Washers Headache! I’m so scared!
3 years ago
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I have a headache, please help me review my floor plan!
Comments (51)I knew a lady who had a 'Formal Room'. Her house was known, locally, as "The Castle", and was a Tudor dating from 1925. Anyway, the 'Formal Room' was a large walk-in closet next to the kitchen, where, when the maids weren't doing anything else, they could go and get a 'Formal' (party dress/evening gown), and "iron-on-it" for awhile. The lady's daddy had owned a beer joint, but she'd been Miss-something-or-other, and had snagged the richest boy around. It was real smart of her to have 'The Formals' where the maids could grab one, when the Lady of the House, or her Daughter, called from upstairs, or from the Country Club, and said, "Vinah! Git me thaaayit blue Dior ready. Wuhrrr goin' ta thuh University Club tanite!", or "Git me up some formals, Queen Esther! Tha inlaws are flyin' us up ta thuh KENtucky Derby." That 'Formal Room', now that you've jogged my memory, was probably the house's original Pantry, and is roughly the size of YOUR pantry. In fact, your house is roughly the same size as 'The Castle'. And its facade seems about as complex and expensive-to-build as 1920s Tudor architecture. Yours is a HUGE, luxurious house, by most people's standards. So, I'm baffled as to why the dining table is relegated to a 13'x13' 'Dining Area' off the Kitchen. I'm guessing you're in someplace like Northern Michigan, where people are very unpretentious. But still, there seem to be a lot of people in your life, and jamming them all into that little space, when food seems rather important in the scheme of things (the well-developed kitchen... the large pantry....) would seem to potentially make for tense and unpleasant meals, when the whole family is together. We recently moved back South, when it turned out we'd taken over another corporation (honestly, I didn't mean to...), and someone was offering us too much money on our almost-complete house outside Portland, and somebody else took our lowball offer on a silly, overgrown "Old-South-Style-Dream-Home" (on considerable acreage, with millions in landscaping and embassy-style electric fencing that we were getting basically for-free). As much as I hate Mississippi, all those tempting numbers made the move back home impossible to resist. So, here we sit. This house had the typical tiny, prissy little Dining Room, just big enough to hold the previous Owner's "Mamaw's (Grandma's) Mahogany Dining Set from Montgomery Ward" (C. 1957). The space was too small. It became my husband's Library. Stretching across the back of "The Gracious Mansion" was some bizarre free-flowing conglomeration of space, that was a den/great room... something... I had that space gutted before I even let my Decorator in the door. Didn't want to give him a cerebral hemorrhage... and it's cheaper to let your design team know the raw dimensions from the get-go. They're going to come in and take measurements, and photograph every stub-up and framing anomaly... So I had studs, sub-floor - tutto - sprayed in white primer, before they arrived. Well, I had sold our Portland house before I was able to use my custom table built for 30. But that table (and a kitchen designed for caterers) turned out to have made the house irresistible to my Best Friend's Daughter, who ONLY entertains formally, and otherwise has meals across the meadow at her Parents' house. I have a history of selling my houses to pairs of surgeons. These particular surgeons, despite their youth, paid cash. Seems they'd each been letting their trust incomes pile-up while they were in residency. Good kids. So, here, in my newly-acquired bargain manse, I wanted the same thing: long table, with three big chandeliers overhead... lots of sconces, mulberry silk shades for really soft lighting... but with a big, long buffet, because this IS the South, and we ALL dine buffet-style. In Portland, caterers and rent-a-butlers are fun people. In Mississippi, they're failed actors and musicians, and are bitter, spiteful little bundles of passive aggression. And anyway, everybody at our table here, even when there are 30, are 'family' in some way, and the Caterers really don't need to overhear whatever schemes we're hatching, or whatever dirt we're dishing. Although we use fancy plates and fancy goblets and Whiting's 'Lily' flatware from 1902, we DON'T DINE FORMALLY. Everybody's too busy, and it's basically an open-house-in-the-Dining-Room: arrive at some approximate hour, grab a plate, leave whenever... But the table seats an easy 30 (three feet for each person), with blazing chandeliers overhead, and my favorite ancestor, a banker from Riga, glowering over everybody, from the center of the longest wall. It's a practical room: brick herringbone floors that can be mopped with strong soaps; fractionally non-parallel walls for better accoustics; embossed velvet 'papering' the walls, for even better accoustics; a tented ceiling where it once 'cathedraled', for soaking-up our family's cacophony; sturdy chairs, and a sturdy table... And "immediate family", for us, can easily fill the room. We totally fill up the room with people, at least once a week. I'm thinking that you're happy 'Yoopers' (or some sort of Central European/Alpine types, in a snowy part of America) with none of our Southern pretensions or obsessions. But still: wouldn't you be able to use an old-style English 'Long Room', with a long, rugged refectory/trestle table (a long, narrow, rustic table), in a more expansive space? A refectory table can be used for reading, computing, etc., when not used for dining. What I see on those plans just seems like the 'kitchenette' in a 1950s tract house... a tract house that just grew and grew. Your house is the size of a MANSION, but the dining area is like a breakfast nook in Levittown....See MoreHelp with headaches from washing machine/clothes?
Comments (46)Sanitize or Allergene cycle for sheets and towels. Hot/boiling water works; I'll only consider washers with an onboard heater. Double and triple rinse; I won't buy a washer without multiple rinse options. Get a washer with super high spin speeds to extract as much soapy water as possible with each rinse. The drive toward energy savings, specifically less water and cold temps, has resulted in filthy laundry with detergent residue. If the detergent were really being rinsed out with just the standard cold wash, one rinse cycles, why would so many people need "Free and Clear" detergents? I actually read advice online that said when your towels start to smell bad, you know it's time to replace them. Huh? Send them through the sanitize cycle with a commercial laundry detergent instead. If washers have gotten so energy efficient that we're throwing out perfectly good towels, you have to wonder just how much eco-savings we've achieved....See MorePlease help! Returning my Cabrio, but I'm scared !
Comments (4)I am not sure why your neighbour hates her FL machine but I have used a front load washer for more than 10 years. Never a problem. You do have to rethink how you wash clothes with them but most of them clean and rinse much better than traditional top loaders. There is a very little bit of water used for washing and some people can't get past that (mentally). Even my new Miele uses less than my previous Frigidaire and it's an adjustment. I'm not a fan of these HE top load machines. Not sure why exactly. FL technology has been around forever in Europe and I just think it's more time tested. I had a Frigidaire pair for 10 years and when the bearings started to go on the washer I bought the Miele W4842 and gas dryer (I've had them a short while). Not in everyone's budget - but just excellent machines - thoroughly enjoying them. I did narrow my search down to Miele and LG. There are some nice LG machines at Lowe's. I spent months reading and researching and if I hadn't purchased the Miele I would have purchased the LG (FWIW). This model was not yet available in Canada but it would have been top of my list. My parents have brand new entry level FL LGs they purchased from Lowe's (after all my mom's years with a top loader). She tells me she is very pleased with her new machines. Good luck! I know how hard these decisions can be. Here is a link that might be useful: LG WM3360...See Moretmi :o now i'm scared about my tl he purchase
Comments (18)I've done two loads of laundry in the new Cabrio HE top-loader. I don't think I have anything negative to say about how the clothes cleaned. I did use more detergent than this forum says one should. Using Tide HE, I filled to the "1" mark. It was late, I was tired and well, it kinda looked like a 1 tbls measure (g) It's not. It's at least 2x that if not more. The first load felt a little "thick" after drying. Towels weren't "crunchy" tho. I may not have even noticed it if I wasn't looking for a difference. The work clothes load (jeans and dark tees) felt ok. I'm going to reduce it to 1 tbls and hope that the over powering scent is less as well. Didn't add Oxy or vinegar to either load. Couldn't remember which dispenser the vinegar went in and had already loaded the clothes when I read that the oxy powder would have to go in the bottom of the washer BEFORE the clothes if using liquid soap. The vinegar goes in the fabric softener dispenser, right? 1/2 cup? I don't use liquid fs or the sheets. I don't care for the feeling of "limp" clothes and I know it creates a build up, not to mention towels aren't as absorbent. All my clothes washing life, I've washed towels, washcloths, underwear, socks together. I did it with this first load too, on the normal cycle, warm/cold, high spin. I saw no twisting issues. Can I/should I not combine these articles for washing in this washer? It would result in having to do more loads if I have to separate the towels. That's more time, water and energy. I washed the work clothes in hot/cold, heavy duty, high spin. I normally do NOT wash work clothes on heavy duty, just longer on the normal cycle and they come clean. What I do NOT like...I do NOT Like the locking lid! WHY in the world does a top loader HAVE to lock?? I know, I can pause it and look inside but I *need* to see it in action (lol) Really, I do! I remember seeing a YouTube video about how to disable the auto-lock feature on this machine....hummmmmmmm Can you REALLY see thru the clear lid? Seems like water and steam would prevent being able to clearly see the action. I have both water taps wide open. With the first load, I never felt warm water (I checked SEVERAL times). It was mildly cool. With the heavy duty load, the hot water didn't kick in till the "wash" cycle. The soak cycle was, again, mildly cool (what our cold water is here in Texas this time of year). The washer it's self is level (checked with a level) and doesn't move AT all when manually rocked back and forth, but, during the high speed spins, it vibrates pretty bad. It's not walking but it definitely jitters around and makes me worry about the integrity of the machine after so much of that kind of vibration. Yes, the clothes were distributed evenly. lulundave, can you "add" water to a cycle if you feel it needs more or just reset it to high, med, or low levels? You said it (Cabrio with agitator) has "just a few more bells and whistles". What does it have that the HE doesn't? Also, it doesn't appear to be an Energy Star machine :( Are HEs the only Energy Star rated washing machines? Thanks for ALL the comments and help. I truly appreciate the time everyone took to reply :) Monica...See MoreRelated Professionals
Fresno Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Palm Harbor Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Bethesda Custom Closet Designers · Ladera Ranch Custom Closet Designers · Roseville Flooring Contractors · West Bend Flooring Contractors · Westminster Flooring Contractors · Gainesville Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Midvale Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Kendale Lakes Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Pueblo Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Lakeside Cabinets & Cabinetry · Wheat Ridge Cabinets & Cabinetry · Browns Mills General Contractors · Shorewood General Contractors- 3 years ago
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