How do you have an in-law live with you and keep your sanity?
mom2emall
15 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (46)
stargazzer
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agomom2emall
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
How do you keep your animals safe?
Comments (16)What would I do? What have I done? All of it. Not only have I walked onto the neighbors dogs on a rampage trying to get at my llamas (thank god for strong fences) they then turned on me and I had to make a weapon out of anything I could grab. I have found tom cats killing my cat's kittens inside my house after they tore off the screen in the window to get in. I have beaten raccoons in the head with an extra large flashlight with all of my 200+ lbs while they were trying desperately to get into a bird cage where I had a breeding pair of cockatiels - only to have them hiss and walk away, and I mean I hit them hard over and over. You won't win. The only thing to do is build a super strong fortress around your place and only let your animals out when you can defend them. At one time I had many large coops for show poultry as well as the llamas and some sheep. I could only afford to build super strong pens for some of them. It took a lot of management, I had to spend a lot of time shuttling animals from secure pens to pasture. It was a big pain - but after building the fortress I never lost another animal, I never had to poison or trap anything, I never had to shoot anything, I never had to confront another neighbor over what their dogs were doing on my property. My animals adapted to the routine and it made living in the country much more peaceful and not a war zone. At the time I didn't have a dog and I was amazed at my neighbors behavior. We would have neighborhood meetings to discuss problems and I would loudly announce that the best thing about the fourth of July was that hot dog weiners and antifreeze were both on sale and that I wasn't going to waste my bullets teaching their dogs manners. I never poisoned anything but you would think these people would realize the problems they were causing. Nothing worked. I eventually moved away and now years later I have once again moved out in the country. Everybody that visits asks when I am going to get livestock again - they miss the llamas and the sheep and the chickens. I don't plan on getting anything until I build a fortress around the whole place, strong enough to keep my stuff in and their stuff out. You need strong fences if you want to run guardian dogs - sometimes they mistake a jogger or someone walking the road as a threat and they slip through the fence to bite the intruder. You'll have another problem if your dog kills someone on a public street....See Morewhat do you keep in your linen closet...& how do you organize it?
Comments (31)You could actually do a couple different things. You could have one rod and use hangers. You would have to fold them a bit to fit on the hanger and not drag on the floor, but that's usually how they come from the cleaners. For heavy cloths, use two hangers together for added strength. You could also hang multiple rods at slightly different heights and depths. If you have a walk in closet this works great, but will still work with a reach in. Hang the highest rod the farthest back, then one a bit lower and closer and even a third lower and closer than the second. Then you can hang the cloths right on the rod instead of on a hanger. I like the rod because of it's larger diameter it doesn't leave creases in the cloths. You can also overlap them on these rods. For optimum use of space, you'd need to use multiple rods and overlap. Is that totally confusing?!...See MoreHow do you keep your TV from sucking the life out of your decor?
Comments (38)A few years ago, DH asked for a giant flat screen tv for Father's Day ~ so sweetly and pitifully, that I couldn't say no . . . although I wanted to! The problem was that our family room has only one (semi)unbroken wall to it and anything on that wall competes with our hand-painted kiva fireplace in the corner right next to it. AND, to complicate matters even more, that wall (pretty much the entire house, actually) is made of real adobe bricks, which look awesome but are a bear to try and hang anything even kind of heavy on. Too heavy or put a nail in at the wrong angle and you can end up with a 3" wide and deep hole, where adobe dirt and hay fell out of the brick . . . and you can forget ever hanging anything on that brick again, even once it's patched! I really wanted an EC like Goldie's that had a wood back to hang the tv on, but it would have totally overwhelmed the room :~( A great credenza, like Haley's or Bepeace's, would have been nice but I was afraid to hang the tv on the adobe wall and I couldn't find one to hold ~AND HIDE~ all of our DVDs, tapes, and components. I wasn't so concerned with hiding the tv, but thought that the components and DVDs would clutter up the area too much. And then we found a tv lift console that solved all our problems- it hides lots of stuff inside of it and the tv sits down in it, as well, when we aren't watching it. When it's down, it doesn't compete with our fireplace, which is a huge bonus in our small family room! I do have to tell you, though, that it was a huge PIA to actually get that tv hung on the console's hanging bars! But now that it's done, we love it. The motor is quiet and smooth and the remote easy to use. Another downside, for anyone contemplating buying one, is that you can't put anything on the top of the console, decoration-wise, as the back two-thirds of the top section opens up as the tv slides up. We bought a narrow tower to sit next to it and I have a lamp on that. We also have a set of three framed Indian artifacts that we've hung over the console. They were a huge PIA to center, but they work with the kiva instead of competing with it. So, that's one more solution to consider, not so much to hide your tv, as ours seems to be up more than it's down like most people, I guess, but it is a tv hanging/storage place. I do want to make it VERY clear that I'm not criticizing leaving a tv out on display all the time. I think it's a perfectly ok thing to do. I just wanted to show you another option for any flat screen tv and explain why we went with this option. Lynn Our flat screen up, before we hung our art over it: And with the tv down:...See MoreHow long have you lived in your home and do you plan to stay?
Comments (87)Dh and I have lived in our current house for our entire marriage, 17 years. Truthfully, it was being built when we got married, so we lived in an apt for 2 months, then my parents for a month then it was ready. We live on the outskirts of a waterfront tourist town. We were supposed to be here for 3 years. Dh was in the Navy and this was not supposed to be our forever home as we anticipated being transferred by the Navy. However, dh realized the Navy was not meant to be his career as he didn't want to constantly move once we had kids. We wanted to live close to one of our families, but unfortunately, they live on opposite coasts. He is from the San Francisco Bay Area, and I am from the Wash DC area. Since it was the height of the tech boom at the time dh was getting out of the Navy, and we simply could not afford a home in the Silicon Valley, he got a job here, which fortunately is only 25 minutes from my parents. And here we've stayed. It is NOT my dream home. I don't even really like it. It was small when we moved in, and even smaller after having four kids! We looked around at moving to a different home, but absolutely love our neighbors and our community so finding a home that fit our needs was very difficult. We live in a high COL so home prices made it hard to find something that fit our desires while still being affordable. 10 years ago, we added on and while the space has helped, it hasn't changed the fact that our floorplan isn't desirable to us. We live in a waterfront community with very strict building codes, so we worked within that and have maxed out what we can do w/o completely gutting the house and starting over. With four kids in private school and one off to college in four years, I've pretty much resigned myself that we won't be moving anytime soon, nor can we really afford at this point to do any major changes that would help. I am constantly looking at houses for sale in the area, but the only affordable ones are in tract home subdivisions and that's not type of community we desire. So we make do with what we have. And it's not that my house is bad, but it's not set up well for entertaining, something I'd love to do more often, we had to give up our fabulous screened porch when we added on and cannot add another due to space constraints. I miss that terribly. On the bright side, we have wonderful neighbors, live in a waterfront neighborhood so the kids can fish, swim, kayak, ride their bikes freely (community is a peninsula w/no through traffic), etc. My dream is to move into the historic district in our tourist town where we can walk and bike everywhere. We live 5 miles from there now, but not on bike-friendly roads (though dh is an avid biker and rides them, no way my kids can). There are some really fabulous Arts & Crafts cottages, as well as many other architecturally interesting homes that date back to the 1700s. My hope is to move into one of them some day and have that be our forever home, with a second home in another climate. I wish I could love this home and think of it as my forever home, but it is not ideal for aging. We have three floors, with bedrooms all on the third floor as the garage/rec room are "under" the main living level. My parents still live in the house I grew up - they are going on 50 years there. They will stay until it's too much for them as it's perfect for aging, a rancher. All that said, as much as I want to move, the idea of moving is dreadful to me, which is probably one of the reasons I haven't really pushed for it. The thought of trying to keep my home in "show" condition with four kids, a huge dog that sheds, well, not fun. So perhaps a small part of me continues to find something undesirable about any of the houses I'm always looking at. I figure if I'm going to go through the hassle, the house has to be pretty close to what I want! Love all the interesting stories!...See Morecearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoshambo
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agofalldowngobump
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agomom2emall
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agofalldowngobump
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agopfllh
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoc9pilot
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoConnie Kru
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agostargazzer
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoladycas
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agostargazzer
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agojakkom
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agosandfarmerfl
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agojakkom
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoPattiwatti
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoemma
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoWendy Dixon
8 years agomaifleur01
8 years agosunnyca_gw
8 years agoDonna Hardey
7 years agomaifleur01
7 years ago4Heidesign
7 years agoCA Kate z9
7 years agosunnyca_gw
7 years agojakkom
7 years agosunnyca_gw
7 years agoDeb DeWees
7 years agoDeb DeWees
7 years agomaifleur01
7 years agoCA Kate z9
7 years agojakkom
7 years agomaifleur01
7 years ago4thumbs
7 years agoMelissa Stewart
6 years agobiondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley)
6 years agomaifleur01
6 years ago4thumbs
6 years agojglow
6 years agoDeb DeWees
6 years agoJakkom Katsu
5 years agomaifleur01
5 years agoJakkom Katsu
5 years agomaifleur01
5 years ago
Related Stories
MOST POPULAR10 Tips for Organizing Your Closets and Cabinets
Add to the enjoyment of your home with these easy organizing strategies and containers — after you pare down, of course
Full StoryMOST POPULARDecorate With Intention: 12 Remodeling Sanity Savers
When the idealistic visions subside and reality sets in, these tips can help keep your spirits up and your work on track
Full StoryFURNITUREHow to Keep Your Upholstery Looking Good
You wouldn't expect your car to maintain itself. Show your sofa and chairs the same courtesy with this 3-part strategy
Full StoryDECORATING GUIDESDitch the Rules but Keep Some Tools
Be fearless, but follow some basic decorating strategies to achieve the best results
Full StoryMOST POPULAR10 Strategies for Keeping Surfaces Clutter-Free
The universe wants your coffee table to become a clutter magnet — but you can fight back
Full StoryADDITIONSParents' Places: Ideas for Integrating an In-Law Suite
Get expert advice and inspiration for adding a comfy extra living space to your home
Full StorySMALL HOMESHouzz Tour: A Young Couple's Bright and Cheerful In-Law Suite
A smart, budget-friendly makeover transforms an in-law apartment into a home for a graphic designer and her husband
Full StoryKITCHEN DESIGNHow to Keep Your White Kitchen White
Sure, white kitchens are beautiful — when they’re sparkling clean. Here’s how to keep them that way
Full StoryHOUZZ TOURSMy Houzz: 2 Dwellings Keep Things All in the Family
Grandparents get a newly built guest cottage in Portland, while the main bungalow benefits from a major overhaul
Full StoryTRADITIONAL HOMESHouzz Tour: A Historic Remodel Keeps the Romance Alive
It was love at first sight for the owner of a 2-centuries-old house. She and her husband renovated it with tender loving care
Full Story
stargazzer