The two best things to reduce sound transmission are to add mass to the floor assembly (be sure floor can hold additional weight though), and uncouple the drywall ceiling on the floor below from the floor joists. This is done with resilient channels attached to the underside of the floor joists, then the drywall attaches to a rubber membrane in the channel. Adding a layer of homasote under flooring may help add some mass and absorb sound.

This may also sound obvious, but recessed can lights allow a lot of sound to be transmitted from floor to floor. So you may want to consider other lighting options if you want to reduce sound transmission.

A layer of UNFACED fiberglass insulation in the joist space will also help absorb sound.

My friend and contractor Rod McLamb at Spyglass Building Company and I have been discussing pebble stone tiles from Costco, which run about half the price of our local tile shops.  Since these tiles have a relatively wide grout joint, it’s important to choose the right grout color.  Typically my experience is that a grout color that is darker than the pebbles will look better than a lighter color.  A darker color will recede into the background and let you focus on the actual stones.  When the grout is significantly lighter than the stones, it tends to accentuate their shape, and almost ‘flatten’ them, making them look slightly fake and ‘cheap’. Since the grout plays an important part in the appearance of stone pebbles, my recommendation is to have the tile setter create a sample prior to grouting the actual installed pebbles.

Dark Pebble Stones with Dark Grout

Dark Pebble Stones with Light Grout

I launched the first Motionspace website in early 2006, and I’ve been adding new content to it ever since. Over the years, it got to a point where it was a little disorganized, so I recently went through and redesigned the website to better organize the content and also make it easier to add new content.  This past weekend I finally launched the new website as well as a new blog.  If you are a fan of Motionspace on Facebook you’ll automatically get my blog posts through Facebook, or you can follow me on Twitter to get updates, OR subscribe to my News Feed.  My hope with the new blog and being on Facebook and Twitter is that we can have an easy and quick way to exchange ideas, as well as an easy way to keep clients, friends, family, and contractors up to date about what’s going on in my (design) world.

I’m always on the lookout for a good looking freestanding tub that the average client can actually afford.  If you’ve ever considered a freestanding tub you know they can often cost thousands of dollars. If you’ve ever looked at Waterworks tubs, you know they can cost MANY thousands of dollars.  So I was pleasantly surprised to see a good looking large modern tub available through Costco for under $1200.  Plus the faucet can mount on the tub deck which makes choosing a tub filler easier since you don’t have to coordinate tub filler mounting locations with the tub.  Many times I’ll also add a tub deck mounted hand shower to make cleaning out the tub much easier after use (look for a small one since you’ll only be using it to wash the tub, you won’t need a large volume of water).

Advanta Tub from Costco