Plumbing

We stopped by the house last night on our way out to dinner with our friends Ann & Matt to celebrate Josh's birthday. After some discussion, we reached a consensus that the detail on the iron balusters should line up with the handrail. I left a note and drawing for John trying to describe what we wanted, but just to be safe, I asked Josh to stop by the house on his way to work this morning to explain it to him in person.

When I went by the house this afternoon, I saw that the message was clearly received. John is the man!
While he and Rob were drilling holes for the railings on the stairs down to the basement, John entertained us with some Albanian folk tales. I wish I had known him when I was taking all those folklore classes in college -- he would have been a great resource! John asked what I'd like them to do with the space between the wall and the base of the newel post under the lip of the hardwood flooring. We need some kind of trim there to make the transition, but since it doesn't correspond with anything else in the house, there's nothing to specifically match it to. We eventually agreed on a simple oak crown-molding-type-thing.
Rob was pleased to note that the ceiling fan in the back upstairs bedroom did not, in fact, interfere with the pull-down ladder as we feared it would. There is just enough clearance that you can open it without hitting the fan blades.
The plumber was working in the house today, and I was happy to see that we now have a toilet in the master bathroom.
We also have a laundry sink in the laundry room, and the ironing board cabinet has been stained to match the windows and doors.
The plumbing fixtures have also been installed in the other upstairs bathroom. We have a porcelain and chrome theme in here, just like in our old bathroom, since we are reusing a lot of things from that room.
This wall cabinet was above the toilet in our old bathroom (it's from Pottery Barn -- it wasn't original to the house). It fits nicely above the toilet in this bathroom, too.
In the main level bathroom, the tile guys have prepped the vanity for the sink installation.
Tomorrow's going to be a very busy day at the house. I hope to be able to capture some of it without getting in the way. We'll see...