ayse's Profile

I have about 4000 books now. Mostly in IKEA Billy, like everybody else. Some in pine shelves from the unfinished furniture store, which are a lot stronger and hold up to moving better. If you go pressboard like Billy, get shelves as narrow as you can, because book weight is substantial (especially if you are heavy on 19th century novels as I am). Some people think books look messy, but they are just wrong. Non-readers will never understand it. I love the rhythm and texture of shelves of books. Also, get more bookshelves than you strictly need to house your collection, both to house future purchases and to leave some blank space for texture. You can use those blank spaces to put small decorative items, but keep it simple or it will look cluttered.

Sorting by colour is INSANE, or at least it's for people with only a small collection, like maybe 1000 books or less. When I passed that point I had to start categorizing things more carefully. I would never be able to find anything if I had to remember what colour the spine was. I grew up in libraries and I use a subject-based sorting system for my nonfiction (my own, because that works for me). My professional books have their own sorting system, and they are kept in separate shelves. Oversize books are kept separate from more standard-sized books, except in the few categories where the mix is more even between standard and oversize, and I just adjust the shelves to fit them together.

Fiction is sorted out by size (because mass market paperbacks can fit very efficiently in a shelf designed for them, but you might have to build that yourself if such a beast is not available locally) and then language, then alpha by author, then chronologically by original pub date. I don't bother to sort by genre; it's all fiction to me.

I periodically go through and take everything off the shelves, clean the books (they get pretty dusty and dirty), then re-sort them. That keeps things fresh. It also enables me to reallocate shelf space when a subject area grows a lot, or when I decide to get rid of some books I know I won't use any more.

I say do it; I've torn out some of my plaster walls and I'm slowly working up to tearing out the rest. My preference is to replace the plaster with drywall of similar thickness (my plaster is 3/4" thick, so 3/4" drywall works well; for 1" plaster use two sheets of 1/2" drywall) to give the same sound-dampening qualities. (Mass cuts noise transmission; you can also get drywall designed to cut down noise transmission even more than the regular stuff.) That will also help with fire protection between the units.

FYI, lead paint was almost never used on interior walls; it's mostly on trim and exteriors. But most paint stores sell little test kits.

I've tried out this chair for some extended sitting (I'm 5'; there was no issue with the height of the chair for me). I found it not terribly comfortable for how I like to sit, in part because it didn't allow me to lean backwards (I didn't realize how often I lean back and look at the ceiling while thinking through things until I tried this chair), and in part because it didn't allow me to change position easily. And I halfway wanted stirrups because at desk height my legs didn't reach the floor.

On the other hand, I have a friend not much taller than me who swears by it. I think it depends a lot on your personal sitting style.

So, about those directions in the post. Asphalt felt? Under a floor? This is madness. I know people do it, but they do it when they're laying over concrete that is damp because it was not properly waterproofed. In that case I would get a waterproofing specialist in to seal the floor (there are some nice paint-on crystalline sealers) before proceeding, and I'd definitely put down sleepers before attaching the floor.

And yet those pictures show asphalt paper on a plywood subfloor. Unbelievable. Asphalt paper under a floor reeks. It should not be inside the envelope of your house. Ugh.

Also, regarding the parquet floor tiles: they still sell those; any flooring store will have them. They're usually engineered wood, and depending on the brand may or may not be refinishable by sanding and resealing. And don't condemn the floor as damp until you've checked it out.

As for health issues, I can't imagine what they would be unless you are thinking of something that isn't actually linoleum (the green flooring material). Obviously you shouldn't eat it, but linoleum itself is pretty safe; it gets used in LEED-certified buildings all the time. Sometimes people call vinyl flooring linoleum, which can be misleading.

And Marmoleum (a brand name for one company's linoleum) comes in white and black tiles.

I love sharing big meals with friends and family.

We have a Neuton and love it. Maybe it is a "yuppie" choice for mowing, but we have a fairly large garden, and the reel mower we own was requiring a lot more strength than we had after the other physical labour we do around the house. Also, we use the mower both to mow the lawn and to chop up garden waste for our compost piles, which a reel mower just cannot do properly.

We got a spare battery and edging kit; the battery is very useful and the edging kit is handy, although we don't really have the sort of yard that requires a lot of edging.

Had we not gotten this particular mower, our other option was a corded electric mower. Having used both, I'd say the cord-free is definitely worth it.

The very best dessert I've ever had was a plate of perfectly-chosen figs at Chez Panisse. Fresh ingredients in season really do make all the difference.

Oooh, I've been thinking about going to this for the last couple of weeks.

I'm a big chocolate ice cream fan. I know everybody's into these exotic flavours but I've never gotten tired of a good chocolate.