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!

Ping Pong, Piano and Movies: Love Our Basement!

Yay!  Our basement is now a useable space!

Oh my goodness!  I haven't posted since November?  Well, I guess I'd better catch you up on things.  The basement is mostly done.  We've still got some details to take care of but it is useable and so far we haven't found too many screwups. (I'll blog about those later...)

We are really happy with how it turned out.  Our carpenter did a really nice job with the post covers.  He mitered the lengths so it looks like a solid piece of wood.  The only issue is that the posts have sharp edges that would really hurt if someone bumped into them.  Luckily all of our kids are older now so I don't have to worry about toddler head injuries!

The kids wanted to keep it like this-no furniture, just open space

It took FOREVER to sand, stain and seal the woodwork.  Did I mention previously how poor the workmanship was on the Mastercraft doors we got from Menard's?  Maybe it was just a bad batch?  We've gotten Mastercraft doors before that we were really happy with but this time they were awful.

Our poor-man's home theater set up...looks silly, works great!

One of our design flaws was that we didn't extend the wall far enough past the fireplace.  There was a reason why we did that but the result was that there just isn't enough seating space.  So, we put together a poor man's home entertainment area.  It looks ridiculous but it's really comfy and uses some couches and a wood platform I didn't know what to do with.

Hopefully this works to cut down on the furnace noise...

Now it's just a matter of handling the final details.  My husband kicked some DIY booty this past weekend, insulating the furnace room in an afternoon.  Haven't tested it out yet to see if it makes a difference though.

I still have to find a sink for the bathroom and a cat door for the furnace room so the kitties can access their new litter box location with ease.

Bathroom Tile Bliss

So very happy with how the tile in the basement bathroom is turning out.  It's all cut and laid; just need to grout it, put up the door and closet moulding, and then our contractor will finish up with the tile trim.

I'm particularly thrilled because I'm the one who picked the tile and decided how I wanted it laid out--my husband said I could do what I wanted.   I found some 18" tile from HOBO on clearance I really liked--it had a rough texture (I avoid smooth tile on the floor because of the slipping hazard), was neutral in color, and was large so we wouldn't have a lot of grout to maintain.  I wanted them installed diagonally because I read somewhere it helps liven up small spaces.

Then, several months later I found some bullnose tile while cruising Menard's that would make great trim in the bathroom.  Bought a sample, confirmed it would coordinate with the tile we already had, and then proceeded to buy 6" tile of the same type because I liked it so much.  I screwed around with the layout and decided on a pinwheel pattern laid on the diagonal.

Because the space was so small I was worried our contractor would have trouble with the pattern but he didn't.  Day 1 he cut the tiles.  Day 2 he laid them.

The 6" tile was a particular challenge because even though I hit 3 different stores to cherry pick the tiles with the most apparent streaks I couldn't find enough so I had to buy some that were plainer.   I figured it wouldn't matter if they were under the toilet, in the closet or under the vanity so I sorted them into two piles at home, "more streaky" and "less streaky" and also left instructions for our contractor, Dan, to use the streakiest tiles in the visible area of the floor and use the others where they wouldn't be easily seen.

Too bad putting in the floor mat under the tile didn't work out as well for us.  I think I mentioned in a previous post that we had installed a floor heating mat under the tile.  Turns out we screwed up somehow and didn't realize it until the concrete leveler was put on.  The heating mat works but doesn't warm up enough.  We don't know if we put down too much leveler or something else, but it might be because we didn't insulate under the mat.  The instructions that came with the mat didn't mention insulating underneath the mat but was mentioned in some forums on the internet that I searched after we realized the mat wasn't warming the floor like we wanted.  Our electrician double-checked the electrical connection so we know it's not that.  Anyhow, I called the manufacturer's tech support and they said that performance would vary depending on the temps outside, etc. and since we didn't insulate under the mat, there might just be too much concrete to heat during a Wisconsin winter.

We suspect that even if we chose a different brand, we wouldn't see an improvement in performance so decided it wouldn't be worth the cost and hassle of tearing it all out.  Although I really like the idea of heated tile floors it's not the end of the world if we end up not using it.

I'll post again once the grout is in and the trim is on.

Teen Weirds Out Parents With Black Ceiling

Used satin instead of flat on the ceiling on
purpose to bounce light around but it doesn't help much

As promised,  here are some pix of our teenager's room and future guest room.  Yes, the ceiling is black too.    To offset the darkness of it, we used a satin paint so light would bounce rather than be absorbed and put in mirrored closet doors instead of wood.

The mirrored doors also help bounce light around 

I'm guessing you think we are crazy for painting the room black but I made a deal.  The deal was that my teen could have a black room but would have to repaint the whole room, including the ceiling, before leaving for college.  That meant the stripes had to be painted very carefully so little to no sanding would be needed later on.  It also meant I had to say no to painted stars on the ceiling.  No one wants to have to sand down and re-texture a ceiling.  If stars are necessary I believe there's some kind of fluorescent tape used backstage at theatres that we could use to get the same effect.  Forgot what it's called though.

We used leftover paint from other projects to paint the stripes

Don't give away my secret, but I kind of like the wavy stripes and how the mirrored doors distort them in the reflection.  Officially though, I'm complaining about the whole darn concept, which of course, just makes it more precious to my kid.  And when the thrill of not being able to see anything in the room, even during the day, wears off, I will not say "I told you so!"