Where did you splurge?

[NSbound]

I am about to start construction on my new home!! [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] As one always hears, it is costing far more than I wanted, but nevertheless I am looking at splurging in some areas that I will enjoy. For example, I am ordering a Kohler Water Tile link here for the master shower. And I am having a home theatre place come in and install structured wiring for theatre/internet/phone wiring.

I was wondering, what others may have "splurged" on when they built their new home, and was it a good idea? I am looking for good ideas and maybe also what you thought was a good idea at the time, but it didn't pan out for one reason or another.

[Bird]

I've never seen that rain tile. That's certainly different. When we built my brother's house, he put a big bathtub in a completely separate room, adjoining the master bath, but with another entrance from the laundry room. Then the shower in the master bath was fairly large and had a regular shower head and faucet handles on two sides, so instead of the "rain" you plan on, he had the shower hitting him from both sides, and he did NOT want water saver shower heads; he wanted lots of water volume. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[gsganzer]

I like the heck out of that water tile idea. When I recently re-did our master bath, I built a large corner shower that has two complete shower sets (his and hers). My wife and I feel like it was the best idea we did. We can both climb in the shower in the morning (or evening) and we both have our own shower head and controls. It's sort of like a locker room shower.

[NSbound]

Yeah, Bird and gsganzer, thanks for your thoughts. The shower does seem like a good area to have splurged on after all. Anyone else have any good ideas where they spent more money than they wanted, but are still glad they did??

[JazzDad]

Indoor plumbing. But we are glad now that we did it!

Seriously, how hard is your water? If you need a water softener, you should plumb a separate set of "hard" water lines to the outside faucets, so you don't water the flowers and yard with the soft (costly) water. We just couldn't get our plumber to understand this. I guess he'd always done it one way, and that was the ONLY way.

If your kitchen has an island, make sure they build it to spec. If they make it too big (which might seem fine at first) you may later find the refrigerator door doesn't open all the way.

[NSbound]

Hmmm, thanks JazzDad, I'll mention that one to the plumbing guy. I have no idea about water hardness yet. And no island in the kitchen design, due to layout. I am thinking of moving the main floor washer and dryer from the "utility room" to the master bedroom walk-in closet though...

[TroyBilt]

Ian,
That's some fancy showerhead! We just built our new home on a budget. Actually, we converted a barn. The best advice I could give is to be creative. One of the comments we get is that there is something special in every room. We did things like using an antique dresser (bought locally $35.00) and a vessel sink($30.00 ebay) and nice faucet $25.00ebay) for one of the bathroom vanities. It looks way better than what we could have afforded had we bought new. We used this kind of thinking through out the house. In our master bath shower we purchased a very large shower head (about$65.00) and ran it out of a large cedar beam that was found in the barn. We also purchased a separate faucet assembly and have another head located in the normal position. We can run both shower heads at once or ether of the two separately. Luckily we have 12 ceilings in the bath and it is one of my favorite things in the house. We purchased all of our faucets online (eBay) for very cheep. Something that you will be using everyday I wanted good quality and it痴 part of the character of the house. Our bath faucet is Roman tub style We paid $45.00 eBay new in the box and I致e seen the same faucet in stores for $350.00 no kidding. So sometimes it痴 not what you spend. We have a web site of our build and you are more than welcome to browse around. Feel free to ask any questions. Not sure if I can post the link here but I値l try. You may have to cut and paste.
www.helmickpharm.50megs.com Take care Troy

[TroyBilt]

Ian, just found your blog, Seems you've been very busy. I knew my post was a little slow but I didn't know how soon you were planning on building. Your house is very beautiful!

[Pat]

The shower in our master bath is large enough for two. It has no door to close, it has no curtain, and it has no curb. The shower curtain and door are really high maint items if you want them clean.

It is slightly uphill for a few feet before you get to the "door hole" and then downhill toward the shower drain. IT does not seem awkward at all. The shower head is aimed diagonally toward the far corner and NEVER splashes any water out of the shower. The only water leaving the shower is just a tad on your feet if you don't sit down on one of the two corner tiled seats and dry them.

There is a exhaust grill in the tiled ceiling of the shower to exhaust steam. It is wyed in with the ones over the Jacuzzi and commode. It leads to the ERV which runs 24-7. There is no conventional switched exhaust fan in the bathroom but air continuously is drawn into the bathroom from the bedroom and then exhausted. The replacement air is ducted to the great room. There is a 4th exhaust vent wyed in with the 3 in the master bath. It is in the far corner of my walk in closet which is accessed by waliing through my wifes walk in closet. There is no heat or A/C delivered to the closets. The conditioined air in the bedroom slowly is drawn through her closet and exhausted in mine.

This continuous whole house ventilation uses a ERV which runs on less than an amp. ITs heat exchanger saves energy by tempering the incoming fresh air withe the outgoing stale air but keeps the streams separate.

The shower has PEX in the walls and floor so it is heated by hot water and the temp is controlled by a smart t'stat. I have it set for 73F except for a period in the morning and evening when 90+% of the showering happens. Then it is run up to 80. There is under tile electric heat systems that are way easier to install if you aren't using hot water heat anywhere else (I am.) I also have a hydronically heated towel warmer so my towels are always warm and dry. These are available in electric also and are not very costly for the comfort and convenience they provide.

I have a recirculation pump with a 1/2 inch return line to ensure hot water is readily available in the master bath even though a ways from the water heater. I have experimented with a timer to run it when most likely to be used and with a t"stat to cycle it as required to ensure at least 85F water. I think a combination is the best deal as if you are unlucky with your timing it takes a while to get the 85F water up to a good shower temp. So a timer to force the unit to run during peak shower times and the T'stat to ensure at lest 85F the rest of the time is a good deal. The T'stat is not adjustable. It just clips on the pipe and turns on and off the 120VAC to the motor of the pump. A $5 timer from HF provides the guaranteed run during peak shower times in the AM and PM.

Pat

[egon]

Splurging seems to have relative meanings to different people.

Some of us figure clean fluffy towels and a weekly lukewarm water dip in a tin tub are luxury! [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]