We went to Portlnd Glass, the only glass shop in my rural location, to look at shower doors yesterday. They had Century doors for shower/tub enclosure. We opened the doors. The were noisy, and did not move as smoothly as the Kohler doors in the nearby Lowes. The header looked almost identical to the Kohler. They do not offer true chrome, it is an anodized chrome "finish" on aluminum, again similar to the Kohler doors. Honestly, they did not look, work or feel any differently than the Kohler doors did, but the price including install was $865 plus tax. Holy cats! We asked about a price without install, but the saleswoman couldn't give us one, she asked for a phone number to call us with an "estimate." We declined and went down the street a bit to Lowes to look again. A very similar model with nicer-looking handles was $335, and Lowes would install for $285 for a total of $650. Seriously, I cannot imagine the Century door delivers over $200 of additional value over the Kohler doors. I like to support local business (all the plumbing except handshower for my job came from a local supply house), but this seems a big stretch. We are on the fence, we may stick with a shower curtain for now and poke around Overstock, or may try the Kohler. Thanks for the feedback all. Edit: I should add that both doors were 1/4" frameless clear glass with a coating to enhance cleaning. This post was edited by mabeldingeldine on Fri, Feb 1, 13 at 8:13

I too am a fan of ceiling fans. We live in central Texas where it is hot enough to need to run the AC about 9 months out of the year. Ceiling fans make a huge difference in our electric bills. Twenty some years ago we found Hunter ceiling fans on sale for some ridiculously low price (like $15 each) at a homebuilding center that was going out of business. We bought and installed eight of them (each bedroom, kitchen, dining area, living room, and office) and noticed an immediate drop in our electric bills. I would say that those fans probably paid for themselves within a year. In the new house we're again putting ceiling in every major room AND putting outdoor ceiling fans on the wraparound porch and the screened porch. (Twelve in all, this time.) I love old fashioned decor tho so a nice antique brass or ORB fan with dark wood blades fits right in. And, I like having lights on them - both for the looks and because having lights on the fans helps you to remember to turn them on/off so you only use them when you're in the room. I also prefer the older four-bladed fan to the newer five bladed ones. Four blades are actually more energy efficient than five so I don't know WHY the industry shifted over. Since five blades are now the standard, the four blade ones can only be had for a premium price so I've given in and purchased 5 bladed models. But they are still in a classic design. IMHO, its the modern ones that look like airplane propellors or other high-tech gadgets that look cheesy. But that is all a matter of taste. Honestly though, if you REALLY don't like the look of ceiling fans, then don't install them! It is YOUR house! While fans save energy if used properly, it probably isn't enough to make even the "greenest" homebuilder feel guilty about leaving them out. And, it is not that difficult to retrofit fans if you should sell the house and the buyer wants them. So leaving them out shouldn't affect your resale value. I say, get the look YOU WANT and who really cares what the rest of us like or don't like.

I am not sure what you are asking, auzzy.... We are already planning to move the door opening to a different wall to better utilize the floor space in the small bathroom. if we do a regular door, the swing area will be right where one would stand to wash hands at the sink, but the door would not open against the vanity, but against the opposite wall. In using the bathroom door, one would need to step back away from the vanity (further into the room) in order to operate the door. We're thinking that the pocket door would avoid that. In our house, locks are rarely, if ever used. And the teenager daughter spends a lot of time at the mirror in the bathroom. We often open the door to tell her to hurry up or she'll miss the bus, etc. With a swinging door we'd hit her with the door. I guess that's not a totally valid reason to choose a pocket door though. it's more that I am theorizing that it will make the bath's interior space feel bigger not to have the door swing taking up literally half the open floor space... Here's the current layout. Notice how the door and vanity placement mean that the only really useable floor space is directly in front of the toilet, just that tiny spot! Here's what we are planning to do to maximize the floor space. So... the question is whether a pocket door in this case would make the space more useable? (The pocket door would slide into the wall next to the vanity.)

I did find this recipe in a 1979 Cooking for Two recipe book so there must have been someone out there who made lettuce soup once upon a time. LETTUCE SOUP  Makes 2 or 3 servings 1 small head iceberg lettuce 2 Tbs. butter or margarine 2 Tbs. flour 2 cups chicken broth ¼ cup celery, sliced or diced 1 Tbs. watercress, stemmed and chopped Salt and pepper to taste Strip off any coarse outer leaves of lettuce; wash and save. Core, rinse and thoroughly drain head. Refrigerate wrapped in a kitchen towel. When ready to serve, coarsely chop lettuce, including outer leaves, to equal 1 cup. (The remainder can be used for a salad.) Melt butter; blend in flour and chicken broth. Cook over low heat until thickened. Add lettuce, celery and watercress. May be served as soon as vegetables are crisp-tender. (It does not improve on standing.) Season to taste with salt and pepper.