Up close you can see that he was painting quickly, as he dripped paint on the stringers (the wood under the stairs). I suggested just painting the stringers, too, but he said that pressure-treated wood isn't supposed to be painted for a year or so, as it is still a bit damp from whatever they treated it with and needs some time to cure.At least we don't have to worry as much about the chemicals they use on that lumber anymore -- lumber treated after 2004 shouldn't have arsenic in it. But if you have wood structures made before that, they are likely to have arsenic on them -- my sister had some playground equipment in their backyard tested (the tests are done by sending a swipe to the Environmental Quality Institute, where Dave worked while we lived in Asheville, N.C.) and found that their swingset was in the highest category of arsenic levels.
... Dave and I did some plotting in the new house after the kids fell asleep last night. We sure found a lot to disagree about! I think the problem is I've been reading all sorts of design books and blogs, while he's been reading carpentry and electrical guides, and I think different people write them and they don't read each others' books.
I was going down the list of where I want all the lights in the kitchen, for example, and I could just see in Dave's eyes the computations of just how complicated I was making things. Why couldn't we just have a light in the middle of the ceiling in the kitchen and call it good? he asked. Well, because every time we wanted to work at the counters, we would cuss because our shadows blocked the light and we couldn't see what we were doing. (There are no lights under the cupboards in the old farmhouse now, and I always end up working at the kitchen table.)
We also disagree about whether a vent over the stove is necessary. It's probably not necessary, but it seems to me that having one is a good idea when our floor plan is so open. Anybody else have any thoughts on this? And anyone know if they always have to vent to the outside? It seems to me one apartment I lived in had a vent that just cycled air through some sort of charcoal filter.
... We've decided what kind of alternate heating we're going to have, at least in the short term. (This is in addition to the wood stove, which should be our main source of heat.) Baseboard heaters are the cheapest, easiest option, so we'll have them at least for a while. If we eventually decide to invest in a heat pump, we could take out the baseboard heaters and not be out too much money, or time and effort.
But we were standing in the bathroom debating how we were going to heat it -- even considering (again) moving the wall so we could put a heater against one of the walls -- when it occurred to me that the best option was the one that I wanted in the first place: heat under my feet! So we decided to at least do radiant floor heating in the bathroom. We are still discussing that for the dining room and kitchen.
... We decided to leave the walls as they've been framed up in the bathroom, and just put a little table in that window nook. It could have a tall, narrow column of drawers under the table on the west side, leaving enough room for a little stool on the right. Then we'd set a mirror on the table, and we ladies of the household would have a place to sit and make ourselves beautiful, in addition to the mirror space above the vanity. I also like the fact that the stool could be pulled out while the kids are in the bath, so whoever is giving the bath has a place to sit that's not the toilet.
... Speaking of bathtime, I told Dave we had to record this bath of Erik's, since it's one of the only ones he hasn't cried through. The secret? Giving him a bath in the living room, in front of the space heater. A warm baby is a happy baby! (I knew this before, but I seemed to always underestimate how cold they get, how quickly.)... My dad has been suffering from another cold for a few days now, and Sofia, Erik and I are all coming down with it. Erik and I can tough it out -- it's just a cold for us -- but colds can send both Sofia and my dad to the hospital, so we're hoping we don't have that kind of news to report in the near future!
2 comments:
Dave's dad here. I vote with Erik; no to cold baths. Great pics. On the kithen lights: our kitchen in St. Paul has only one light in the center and we finally got fed up with working in our own shadows and installed lights under the cupboards over both the sink on the west and the counter on the east. It makes a huge difference, especially in the winter. One is hard-wired and one is plugged into an outlet. Both work fine. If you choose to skip that kind of lighting for now, I would recommend making sure you have enough outlets to be able to add them in the future without having to do any re-wiring and to then leave enough outlets available for normal kitchen usage.
On the stove vent: we don't have one in St. Paul and there are times it is missed. The apartment we recently rented in Paris had such a vent that just cycled through a filter and did not go to the outside. We weren't there long enough for a statistically significant test, but it did do the job of reducing kitchen odors and smoke (not that we ever burn anything).
I vote definitely yes on the vented stove, regardless what kind it is. The Boone house didn't have one and during the summer months and every time I cooked bacon I wished I had one. Also, yes on the extra lights. Our chandelier in the middle worked great, but also the pendent lights worked wonders when doing dishes. I always wished we had some under the cupboards too. I guess we could have put some plug-in ones there, but never did. Also in the bathroom...our house had a heater built into the ceiling vent fan. I MISS IT!!!! It basically worked like a hair blower (I think). It was soooo nice to step out into a warm space in the winter. Good luck!
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