ready... set... wait, what type of faucet is that?

i never realized how complicated faucets are... really, i never gave it much thought. but during our still-in-progress 'let's just replace the bath vanity' project that spiraled out of control, i learned that faucets are far more complex than just switching out polished brass handles for something a little more 2011. in fact, it's practically impossible to "just" switch out handles without taking into account a whole bunch of other thinamajigs and whatchamacallits, which i won't even attempt to explain.

the point is, the other day i was eyeing the gold monstrosity of a tub filler we have in the master bath. here's a picture if you don't know what it looks like:

ok, so monstrosity, right? yeah... so for the nearly 5 years we've lived here, i've assumed that i would need to find a faucet, sorry tub filler, the exact same size. i don't know why i thought that someone would have cut tile out behind it in that shape, but it finally occured to me that they probably didn't and what was behind that hunk of brass was probably a little pipe, probably 3/4 inch (ok, ok, the size didn't cross my mind)... so i mentioned this to my sweetie, who immediately proceeded to rip the fixture from the wall (ok i exaggerate) the thing to investigate. so, here's what we found:

just as we suspected (eventually). not so scary. we even have leftover pink tile to fill in that little space. so off i went in search of a replacement tub filler (wall mount please).

it turns out that the familiar faucet makers (delta, moen) don't have a roman bath tub filler (yeah, i also learned that "roman bath") that is mounted to the wall. so i had to continue the search in other brands, assuming of course that you could screw any brand onto that little pipe. 

the next challenge was the spout reach. the old faucet is about 10" from the wall to the spout. any shorter and the water will probably just splash all over the place. finding a 10" wall mounted spout proved to be a challenge. i found a few, which were all roughly $800-1200 for the set (including handles, which we already know won't work without ripping out the wall/tub/etc. and putting in a new rough in valve thingy -- yeah, not gonna happen). that is a little outside of my budget and, i know this sounds weird, but i felt oddly anxious to order lovely handles that i knew i would want to use, but wouldn't be able to (for reasons mentioned above).

i don't know if this is common knowledge, but i am pretty damn good at finding stuff on the internetz, and found 10" wall mount spouts (just spouts) that (i'm hoping) will fit the little pipe (which we believe is 3/4"). the other thing i'm not sure is common knowledge is that i can't make a decision to save my life, so anytime a decision needs to be made, i basically panic on the inside, keep searching high and low for something "better" and eventually my sweetie tells me what to do.  since there were really only 2-3 different (and it's hard for me to call these models all that different) models, i just picked the cheaper of the two. hopefully they don't suck. here's a picture of what i ordered:

i ordered the satin nickle finish, so it won't be all shiny like this, but they don't have a picture, so deal, ok. 

next challenge - handles. ok, so i knew that i couldn't order just any old handle because of the thingamajigs and whatchamacalits that make that impossible. however, after a bunch of research, i think (i hope?) that i figured out the correct rough in system we have and figured out that we could order another delta faucet that would be compatible. i really hope i'm right about this. i ordered these handles:

i also ordered the little wiggiwigs that are important for the faucet to work and not leak. i hope i ordered all the right stuff.

finally, i ordered a replacement trim kit for our shower that happens to be a delta 600 series. i got the stainless (it was either that or chrome).

last thing will be to order the sink faucet, but i'm waiting just to make sure that the bath works out and that the finishes match enough...