thrace's Profile

Am not a plumber, nor a contractor, but we did have a few people come in and see if we could install either a stackable or all-in-one laundry in our upstairs bathroom. I would say - in addition to the cost of the appliance(s), it would run maybe $1,000-3,000, depending on: whether you have the right wiring (110 volts for the all-in-one or 220 for stack); whether you have to move the plumbing a lot (e.g. from sink to where the shelves are, plus, you will have to relocate or change out the sink to reach back there); and how much carpentry is needed to finish the space. A handy friend might be able to eyeball the space and give you a ballpark figure. It's probably not a huge deal compared to the cost of the property.

Couple other things to consider, with respect to an all-in-one: the cycles are really long, and you can't wash a load while drying another load. (Or, only if you pull the first load out and hang it to dry, maybe.) I hear the dryer function is also slower than with a dedicated machine, as the voltage is lower. So it does require maybe more planning than with separate machines.

Another fan of the credenza! I realize it's probably a mid-century (Cragislist special?) find, but is there a name for this kind of piece? (oh, I don't know, the "1x4" ;P) Anyone recognize it as a particular brand?

My child goes to a public school that was recently declared nut-free. I know one of the girls in her class has a nut allergy, but it's possible there are other kids that I don't know about, because the school doesn't identify the allergic kids by name. So that makes it tricky to figure out dietary needs (I will try to remember to ask, from now on!)

When I have invited kids I know to have allergies, I try to make sure there is food they can eat. Same thing for our vegetarian friends, be they adults or kids. That said: sometimes I have forgotten to accommodate restrictions. (Fortunately the nut-allergic child could not attend, that time.) And it has happened that my child has not been invited to a birthday party - not because of allergies, but - as far as I know - just because the hosts did not invite ALL the kids in the class, as is their prerogative. There will always be differences, and thoughtful/not thoughtful people to deal with.

So, for myself, I will continue to try to be inclusive in my entertaining. But if it was my child with a life-threatening condition, I imagine I would not expect other parents to be responsible for ensuring his/her well-being, and would provide my own food until my child was old enough to look out for him/herself.

580sqftofbliss... I don't know about defensive - I did say "DC isn't known as a *fashion* capital", and I don't live in the neighborhoods I cited by name. I just think that DC has some really charming areas that counter Franzen's second sentence. This *is* a design website, is it not? I think the title of the post was just a jumping-off point for showcasing DC houses.

...and by the way, last time I checked, the Vienna Metro was outside the DC city limits. ;P

Really?? Within a one-mile radius of our house, there is a peach-colored house; a turquoise one; a pink one; and a house shaped like a mushroom. Our house is blue-green, and the houses on either side of ours are yellow. Not one house on our block is the same as any of the others. No McMansions, either.

Mr. Franzen, try walking around Capitol Hill, the Palisades, Georgetown, or even, say, Del Ray. I'll grant that DC is not known as a fashion capital, but neither is it vacuous nor sterile.

At the risk of giving away a wonderful secret - you forgot the faux sheepskin from Pottery Barn! Delicious!!

This seems unnecessarily complicated. I throw most things into the dryer on delicate for ten minutes, then I pull them out and hang them up. (They should be just damp, helps if you have a good washer that gets most of the water out.) I find if you hang clothes up properly - e.g. button up dress shirts, make sure cuffs and collars are straight not wrinkled, everything straight on the hanger - then the weight of the damp fabric pulls the wrinkles out, and there's little if any ironing needed by the time the clothes are dry.

For more delicate material - cashmere sweaters (though I handwash these), voile - I lay flat first to dry a bit more (to where the fabric doesn't sag when placed on a hanger), then hang up when they are just slightly damp. If they get too dry and have wrinkled in place, I just touch up with an iron. A lot less energy - on my part and from the utilities! :)

We have an archway painted by the former owners of our house - the underside of the arch, and everything to one side, is taupe, and the other side is sage. The darker color is on the "shadier" side of the arch, and continues on into the next room.

Wonder what it would look like to have a simple, faux (half-) column on the wall at the base of the arch? Then it would be a visual boundary where you could end one color and start the next. Or just paint the underside of the arch the second color, all the way down to the floor as if it continued, and have a plant or small table there to camouflage the transition. :)

Hee!! Love the Magritte and the mousehole ones.

ooh, me too! For New Year's Eve, 1999 we had about 8 people over for dinner. I had prepped the ingredients for cream cheese flan, a dessert I've made many times before. I popped the pan in the oven right before we sat down to dinner. When time was up I checked the oven... hmm, some browning going on, but still liquid underneath! We served coffee and ice cream, and I left the flan to bake some more. Four hours later, with the smell of warm sugar filling the house, but still no solid flan, I finally gave up and turned off the oven. It wasn't until we were cleaning up next morning that I realized I'd forgotten to put the eggs in the mixture! :)