Days 1-3: Lots of dust and debris later, we have a mostly clean slate. Nasty linoleum out, prefab shower surround out, thank goodness. We've run 3/4" water lines from the main plumbing stack (was 1/2") to feed the Kohler WaterTiles we're putting in the shower. The Kohler cast iron shower receptor we put in is even better than we thought it was going to be, feels great underfoot and looks nice with the tile we picked out. One nice surprise was that there's a foot of space inside the right wall that we'll use to build in a shower bench. ... also, our toilet came in! We already have one and love it. For now, it's hanging out in the dining room downstairs.

adh673 -- Thank you! The tile came from The Tile Shop. The main wall tile in the shower is Navona Travertine KB3301 (despite the name, it's actually a porcelain tile). We also used it on the floor of the bathroom and around the tub. It's a "rectified" tile so the tiler was able to give me the super thin grout lines I wanted. The shower floor is Jinshan Bone P/F 5 cm. The back of the niches is Jinshan Bone P/F 2 cm. The diamond pieces in the mural is Sandlewood Monterrey -- they're a "puffed" travertine tile with beveled edges. The border pieces framing the mural and the shower niches is Jinshan Bone/Sand Hon. The bullnose border pieces finishing the entire shower area is Jinshan Bone Pol. Our tiler used Technicolor grout by Tec for the entire shower area as it is stain, mold, and mildew resistant and never needs sealed. We used granite from our counters for the top of the shower curb and the shelves in the niches (those were cut to half thickness). Hope this is helpful!

hey bill - i forgot to thank you for your kind words from last week :) thanks i think we figured this out... when i got home & started trying to figure it out with the things in front of me, i remembered that we can also mount the "bench" on top of the tile, which is what john is going to try. he's confident that he can get the tile square, and then he will drill the holes through the tile & kerdi once they are set. i am nervous about him cutting through the tile, since it would be hard to get a broken tile off the kerdi safely, but he says he is confident he can do it and it would be extremely bad luck for a tile to break. i have to trust him and our luck :) here is a quick pic of my tiling job on the tub surround... not perfect, but i'm pretty pleased, and john said he can make it look fine with grout. i left the bullnose off the edges so i can tile once he's done with his drywall perfecting, and i decided at the last minute to put a blue tile on the small wall, after my thinset had been used up, so i just popped one of the white tiles off & that's the hole you see. i'm just so happy to see tile finally - it's all been in boxes & in my head :) he's finally going "Oh! now i see what you meant by scattering the glass tiles around... now i see how the blue paint will highlight those..." I've seen it all along, but in my head! glad it's turning out like it is in my head. lisa

Perfectly said Livewire. In NJ custom homes come at a very large premium. Not only in cost but taxes since NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation. We live in a cookie cutter 2300 sq. ft. TH that we bought new 4 yrs old. Let's talk about the builder options and costs. We were sent to a design studio to pick our options. They were overpriced junk. The builder wanted $12,000 for hardwoods just on the first floor. The kitchen cab upgrades were $2500 and $4500 and not worth it. The master bath upgrade (tile) started at $2500. This one we could not figure out. There is not enough tile nor was the guality good enough to justify the cost. Recessed ceiling lights were $200 ea. We put in our own upgrades and started after settlement with very high quality kitchen cabs, my great Franke Orka sink and faucet,and HW throughout most of the house which includes most of the second floor and closets and upgraded much more with better quality and less money than the builders stuff would have cost. Our cookie cutter has the same floor plans but our home is our own.