phylhl, your bathroom is beautiful! I am in the final planning stages of a master bath renovation myself, and I have some questions about your bathroom. In a previous bathroom update, we used the same Rohl showerhead as your handheld, but as a fixed showerhead. I find that it is almost impossible to change the functions. It definitely takes both hands to do so, but even then, it is extremely difficult. I called Rohl about it and they said it is supposed to be tight. Are you finding yours difficult to change? I see something in your shower that looks like a hook--? Just below the decorative panel and in front of the bench. Is that what it is? And is that a towel bar inside the shower on the half wall next to the shower door? If so, what is the material and make of the towel bar? My husband and I both use washcloths and I am struggling with what to hang them on in our shower. I want everything to be pretty, but it also must be very functional. I am having a hard time meeting both requirements here. :) Last question: is that a Rohl country bath toilet paper holder? Have you had any problems with the TP hook falling off the wall trim piece? The one I used in my other bath kept falling off. Rohl replaced it twice, and I finally gave up and had a handyman glue the hook onto the trim piece to keep it from falling off all the time. Sorry this is so long--thanks for your response!

I'm looking for more links Bowl-to-floor <= 15". We're a household of three 5ft 5in. people. We're renovating four bathrooms. Just ordered a Tushy Ottoman but we're really NOT happy that we literally cannot buy a high-quality toilet that's standard height. Here's the whole plan: 1. We're ordering the Kohler - Wellworth Classic: (14 1/2") for two of our bathrooms. 2. We have a nice Elongated Toto (17" height?!) and I'll be trying out the 7.5" Tushy Ottoman https://hellotushy.com/products/tushy-ottoman-toilet-stool with that. 3. And then... one of our bathrooms needs a corner standard-height toilet, and my current plan is to buy a separated High-tank toilet https://www.rensup.com/bathroom/high-tank-toilets and bowl separately. I may also check Etsy for toilet bowl makers. What has this world come to? What a drag. It is also annoying that everything is labeled "Right-height"... yeah, it's kind of offensive because the height change is marketed as a feature and so it's excluded from most website's filter bars! Since it's an additive-feature, you can't filter for the absence of "Right-height" or "ADA Compliant". It's like -- I feel like I've been in the specific set of meetings where someone has a brilliant, cost-savings idea of to unify on a single height. Brilliant mind (BM): "OK, get this, we can halve the number of products we have to produce that sit on the shelves!" Everyone else (EE): "Oh, how do we do it?!" BM: "We just pick one height!" EE: "*Contemplative silence* God. Yes. Brilliant... But... won't people be mad?" EE: "I mean, there are short people and kids..." BM: "No, no, no, we'll pick the accessible height and then market the change as a feature! This means we'll also get a competitive advantage over other toilet brands who aren't thinking about accessibility!" ~~~ *end scene* ~~~ My beef, TLDR: 1. Public toilets should be as accessible as possible. 2. Companies get to "win" by removing consumer choices. 3. I'm now googling for an artisan toilet bowl maker on Etsy. Good luck everyone. Looking for more links Bowl-to-floor <= 15"

Yes, choux, our Liebherr fridges are the the most energy-efficient fridges on the American market. :) They're also manufactured without mercury, ostensbly. On the yellow Energy Star certificate that came with mine, it's rated so far to the left of 'comparable models' that it's off on its own chart. I made my own countertops with highly-repurposable copper and low-formaldehyde recycled MDF; re-customized someone's cast-off cabinets from the Restore, ditto on the low VOC paints (Benjamin Moore's AURA) and low VOC (Waterlox) refinished original fir floors. Vintage 1949 gas stove. Low-energy, low-water non-gerberator Bosch dishwasher. Wood molding, enamel sink and doors from a local recycled building materials alliance. Light fixtures are vintage ones from eBay. Old appliances donated to Habitat for Humanity. What kills me are the hideous cheap white vinyl windows the previous owner put in, thinking to save energy no doubt. But I'd die to have the original wooden casements to restore, and new wooden ones are far too pricy for me at this stage. Ah well.

We generally prefer historical cost basis over any time of assessment, so what you paid for an item. However, one problem with the historical cost basis for ad valorem taxes is it adjusts for realized gains and losses while not adjusting for holding gains and losses. This means that two identical houses would pay two different taxes based on the last time they were sold. This isn't quite fair so to remedy this, ad valorem taxes are occasionally adjusted to compensate somewhat for holding gains and losses. In other words, we don't want people who bought 3 acres next to Central Park 65 years ago, to be paying property taxes on $100,000 when an identical property next door pays taxes on $15,000,000. That is the entire purpose of adjusting property values. Improvements aren't simply holding gains, it is putting money into the structure so that it is nicer. If you want to fairly tax improvements you would need a tax on the increased value less a tax credit the amount paid over the marginal assessment value. So, the premise that you have some moral obligation to pay marginally higher taxes because you spent $50,000 for a nicer kitchen that adds only $20,000 to the property value, is one I find questionable. In other words, if you paid more for the remodel than it added in property value you should get a tax credit against the increase. However, that is far too complicated and thus taxing jurisdictions who are acting efficiently and attempting to be fair, avoid increasing valuation for improvements and replacements, but do increase valuation for additions. Now this is completely different than rules that allow select groups to avoid assessment for holding gains and losses.