The most important rooms in the house

Bathrooms. Ho Hum. You wouldn't think there is so much to them but there is. And so much even before you get to the fun stage of, what tiles do I have on the walls. Digressing slightly on that, look at far left of the picture below- I discovered this gorgeous italian brand of textured tiles called Cris, in particular this truly awesome yet discreet White Feel tile that they've designed, which, when you look at it, face-on, simply looks like a white wall but from the side, looks like, surprise an inspiration from the hallowed logo of which overrated brand?


Anyway, at $30 a tile, I think this will have to wait till I'm a great deal more well off.


I was going to say though, that bathrooms are really, all about the water-proofing. And that's the part that scares the heck out of me. Having had the good fortune (please note only slightly sarcastic tone) to buy a place from someone who ducted his air-conditioning unit into his *cough* bathtub, I can hardly hope that good plumbing is a hallmark. Instead, it'd be more like a watermark that we are going to have to get rid of. Although I suppose it doesn't really matter since all the bathroom walls will be gone, gone, gone, please pray very hard that our contractor is indeed a miracle worker.

Soon, we will have to drag ourselves in a merry, motley crew down Balestier and Z. will complain all the way along. This I already know. I suppose it's not everyone's idea of fun to spend hours sifting through many shades of white tile. Still, he should be glad that I already did some of the pre-shopping for us. Thanks to some blessed relatives, we got a contact of a bathroom showroom where I managed to pick up some neat deals by wrangling the best GSS bargain out of the busy, impatient uncle-on-duty. I think he just got tired of answering "and how much is This one" and finally pointed me in the direction of a few steals of sinks on clearence for $40 each.

Searching around online, I found The Trend Group HK, where a lot of the sinks are made. Their website says, the Trend Group has been specializing in the researching, designing and manufacturing of sanitary wares and porcelain art wares since 1999. The Group has a staff of about 1, 200 employees including 120 researchers and technicians scale. At present, the Group has land of 140,000 sqm and a workshop of 80,000 sqm, we have 3 shuttle kilns and 1 tunnel kiln in the factory, the equipment is from Germany. Our production capacity is about 10, 000 toilets and 100, 000 basins per month, with a yearly output at about 1, 000 40ft containers.

Wow. 100,000 basins a month, how awesome is China, no wonder they are populating the world's bathrooms. Who knew, they can stencil any brand or even your brand onto their vitreous white china sanitary ware (I like the idea of vitreous, it sounds like my toilet is virtueos but actually, it means a glossy, lustreous sheen, this is the same product and finish used for most bathroom fitting brands like Kohler). In theory, I could have my own WC and sink, with my name signed in where it usually says Gerberit or American Standard or TOTO. Their location, for those interested, is B-11, 6/F, Tonic Industrial Centre, 19 Lam Hing Street, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Tel: 852-2795-9193

For this reason, their products or similar products, are often branded Trenz or Trends at retailers. I managed to find quite a few pieces that I saw and purchased in the showroom. These all come as plain basins, without the mixers and they can be installed as a extension as in some of these pictures or affixed in a semi-recessed manner, which I think is a lot nicer.


As in the case of this basin, for example. This is fairly large and will probably go in the master bathroom, semi-recessed into the solid surface counter. At 1.2mn pieces a year, my basin has a lot of brothers!
TR4015
Item: Wall hung basin
Size: 443 x 810 x 173mm
Material: Vitreous China
Color: White
Single tap hole: 35mm
Outer Drain hole: 64 +/- 3mm
Inner drain hole: 43 +/- 1mm
Over-flow: 25mm
Installation: Fixing to wall back
Volume: 0.071cbm
Certifications: CUPC & UPC


This rectangular basin was in short supply, we wanted more of them, hopefully when we go back to the showroom, more will have become available.


If I remember correctly, the 4038 and 4039 were both available but one doesn't have an attachment for the basin mixer which is kind of a pain. I also saw these online in Australia for $125, discounted to $69.