Saturday, August 23, 2008

Christening the Salle de Bain



I don't think we'll be breaking any bottles of Blanquette over the baignoire (bathtub) to herald it's maiden voyage. I'll just be glad if all the tiles don't fall off the wall. Every conceivable nook and cranny has been sealed with caulk, including the centuries-old beam overhead, and I believe the vessel is water-tight.




When we ordered the ecran de baignoire (sliding tub enclosure door), the longest one available was still 18 cm short. So Doug had, yet once again, to improvise. He cleverly added a single row of glass blocks at the far end for the ecran to butt up against.






The circular object is one of the most ingenious European products I've yet seen. It's one of the many different ways you flush a toilet here. It's not so much that you don't use a handle like we do in the States, it's that it is a Dual-Flush. Without getting too specific, depending upon the amount of water needed to accompany your visit to the toilette, you can choose to press either the half button for a half-flush, or the larger button for a full flush. We have low-flow toilets in the States, and we have a dual-flush one one of our toilets in Moab. But you have to know beforehand it is a dual flush, that you should hold the handle down for a few seconds. There is nothing that indicates this is a choice. This toilet does it quite easily without language or foreknowledge. I guess some could say that us Americans don't know shit.

Doug adds: Notice also, fellow Americans, that this toilet exits through the wall not the floor. You can get toilets here that exit through the wall to the rear, left, right, or through the floor. I would imagine this is all possible in the good old USA, but I've never seen it. It makes adding a toilet much easier to plan.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Phil Poth had a funny sign in his bathroom, naming the inventor of the low flush toilet, how clever it was and how many flushes it took to get anything to go down, you'd have to have been there. All the toilets I can remember from my European travels were low flush, they were on it long before we were.

Your salle de bain est magnifique. Je vous souhaitez beaucoup des heures contents la. Mes felicitations.

Leslie

Anonymous said...

Ron has a wonderful book on the history of toilets called "Clean and Decent" that he used in architecture classes. I don't recall if it discussed the dual-flush. Judy

Anonymous said...

Mimi is an expert at dual-flush toilets! There is restaurant that she likes to go to because it has paper straw and the dual flush toilets as part of its eco-friendly vibe. She actually explains it quite well, once she stops giggling! -Anna

Anonymous said...

You have done a marvelous job with the guest bath...I'm sure your guests will say..."Merci"!

It's really quite lucky that the glass bricks were just the right size to fill-in the space between the wall and the shower door!

Luke thinks the "flush button" is incredibly clever...and kind of cute! Enjoy!