easier.  We entertained the idea of a trough shower drain, but decided it added too much cleaning complexity for very little aesthetic payoff.

   Not much change in the basement since the EV charger is still being installed.  The panel for the first floor Control4 lighting system has been installed so I think they're finished with the physical install for the first floor systems.  All the programming can be performed remotely so even when we want functionality expansion, we don't need to be home to do it.

   That's about it for this week.  I'll get one more visit before the new year, but the update will probably be finished in the new year.  We're expecting more flooring and tile completion, as well as more shoe molding installed.  There's really not much else to complete so the updates will be pretty repetitive from now on.  We're still hoping for a COO in a couple of weeks and maybe starting the moving process at the end of the month.  Tanja is predicting at least February for moving and I'm starting to trust her timing judgement.  Hopefully she'll be right this time too.

Accessories, tile, and floors.

   Still in the icy gasp of winter, we gained a good snowstorm over the last week, dumping 6-8 inches of snow on the house.  Thankfully, that didn't stop the tile and floor installers from coming to the house to do their much needed work.  This week saw progress on the remaining tile backsplashes as well as the start of wood floor installation on the second floor.  Installation of bathroom accessories makes the house feel one step closer to a legitimate living space, something we don't even have in our current house.  Nearly all the cabinet hardware is installed but we're still waiting for some of the pieces to be delivered.  One more week until Christmas, but there's the time between Christmas and the new year when a lot can happen.  Finishing tasks are winding down, but there's still some large items left to complete.

   The replacement exterior light for the barrel vault at the front door was delivered to the house.  We needed to get a replacement because the original didn't include a yoke to mount the light from above.  We also decided that the yoke installation would place the light too low, so we went with a simpler rod hanging mount.  Margaret thinks it will still be a little low, but we'll see once it's installed.  I should be able to shorten the mounting rod if it's an issue so I'm not worried about getting that perfect height.

   The fixed Framburg sconces were also delivered.  If you'll recall, the glass wasn't fitting properly in the light and it was determined that the correct glass base wasn't installed.  We could have either reordered the light or sent them back for repairs.  We chose the later option since the former would have been another 4-6 week turnaround.  I made sure to check these myself and found them to be correct.

   The foyer sconce location as its drywall patch but needs some mud patching and painting before it disappears.  Hopefully that won't take long so we can finally see what these things look like properly.  The Sound Vision and the electrician should be visiting the site this week to finalize all the electrical installations.  I know I've said that before so I'm really hoping this will be the last time we'll need to have them back on site.  Some line voltage rooms still need to be connected to the basement panel and many of the lights need to have the finished programming performed before we reach preliminary functionality.  After we move in, we can call Sound Vision back to start setting up scenes and multi function buttons.

   More wood floors were delivered to the house and are staged in the office.  An additional 300 square feet of flooring needed to be ordered to complete the second floor.  The installers didn't want to start the work until the additional material was delivered so they could mix the contents of all the boxes as they installed, just in case there were color deviations in the boxes they could distribute across the entire floor.

   The dining room is also being used to store some of the wood floor for the second floor.  Additional boxes are already on the second floor near the fireplace.  It's difficult to judge how much area these boxes will cover, but we have the three bedrooms and the rotunda walkway to cover so I'm hoping we won't run into any more delays with this installation.  Nearly all of the plumbing and tile work is completed on the second floor so  there's no reason why we shouldn't see the completion of this  by the end of the week, as long as everyone shows up every day to work.

   The backsplash tile in the kitchen is completed... well nearly completed.  All the tile that's installed is grouted but there's a small gap between the top of the tile and the ceiling, behind the cooktop.  Mike said they need a few more sheets to finish this part off and then we can finally get the hood installed.  I really like how the backsplash turned out despite all the turmoil with tile direction.  I don't think it's too trendy and I think it will age well, hopefully never needed replacement.

   Here's a closer look at the tile with the grout installed.  We used some kind of a white grout, but there were so many variations of white, I'm not sure which one it was.  The grout lessens the the definition of the tiles so that the only obvious visible lines are the darker tiles.  I think there's a bit of grout at the bottom of the tile up against the soapstone counter.  I didn't touch the corner between the two, so I'm not sure if it's caulk or grout.

   The fridge and freezer still need to be installed because the plumber and electricians weren't on site last week.  Hopefully this is something that will be completed in the coming week.  Here's a look at the entire kitchen with the backsplash installed.  The lights will be adjusted this wee and the hood should start to be installed now that most of the tile is up.

   Here's a view of the kitchen backsplash and the little bit that needs to be completed.  The pipe sticking out of the wall is for the pot filler.  I'm hoping the rest of the tile will come in quickly because we can't fully install the chimney that will cover the pipe until that tile is in place.  Since the stone is natural, we'll probably have to seal it occasionally with sealer to help protect against grease splatters from cooking.   Hopefully the powerful hood will help take care of some of that.

   Here's the other corner of the kitchen with the ovens, dishwasher, and sink.  All the tile here is installed and grouted, mostly completing this part of the kitchen.  The appliances are still not powered on, but I'm not sure if that's because they didn't turn on the ciruit, or if it still needs to be wired up in the panel.  Really all that's left for most of the kitchen is hardware install and glass in the upper cabinets that flank the sink.

   Even though we're still waiting for the hardware in the kitchen, the hardware in the butlers pantry has been installed.  Like the kitchen, we have two kinds of hardware installed in this area, knobs for the doors and handles for the drawers.   Finished in a brushed stainless steel, the knobs are a little chunky with a light ripple on the surface.  The ripples are oriented horizontally but could also be turned vertically.  I think horizontal works better with the cabinets and wood grain direction.

  The handles are the same brushed stainless steel material and fairly simple in design.  They're basically tubular handles with a little profile to them.  Nicely rounded, they feel great in the hand and soft to the touch.  No hard edges to really catch anything on, I think they offer a nice compliment to the clean hard lines of the shaker cabinets.

   The mudroom hardware has also been installed.  We went with more of a craftsman or arts and craft look here with the visible  through mortise and square pins holding the pieces in place.  We wanted something a little more utilitarian looking in here since the purpose of this bathroom is such

   All the bathrooms now have all the bath accessories installed.  Most of the bathrooms have the same style accessories except for the master bathroom.  We went with a more simple tubular design, which matches well with the various sinks around the house.  These match especially well in the guest bathroom since we're using a three hole faucet in a similar style.  In general, we got towel bars, toilet paper holders, and a few hooks placed around each bathroom.  All the door knobs have also been installed around the house.  I think every door is now populated with the Emtek doorknob, but we'll still need to sort out door stops.

   Wood floor installation on the second floor has begun with the longest section on the floor.  As with the first floor, the longest section is installed first so it can be guaranteed that the floor will be straight and contiguous through all the rooms it goes through.  If you started installing using one room's wall as reference, it might not end up being parallel with another room's wall, which would be glaringly obvious.  Since we don't have to worry about putting a nail through the floor's tongue, the floor can be installed in both directions.  There isn't much flooring to be installed in the second bedroom, but the installers do have to contend with the angular and curved walls so it's not a simple installation.  The planks have to be installed within at least a half inch of the baseboard so the shoe molding can cover the rest of the gap.  As with the rest of the house, it's a glue down, so there's no need to worry about expansion and contraction.

   There are 6 courses of flooring laid in the second bedroom upstairs but it looks like the floor is cleaned and prepped.  I'm hoping they'll be able to make short work of the second floor, but from experience, they don't seem to come to the site to work every day during the week.  If we could only get them here on a regular basis, I'm sure the floor would be finished quicker.

   The rotunda landing is finished up to the greatroom overlook and connects the flooring from the second bedroom all the way into the master bedroom.  The rotunda floor has been cleaned and there might be some new leveling compound on down.  It will take a little more time to work on the rotunda since there will be short installed sections involved between two curved borders.  Straight cuts, even on an angle, are easier to make than curved, but at least it doesn't have to have finished carpentry level accuracy since the edges will be covered by a shoe molding.

   There are 12 courses laid in the master bedroom.  They'll have to carefully lay the flooring around the dividing wall and pick it back up on the other side.  If there's any deviation from parallel, there will be gaps in the floor.  The wood floor in the master closet required a riser molding from the wood floor to bathroom tile transition.  I'm pretty sure we'll have to have something like that in this room too since the tile build up was much more than the thickness of the wood floor.  Maybe if we didn't have the in floor heating in the bathroom, the two floors would be flush without any height transition.  It's not much of a transition; less than that of the stone thresholds we have in our current house, but it's not as smooth as the other rooms.

   The bed area of the master bedroom is currently being used as the cutting station for the second floor.  I'm not sure if they'll try to finish the master bedroom before moving onto the rotunda hall and turret bedroom, or if they'll keep this as their cutting area and finish all the other rooms first.  I know Distinctive Designs is itching to come in and finishe the shoe molding.

   The second bedroom also has all the bathroom accessories installed.  We opted for towel hooks next to the sinks rather than towel rings.  It's a definite improvement from our current "leave the towel on the counter" method and we'll have to buy a lot of new linens to populate all the new bathrooms.  It's nice to start out with all the bathroom accessories already installed.  In the 13 years since we've bought our house new, we just barely managed to install hardware in the kitchen, let alone towel racks in the bathrooms.  I wonder if I'll need to install something before we move out.

   This bathroom also has a towel bar large enough for one towel unfolded or two folded.  We've still decided on shower curtains for the two upstairs bathrooms, until the kids get older, but we've gotten quotes for the guest and mud bathroom shower doors.  With all the additional building costs, those will have to be something that's installed a bit later, but definitely on the agenda.

   The location of the toilet paper holder was a little difficult.  I wasn't sure if I wanted it on the side of the cabinet next to the toilet or across from the toilet in the wall.  On the side of the cabinet, it's a little bit of a twist to reach.  It's easier to reach when it's attached to the opposite wall from the toilet, but then it juts out a bit into the main walking space of the bathroom.  You can get semi flush toilet roll holders, but they're not as nice looking.  These are nice because to don't have to deal with spring loaded toilet roll holders.  Once side is hinged and the rod swivels up.  No more excuses for leaving an empty roll on the holder.

   The master bathroom has more hooks than I know what to do with.  Each side of the vanity has two hooks installed on the wall.  Maybe one for a robe and one for a hand towel?  We didn't get a hook installed on the side of the tower cabinet, which would be a good place for a hand towel, but we can always install something later.  We have to be a little careful with opening the cabinet doors in the tower because they can hit the hooks.  Margaret said we could install hinge limiters so the likelihood of damage is less.

   Towel bars are present at each of the shower entries.  The one not pictured is a little farther away from the shower door since the water closet is just adjacent.  In our current house we just drape our towels over the edge of the bath tub.  It will be nice to have a formal place to hang our towels.  We didn't opt for a towel warming or anything fancy.  It's not something we've really experienced, so it wasn't high on the list of things to install.  We've never really had a problem with our towels being particularly cold.

   The laundry room got a bit of bling in the form of these stainless steel tiles.  They're actual stainless steel over some kind of mineral backing tile.  They install in sheets like other small format tiles and seem to cut well.  This laundry room keeps getting fancier and fancier.

   The metal tiles are still not grouted, but I think we're getting some kind of gray grout in there.  It will be interesting to see how they float the grout without scratching up the surface of the tiles with the fine, sandy particulate matter in the grout.  We don't have any undercabinet lighting on these cabinets and we really don't need to.  There's a ton of natural light in this room and more than enough overhead lighting.  The metal tile does offer a reflective surface to help shine light on the counter top, so there's really no need for undercabinet lights in here.

   The turret walk in closet got the same bubble glass knobs that are in the adjoining bathroom, installed, completing the closet in here.  I think of all the spaces in the house this is, unfortunately, the most awkward one.  The closet isn't large enough to have the door swing flat to the wall and it makes accessing half of the closet difficult.  A pocket door might have solved this, but we have a bottle nook in the wall to the left and not enough wall on the right.  The girls will just have to learn to live with it.

   The basement is being used as a painting center for the shoe molding.  Not all the molding is pictured here and with all the wood floors in the house, there will be a lot to come.  It will install pretty quickly, but there's so much of it, it will still take some time to get it all installed.  I think it will be installed before the final wax/oil finish on the floor and will signal the end of all the flooring installation.

   That's about it for this week.  Next week should see the final installation of all the electrical features with both the Sound Vision and the electricians coming in.  The rest of the appliances should be installed and hopefully more tile and flooring will be completed.  Unfortunately, the foyer tile is on back order and not expected to arrive until January, so we'll have to install something temporary to obtain COO. Every week brings us much closer to move in.  I'll probably rent a dumpster over the break to begin the house purging and prepare for the move.  When the time comes, I'll probably take some time off to get the house moved and we can finally close this chapter of our lives.