*Today’s post is partnership with Morton Salt. Thank you Morton, for helping us take care of our extremely hard water!
When it comes to remodeling projects, it’s always really enticing to work toward a pretty after picture, especially if there’s a cringe-y before to compare to. The inspiration of a beautiful new kitchen or a staged living room can be nice and, of course, inspiring, but, for this serial remodeler, the pretty picture isn’t actually WHY we remodel.
In college, while studying interior design, we heard the quote “form follows function.” The is an idea that you are either for or against. Frank Gehry is against form follows function — he is all about the form, and his work is amazing! But for my little self, I REALLY value when things function AND look nice — while they function.
So while remodeling the living room is great, if you can’t hang out as a family and do a puzzle together, play a board game or watch a movie, then to me the remodel is sort of pointless, because the room doesn’t function for your family!
Justin and I spend a lot of time thinking about function as we DIY remodel the homes we live in. How the lights work, how the traffic flows, how the windows insulate, where the backpacks and shoes will be stored (to avoid their final resting place from being the front entry rug), and so on. None of these thing sound very exciting, but the way they impact your living experience in your home can make all the difference, so we put a lot of thought into updating our older homes to function well for a modern family (like a practically-magic door).
For our Birch House, this has meant fixing up drafty spots in the 60 year old home, so we and our girls are physically comfortable. We’ve opened up ceilings and added lights so we don’t feel like we’re living in a cave — so important to us, especially during long, dark winters! We’ve also moved walls, updated the leaky shower, replaced flooring, and done a lot of other work so that we LOVE our home (even in the midst of the remodel). But we just took one more HUGE step in making our home much more functional for us. It’s not as romantic or beautiful as when we redid the kitchen… but we got a water softener!
We partnered with Morton Salt to install a new water softener and explain how using Morton Water Clean and Protect Plus Rest Defense Water Softener can make such a difference in daily life. And can I just say, I had no idea what we were missing out on!
Our area has hard water, and I mean really hard water. So hard you could hit your head on it! Just look at the RUST RED test strip — and if you’re not sure whether your home has hard water, go to MortonSalt.com for a free test strip and to learn more.
The hard water residue builds up on every surface in our home. (I mentioned before that vinegar had been our best friend!) We are always scrubbing the faucets and sinks, our new shower, and our beautiful new quartz countertops to combat the hard water buildup that comes along with everyday living and water use — and if we are getting this amount of hard water spots and stains and buildup on what we CAN see, and feel with your fingertips, the ridges and build up then what about the areas where we *can’t* see, like inside our washing machine and dishwasher?
So, now that we have soft water, I’m so excited to have the water help keep our beautiful (and functional) new spaces sparkling clean, instead of diminishing the look we’ve worked so hard to achieve and making more cleaning work for me. Because the less time I have to spend cleaning rust and hard water spots off sinks, the more time I can spend actually improving the function and form of our home. (We will actually live in a “finished” home someday! …maybe… #remodelaholic)
So now that I’ve gushed (pun intended) about the new water softener, let me tell you more about the differences that soft water from Morton Water Clean and Protect Plus Rust Defense can have in your home:
Better tasting water — no more metallic aftertaste! And no more need to buy cases of bottled water just to get water that tastes good.
Reduces rust stains and hard water mineral deposit buildup — less time cleaning! Sorry, vinegar, old pal… we won’t be seeing each other as often.
Reduces hard water spots on glassware, dishes, and other surfaces — we’ve been using SO much vinegar and other hard-water cleaners just to keep the pretty dishes looking pretty. I won’t miss that! (literally 3 gallons a month!)
Shinier, smoother hair and softer skin — I’m especially looking forward to this during our dry-air winters in this mountainous desert climate!
Improved appliance performance and life — not only can our appliances work better with soft water, but soft water can extend the lifetime of appliances and mean that they’ll require less maintenance from the harsh hard water. I want our new dishwasher to last a looong time, and even though our washer is a few years old, I’m not in any hurry to get a new one (choosing a new washer is difficult!) so I want it to last as long as possible!
And after the initial install, the water softener upkeep is minimal — we just add 2 bags of Morton Water Softener Salt to the water softener every 2 months. And, if you’re like me and need a reminder even for simple things, Morton has a new service where you can just text SOFT to 35277 for a notification reminder when it’s time to refill! I love it when technology makes my life easier!
I’m excited to share more about our hard-to-soft water experience over the next few months, and thanks to Morton for sponsoring this new home upgrade and supporting us to keep creating great content here on Remodelaholic — now with fewer hard water spots! (smiley face emoji)
I’m not really sure why the previous owners of our home chose to put in a water softener but my water here is awesome! We had it tested against different bottled waters and the city water and ours rated the best out of all. It actually rated like the best water ever. Don’t really know how to explain that but they said they had never seen such pure water before. I can’t say it’s the softener because it was tested from the ground before it hit the softener but we did find out that the well was dug very very deep and they said that made a huge difference. I didn’t know Morton’s made a softener so I will be checking into that.i will also have to go to their website and see the results of mine. Thank you for the information you have provided.