When I had the master suite created in my DH's home up north, it was crowded for bedside tables too. So I got two wooden tall plant stands, with 12x12" tops. They fit perfectly fine. Then swing arm wall mounted lamps for each side of the bed. Enough room for a book on the shelf below and a glass of water or whatever. I never just use an end table when there is an option to have a small chest beside the table. That works even in a small room with limited storage space. Every item has to WORK to make the cut when space is scarce. And, in the bedroom in Alabama, I am going to be sorry to leave it for the BACK bedroom, which will become an ensuite master, because it is beginning to look SO comfortable. It is a west-facing bedroom, on the street. It has two PAIRS of windows, and the closet and entry to the bedroom are on a third wall. That leaves one wall which has no windows and no doors or other obstructions. However, I did not want the bed to be sideways in front of the entry door, so had to put the bed first diagonally in the corner between the two pairs of windows. This worked fine for a while, with the wicker chests I use for bedside tables centered between the windows. However, it was hard to make up the bed. So I decided to center the bed in front of the windows on the street wall. I closed the blinds to block the high heat coming through those windows anyway. And then I found some floor/ceiling grommet drapes at Tuesday Mornings! That is when I got DH to install crown molding wide enough to mount the double drapery rods, and I started planning 3 layers of curtains...grommet drapes wall to wall on both window walls, sheers on the second drapery rod, and finally the top-down roman shades using 90% shade cloth and Thermasuede fabric as a liner. I am almost done with the curtain project, but even with the shade cloth pinned in place on the west wall, the difference in heat gain is significant. This room is 12 x 12 give or take an inch. We changed out sliding closet doors for 2 pair of Jeldwen bifold shutter doors which I painted to match the crown molding and base boards and other wood work. The wicker chests are on either side of a full sized bed, with lots of breathing room. There is a rocking chair near the closet. There is a third chest between the closet and the door to the hall, and a wall mount TV is above the chest. So now I've ordered the Hudson queen size storage bed from Room and Board in cherry. It should arrive this month. I can hardly wait. It is a platform bed with no footboard, and no box springs, and it measures 60 x 80. A full bed is 54 x 75, so only a few significant inches of comfort which I look forward to having. But when the contractor finally comes, and bumps out the master bath for a tub and a long walk in closet, we'll be moving this new jewel to the back bedroom. This current bedroom will convert to a nice study/guest room. Only we seldom have over night guests, and may just put desks and bookcases in there until we move the contents of the up-north house. It seems to me that we have plenty of space in the 12 x 12 bedroom. Since we've repainted and made the room so peaceful, I will now take a horizontal break to meditate or read or chat on the phone. It looks good in natural or ambient light all times of day since northern exposures give true light, and the shade cloth gives a sense of separation from the street. Keeping active pursuits out of the bedroom is conducive to rest and separation from the cares of life.

I have had an almond Kohler cast iron sink in my kitchen for almost 28 years. Aside from being a bit duller than it was when it was new, it is still in pristine condition. I have always kept a sink protector in the bottom, not so much to protect the sink as much as for a gentle landing place for the occasional dropped glass or dish. I clean it with soft scrub when it's stained and I always comes out beautifully. It never has water spots or stains. I feel the same way about my old laminate counter. It has served us well, has never scratched and is just now starting to show its age. Talk about getting your ones worth. I may even reuse the sink when I get another new laminate. So yes to everyone debating the cast iron sinks. They are workhorses. Just as an aside the sink we had in this house when we moved in 32 years ago was a wall hung cast iron drain board sink that was original to the house, which was built in 1920. It was in good condition for its age. The sink protector is available on amazon.

I noticed a crack in the front corner of our (less than) 6 month Kohler Whitehaven sink. Immediately a pit in my stomach! This sink was installed on 11/14/22. We spent a pretty penny remodeling our very dated kitchen and are thrilled with how it looks. We contacted Kohler whowhichwhowhowhichwho said they will replace sink. We are waiting to talk to someone about cost associated with reinstalling a new sink to replace a defective sink. Ours is undermount and don't feel as though we should be on the hook for this expense. Anxious to hear back from Kohler. If their product wasn't defective we wouldn't be needing to discuss cost associated with this repair.

It's understandable that a homeowner might not be familiar with the design of bath cabinets, counters and lavs but a homeonwer should want to learn how to avoid the kind of faucet problem described in this thread. So, those of you who want to learn, read on. I am an experienced architect and thought I understood how to design undermount lavs until I undersized a vanity cabinet for one in the 80's. I now have CAD templates for all the lavs I am likely to use along with their spec sheets and templates. The clear bowl dimensions front to back of oval or elliptical undermount lavs commonly vary from 12" to 15" with oval 14" x 17" popular for modern style bathrooms and elliptical 12" x 21" popular for for vintage style bathrooms. My favorites are the 12 x 15 Kohler Caxton K-2209 and the 12" x 21" Kohler Vintage K-2240 but when there is more depth than width available I will use the 14x17 Caxton K-2210. These are clear bowl sizes; subtract 1/2" or more each direction for the overhang of the counter to get the counter opening. For the smallest cabinet size front to back add 2 1/2" at the front and 4 1/2" at the back to the clear bowl size: 22" cab. for 15" lav. (23" for backsplash, 24" OK if space available) 21" cab. for 14" lav. (22" for backsplash, 23" OK if space available) 20" cab. for 13" lav. (21" for backsplash, 22" OK if space available) 19" cab. for 12" lav. (20" for backsplash, 21" OK if space available) To match a faucet to a lav read the specs of each and align the spout opening with the drain opening. To make a long spout align with a lav designed for a short spout (drain off-center to the back), rather than making the cabinet larger and pushing the faucet back, use an elliptical bowl like the 12" Kohler Vintage which would allow the faucet to be farther back from the bowl without making the user reach farther back to operate the handles which are already back more than required for any other kind of lav. It is also possible to place the spout of a wide-spread faucet farther from the curve of the bowl than the valve handles. These custom design ideas would require printing the installation template, marking up the new faucet hole locations and issuing it to the GC who would otherwise have no way of knowing the design intent. That design should be confirmed with counter shop drawings from the fabricator. A counter should not be fabricated without he signature of the designer/owner and the GC. I would not allow field cutting of openings but that has never even been suggested. The counter shop drawing below is for 14x17 lavs on a 22" cabinet with a 3/4" backsplash. If the bathroom had been tight I could have used 12" lavs.