Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Driving Lessons in Snow

The snow started coming around 1:45 in the afternoon on President's Day, a few hours earlier than forecast, which augured for a heavy storm to begin. By evening, there was a good inch-and-a-half to two inches of very powdery snow outside, which (I thought) was the perfect chance to let David learn a little about driving in the snow.

We spent an hour in it, mostly between a church parking lot and the high school's parking lot. Some takeaways from our playtime:
  • It's a lot harder today to make a car skid than it was when I was learning, when we didn't have ABS and TRAC systems and multiple redundancies and so forth. The Mom-Mobile will only let you turn off so much.
  • Plus, fresh tires this fall, and dry, powdery snow (instead of slick wet stuff) doesn't help.
  • Despite that, we did get to give him a few experiences. He fishtailed a bit in each parking lot, seeing how the van tried to slide away from him. He also got to feel the shuddering of the ABS system multiple times.
  • We went through a fun little slalom at the high school parking lot, and he got to experience how much l-o-n-g-e-r it takes to stop when sliding on the snow.
  • He's such a careful driver at this point, it makes me proud. He resolutely kept well below the speed limits on Silverbrook, in an abundance of caution in the new conditions. He didn't really go wild in the parking lots, either--no actual donuts--but still had the chance to see what the various conditions could be like.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Renovations 2015 Update

For us to accomplish the renovations of the living room we talked about before, the infamous "home renovations onion" has made its appearance. Nothing is as easy as it ought to be.

For us to be ready for the new furniture and accessories to be delivered in late March (Tanner's current estimate for when everything will have arrived), we wanted to have the wood floors sanded, stripped, re-stained, and finished in polyurethane instead of their current 27-year-old wax. Well, for the floors to have cured enough to put rugs down, we need to have the floors redone by the end of February--and so we've set it up that the week of February 23 we'll have that accomplished. Thanks to the Kuehns for the tip on using Hatcher's Floors--we look forward to seeing the results!

HOWEVER, to have the floors ready for Ed and company, we have to have the rooms emptied. That means the massive china cabinet and dining room table need to be moved, plus everything else that was in the room. We've already donated the two old couches and moved three bookcases down to the rec room; I'm not looking forward to this last bit, though. As you can see, the living room looks sparse as we're readying to paint!
Goodbye, beige!
HOWEVER, one of the things to move out of the dining room was the wine cellar. Mary had had the idea of knocking out her "desk" in the kitchen--it had never really been used as anything more than a landing pad for clutter--and moving it into that niche. So first up was demo-ing the desk, patching the wall, repainting the niche--then finding a cabinet to install in the leftover space and creating a mini-bar area--each of which took time, and precluded our getting to the main event.

I think you'll agree, the new wine niche is a great addition to the kitchen:
Our new wine niche, bar cabinet, and wine rack.

Remember how this used to be a desk?
We also are taking advantage of the floors being done by painting the walls in the living and dining rooms first…that way, won't have to worry too badly about drips! HOWEVER, whilst doing that, it emerged that a lot of trim work in the kitchen and foyer hadn't been done, so that's now on the to-do list.

So, to sum up: to install our new living room furniture, we have to redo the floors. Since we have to redo the floors, we ought to paint first. Since we have to empty the dining room, we ought to move the wine cabinet. Since we have to move the wine cabinet, we have to demo and rebuild a space for it first. Since we're making the kitchen nicer, we should take care of those hanging chads of undone trim work. See how the onion just keeps peeling?

At least this morning I got to put one of the colors on the wall in the living room. Here's a taste of what's to come--more later!
No longer beige! See, there's a difference with the air return duct!

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Home Renovations, Cont'd (2015 Edition)

Last year's big change to the house was the new master bathroom. This year, we're planning at least one change in a much more visible part of the house.

We've been in the house for over ten years now, and still haven't done a thing to the formal living room. We scarcely use it, and we've talked for years that it needs a coat of paint and some rethinking about what we can use it for. And the furniture probably needs refreshing after 20 years too.

Last month, we went back to our old friends at (don't laugh) La-Z-Boy, whose stuff has been a mainstay of our family room since we moved in. Turns out they have an actual real live interior designer on staff, and Tanner came out to take a look at our space and give us some ideas. Last weekend we met with him to see his ideas, and we signed a deal whereby he'll redo our entire living room for us later this winter/spring.

Before it goes, though, one last look around the current space (as configured for Chili Bowl XXI today):
Living room, into the dining room (also to be painted this year?)

What visitors currently see when they first walk in…to be changed!

From the dining room looking out; the TV usually isn't there, that's just for Chili Bowl.

Without giving away too much, be on the lookout for major change coming in the ~March timeframe. I have some painting to do in the meantime, and (for the first time in at least 10 years) the floors will be sanded and redone too! But what will come in its place? Here's a hint…and it's only a hint for now! (OK, two hints: Think Paris!)

Tanner's idea board for us…how will this all come together? Tune in and see!