Update on Mini Dance Floor

Wow!  Never expected such a small, spur-of-the-moment project like a mini dance floor would end up being so important to my family's well-being!

Not long after we finished the floor, the coronavirus pandemic started and all of my kids ended up back home.  One had been studying in Spain right when Spain's coronavirus cases were spiraling up, so we all decided to self-quarantine as a family.  Soon after, our state implemented its stay-at-home order with no end date announced.  That's when the dance floor went from being a fun extra to a vital part of our quarantine routine.

Since the gym isn't an option right now and Spring in Wisconsin isn't known for its great weather, having a space for exercise has really come in handy.

One of the dance classes we normally take at a dance studio went to online classes.  For a different dance class we do, the instructor sent videos and asked us to keep practicing for a (hopefully) upcoming summer recital.  The kids' university-sponsored exercise classes also went online.  We were surprisingly able to get FIVE people on the dance floor doing Zumba at one time!  (Won't be posting video of that; it wasn't pretty... Zumba is hard.)

We had a local company install mirrors and we were super happy with the results.  The installers did a great job.  It was totally worth the money. The mirrors themselves are frameless with a polished, not beveled, edge so there's little distortion along the seam. They have a special mastic behind them for support and are also on tracks.  The tracks are much thinner than I expected and blend well with the mirror.  You don't even really notice they are there.  (FYI: mirrors really help a person keep track of their body position in yoga.  My downward dog has definitely improved since their installation.)

In summary, this small project has yielded big results for my family.

Mini Dance Floor

Many empty nesters want to downsize at some point.   I know I too want to downsize at some point. Starting the process seems pretty overwhelming, especially because my spouse and I can be a bit...ahem...hoarder-y.  Even when we do get rid of something, something else always manages to take its place.  Our latest addition is a mini dance/yoga floor we built ourselves.

It's not very large, but it's big enough for two people (and their two cats who like to rip up yoga mats) to stretch, do yoga poses, or practice some fricking awesome dance moves.  The floor wasn't very expensive or hard to build. The best part of this micro project was that it used up some laminate flooring we had been storing for years "just in case."

So, the laminate flooring was leftover from when we replaced our kitchen flooring back in the day.  I never looked at the condition of the planks; if I had I would have thrown it all out long ago!  Most of it was scratched, chipped, or cut in a way that it couldn't be reused, but we luckily found we had just enough to do an 8'x12' floor.

It was pretty easy...2 layers of subfloor laid out in an overlapping pattern so the seams weren't on top of each other.  Some leftover laminate floor padding and the laminate floor planks on top of that, finished with  "L" moulding stained to match the floor.  Our only difficulties were finding the right sized moulding, matching up the grain patterns of that moulding in a harmonious way, and getting nice, tight seams on the joints.

We even ordered a tiny sound-activated disco light which flashes wild color patterns of light on the floor and walls in time to music or voices.

Now we just need some mirrors on the walls and we are good to boogie our nights away!

KEEPING THINGS COZY

Our very 70s entryway (with shoe clutter)

Today's chilly temps have me thinking about fireplaces.  Warm, cozy fireplaces that make winter in Wisconsin bearable.  Our home already has two wood-burning fireplaces and we recently added an electric fireplace in the living room.  It's the fireplace we now use the most.  'Cuz all you have to do is flip a switch and there's instant heat!  We love it and our cats love it too.

Best of all, it helped solve a problem with our front entry.  The original half-wall in the front entry was really dated-looking, with dark wood spindles. Overall, it made the front entry look cramped and unwelcoming.

It also jutted out into the entry and it's "L" shape left an awkward space in the living room that was hard to work with.  

Our desk fit just fine but it wasn't a good spot for a work space

Our big disappointment was finding that the natural slate floor didn't cover the entire entry, which meant we couldn't move the wall without replacing the slate tiles already there.  We knew we didn't want to replace the floor due to budget constraints and since we were unable to locate affordable matching tiles to expand the floor, we decided to keep the half-wall where it was.  That definitely sucked, but after tossing around some ideas (including making it a built-in seating area with storage), we saw electric fireplaces on sale in a sales flyer and it just clicked.   A fireplace in the living room would be awesome and would give the half-wall a reason to exist!

We ripped out the half-wall (spindles and all), finding some long-dead desiccated mouse carcasses in between the studs.  Ew!  We put in a new half-wall, faced with stone veneer, topped with a lovely stained wood top made by a friend.  Yes, it still cuts into the entryway space, but visually, it doesn't look as dark and confined as it did before and I like how the stone veneer echoes the colors of the slate floor.

We didn't center the fireplace insert so you could have nearby seating without blocking the heat flow It's probably not even a real issue but I was worried about heat buildup in the wall. Just to be safe, we installed a vent on the other side of the wall, spray-painting it so it blends with the stone veneer.  We now use this fireplace a lot, way more than the other fireplaces.

The final project for this is a custom-made narrow bench with shoe storage for the backside of the half wall to tackle that clutter in the entryway.

Happy New Year 2020!

Looking forward to a better year!  Here's a small project we did to save a mirror in our powder room.  The etching wasn't as hard to do as I thought, but I hadn't thought about how to wash off the acidic paste afterwards without damaging anything.  That was a headache but we managed it.

Damaged silvering on the back of the mirror at the bottom.   

I scraped off the bottom inch and acid-etched cattails on the front. 

So happy with the results!