Really? That's an improvement.

[here to stay]

One of my favorite time wasters is to go to decorating/home website and looking at pictures. Of course it's all a matter of taste but there are some things that make be really question what decorators are thinking.

This evening I looked at a half dozen bathroom remodels that had the same element- a vanity counter top that continued, reduced in depth, to make a shelf over the toilet. In one piece. The first thing I noticed was the closeness of the toilet tank lid to the bottom of this shelf. You'd probably be able to slide the tank lid out but the vanity counter and sink would need to be removed to actually find room to fix the flush mechanism in the tank.

I could just picture myself standing in front of the toilet with the awful realization that a malfunctioning flush valve would be a major repair in terms of time and effort.

Too many times I look at those designs and think "nice but I wouldn't want to clean it." Is that a thought that professional designers ever have?

[countrymom22]

Oh I hear you! I feel that way a lot. Like when I walk into a home with a soaring 2 story foyer, my first thought is that I wouldn't want to have to paint those walls! Or when I see entire walls of windows. I have a hard enough time keeping up with all the finger and nose prints around here now, those windows are the stuff of nightmares!

Maybe we are just too practical?

[mzgarden]

Wow, glad to hear you guys say this. I thought I was the only one that think first about keeping 'it' clean. My DH calls me functionally focused.

[Melissa]

I always wonder about those log cabins in areas where the winter temperatures are very low, and they have those high soaring ceilings. How do they keep warm??? Heat rises!!!

[hermitjohn]

Pioneer log cabins had low ceilings. The modern impractical "for looks" log cabins have insulated ceilings like any other such building. If insulated properly, any silly wasteful interior design can be energy efficient.  And fans to blow warm air back down.

I used to have link to a super insulated huge house that could be heated with a small electric space heater. You ever let that thing cool down in winter and betting it takes a very long time to warm up again.

I suspect easiest to clean design would be minimalist all concrete building with ceramic tile floors if you want pretty, painted concrete if you dont. Gets dirty, break out the pressure washer. I always wondered about people living in flood plain. Think they would either do the all concrete house you could just pressure wash to make livable again. Or put their house on stilts (if the flood dont get you, the tornado will take you to oz)... Replacing all that carpet and drywall and insulation every dang time it floods seems rather stupid, even if taxpayer is paying for it through flood insurance.

[Maura]

I'd never buy a house with cathedral ceilings. Like you wrote, a bear to paint. You'd need scaffolding. And all that empty space? You are paying property taxes on it as an extra story (1/2 story). The larger the room, the higher the ceilings you can have, so a twelve foot ceiling works in the township hall, but not in smaller spaces. In truth, most people do not like meeting in a room with real high ceilings, they feel vulnerable. So, everyone congregates in the kitchen.

[willowgirl]

I clean a house that has a huge Jacuzzi bathtub, but their water pressure is so low that I don't think they've ever been able to use it. I can't imagine the water would still be warm enough by the time the tub filled more than halfway!

To add insult to injury, the builder probably installed a larger-capacity water heater to service that tub, meaning it's likely they're paying higher utility bills on account of a tub they can't use.

[willowgirl]

Too many times I look at those designs and think "nice but I wouldn't want to clean it."

Glass-walled showers ... an invention of Satan, I'm sure.

[dodgesmammaw]

I think Satan also invented my stainless steel appliances. Can't keep the crazy things clean. Never buy them again.

[here to stay]

Jun 20, 2016 3:31:04 GMT willowgirl said:

Too many times I look at those designs and think "nice but I wouldn't want to clean it."

Glass-walled showers ... an invention of Satan, I'm sure.

The contractor who built my house suggested a clear glass shower enclosure. I told him then he better plan to come over every morning to clean it because I wasn't going to do it.

I got textured glass.

[susannah]

We have vaulted ceilings - nothing as high as the cathedral ceilings I've seen, they just add maybe 4 feet of height at the peak. Our walls are all natural cedar and we live in the woods, so they seem to help make the place less cave-like. I mean, it can be really dark in here sometimes. A ceiling fan at the top, set on reverse, helps keep the place warmer in winter. We have really low heating bills (due in large part to energy efficient upgrades) despite living in an area where going below zero degrees in winter happens on a regular basis. Again though, we don't have those soaring, two story cathedral ceilings so everything can be reached standing on a chair or step ladder - or cleaned with dusters and other cleaning implements on extension wands. We stayed in one of those incredibly high ceiling-ed log homes once, and my first thought was "how can you get those ceilings clean?" A closer look revealed a lot of cobwebs - there was my answer, I guess.  You often don't.

here to stay , that "vanity counter over the toilet" doesn't just sound impractical from a repair standpoint - to me a shelf that close to the toilet makes me wonder about spray from flushing the toilet hitting some of those things. Sure, you can close the lid first - most people, anyway. With my five year old grandson though, I'm just happy if he keeps it all in the bowl.  But yeah, repairs have happened to all of our toilets so I totally can see how they could turn a simple repair job into a nightmare.

dodgesmammaw , we have stainless appliances too. I call them my upper body workout, because buffing the heck out of them all the time - they DO show EVERYTHING - is quite a job. We got them when remodeled because we're planning on selling in the next few years and did it with resale in mind. I can always tell which friends and guests don't have stainless appliances when they visit, because they gush about "Look at those gorgeous stainless appliances!" While a cousin who has stainless appliances said (upon seeing the kitchen remodel) "Do you regret getting those fingerprint trap appliances yet?"

Clear glass shower doors do look pretty on showroom floors. But my first thought is always "water spots. WATER SPOTS!" Water spots aren't pretty. Which leads me to a design error (at least for us) when we redid one of the bathrooms: Black granite countertop on the vanity. It is impossible to wash your hands without leaving water spots (made worse by a water softening system). I keep a rag and cleaner in the vanity at all times because I know I'll need it numerous times a day. I'm not an overly compulsive neat freak as a rule, but those water spots drive me batty.

[jupiter]

Our home is a log cabin with 14 foot ceilings. It is a royal pain in the butt to keep clean. Just when I think it's cobweb free, I see more, but it is really pretty! We heat with wood, so we don't worry about the cost, but I can only imagine how much our electric bill would run if we used our heat pump! We also have stainless appliances. The fridge is the only one I have to clean daily. I wanted white, but I guess they are very hard to find in our area. I definitely didn't want black, because it would have made our kitchen look so dark, so I settled for stainless.

[dodgesmammaw]

Jupiter or Susannah- can you please share what the best cleaners for stainless appl. ?

[solargeek]

May 23, 2016 1:39:46 GMT Melissa said:

I always wonder about those log cabins in areas where the winter temperatures are very low, and they have those high soaring ceilings. How do they keep warm??? Heat rises!!!

Actually, our log home had 24 ft soaring ceilings that were no problem to keeping the rest of the home warm. We simply reversed 3 fans in the 40 foot great room (long and narrow as it was set up for passive solar gain all winter). That gently pushed the heat down. They were 'eco' fans so very quiet and efficient.

Our Lopi Liberty wood stove heated the entire home without any help all but about 10 days a year. We had old fashioned radiators for the back bedrooms where (hard to believe I know - JK) some people didn't want to sleep with their doors open at night!


The real reason to have them is many log homes (like ours) don't have AIR CONDITIONING. The high ceilings and fans that reversed to blow the cool air around were the only way to stay cool on 100F days. Sticky humid weather was also defeated by the fans and high ceilings.

We lived there 6+ years and only 3 days a summer slept in the walk out family room to keep cool.

Hope this helps.

[jupiter]

Jul 9, 2016 14:45:32 GMT dodgesmammaw said:

Jupiter or Susannah- can you please share what the best cleaners for stainless appl. ?

I use off brand windex. If I want it to really shine, I use lemon oil.

[susannah]

Jul 9, 2016 14:45:32 GMT dodgesmammaw said:

Jupiter or Susannah- can you please share what the best cleaners for stainless appl. ?

I use Weiman Stainless Steel Wipes, which I buy at Menards but a lot of other stores carry them (we just don't have a lot of other stores up here).  You do have to wipe pretty good/hard - at least, I do - to get all the cleaner off and get the appliances shining.  One wipe works for both the refrigerator and the stove/above stove microwave.  I do the fridge first because the stove gets ookier from cooking.  I clean off the stove top/front with Windex before cleaning the stove with a stainless wipe but haven't done that for the fridge.  The wipes work really well, although I've noticed that the last few wipes are just loaded with cleaner and it's a bear to wipe all the residue off - more than it usually is.  The upside is, because they're so soaked, I put them in a ziploc after using - and get another use out of them.

[Deleted]

FYI...

[Deleted]

FYI...to clean stainless steel try putting vodka. Put in in a spray bottle great for cleaning glasses to ....and its sanitary... Kills germs.

Also grst throat spray.

[Maura]

Vodka is actually better for disinfecting that Isopropyl alcohol. Isopropyl alcohol has a poison in it, which is why anyone can buy it anywhere- it’s inedible. Vodka is safer because if it gets drunk your body can detox it. Great for disinfecting. There are other uses as well.