dia's Profile

Things start getting ridiculous every 6 months or so, and then it's time to sort and recycle. I keep design-related magazines for two years (by then I've revisited each of them several times and ripped out pages to file). National Geographic and Smithsonian -- pretty much forever. They're like classic novels, they never get old.

My mother and I have a running joke about magazine hoarding -- creative things to do with old magazines, i.e. furniture, building foundations, ship's ballast.

I don't love it. The color (very dark gray-brown?) doesn't work with the fireplace and furniture. But I'm glad YOU love it and hope you have fun with it until you're ready to install new flooring. I, too, had water damage and had to pull my carpet up. I ended up installing Pergo and it's great -- wish I'd done it years ago.

is that a murphy bed???

small parts = choking baby!

I use shrink-wrap plastic in my single-pane windows, it makes a HUGE difference. I also hang a heavy curtain across the opening to the hall and keep it closed during the day, when no one is in the back of the house. I have a metal front door (metal conducts heat and cold), and I'm thinking of making a heavy curtain to pull across that, too. All three beds have heated mattress pads: it's usually enough to turn them on for just ten minutes to warm things up (except when it's REALLY cold!) And I make three or four new, double-thickness polar fleece blankets every year; we use 'em like crazy, then give 'em to the dog.

Cute cozy nest for reading by the window in the kids' room.

We just converted to all laminate, which we love, but now we have to clean the floor every day (esp. stray cat litter and sandy soil tracked in from the garden).

Simple Solution (from the pet store): it uses enzymes to EAT smells.