I know we have a crawl space because we live in a flood-prone area. Ours has flood vents built in. While there are basements in my neighborhood, they tend to require sump pumps and/or French drains.
I’m absolutely the furthest from knowledgeable in this area, but I imagine a crawl space offers more access to under the house stuff vs a slab. 
This. A wall foundation allows for systems to not be encased in concrete, but still run under the building, as well for ventilation/airflow to diminish damage from moisture (rot, mold). While we think of concrete as “waterproof,” it is a moisture wick, so different methods are used to keep that from happening and from it damaging the structure on a slab foundation vs a wall foundation vs a basement.
@Immaculata So excited for you to at least be able to work in your crafting space!
Our weather is so weird this time of year…we have had the AC and the heat on the same day several times…it is about 55 degrees here, which does not feel cold to me because the sun is shining. Yesterday, it was up to 72 degrees and I was hot!
Our crawl space is about three feet tall…you could not pay me enough money to get under there…mold and snakes and of course, waterbugs…no way…
That’s the reaction our furnace man has to it. I did it way back when, I couldn’t do it now.
@photojenn That’s primarily where all our plumbing is. We have water baseboard heating which we had installed to replace the electric heating that the original builders had installed. It wasn’t affordable. If we hadn’t had that crawlspace the conversion would not have been possible.
I do wish it was a better crawlspace. Would have been better if it had been a “Michigan basement” (dirt floor - lower ceiling - but still something you could stand in - great root cellars).
We had a crawlspace but it’s now completely filled up with insulation materials. It didn’t contain any wiring or pluming anyway, just dirt and mice. You can see it in the top picture 
@Harlan , we’ve also lived in a colder house previously - the apartment we rented in a 1920s building before we bought this house had single brick walls, single pane windows that would freeze in winter, and no heating at all upstairs. It would get really, really cold there. In this house, pre-renovation, it was less cold, usually the same temperature as your house and it was ok for us. But now, we feel really cold! 2023 is the wettest year on record in my country, and it’s been raining and snowing for weeks. The damp weather is probably what makes it feel so cold! I’m just glad we have a dryer for the first time ever, drying indoors would take days now. Maintenance guy came today, diagnosed the part, ordered it and will be back on Wednesday to install it. So fingers crossed it’s solved soon!
I made a big decorating change to my living room.
On my birthday, a friend made me some little rainbow cranes. I finally strung them up and hung them in the window.
At this incredibly busy time of year, that’s about all I can manage. 
Holiday decorating coming up on the weekend. Ms Elf did escape and has been wandering the house.
The rainbow cranes look great!! 
Nice elf!!
My MIL had three small elves (one for each son) that she would move around daily in December and the boys would look to find them!
The workmen have made major progress on the kitchen - insulation, drywall, painting, and flooring installed. I’m amazed at how fast it went but then my brain was calculating on DIY timelines not professionals-who-know-what-they’re-doing schedules. The flooring I chose for the kitchen is much bolder than I was expecting when there’s a full room of it but I’m hoping things will calm down once there’s cabinets in there to break up your sight lines. With any luck cabinets should arrive and be installed next week. I was hoping for a kitchen by Christmas, but there’s still the countertop and plumbing to worry about after that point, so maybe by epiphany?
The issue is that now I am desperately trying to resist the urge to adopt a cat before I have a kitchen sink again…
Adopting a cat is very hard to resist! 
Me too! I found a senior FIV+ long haired gentleman cat. I’m trying to convince my husband we need a third cat.
Senior cats need good homes too!! 
I’m really tired tonight, we’ve done a lot of work! And we’re making progress. We’ll have family over tomorrow night and we finally have a dining table to sit at. Hopefully by that time we’ll have built up the shelving unit as well (the last bit of furniture in the living room that’s still in storage) but that’s not strictly necessary. We’ll probably put up the drapes in the days between Christmas and NYE, we’re still waiting for a part to arrive. Gives me some extra time to actually finish them - I cut and serged everything, but I didn’t finish assembling all of them.
Getting the table up was HARD. It’s a solid oak table, and the table top is a good 4" thick. Even just the legs are so heavy that I could only carry two at a time. It was a hassle to move out, it was a hassle to move in and just that table is one reason why I don’t plan on moving ever again (or I’ll hire people to carry it!). Our friend helped us out and the three of us just about managed. Feels odd to have a house full of furniture again but I had expected the house to feel cramped and it doesn’t.
That table would be heavy!! Small wonder that you are tired with all you’ve been doing, but I bet you are feeling rewarded too with your home coming back together so well!! 
We have, in on half of the living room, a huge table that was the work table for a leather shop (or something like that). Jackson and his friends picked it up somewhere to use as a gaming table. It’s higher than a table you would eat at and has two large box shaped storage areas instead of legs. It is so heavy Jackson and his friends never want to move it ever again! 
We feel your pain!!
On the upside, should WWIII ever break out, it’s the safest place in the house! I know back in WWII my grandparents sheltered in the cupboard under the stairs during bombing raids, but this table is certainly more sturdy than my staircase.
It’s not even really meant as a joke, with the recent international developments, the possibility of WWIII has been on my mind. And this city would probably be a target, just like in my grandparents’ time.
I hear you!! It feels like humanity is on a cusp where if they move forward we’ll make some really long overdue growth in terms of caring for one another and our planet, or we’ll fall back and WWIII is possible.
I believe there are more good people than bad so that’s the direction I’m pushing for!!
Well, with rents skyrocketing and the availability of four bedroom places limited, we might be buying a house in 2024. The downside is that I did not want to deal with any maintenance issues or worries about reselling…and the actual move itself…ugh. The upside would be that I could once again decorate as I please and that we have funds to cover yardwork and maintenance…and, medicare can’t take away your home if you have to go into nursing care…I guess we will decide the closer to July once we find out what our new rent amount will be.
Some home rearranging this season. I am so tired of having my WFH setup in the dining room. I’ve been working from home since 2015 and just retired last week…and got covid at the same time. So my plans to break down and setup a small desk elsewhere are going slow.
But…to clear the dining room I have to sell the old desk/table, and clear or find room for my extra monitor, keyboard and other work paraphernalia.
But… to clear a corner of my craft room for a small desk involves moving 4 storage bins and a no-longer-rolling stack of drawers into the middle of the room.The first small table I ordered was too small, and the second had no hardware! The third is on it’s way.
But… to find storage for all the moved bits I have to do some purging and rearranging in the basement storage area.
Ive made some inroads but I am still trying to fit 10 tons of stuff into a 50 lb bag. Ok, maybe an exageration, but not by much.
Here’s my baby work station. A deeper desk is on its way.
This is what’s been happening in my house this past week. 
Cracked sink replacement and annual dryer fix. I swore we had to fix the dryer more frequently than that but based on order history of parts Mr. Road says no…
Update…returned the first desk, the second one was the right size, but no hardware. It wasndelivered in an open box! Third desk is ust right.
Sold the Uplift desk, and cleaned and reorganized the dining room. I have to look at it a while to decide if I like the current arrangement. The rug needs to be moved over, but I need help for that little task. Plus itnreally isn’t the right size.
Very impressive that he can fix a dryer!! Hope it won’t break down anymore.
@marionberries very cosy!! Looks like a wonderful space.
