Minimalist style - possible to be family friendly?
Pipdog
10 years ago
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Comments (21)
ineffablespace
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agojoaniepoanie
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Eighteenth Century, Minimal Intervention
Comments (58)I love it and as one who only has the experience of passing on a 1722 home for fear it was to big an undertaking I am going to advise you to take it! One of my only regrets in my life is that I walked away from a home priced at 400k on the Guilford, CT. green where all other residential homes went for 900k and up. The house was priced so low because the wood structure, electrics and plumbing where in need of repair and the cost of the work was in the hundreds of thousands... So when finished the home would have cost us what the neighbors paid at full price. If we had bought the home we would still be repairing it now and I am not sure my marriage could have survived the stress:) but I still dream of that house and drive by it all the time and view the progress the people who did purchase it with such envy:). Their progress is slow but the house is occupied during it and it is still standing:). I like the house I purchased instead but the one with all its orginal floors, 8 fireplaces, quirky 1950s kitchen, and 2 clawfoot tubs will always be my " I wonder if " house. And I believe "wish I had" regrets are far worse to have in life than "I wish I hadn't". You will know what you should do when you walk thru the front door:)....See MoreUsing more cloth towels and minimizing paper towel use
Comments (43)Kitchen towels are only in white and therefore you don't have to worry about anything matching or needing to bleach anything or using the "wrong" towel for anything. They're all the same. I buy cheap 100% cotton terry Doctor Joe automobile polishing towels and use them in the kitchen and garage. Once they get a bit stained from kitchen use, they become garage towels. If you buy in bulk cheaply and have plenty on hand, you won't be searching for one when you need it. Group some by the sink, and others by the prep area and yet others in the laundry area. Yes, I use them for cleaning up cat puke. The yuck goes down the toilet and the towel goes in the laundry with bleach. About 2 dozen is a good starting number for the average household. If you have a large household, then maybe double that. I use an old bucket that cat litter came in as the "hamper" in the pantry. If I'm doing a project that requires a lot of them and they're too many to just drape over the side and air out behind closed doors, I usually put them on a baking sheet and place them in the oven as it's cooling down. Use that "lost heat" for something! Do you want to talk about bottled water? We switched to a filter pitcher several years ago and bought a case of bottled water annually and just refilled the bottles as we drank the original water. But they were difficult to sanitize properly and after a recent bout with a nasty GI bug that the other half blamed on a water bottle, I received a dozen plain stainless steel water bottles as a holiday present. So far, they've been a lot easier to clean and fill and I'm really glad we switched....See MoreGreat Family Room Potential - Design + Kid Friendly Sofas?
Comments (18)Pottery Barn has sofas with indoor-outdoor Sunbrella fabric, https://www.potterybarn.com/shop/new/sunbrella-feature I second those who've suggested starting good habits while kids are young -- teach them from the start how to treat furniture and the family belongings properly. And this is the time to start with rules like "no food or drinks in the living/family room"; and yes, it's perfectly fair to have one rule for the adults and another for the kids. Or you can limit what kind of food and drinks to allow kids -- when mine were young, it was water or apple juice only for them in the living room, no milk or grape/orange juice. Also, they grow fast : ) , so you don't really have to decorate around them too much (round ottomans vs. wood rectangular coffee table). I'd decorate for the room and with what you like. Buy quality the first time around. The arched fronts might be fairly easily removable. And I'd almost be tempted to have the builder drywall over the shelving above the arches....See MoreDo I try to minimize this plan?
Comments (44)"...Mr. Virgil, are there any in-house tornado safe options for a pier and beam foundation? Can part of the foundation be pier and beam, and then a slab for the tornado rooms and maybe other non-plumbing rooms? Or should I just install a prefab in-ground shelter, and throw Grandma down the hole, whenever twisters come through? (My mom would laugh, I promise!)..." As a junior and senior high schooler I grew up sitting on the steps of our neighbor's in-ground shelter, watching the clouds and funnels skip overhead. Never thought too much about it. To your question: I'm not sure what sort of a pier and beam foundation you are talking about, but if there's a reinforced concrete slab as part of any sort of foundation, it's very simple to design a reinforced concrete "storm closet" to sit on and tie into the concrete slab. Any architect or engineer will know what to do. And you'll make Grandma happy...!...See Moreineffablespace
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoPipdog
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agojoaniepoanie
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoTxMarti
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