We have a wet room for our downstairs bathroom, it's 6' 6" x 7' and has a toilet, sink and shower. It's a full mud job w/ 1" stone-wanna-be porcelain floor and fully tiled walls and ceiling, drain in the middle of the floor and a 36" wide doorway w/ barn door. Mr. sandyponder made a ramp out of our wood flooring scraps that goes from the den/guest room to the bathroom to compensate for the lip created by the full mud job in that size of a space . Our SIL (who is in a chair) rolls in and transfers to the toilet or portable shower seat easily. We have a shower curtain that bisects the room but most people don't use it, they just shower in the space provided and only the toilet gets a little wet. The sink is a wall mount so the chair can pull right up to it (and has no wood cabs to get wet). I painted the barn door with 3 coats of semi gloss on the bath side and it shows no sign of mold or water damage. We solved the "Where to put the TP in a wet room?" dilemma by purchasing a stainless TP holder (about 2' tall, holds 3 rolls, has a cover) and setting it next to the toilet. Not only is it great for our SIL, it gives us a full bathroom downstairs in a small space and is an excellent place to bathe dirty dogs or kids with sandy feet. sandyponder

Looks great! Love the beach entry, I understand people's concerns but I just wanted it darn it. :) I'm in N. TX also. We got plaster today so I have no idea what I'm in for as for bird poop, but I'm so glad we did the beach entry. :) I love your spill way. Oooooooooh the things I'd do differently. Wish I had that spillway! Your tile and stone looks great. We didn't even consider boulders, wish I had! You got a heck of a deal, my price for a smaller pool, much less decking, with no slide came it at 45k. Granted, that did include a 4k 80' retaining wall on the side of the house that we'll never see, but still, you got a GOOD price. I'm jealous! Can't wait to see your progress. Blue Granite PS is one of my favorites from pics I've seen here. Our PB does stonescapes (bummer......) and I went out on a LIMB and did mauve, Ahhhhhh, the horror! :):):) I think blue granite would be a wonderful choice.

Amy, That's a lot of rain. I know you'd share if you could. It is so discouraging to see the rain do everything in its power to avoid us. I knew the time would come when we'd be paying for all that rain we got in 2015 and the first half of 2016, and I believe it now is time to pay the piper. If I'd had as much rain as you, I'd definitely be spraying the fungicide. It is a whole lot easier to nip those issues in the bud early than to try to control them after they're widespread. Rebecca, I'm glad the Creole plant wasn't damaged. Tomato cages do provide a lot of protection and that's one of the things I like about them---the Florida Weave cannot and does not protect tomato plants as well as cages do. Michelle, I've seen those watering cans like that and think they are so pretty. Maybe the rain gods think your watering can is an homage to them so they've reciprocated by coming over and dumping rain on your plants. Usually, we can make it rain by painting the house. I think that's a lot of work though just to inspire rain to fall. Oh, and we just painted the house in, I think, 2014 or 2015, so it is too soon to paint it again (for which I am grateful). There are other ways to make it rain.....pour concrete, wash all the cars, clean all the exterior windows (especially the second story ones), etc. It will rain again eventually. Until then I am going to be grumpy. It is hard enough, as all of you know, to keep plants happy in June, July and August even if rain is falling. Without rain, it is nearly impossible, no matter how much you water. We have had a couple of young hens go broody. We let each of them set on a handful of eggs because they were so determined. It was sort of a waste of eggs---but at least we have two happy hens. Each hen hatched out one chick and then promptly abandoned the rest of the eggs. First-time mama hens sometimes do this---like they are so proud they hatched out a single egg that they forget there's 6 or 8 other eggs still sitting in the nest. So, we have a tiny new black chick and a tiny new white chick, both in the brooder together under a heat lamp to keep them warm enough, and their mothers are free-ranging with the rest of the flock today. There's nothing like th cheep-cheep-cheep of a little chick to start out the day right. Dawn

Eliza, I not only understand making an emotional purchase I did it. I also have made two very expensive changes, one is more of a super-adequacy, a gunite pool in Ct. and as mentioned above I added a master bathroom. i am looking into a kitchen redo that will provide more function but my existing kitchen is already nice so this will eat most of my equity. I am still most likely going to spend that money because I, or more accurately my kids, are very attached to this house and its neighborhood. However, our 401k, CHETs and IRAs are strong, my mortgage is paid off and my husband has been in remission for two years. Without these safety nets I would not be spending on any more cosmetic changes. For even when you plan to stay put in a house life often throws you a curve ball. Make sure if you need to sell for some unforeseen reason you are not driving yourself into unrecoverable debt. As long as your eyes are open and not blinded by unrealistic budgets in HGTV style renos and misleading ROI an emotional purchase is ok if other safety nets are existing. Good luck.