50 shades of brushed nickel

My current home has polished chrome fixtures (faucets, shower heads, etc.). They are okay but I prefer non-polished surfaces. The problem with those is that they come under different names: stainless steel, brushed nickel, silver, etc. Even worse, under the same brushed nickel label, you can find various shades, so unless the fixtures come as part of the same line from the same manufacturer, they may look different. And they are more expensive. Go figure. So after trying to mix and match different shower fixtures, I gave up on the brushed nickel idea and ordered everything (for the shower) in polished chrome. A lot cheaper and at least the color is consistent.

Speaking of showers, here is a bit of info to keep in mind when you first meet you plumber: before starting any above-the-floor plumbing work, make sure you agree on the trim (the handle regulating water) and valve because they need to match. I didn't, so when I told my contractor that I wanted to install a trim by Moen (love Moen because of their great lifetime warranty service), I found out that the valve the plumber had installed a couple of months before would only work with Delta trims (Moen trims only work with Moen valves). After spending a lot of time searching, I finally found a trim that I liked (at build.com of all places), but it would've been a lot easier to pick a Moen part that I already had in mind had a Moen valve been installed.

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