Thanks, everyone! ogoopogo - One of the tile places actually showed me the schluter strips. The only picture I could find online is this one. I'm not crazy about the silver, but I thought it might look better with a matching color. What color is yours? Pipdog - So, is the cut edge of the inside of the niche covered by the front tile? I'm looking at a brick mosaic similar to the size of your kitchen backsplash, so I'm trying to figure out if that will work as well. It's a frosted glass, so it might look better than tile except I'm not sure about the smaller tiles. Catmom & dedtired - Does yours have bullnose?

time2sell: "logic - I don't actually have all the permits, but I think the solidness of the back porch is obvious. They could get the permits from the county - cause I know it was repeatedly inspected" This may not be as simple as you may believeÂ....as solidness is only one consideration. Often, if finals were not issued, the permits expire...and the process...and the fees involved...starts all over again. In addition, if code changed during this time, the deck would them be required to meet present codeÂÂas opposed to what was in place at the time. Code changes yearly...so this may or may not affect this particular case. In addition, decks often require zoning permits as well as building permits to insure the deck as not been built beyond the setback. Last but not least...I'm not clear on why you don't have all of the permits....but if the deck was built legally with all of final approvals, the addition of such would be on the CO of the home. Also, depending upon the code in your area, and depending on what permits you may not have in hand, you may be required to dig out footings to document that they were done properly. The bottom line is that you want to market your home...and you are coming here for advice because you are clearly motivated to sell it for as much as possible. However, you admit that its appeal is to a niche market.......that being the case, it is therefore unwise to create an unnecessary nuisance factor, in requiring a potential buyer to perform all of the legwork and expense of obtaining the documentation of the permitsÂas well as final approvals. The added risk is if there is a problem, such as a setback or code issue, it may turn the buyer off on the whole dealÂas there is plenty of other homes to be had on the market. IMO, you would be well served to get the deck issue squared awayÂand move forward with all paperwork in handÂ.or, risk unpleasant surprises later on down the lineÂand at the most inopportune time.

There was a thread on this topic some months ago--see below. There are some good photos of niches. Our project is bogged down, but I have a few additional comments since I posted... Because we have to watch our pennies, I'm shopping in bargain places. One problem I have encountered is that oddball lots of tiles often don't include bullnose pieces as well as regular field tile sizes. The niche that we have roughed in will require some cute tricks to make ordinary tile edges seem attractive and classy; we don't want to just snip tiles and leave raw edges. DH, my sweaty equity, did not finish the niche smoothly when he created it in drywall because we knew we would cover it in tile. Now, we're thinking that we might not do the tiling right away and he'll have to pull out drywall tools and make a proper corner edging around the niche. This kind of "go back and do over" gig is getting very frustrating. [Meanwhile, I've found a smashingly exciting tile that of course only comes without trim pieces. It's sitting right next to me, thinking. Unfortunately it has a decidedly unfinished raw edge and will require tricky handling if we choose to use it. I just covered it over so I can't see it tempting me there on the table. Have to be more practical. ] Tile shops do carry a metal edging that can be used to finish off edges when no bullnose is available, but I haven't seen examples of it in actual use on a range niche. Would love to see a sample photo to reassure me. Also, remember that if you choose to work with a thick tile or a remnant of some kind of rock from countertop on the back of the niche, that will cut down the depth of the niche shelf. If you want the area above range/cooktop to be an artistic focal point, I humbly suggest that you either make a niche OR some kind of tile design but not both. If you choose too fancy a niche back, the items standing within the niche will compete with the tile design for viewer's attention. Mine will be a working kitchen, so we're planning to put oil bottles, vinegar bottles, salt shaker, etc. there and they are supposed to get top billing. Don't forget that you can suspend a second shelf in the niche if there's room. Here is a link that might be useful: Niche topic thread

OP here. This bathroom is a dink. This photo shows most of the bathroom as taken from the hall doorway. Note where the exterior door is on the left. [I have no idea why they built an outside door to the patio from the bathroom! No, no pool, and no room for a pool.] And this is the rest of it as taken from the exterior doorway. You can see that the shower cannot expand because of the hall doorway on the right and the location of the toilet on the left. The toilet can't scoot over either because because it gets too close to the vanity, so total exterior size of 36x36. House Vixen - we're just starting to decide on a field tile. We brought home a 3x9 Sonoma subway tile in a color called Aquarius, which is a lovely sea blue/green. Surprisingly, it looks pretty dark in there so we're going to look some more. We haven't ruled it out, but we need to look some more. We'd consider a larger tile set vertically perhaps. I'm iffy on an accent color because of the small size, but in general, I like accent colors.