aceyx's Profile

I also have the CB2 Darjeeling table. Because of its construction (edge-joined) I know that its top also must have been planed / sanded to remove material. Most things only absorb into the top layer of wood, which is how you can sand and re-stain a solid-wood floor. I also know that the suggested treatment (tung oil) polymerizes into a hard, almost lacquer-like finish. I have zero qualms about eating off the table, though I don't do so directly. Resting bread on it is fine.

I would look at the construction of the piece: is the wood sanded or planed flat & smooth?; what type of finish is used?

You can always throw a coat of polyurethane on there if you're worried. If you're really worried, look elsewhere. It's a bed, you're supposed to get sleep, not lose it.

I would use a thin aluminum sheet, polish one side, and attach it to a translucent plastic sheet of the same size using chicago screws at the four corners. Use bare wire between the sheets, wrapped around the posts in parallel to bring them together creating a shape like () viewed from the end. From below it will look like a square.

Make sure the wire is pulled tight enough to give space around the bulb, and as long as they're angled upward there should be enough space for natural air movement for cooling.

To mount, I would use two wires on the lower two posts that squeeze the base. To put on or remove, push in the sides of the contraption, which will release tension on the wires.

Does that explain my idea well enough?

The kitchen itself doesn't really have its own thing going on other than a hodgepodge of color, texture, and styles. That said, I think the best thing to do is embrace the chaos.

If the table doesn't really match anything, it should not match with flair. Get loud with paint color.

The rug is fine, but you need window treatments to balance the room vertically. These you may want to keep simple (solid color), since they're at eye level.

Put some art on the wall behind the chair.

Plants on the corner sill. Again; window treatment.

As for the stove area, shelving. If you can use wall anchors, do it (my favorite right now is the Toggler in the orange bag found at Lowe's). If you can't drill, IKEA has some tension rod system that can be hacked to have shelves.

I think the pegboard posts on AT would also lend well to the space.

I'm going to back Julie P's suggestion about having it made. I would call it more of a shaker style than parsons, but it's a simple design and shouldn't be too difficult (read: costly) to make.

If you're okay with it not having feet, you could just something like this (~$350 shipped) and throw modern hardware on it. Do look locally to save shipping, this is a pretty generic style.

Or have one of your handytractors modify it, since all you're really doing is chopping a bit off the bottom and adding a frame.

Dividers need not completely block a space off. An open bookshelf is a good idea, but you can also just block half the sleeping area from view (generally, the top / headboard end) with a more solid piece.

It's enough for our brains to think: this is another space. Think about how much a waist-high fence will stop most people from entering an area.

I would say bed in a corner, bookcases or shelving coming out from the walls at the foot and sides to half the width and length of the bed so that it leaves an open corner. The bed area should not be visible from front door.

Water heaters should be drained yearly. Excess sediment means you're losing volume on the water you're heating, meaning shorter showers and wasted energy heating the sediment.

Drain using the spigot at the bottom. If it's been a few years since this was last done, you will probably need to vacuum it out with shop vac. Buy a couple of feet of 1" OD tubing and move it around the bottom. Turn it off at the breaker before you remove the covers to get to the elements.

Also, inspect your heating element. They are cheap ($10) and new ones are far more efficient. Change these, along with the sacrificial anode rod and you can double the life of your heater, which saves you several hundred dollars.

Looks like bellybuttons.

I've had good results by simply calling the company direct.

Can't believe the smeg fridge wasn't listed here.

I do this for the most part automatically, but if I were to train someone to turn the lights off as they exit a room, I would tie something to a string and hang it at eye level from the door frame.

After a minimum of one week, and as soon as they learn to turn off the lights, the annoyance gets taken down. If they forget, the annoyance gets put back up in that particular room for a minimum of two days.

For every day where you've been successful in turning off lights, give yourself a little reward at night.

I doubt it would take more than a month to turn this into habit.