The Home Ownership Thread - Page 34

Solid work, SG. Love the change in grain direction, and the handrail looks fantastic.

Risers are traditionally painted for contrast. Old folks like it so they can see the steps better in the dark. It's not how I'd do it, but the work looks good for sure. I think those are the exact same knobs that were in my house. Need some spares? Hah.

Another downside I'll offer about big houses is that hardware is expensive--replace the door knobs, no big deal right? Oh, I need ten keyed knobs sets and almost as many dead deadbolts? Also, the dipshit that built my house cut all the mortises off center, which wasn't a big deal for the cheap (loose) knobs, but the higher quality ones I replaced them with wouldn't fit without me reaming out every single door a little.

Made a major decision about our house over the last couple of days. There is a room that is open to what I call our "public space" that we are using for a reading lounge type setting and I have my huge Vinotemp wine cellar in. We had been thinking about making it into a walk in wine room but I spent a lot of time reading in it over the holidays and it's a very cozy room. So I came up with the idea of getting rid of our current Vinotemp and getting a more furniture grade stand alone to put against the long wall in our dining room. It needs to be not as tall as our current one (86 inches) as this wall has a bank of clerestory windows I do not want occluded.

Rambling a bit but the bottom line is I was concerned a walk in wine room would be over customizing, as we plan to sell some day, and this solution will probably save us 25k or so.

I don't think anybody would want their clerestory windows occluded.

I've always wanted a library/reading room, so I support this.

Thanks Fellas.

LOL @ Ataturk, I think less of these doors knobs would be an improvement. I may switch to handles as I've yet to find a simple doorknob that looks nice. I think crystal knobs look nice, but this obviously isnt the house for it. The doors themselves will likely go, but I plan to do one floor at a time. I started with the basement because I can make it a departure from the rest of the house without it seeming out of place.

That sounds like a PITA, funny enough the bones of this house are very solid and I'm actually surprised at how well most of it is done, but the finish work is terrible at best. I enter every project assuming I cannot reuse anything. How old is your house?

Pio,

I always have resale in mind as well, so I try to be careful about building in too many things that I enjoy that many other people might not. I think it has stopped me from a walk-in humidor....which is probably a good thing.

Gotta say, I think most people would enjoy a wine cellar however.

That's what I would think too but I've seen it done with old-lady type hutches, huge entertainment stands, etc. I've also seen someone cover the windows with foil to keep the sun out. People are odd.

Stairs look great SG. Not so sold on the overhang lip though. Seems like a recipe for tripping and stubbed toes.

Hmm, yeah. I really wanted to reuse those knobs. They're solid brass (or at least some are, some weren't original) and the ones on the outside of the house actually had a really nice patina from 20 years in the weather. I seriously considered stripping the lacquer off, tarnishing them a little, and putting them back on. Problem is that brass globes aren't very sturdy and some where damaged, plus about half the outside knobs had been replaced piecemeal with non-matching replacements. It just wasn't worth it to deal with them. I ended up getting a good deal on some old stock, bronze-finished, mushroom-shaped, Weiser-branded knobs.

It's just 20 years old. As you probably know, nothing that was put into houses 20 years ago is worth keeping. Fortunately this one was custom built by some wealthy eccentric for himself [he also built 2 other houses on the cul-de-sac for family], so there are some high-end touches. The master bath has a 20-foot ceiling, for example. That's nice--glad it's not cold down here, though. It's a weird house. That's fine as long as you only pay weird house prices for it [and I did].

Thanks Rambo.

Turk, sounds like a cool house, but my experience has been the same. The 90's began a period of faux-opulence.

And shitty construction. Seems most houses built in the last 20 years shake every time you shut a door. Sigh.

Have any of you guys used Emtek handles? I'm looking at the emtek Stuttgart stainless passafe levers.

Ugh. This has been my experience as well. About a year ago my wife bought some CFL bulbs that we put into the outdoor sconces that light up the front yard/driveway. They were super bright and did a much better job of illuminating the space. I loved them, but my wife thought they looked too cold and white. We jokingly referred to them as the "moonbase lights."

This year, after taking down the outdoor Christmas decorations, my wife put in regular, boring incandescent lights again. I protested, but she insisted. I think she may have thrown the other bulbs away to make sure I don't go out and swap them out.

SG: I like the stairs. I think they look really nice.

We also have a house that's bigger than we need, and it's only going to get more so as our daughter heads off to college in the next couple of years. At some point we'll have a whole upstairs wing of the house sitting empty. I wonder if we could put up some sort of insulated door and turn off the HVAC in that part of the house.

Thanks Dave!

If I did not think it would eventually cause a lawsuit, I would light my entryway path with large oil lamps when expecting guests. I think it would be awesome.

Thinking a little more about why we expect warm light--when the sun is coming up or setting it's quite yellow and warm. The only time you really see bright blue light is when the whole world is lit up, so it looks weird by itself in the darkness.