Why I Oughta...

I've posted a few times about Japanese bathrooms here on the blog.  Actually, I've posted about toilets in general a few times - which, I suppose is weird.  But, not that weird? The oldest toilet-related post was when I was first exposed to Japanese-style toilets at Google in 2011 .  That same year, I marveled at a toilet that Menards was selling that claimed it could flush a full bucket of golf balls .  Yeah...full bucket! Then just this year, I shared the functionality of the toilet I came across in Tokyo that played bird chirping noises to sort-of, umm, muffle or suppress or combat whatever noises are being made.  And most recently, I posted a photo of a child-restraint made by Toto that is in the corner of a public restroom that you can strap your child in while you go about doing your own business.  I've been so moved by my experiences with Totos that I had one installed in our house in Downers Grove. Today, I'm continuing the celebration of toilets and J

Not only do they make toilets (excellent ones at that, btw), they also make this child restraint system.  So Moms and Dads all over Japan can sit on the pot in peace. 

I don't think I've mentioned how the addition of a Toto Toilet to our master bathroom has fundamentally altered my life.  And, that's probably best.  If she is reading this, Nat is seriously cringing right now.  So, I'll just move along.  TMI, Nat?  Sorry!  Briefly...I'll just say this: Yes...I'm proud to be totally #TeamToto. But, before I move along, I wanted to flag this for all of you:  some of the public area toilets (think....bathrooms that are adjacent to a multi-tenant high-rise office building) have not just the normal front/rear wash and pressure but also the button marked 'privacy'?  And the 'volume' toggle underneath it?  That's basically a white noise function.  White noise, chimes and bird chirps.  For real. During my time in Tokyo, I didn't come across this very often so I'm not sure if this feature is rare? The first time I came across Toto's in public was during my time at Google.  Here's a post from

An entire bucket of golf balls in a single flush.  That's what I'm talking about! This is the Eljer Titan 4 toilet that I bought to put in the basement bathroom.  The tile guy is coming on Thursday, so once the walls get painted this weekend, we'll be able to trim the toilet and get down to business.  Literally.

Late last week, before it went off sale, I went over the Menards (my favorite place!) and picked us up a new toilet for the basement bathroom.  With my dad's help, I settled on the Titan 4 from Eljer - which I think is a Menards exclusive.  I'm a little embarrassed to say that I got the "Tall Elongated" version - because my dad bought the two toilets for our house when we were in the midst of construction and they happened to be "Tall Elongated".  I grew up with "Elongated" - which gives you a bit more room than the tradtional "Round", but we certainly didn't have "Tall" toilets back in the day.  As you can see from above, the "Tall" version is ADA approved - and it has a bit of a throne feeling.  I kinda like it! But...the real reason for the Titan?  It is a 10 out of 10 in "Flush Power".  Nice.

I soooo want one of these in our house now.