That's hard to even guess if they do. My granddaughters got interested when they saw me working on one. So their mom went and bought several movie themed puzzles for the two oldest. I watched them put those puzzles (big pieces of course) in no time flat. I was like 'Wow.'
For years I've wanted to change the front door of this house to enter into the dining room instead of the living room. I never use the dining room and it could serve as a foyer going directly to the kitchen. The layout of the living room makes it difficult to arrange furniture. It would involve swapping a window with a door. At one time I considered trying to do it myself, watched videos, drew diagrams exactly how it should be done, up to code. Saved enough of the vinyl siding from the front of the house to patch up afterwards. I could get someone else to install a new door as long as I made the opening square. But as slow as I work, it would require the house to have no front door for a long time. There are a lot of little details, like wiring and HVAC vents. What if I get stuck on something half way in the middle? I had other responsibilities at that time, so I chickened out. Fast forward to last spring, while the general contractor was here. I asked him about it, and he seemed to think it was a silly idea, didn't even offer to work up an estimate. I still haven't discarded the idea. Maybe it would help just to move all the living room furniture to the dining room, and vice versa, and see how that works. There is software that will allow you to lay out floor plans with furniture and view it in 3-dimensions. Most is professional stuff and very expensive, but a lot less work than moving furniture, and it would be fun to play with. Just thinking out loud.
Well, Nancy, the first thing that I see is that the dining room is smaller than the living room which may be a drawback as far as arranging furniture too. Another option is to move some of the furniture into the dining room to make it a sitting room or even an office or library. In a house that I was renting it had a dining room with carpet (no, no Nannette). The kitchen was big enough to accommodate a table and chairs so that was I did and turned the dining room into a family room. The living room was separated by French doors off the foyer and pocket doors separated the family room from the living room.
Same thing here. The kitchen has enough room for a dinette set for 4 at one end. And there used to be French doors between the dining room and the living room. I took them down. One is in the attic and the other is on the front of the house now. It was another project that was supposed to be temporary for a few years. The door is not well insulated. You can get by here because the weather is so mild. It has a skeleton key lock that must be at least 100 years old, so I'm expecting it to go out any day. At least I don't lock myself out anymore. Yeah, the dining room is pretty small for a living room. Except I don't give parties or have large gatherings. Or even small ones. lol
I also thought about getting different living room furniture that might fit the room better. My furniture is all second hand or hand-me-downs. Looked online for couches. Some of them are downright funny and look uncomfortable. A sectional might work. This is the only one I could find that wasn't too weird looking. The colors are all so light and solid, which would show every little spot, and with a cat. Yikes! I'm definitely not a clean freak like Marie, but for the money they want for it, I might end up hovering over this couch, and ruin the rest of my life.
So you are using the French door temporarily as your front door, that's smart. Already I have ideas on that.
The French door happened to be the same size as the front door. Even the hinges were in the same places. It was easy to switch, otherwise I probably wouldn't have done it. All the doors in this old house are slightly taller than the standard size they make now. What are you thinking of?
I'm so glad you asked. I love sharing my ideas though some are thought to be unimaginable. I'm banking that the French door is very solid wood as well as heavy. I know it would be expensive to replace the door itself because of it's height alone. If you know of any carpenters then have them replace the insert for a heavier one or it may be glass. I'm might be wrong but I'm basing the idea on how my doors looked back then with the glass set inside the door frame.
That's exactly how my doors look. They are solid wood, really heavy, but thinner than new doors. So you are saying replace the whole section of 15 glass panes with something different? That's a clever idea. You could put all kinds of different things in there and make it unique. This is a before picture of the old front door. After picture with "new" door. The window is higher than the top of the door. You'd have to cut out above the door, and build down above the window, to switch them. Otherwise it wouldn't be so hard. The cold air radiates through the single glass panes. It also creeps in around the door edges. I could never find any good strips to stop that. Most new doors come as kits, including the frame and threshold, and are already well insulated around the edges. Someone (not me) can just slide them in. I'll keep thinking. I still have another door in the attic.
Does the door close properly? I just staple the old fashioned weatherstripping on my doors. I tried the foam type and it made it difficult to close the door. Have you tried the shrink plastic method for the window panes of the door? There are some for inside and outside uses. Pretty simple and not too expensive. Check out Youtube videos.
It's almost as good a fit as the old door was, but not perfect. You have to remember to push it in firmly to get it to latch, if that's what you mean. The mechanism for latching and locking is a bit finicky. I expect I will outlive it, but who knows. It would be difficult to find a replacement for that part.
Yes, that's what I meant. I have been doing that for 20 years, lol. I just staple the old fashioned weather stripping around our door. The foam type made it too difficult to close the door because it's thicker.
The original door had brass weather stripping around, and it was pretty good. It had been cut and damaged in places, sharp edges sticking out. I never could find anything like it in stock in the stores. That was when online shopping wasn't such a big thing. Now I see they have something like it you can order through Ace Hardware.
Can poor posture cause an itch? Background: . Itchy spot on back almost out of reach. Started a few years ago. Comes and goes. Worse while sitting at the computer. Ruled out the usual suspects long ago, mainly because there is no rash, no red, no bumps, no blisters, no nothing, just an itch. Classified as an unsolvable mystery, a botheration I'll just live with. But recently it got worse. I think I finally figured it out. Notalgia Paresthetica: The Unreachable Itch This is common but seldom diagnosed. If it were rare I'd rule it out too, because I've never yet met a zebra. Eventually someone discovered it is due to 5 nerves extending from the spine that get compressed either by fibrous bands in a muscle, or by vertebrae as they exit the spine, similar to carpal tunnel syndrome. The damaged nerves cause the sensation of itching, so no typical itch treatments work. Acupuncture helps temporarily. Surgery to decompress these nerves sometimes helps permanently, but can have unintended consequences (think lobotomy). This all fits because I tend to slouch while sitting at the pc. Two small pilot studies [1], [2], report success using stretching and/or strengthening of the upper back muscles. Although it could be a sign of more serious problems with the back vertebrae, I'm not inclined to think so just yet. With the recent lockdown I've been spending more time at the computer, which might explain why it's worse lately. Will start doing upper back strength and stretching, but I think it could also be that I'm tensing up the shoulder muscles. Raised the pc monitor 2 inches higher so I sit up straighter. Whatever works, it takes some time for nerves to heal. I learned that with the pinky finger incident. In general, from what I've read, the only reason scratching works for any itch is it fools the nerves into paying more attention to the scratching than to the itch, and they stop sending itch signals to the brain. Nerves don't seem to be all that smart. More like the bulbs in a check engine light? Laura Bowen, age 96. In addition to a neck exercise, she got rid of her easy chair and replaced it with an office chair. I've always been suspicious of recliner chairs. Posted this mostly because she impressed me.