Paint Scheme For Basement Soffits?

[BAN]

I am ready to paint my newly finished basement.

The ceilings are smooth drywall and are only about 7 1/2 feet high. As in typical basements, I have built soffits around the I-beams and the hvac ducting. The ceiling will be white and the walls will be a beige color with white trim.

For a low ceiling, what is the best strategy for painting?

1. Paint the soffits white on all sides to match the ceiling? The thinking here is that the soffits blend into the ceiling.

1. Paint the sides of the soffits the wall color and the bottom of the soffit white to match the ceiling? The thinking here is that surfaces parallel to the ceiling are white, and surfaces parallel to the walls are colored.

2. Paint all sides the wall color. The thinking here is that this will not give the impression of a lower ceiling, but may tend to break up the room more.

Your input is appreciated.

[m Ransley]

Elvis`s favorite color was pink and black,

[Truitt Bottsford III]

Pretty much up to you. Don't ya think?

Course you could always paint it all the ceiling color & then determine if you like it.

[Michael J. Anderson]

Our first home!!! :-)

My wife and I will be moving into our first home in early February. I want to make the home a very economically functioning unit. We need a new refrigerator and dish washer ASAP and I was wondering what does one look for as far as operational efficiency?

Thank you, Michael

[Eric Tonks]

I painted the sides and bottoms all white to match the ceiling.

[Tracey]

This is what we did. Our soffit is in the middle of the room. not along the edge. In our room, the ceiling (and undersides of the soffits) are white, the walls are red and the sides of the soffits are yellow. I wanted to add an accent color, and it also makes them stand out so that my tall DH is lesss likely to hit his head on them.

[HA HA Budys Here]

For the 'fridge, look at the Energy-efficiency label. It's a large yellow tag or sticker on the front of the unit, or in some showrooms, hanging inside one of the compartments.

Don't be concerned with the price differences between similar units - the REAL cost of a refrigerator/freezer is it's operating costs. After I replaces a 15 year olg GE side-by-side with the icemaker and water through the door, with a similar brand new model, my electric bill was cut in half.

All newer units need to meet new, stringent guidelines anyway, and it seems the more you spend, the better your efficiency. It's worth every penny.

And If you're getting a side-by-side unit with an ice dispenser, I highly recommend one that has the ice cube bin in a removable bucket-style on the freezer door.

As for dishwashers, you either go cheap, loud and plastic inner shell, and keep for 10 years, or... expensive, quiet, and stainless steel interior, keep for 20 years.

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

#1 - Energy Star rated

#2 - All appliances have a yellow sticker showing the average energy consumption for this type of device, and where this particular appliance compares to like devices. The yearly cost for energy at a given energy cost is also shown.

Read the yellow label.

Barry

[AJScott]

Congratulations on your new home and may you and yours see many happy years ahead of you. If you're anything like the rest of us around here, you're not a homeowner, but rather, a home-moaner.

If I recall right, all major appliances carry a big huge yellow-sticker thingamajig that shows how much energy they're likely to suck up, and as far as effiency matters, it all basically comes down to how much money your appliances are going to suck out of your wallet year after year. That's a pretty decent general-thumbnail guide as far as efficiency goes, methinks. But then again, you could just revert to beating your clothes on a rock alongside the nearest river or creek and churning your own butter.

Other than that, you can just annoy the living piss out of any major-appliance salesman anywhere you go by buying and absorbing the past 5 years' worth of back-issues of Consumer Reports.

AJS

[C G]

Congrats, I'm sure you are both excited. You might also go to the library and look at back issues of Consumer Reports. They give you information on how well they work as well as measured efficiency and reliability.

[m Ransley]

For operational efficiency look at the yellow tags on cost to operate, Energy Star rates everything and consumer reports helps. Sears makes the most efficient top freezer 19.5 cu ft models. But research is your best strategy so you dont go in blind.

[Childfree Scott]

Bid low and bid often.

[v]

Congrats on your 1st house.

You may be unrealistic in how far you can really go with energy savings on merely selecting a refrigerator and DW, *if* you plan to live conventionally. The difference each month would be less than the cost of one dinner out.

To save more, hand wash your dishes in cold water, and don't buy a frost-free refrigerator (if you can even find a full sized one). But most people in the US want convenience and (in the case of the DW) are obsessed with sterilization, so they use energy.

There are large differences between the best and worst appliances, but the energy difference between average and better than average probably isn't that much.

-v.