mid-distance flushing

The toilet has been installed in the new lower level bathroom. It's a basic but good quality unit - a Toto Eco-drake - nothing fancy but one that's relatively good on water usage and also on the budget, and Toto is still regarded as a leader in loos.

All very good, except for the fact that you could drive a truck between the back of the tank and the wall. Well, I exaggerate. Maybe a Hotwheels truck, or another such item that is 3 1/2" wide, which is not too wide for a truck but a bit too wide for the optimum gap between tank and wall.

Our first question was, did the wrong toilet get delivered? Once the answer to that came back (no), the next question is what do we do about it. Obviously an error was made either in the roughing in or in the placement the wall. The toilet itself was chosen (with plumber's approval) before the demo started so it's not the toilet's fault (poor toilet - all it does is offer daily relief to the masses and it gets dumped on; there, there, it's not your fault).

What to do? Change Mohammed or the mountain? Can we get another toilet that will bridge the gap better? Will a 14" do (ours is a more standard 12")? What about an all-in-one, which we had coveted at the outset but the budget said no? Or do we change the wall itself somehow? It's not possible to extend the granite countertop over the tank as a shelf because there was not enough material in the chosen slab. A single floating shelf of stone or wood might look like it's hiding an error so perhaps we a few would make more of a statement. Or we could do something to the wall itself, like build it out as a pilaster (thanks to Eric for expanding our vocabulary and architectural references).No, he didn't mean this kind of pilaster! My word, that's a bit grand isn't it? He means this kind of pilaster:

It could be a single column, or include niches, for pictures or photographs. Perhaps both, a pilaster with shelves inserted in the niches. We have some of the old fir beam left over from building the mantle which would tie in materials already used in the rest of the space. All we know is whatever solution is found it will not be on our dime.

Looks like a summit meeting on the first working day of the new year is needed. Eric has flown here at great expense (ok, he was already doing that) and will offer his design expertise to coincide with the contractors' and plumbers' individual expertises, and our refereeing and final word. Watch this space!