Shopping Spree

We have not, despite the appearance of this blog, packed up and moved to a hotel.  In fact, we've been continuing to make progress on the house over these last two weeks, with Brian taking advantage of the non-100 degree weather this week to run cable on the second floor and finish up the electrical wires in the attic.  Last Sunday, we spent the day running one of the three HVAC lines through the crawlspace and into the new addition.  It took longer than we expected but now that we've got the process figured out, it should be much faster to run the remaining two.  On Saturday, we spent the entire day shopping for, and deciding on, various fixtures and bathtubs for the house.  It was one of those tasks that sounded fun and easy (showrooms! shiny fixtures!) but in reality was just frustrating and exhausting.  One complicating factor was that our master bath needs just about every fixture known to man - faucets, tub filler, regular shower, diverter, and rain shower.  Trying to find a line of fixtures that we liked and offered all the options quickly became an ordeal.  Fortunately, at the end of the day, we decided on some options that seem to fit the bill.  At the top is our big soaking tub - the Kohler Escale, a 72" freestanding tub.  I can't wait to take a bath in it (someday).  Just below are the faucets for the master bath from the Moen Icon line in brushed nickel.  Below that are the faucets for the other bathrooms from the Moen Eva line.  (Don't be fooled by the picture - they are not faucets for giant people and are, in fact, normal-sized.)  Once we picked out the fixtures, tubs, etc., we spent a long time online researching prices and put together a spreadsheet to track everything.  Initially I thought we were going to have to order from six different stores to get the best prices but then I called faucetdirect.com, who offered to price match.  So, we were able to place our entire order through them and save several hundred dollars in the process.  Most importantly, we're now done with this project and I'm avoiding all kitchen and bath stores from now on.