When we were building the house, I had a file full of designs I loved. One of the recurring themes was glass tile. Especially glass subway tile. I’d seen it in about every home design book and magazine I’d read through, and had fallen in love with the look. In our last home, we added [...]
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Upon moving into our custom home, the prospect of maintaining and caring for all the new surfaces and materials became our responsibility. Our granite countertops were one of the bigger materials investments. But online advice for cleaning and care vary widely. Many manufacturers make special (and often expensive) cleaners for granite and stone countertops, but [...]
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Moving twice in the past two months— not to mention the past year building a custom home — has left me much in need of R&R. I’d take a long, hot bubble bath in my jacuzzi tub…except that someone on the building crew misplaced the tub’s plug. I’m thinking a long vacation is the thing. [...]
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If you’re looking for gorgeous granite countertops, but looking to keep the granite costs down, I have just the thing for discount granite countertops: granite remnants. On our first house, the granite fabricator required us to purchase entire slabs of granite. When the granite island was completed, the leftover granite was paid for whether we [...]
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This blog began as a means to dig into the nitty gritty of building a custom home and to openly evaluate the pros and cons of those working on the project. You all know I’m not afraid to give an honest critique. But once in a while you run across a subcontractor who is so skilled, [...]
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Towel rings, towel bars, toilet paper holders — these items comprise bathroom hardware. They run the gamut from on price range and, unfortunately, the budget our builder alloted isn’t close to what we need. When we got the bottom-end bid from our general contractor’s recommended hardware supplier, the bid was more than twice what we [...]
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As it typical for craftsman-style homes, we have a lot of built-in cabinetry. And that means lots of cabinet hardware as well. I found some beautiful cabinet hardware at Kitchen Cabinet Hardware and was able to get everything I needed for the whole house in one purchase. Best of all, I saved a bundle. My [...]
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Another involved process! Choosing countertops and tub surrounds was almost as involved as selecting cabinets. There are so many possible materials and dozens of qualified companies, that narrowing down the best selections was a difficult process. After all was said and done, we selected the following fabricators based on quality, expertise, selection, price, and responsiveness. [...]
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While getting countertop and tub surrounds bids, we learned a lot about various surface options and how they compare in today’s market. (Things have really changed since we last built in 2003.) Unfortunately there are no perfect home surfaces. All have pros and cons. While I love the look of tile, I really hate grout. [...]
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We are ready to get bids on the countertops, tub/shower surrounds, tile, etc. for our custom home. If you are interested in bidding on all or some of the items below, please use the contact form or comment below. After much deliberation, we have decided on the surfaces we would like to use. The materials [...]
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