To say I love hoop houses or high tunnels, is an understatement. I believe that we need to produce as much of our own food locally, when we can. No you can't grow tomatoes in January (without lots of heat and other stuff) but why not grow what you can. I have 6 high tunnels. 4 stationary ones and 2 movable ones. In a single year we will have over 5,000 square feet under plastic. If I have my way (I hope I do) I will put up one more this late summer/fall and replace my smallest one. Three years ago and $200 I built my first two tunnels. They were 12 by 18 and 8 by 12. I still have the 12 by 18. I took down the other one to make room for my 18.5 by 45. I build my own tunnels. They cost around $600 to build. I can't say enough about them. I think everyone should have one. At least on on every block. Yes, a 12 by 18 is enough space to feed a family. In addition to this, we have about another 3/4 of an acre we "Farm". Our produce feeds our family of 6 and I sell at 3-4 Farmers Markets a week. By the way in our zone 5, we are harvesting, zucchini, cucumbers, Pickling cucumbers, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, beets, chard, bok choy, carrots and onions from our tunnels. Pretty unbelievable with the spring we have had. Cool and wet. Check out our blog, I added the link below. Click on High tunnels on the right and page down. You will see all our tunnels. Jay Here is a link that might be useful: High Farming Blog

It is a little overwhelming to start. You have the functionality aspect of planning the bathroom and then the fixtures/look aspect. I definitely find it less exciting to research the functionality options but that usually ends up being where I wished I spent more time. For the functional - some of the things I think I remember is making a decision - do you want your vanity standard at I think 30 inches (this is our hall bath) our taller at 34 1/2 (our masterbath), or even taller at 36". The 34 1/2 is definitely more comfortable for me than when I use the 30" tall vanity in the hall. Someone else made the point of working around the pipes with the drawer so you can gain more storage. I wasn't able to get that in the cabinet line and every time I see the false drawers I think of what can't be stored there. You may also want to think, where else can you get more storage. In one case - had a niche build in the wall and added a glass shelf - this it the side wall that is next to the vanity. With the fan - someone mentioned making sure it vents properly thru the roof. In addition to that, you may want to see if a skylight is possible and how much it would cost. I wasn't a big skylight person (worried it would leak), but now I love having the extra light in the bathroom and extra ventilation. Not sure if you decided on a grab bar for the shower. Also if you are going with a shower niche (they have the plastic molds that can be tiled into the shower - I think that is easier for contractors to work with, but it is defined sizes) For the fixtures - I used faucetdirect with no problem and did a lot of online shopping. Where I had problems was with the valves and drains and I am not sure if that was because I didn't utilize the sales people enough or that you had to be familiar with my setup specifically to know which product. In one case, the drain wasn't quite right even though it was recommended to go with the tub. The contractor made it work. In another, luckily my contractor told me to order the pop-up drain for the sink. That's another one that doesn't necessarily match for me online. Since my faucet controls were in the wall, I needed the popup drain in the sink. With the valves, in a custom shower, I didn't do my homework on the 1/2 inch versus 3/4 inch and that I needed a transfer valve to switch between the handheld and the main shower. Last thing - I think the tile from HD or Lowes is fine. Tile can get pricey and that is where I wish I had found something that looked nice but was less expensive. If you do want to splurge on something - maybe look into the Benjamin Moore Bath and Spa line paint. It is made for bathrooms and has a matte finish.

Oh, man. This is all making me so sad. The whole reason we got two new sun tubes in the living room was to pull in full spectrum light, but now I find that in order to counter the blue cast from these things, I might have to add more cast. What I will say is that if your have the 14" sun tunnels from Velux, they sell a "neutral light" filter that is spec'd at around 3600K, so, not sure how that compares to using a theater gel, but it might work for some people, and you don't have to cut it yourself. For my purposes, I am going to have to do some other experimenting, because I need more of the spectrum, not less of it (for me to do artwork, but also my plants). If anyone has been able to track down the source of the bluing (is it the diffuser, or the inside of the tube, or possibly the dome on top?), that would be a huge help. Of course, I will check for the blue film! Thank you all! Addendum: I just took the diffuser out and looked at the light coming in, and it is definitely not the diffuser causing the bluing, nor is there a film in there. It's the top dome I think. I conveniently have an older sun tube in my bathroom that does not do the bluing thing, and it also does not have a tinted dome on top, so that seems like the main difference between them. Now I am wondering if the dome can be replaced maybe with something not tinted...

Hi everyone and thanks for your input. Green, you are quite right that I need to move my energies onto another aspect of my build. Perfectionism has sure gotten in the way of completing my design decisions. It won't cost 3000 around here for a small new exterior window and frosted bath door, but you are correct that there are many other parts of our build that could use the money instead. Thanks for your advice and perspective. jmc01, thanks ever so much for getting back to me about the distance of the hotel exterior window and interior window -- your news was rather encouraging that an interior window might be worth it. bronwynsmom, nice to get your input again. Thanks for your vote about the interior window -- this would sure be a cheaper option than a new exterior window. Very interesting tidbits on the research about light you shared. Maybe that is why I am obsessing with getting some natural light everywhere I can. chijim, thanks for your thoughts. Yes, I definitely agree that moving the small bath entrance down closer to the laundry room doors would be an improvement. Given the rooms are mainly down to studs it would not be much extra cost. I will think about a swing out door as well. sochi, thanks for your newest ideas and answers to my questions. I will get a quote for the new window and see if we can swing it. We can't rationalize moving the bathroom entirely to the laundry closet, although that would be an awesome location. Currently the small bath is an existing bath, so we are not starting with new plumbing here. lyban, maybe all I need is the right lighting. Natural light is hard to replicate, but I will try the daylight bulbs suggested by Green. To all, at this point I have decided to move the door of the small bath out into hall to increase the bath size/decrease hall size. I will also be punching a hole in the top of the small bath wall to see what kind of light it brings in before getting the trim carpenter to build an interior window (no big deal given all the holes in the bath wall at this point of demo anyway). If I still don't feel the natural light is sufficient, I will go the route of a new exterior window and frosted bath door. Oh yeah, I am going to buy a daylight light bulb as suggested by GreenDesigns to see if that is just as good as real light!! Remaining question: Would it be worth it to do a second interior window between laundry and the larger bath to share the light from the sun tunnel in this bath with the laundy room? Thank you all for helping me reflect on this issue and for giving me your advice. I am so glad I have this forum to toss around ideas and weigh pros and cons!! Carol