Moving into our brand new house, we had to make some big decisions about how to best utilize the unusual floor plan to the best of our abilities.
The house is an old split level home, which means it has two separate living rooms; one on the top floor when you first walk in, and one on the lower level, a few steps down from the kitchen.
We decided at the time that we would use the lower floor as our “real” living room, and tried to create a warm and welcoming environment in the space so we would enjoy spending time together there. The only problem is, this level is anything but warm and welcoming. Actually, it’s pretty cold and moist. We had no idea when we were moving in that this room would be at least 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the house at all times. It’s close proximity to the inherently cool ground keeps the air very cold and wet in this space downstairs. It was only after a week or two of living here that we realized how unpleasant it felt to be in such unusual air quality, and how consistent these indoor air conditions were. We slowly came to the realization that this cold, wet air was never going to improve unless we did something about it ourselves. We never intended to invest in HVAC equipment for this house, so we had to come up with another plan in order to establish a comfortable living room. This is how we wound up in this particular situation, sweating to death as we lug all our furniture up the stairs to the warmer and drier air on the upper level room. I’ll tell you, even the best laid plans of mice and men…