Three accomplishments yesterday! Visiting the plumber, buying our refrigerator, and selecting possible tiles. Wow!
The plumber was relatively easy. When we first went to the plumber, Joern had really wanted propane for heat and hot water. The plumber gave us a quote which included propane. After some discussion though, we realized that propane may not be the best choice, and we now need a quote for a air pump heating system. We also informed him of the changes to the insulation. So now, he is working on a new estimate, which will be completed at the beginning of next week.
In the afternoon, Joern and I stopped at an electronics store called Media Markt. We had seen our Haier french door refrigerator in this location a few months ago, but it was overpriced compared to some internet sellers. To our surprise, the refrigerator was on sale as a floor sample! Turns out that most German kitchens do not fit these refrigerators, and Germans are down on their electiricy useage. Honestly, they don't use that much electricity compared to what we are paying now in our apartment for electricity! Side-by-sides are growing in popularity here, but are still considered a luxury, and you need a fairly large kitchen for these. I was completely ready to get a side-by-side, having never had one myself, until I started reading that they aren't so great. When I looked at the side-by-side with a less "dream-like" eye, I realized they aren't the best design. But the french door with a bottom freezer seems like a wonderful solution. We knew we would buy this Haier french door, no matter what, and were so excited to find it as a floor sample.
We will be picking it up today! Now, we are finished purchasing all the appliances for our kitchen!
There is a very small hardware store in our town that Joern would like to use in as many ways possible as we build our house. I love that Joern wants to keep it as local as possible. They work with a tile store in Reutlingen, so they recommended we go there to look at tiles. We stopped there last Saturday, but were told to make an appointment. Our appointment was yesterday afternoon. It was another crazy two hours of looking at their relatively small assortment, but we found some really interesting tiles!
What made the process difficult of course were my very American inspirations. A lot of tile here is very efficient, large plates with high-gloss that are easy to clean. But, they are also very modern, and do not fit in my house. I also am not a big tile fan, and in a perfect world, if wood were waterproof and dent-proof, I would have no tile in my home. Alas, the world is slightly imperfect, and we need tile in our bathrooms and in our cellar. Bleh!
We started with the master bath, which turned into a fight, and took about an hour to find something that we both liked. Actually, we fell in love with! I guess I didn't have a strong idea of what I liked. I wanted something natural, but not too natural, beige or grey. The tile had to go with our espresso vanity. Not too easy, I must admit.
After about 45 minutes, we found these, and said, "this is it!"
These tiles are from Villeroy and Boch. Honestly, I was not expecting to use such a high end tile in our bathroom.
Just as our tile designer went to write down the tile name on our form, Joern turned around and saw THE tile. Polished light beige travertine rectangular tiles. Beautiful!
As our designer realized that we were falling for a higher end look, she brought over some mosiac tiles that would go well as the floor in the shower. The ones she brought over, while ridiculously cool, were too much, lots of glass mixed in with stone. I went back to the display of mosaic tile, and found two natural stone mosiacs that were much more me.
Here are the three mosiac choices with the tile:
Here's a close-up of the designer's suggestion:
Yes, it is beautiful, and so very rich looking. But, the glass was just too glitzy for me.
Here is my suggestion, and our final decision:
This is the final decision for the master bath. We will incorporate the mosaic also into the top of the shower, but we're both really happy. I think that with the dark wood, the bathroom will have an extremely rich look.
An hour working on the master bathroom was exhausting. But, we're so excited.
The children's bathroom was pretty quick, because I am planning on wainscoting, so we only need floors. Joern loves wood-look tile, and there was wood in my inspiration picture. But, I chose instead an off-white rectangular tile, that well, almost looks like wood if you really imagine, but is clearly not imitation wood.
We chose a dark grey polished marble-esque tile for the guest bath on the first floor:
I hope it will look good against a white subway tile, and then a dark grey paint on the top half of the walls.
I really loved this blue glass mosaic too. Thinking of how to incorporate this into the house- somewhere.
Oh, and here's the cellar tile. I told Joern he could chose anything he wanted for the cellar. This will be in our entry foyer, bathroom, hobby room, and storage room. Its okay, but since Joern is so happy, I won't complain:
Well, there you have it. We are going to another tile place soon, to have another appointment. I am hoping to find something a little nicer for the children's bath. I am also hoping for a subway tile for the kitchen backsplash.
