Polar Vortex: How Houzzers Are Coping With the Storm

As the Polar Vortex — a swirling, bitter blast of Arctic air — continues to circle around the United States in the Midwest, Northeast and South, and in Canada, people awakened to new bone-chilling temperatures today. If they were lucky, they woke up at home, as the snow and ice that accompanied the storm have grounded flights and stranded trains. Yesterday we asked how you were handling the recording-breaking low temperatures and snow, and the responses ranged from helpful to hopeful to humorous.

Snow is no deterrent for Houzz user cjley — who, with family, layered up and went for a snowy walk in the woods behind the house.


Cjley’s cousin’s 11-year-old daughter joined too, forging a path in the drifts. “Of course, we did have some delicious hot chocolate after,” cjley writes.


Debralex of Michigan says she tries to keep a Zen mind-set about the whole thing. “Having grown up in Atlanta, I … love snowfalls,” she says. “[I] appreciate the quiet, the softened edges, the way each tree is outlined — and the opportunity to build snowmen, something I never got to do as a child.”


Where Houzzer laurawinanslee lives, the temps plunged to 15 below yesterday, and this was the view from her window. She stayed out of it, writing: “I am keeping warm by baking things, ironing, cleaning out cabinets and making soup. Houzz has been an inspiration on this unexpected ‘free day.’”


For lindymay, ice in Toronto put a chill on the remnants of the holiday. “When it hit 0 degrees Celsius with a wind chill of 8 below yesterday, it felt so warm! We took advantage of the warm day to get out and stock up on food.”


Lindymay says although her household lost power only intermittently, her son was without electricity for 64 hours. She calls the paramedics who have rescued people and gotten them to shelter the “real heroes of it all.”


“In all the danger, there has been incredible beauty,” lindymay writes. “Who needs the white sand … when you can have the pure white snow!”


For some people the ice intruded into their homes. Shakerjaebs saw the beauty in the beast, noting: “Old house, old windows + Polar Vortex = cool ice crystals.”


One Houzzer was glad to have invested in a fireplace insert. “[I’m] thankful for this behemoth to supplement the heat from our furnace,” Malbec says. “Hoping the kids finally go back to school tomorrow, and I can get back to a now-overdue report.”


This dog, owned by bajanrolf, was similarly grateful for a fireplace.


Brian Quarstad of Minnesota and his family have taken refuge in a basement sauna they refurbished. “It’s been a godsend, and it certainly helps our mental state as we navigate through our long winters,” he writes. He notes that while the temperatures outside hovered at 15 below, inside the sauna it registered 150.


While Anita Roll of Anita Roll Murals is sorry for everyone who is suffering, including her family in Indiana and Illinois, she is thrilled that a previously planned job has taken her to Florida. “It’s perfect timing,” she writes.

Tell us: How you are handling day two?

URL: Polar Vortex: How Houzzers Are Coping With the Storm http://www.decor-ideas.org/cases-view-id-22496.html