radiators

I’m really happy we ended up in a place with radiators. No dust blowing around through a forced air system, and they heat up our space very quickly and stay warm after you turn them off, meaning 1/2 hour of heat actually lasts about 1 1/2 hours. I also like the way they look, but do admit they get in the way sometimes (really limiting furniture arrangement in some rooms for example.) Our solution has been to put shelves over them, which at least make the space not *totally* wasted. We’ve done it in the dining room and are moving on to some of the other rooms now.

The trick is to put the shelf several inches above the top of the radiator, which lets the heat escape and prevents the contents of the shelf from heating up too much.