I Was Not Prepared for How Beautiful Radiators Are

You may or may not know this, but we do not have central heating or air conditioning at the Professor Haus. 

Now, in Florida, this is simply not tenable. I would die into a puddle of sweat and some people would probably miss me. 

Up here in Michigan, it's not been that much of a problem. We've had a few days where the temps climbed up over 90 degrees, but they were the outliers.

Not the norm. 

On these "very hot" days, we'd close up all the windows and turn on the lil window AC in the piano room. The front room cools down in no time, so we just hang in there - or go and do something somewhere else. 

I haven't been miserable from sweating barely at all. There was that one time at a Mexican restaurant, but I got through it in the name of Queso Flameado. Totally worth it. 

But every other day, we just exist with some combination of the windows open (there are a lot here) and occasionally a fan or two on. 

Now, when we sleep, we definitely have the bedroom window AC on the whole time. There is little I hate more than waking up in a puddle of my own moisture unknowingly. 

And, if I haven't been vocal enough about it yet, peri-menopause sucks. The nighttime hot flashes are one of the worst parts for me (along with the way it feels like an alien has taken over my brain for the week before my period.The worst.)

So, no central heat means no vents that blow hot air in the winter. 

Instead we have these!

Radiators!

Which I was initially excited about, because then I can heat whatever room I'm in and nothing else! My skin won't get all dry and electricity-y. 

But then we moved in and a couple things happened:

1. I saw how big and scary and utterly unfamiliar our 1960s boiler is. I dunno exactly how it works, but I assume that big orange thing (you can see it in this post) powers it all. No idea how in the world it works though. 

2. The radiators in each room are works of art. I was not prepared for this. 

Look!

Just look at them!

Beauty and function! I'm in love with them. 

And some of them in the downstairs room have these gorgeous marble shelves resting on them. 

But I don't know what's safe to put on top of them? Books? Electronics? Plants? Stuffies?

We don't want anything to get moist, you see. 

So, next on my list (so far we've removed the knob and tube, hired a pest bear, and scheduled our basement waterproofing) is to call a boiler human that can show me how to work this behemoth and tell me what is safe to put on my fancy radiator shelves. 

And start turning the white garage into a venue/gallery/art/music/comedy/ART space. I wanna be doing smol events by next year at this time.