Idle curiosity: weirdest part of your house?

AprilH81

jenna8984 said:

@aprilh81 I have never had a range/ hood vent. My houses have all just had cabinets above the stove. I never found a problem with it, but I see your point as I've never tried to sit down and do something 6 inches from it. Looks really great, is that your new house or the one you sold?

That is our new house.  

If you want to see more pictures of the kitchen (both before and after) I "blogged" the process over on The Nest.  We LOVE how it turned out!!!!!  We moved the locations of all the appliances (only the sink stayed put) had the microwave vented to the outside (removes the smells better), new floors/cabinets/counters/sink/faucet/microwave/dishwasher (other appliances were new). And at the same time remodeled the downstairs powder room and put the same tile floor in the powder room and laundry room.

  http://forums.thenest.com/discussion/12018141/aw-kitchen-remodel-thread  

theartistformerlyknownas

Oh yeah weird bathrooms! We have an unfinished bathroom in our house, just a toilet and drain for a shower, plus a utility sink. Cement walls and floor. But then just outside that is ANOTHER tiny room, cement walls and floor, and another random toilet just sitting there. I don't think it's hooked up. It's like the creepy bathroom has a vestibule with another creepy toilet. And no door.

ShesSoCold

Our dining room light is on some pulley thingy and you can raise and lower it. It's hilarious. The light fixture in the bedroom has a little boat steering wheel on it. The only thing even remotely nautical about the entire house. We kept it. I grew up in the house right next door so I knew the old lady who lived in our house (I still call it Mrs. Marshenke's house) and we kept the stupid light fixtures and switch plate covers because she literally lived in that house her entire life.

sophhabobopha

cupcait927 said:

luckya23 said:

sophhabobopha said:

Our apartment has a thermostat in every seperate room. I've never seen that before, but maybe it's normal?

Do you have electric heat?

Seems that is the only way that would work!

My apartment senior year in college had that. It was actually pretty great because our living room was so small that even two people being there would heat up the room so we kept that thermostat really low. Our bedrooms were all set to our individual preference.

Yeah we have electric.

It heats up very fast!

beethery

Our house doesn't face the street. Well, it didn't used to. The previous owner cut down all the trees in between the house and the road to make a giant yard. Which also took away all privacy from the house. There's a huge deck on the back that used to have a hot tub, and now no fucking trees. All the bathrooms are on that side of the house as well.

The previous owner also cut the floor out of the linen closet in the upstairs bathroom so that it would create a jury-rigged laundry chute into the cabinet in the downstairs bathroom directly below it.

The wiring is also a fucking nightmare to figure out. I don't know what the motherfucker was smoking when he did this shit but I'm going to GUESS that it was PCP.

RebeccaB88

I have a little 1950 2 bedroom bungalow.  It's me...but some things about it are weird.

I have no overhead lights in the living room, either.  Weird because there's a ceiling fan there, and it would have been pretty easy to install one with a light on it. But no, just a fan. And 3 lamps. 

A previous owner tried to DIY his own cable tv installation, and installed all the cables on the OUTSIDE of the house, then painted over them, thinking you wouldn't be able to tell.  Uh, wrong. At least they secured them, and ran them along window and door frames when possible. But it's pretty obvious. Cost me a butt ton of money when I moved in because the cable company made me have some of the lines re-run because they weren't code. Makes me wonder how the previous owners had cable.  (Pirating, maybe?) 

No outlets in my bathroom either, except for one located in the light above the medicine cabinet above the sink...that I'm too short to reach.  I paid an electrician to install 4 outlets by the sink before I moved in. Worth it.  I also had him install a vent fan in the bathroom (there was none, but you could open the window in the shower to let the steam out...smh...), but the electrical system wasn't set up so he could set up the heater in it. Bummer.  It also has one of those radiant wall heaters that I'm afraid to use. Bathroom looks pretty cool now - it has the black and white small hexagon tile that was so big in the 50s. I painted the walls a bright fuschia.  It looks awesome.

The previous owner had painted every wall in the house and the kitchen cabinets a baby-poop mustard yellow. Every. Wall.  I wouldn't even move in until it was repainted. He also installed carpet over the gorgeous original hardwood floors.  Yes, I tossed 3 rooms and a hallway of brand new carpet into a dumpster, and I'm glad I did. The floors rock.

The bedroom closets are a foot and a half off the floor, and the clothes bars are set so far back that I have to step up into the closet to reach them. But the door isn't tall enough for that. 

The access panel for the bathtub plumbing is located in the second bedroom closet.

There's a water spigot in the garage that's tied directly into the hot water heater.  I think it's leftover from when the washer and dryer were located in the garage, but the first time I tried to water my outdoor plants from it, both me and the plants got a surprise.

The cabinet the water heater is located in is very tall and skinny, and only one company that my plumber could find made a unit that would fit inside it. Even then, they had to remove the door and the frame to get it installed. I'm not looking forward to someday having to replace it again, and finding the right size.

I have one drawer in the kitchen that I can't open unless I open the dishwasher door first.

wandajune6

DH bought the house years before I met him. We both agree that it was a mistake. No grudges- I bought a mistake years ago too.

This is a 60's era ranch-style house. Every house in our neighborhood looks pretty much the same except we have a 3rd bedroom that was added on later. This was done stupidly and the inspector failed to tell DH that it wasn't put on the right foundation. Our lucky selves spent the months before the wedding excavating it down to the dirt because the floor was sinking. Good times.

Also, the previous owners loved sponge painting and stupid designs. DH always planned to fix it but only got a few rooms so I have painted a lot. Now, our room has ugly purple designs around the ceiling and SS's room still has teddy bears. SS's room will get painted as soon as he's willing to help clean the dump up enough (filthy teen...).

sarahufl

AprilH81 said:

AlisonM23 said:

jenna8984 I think it was built in the mid 60's, someone flipped it and modernized a lot of it before we bought it a few years ago, but apparently didn't feel the need to add in an outlet! YES! Super annoying.

Ooh also, our living room had no lighting (like no ceiling light at all), and its a pretty big sized room so we had to get like 3 lamps and bright ass light bulbs.

Yeah, our formal living room and bedrooms upstairs had no overhead lights/fans which is a big pet peeve of mine. We hired an electrician to come install the wiring and lights for us. No regrets on spending that money!!

ugh, H for some reason HATES overhead lighting. Hates it. Go figure that we would buy a house with zero overhead lighting. He is ecstatic, I am annoyed. 

Lamp shopping, here we come!

sarahufl

We looked at tons of houses before we bought ours. At least 50, mostly built in the early 1900s. We saw it all- stray toilets in the basement, rooms with no closets, odd doorways, odd windows. Ours is pretty normal, although the garage is TINY. You enter the kitchen funny- you walk into the living room and there are 3 steps,  you turn to go up the regular staircase, but on the other side of this landing are three more steps going down and a swinging door into the kitchen.

The people before us re-wired the house to fix the 1920s wiring that is no longer in code, but rather than taking out the old stuff they basically just put the new over it. I noticed there were 8 power outlets in the dining room (in a house from 1928) and we later figured out it was because of their lazy ass wiring. So that has to get re-done before we move in.

But if you want to REALLY be entertained, look at apartments in NYC. You pay millions for the strangest places.

ohannabelle

My house is very dull construction wise. What's often called a raised ranch, or split entry. Typical 1957 design. When you come in the front door, the foyer is a landing, one set of stairs leading up to the living area, one set down to the basement. (Aka the room of requirement.)

So here was the weirdness. A marvel of mid century modern fugly. 

As you go up the stairs, there was a half wall separating the stairs from the living room. This wall was paneled in asymmetrical strips of wood, and supporting a weird wood thing formerly known as the trough. 

Like a weird ass ten foot long sort of window box planter thing. Horses could have stood there for dinner. Above the trough was a series of useless suspended shelves ? only about three inches wide. Suspended from weird round wood poles from the ceiling. 

So, yes, a frikking trough/ room divider thing.

Maybe it looked very moderne in 1959. My ex had a million excuses not to fix it. The week after he left I tore it all out. Got a framing hammer and beat the hell out of it. No more trough. Burned it. Plastered over the weird paneling (learned things about plaster) replaced the trough with a plain shelf, and fixed the ceiling damage (learned things about crown moulding and ceiling trim.)

Horrible.

LadyMillil

I'm in a new one bedroom condo. The only weird thing is the coat closet by the front door. It has a hanging bar, but the closet isn't wide enough to actually put clothes hangers inside.

huskypuppy14

I also have a telephone jack in the bathroom. 

We also have a lot of overhead lights, but the one in the living room/dining room  has a fan as well. You can't turn the light on without the fan being on. It's fine in the summer, but now we don't need the fan but do need the light. The fan can be on without the light though.

My old apartment bedroom had the door swing the wrong way, because the light switch was behind the door.

SBmini

We fixed the weirdest part of our house the second we closed.

Literally, the second we closed. We got the keys while we were still officially under escrow, but we couldn't wait, so we went inside and started cleaning. I got the call that the house was ours and my husband took a hammer to this audacity 

Somehow, I didn't get a photo from the other side. But basically it went into the den behind it. When you walked into the room you stared into a strange wall box thing that came into the room. We knocked it out and made the wall flat again.

luckya23

huskypuppy14 said:

I also have a telephone jack in the bathroom. 

We also have a lot of overhead lights, but the one in the living room/dining room  has a fan as well. You can't turn the light on without the fan being on. It's fine in the summer, but now we don't need the fan but do need the light. The fan can be on without the light though.

My old apartment bedroom had the door swing the wrong way, because the light switch was behind the door.

Although it just sounds like it is wired incorrectly, most fans have a switch up near the blades so they run backwards in the winter to help redistribute the heat in the room.  So maybe that's an option.

okulew29

The things in my house are easily fixable, but just like a WTF why in my kithcen.  The couple we bough it from, he was a lawyer and I don't know what she did, but I'm assuming she didn't cook much.  The sink is a double sink, but neither one is big enough to fit a large frying pan in, as well as being really shallow.  The faucet is one with the pull down head, but is not installed correctly so you can't really pull it.  The handle on the faucet is a one handle that seems like you should actually move it down into the on position, however you need to lift it up to on.  So if it is anything short of full blast, it just falls to off.  The last thing about the kitchen is that the paper towels are across the room from the sink.  The kitchen was clearly not designed by someone who cooked often.

The previous owner also started to refinish the basement and put in multiple closets that are only a foot or less deep.  He also moved the Sheetrock out from the concrete wall about 6 inches extra (over what the studs would do) and has windows to nowhere installed.  He had children s artwork behind them, but I don't know what to do with them. 

smalfrie19

Count me in as one of those people who have NO OVERHEAD LIGHTS!! Only my kitchen/dining area and bathrooms. Made altering my dress at 3am so easy! /sarcasm

Blergbot

This:

loveislouder

My old hair dresser used to do my hair out of her house. Her shower had glass squares instead of a wall, so while you were doing your thing in the shower if someone opened the master bedroom closet they got a free show.

Wegl13

So you know you guys with no
Overhead lighting? We have the opposite problem- full ceiling fans in EVERY. SINGLE. ROOM. Now this is the south, so duh there better be ceiling fans in the bedrooms, living room, kitchen. Obvious'd. We also have one in the dining room. Th master bath. The laundry room. The master closet. If you can fit one, we have one. Of course they are all outdated and need to be replaced but that is going to be a hefty chunk of change.

raissyrais

We are renting a flat right now. It used to be a hospital, and the outside is still made of those small old red bricks and it's so beautiful and looks so historical. And the inside of the building is very modern and has all the equipment of a 2012 building.

Knowing how old of a country England is, sometimes I think about all the people who have died around here and how many are haunting the place. Lol I know I'm crazy but it has crossed my mind!

Also we have two showers in our bathroom, so FI and I have one each. He's so big and clumsy that my hair always gets wet if we try to shower together. The separate showers doesn't make him not steal my expensive shampoo and conditioner though. Tsk!

dcbride86

Theres a full bathroom upstairs in my condo.  It doesn't really make sense to have it because there are 2 full baths downstairs, and I don't really want people showering off of my living room haha.  So the owners before us turned the upstairs shower into a closet.  It's SO weird, but I love it because it's an insane amount of storage

southernbelle0915

In our upstairs guest bathroom, there was a 7ft long countertop with a single sink at the far end. We ripped it out and put two vanities in.

That countertop was also only 28 inches high - like for a small child or something. So odd.

SBmini

Wegl13 said:

So you know you guys with no Overhead lighting? We have the opposite problem- full ceiling fans in EVERY. SINGLE. ROOM. Now this is the south, so duh there better be ceiling fans in the bedrooms, living room, kitchen. Obvious'd. We also have one in the dining room. Th master bath. The laundry room. The master closet. If you can fit one, we have one. Of course they are all outdated and need to be replaced but that is going to be a hefty chunk of change.

I hear you on outdated fans. We have 9 fans in our house. They aren't anywhere weird like in your house though- one in ever bedroom, the family room, over the kitchen table (I like this fan and use it pretty often) and one in the den. Plus two indoor fans installed outside that definitely need to go before next summer. We've replaced one of them but all of them need to go, more or less. Most of the fans in the secondary rooms don't work, the outdoor fans are warped and our bedroom fan is way too small and doesn't have a light.

But the good news for you is that you can replace the fans in weird rooms with awesome custom lighting. It means you get a chandelier in your bathroom like a baller. I want a chandelier in my bathroom so bad. 

sarahufl

Blergbot said:

This:

lol at that. WTF?!

amelisha

Blergbot said:

This:

What is that even supposed to be?! It's kind of amazing but I don't understand it.

Blergbot

@sarahufl‌ and @amelisha‌ it is our gas fireplace. It encases the gasline. Our house was built in 1967 and apparently it's not the only such fireplace in our neighborhood. We just moved in three weeks ago and we're still deciding whether or not to keep it as a bizaare conversation piece or to bring in a contractor. It's probably a ways down the line if we do decide to do anything about it.

RebeccaB88

Oh yeah...my bedroom ceiling fan has a light, but neither my mom nor I, nor my ex, has ever been able to figure out how to change the lightbulb in it. It doesn't screw off, there's no screws or tabs holding it on, no way to reach inside it, nothing comes off, doesn't swing to one side or the other...and it's the only thing in the house that the previous owner didn't leave the instruction manual for. It's the stupidest thing ever. I've looked at home stores and online to see if I can find the model number or instruction book, but nothing yet.  I'm using a lamp, but I'd like to have an overhead light again.

luckya23

RebeccaB88 said:

Oh yeah...my bedroom ceiling fan has a light, but neither my mom nor I, nor my ex, has ever been able to figure out how to change the lightbulb in it. It doesn't screw off, there's no screws or tabs holding it on, no way to reach inside it, nothing comes off, doesn't swing to one side or the other...and it's the only thing in the house that the previous owner didn't leave the instruction manual for. It's the stupidest thing ever. I've looked at home stores and online to see if I can find the model number or instruction book, but nothing yet.  I'm using a lamp, but I'd like to have an overhead light again.

Have you tried to twist it?  I had an old fixure that you had to push up the glass and turn it until it fell out, because there was a lip or tab something holding it in.

theartistformerlyknownas

SBmini said:

Wegl13 said:

So you know you guys with no Overhead lighting? We have the opposite problem- full ceiling fans in EVERY. SINGLE. ROOM. Now this is the south, so duh there better be ceiling fans in the bedrooms, living room, kitchen. Obvious'd. We also have one in the dining room. Th master bath. The laundry room. The master closet. If you can fit one, we have one. Of course they are all outdated and need to be replaced but that is going to be a hefty chunk of change.

I hear you on outdated fans. We have 9 fans in our house. They aren't anywhere weird like in your house though- one in ever bedroom, the family room, over the kitchen table (I like this fan and use it pretty often) and one in the den. Plus two indoor fans installed outside that definitely need to go before next summer. We've replaced one of them but all of them need to go, more or less. Most of the fans in the secondary rooms don't work, the outdoor fans are warped and our bedroom fan is way too small and doesn't have a light.

But the good news for you is that you can replace the fans in weird rooms with awesome custom lighting. It means you get a chandelier in your bathroom like a baller. I want a chandelier in my bathroom so bad. 

And in the closet! Oh the things I would do for a walk-in closet with a fancy chandelier.

Our current house has a ceiling fan in the dining nook, which I like. My old condo had one in the main part of the kitchen, which was just weird. But it also had a half bath in the kitchen.

Unrelated to quoted post... my sister bought a house last year with the TEENY TINIEST half bath ever. Our nephew, who was 2 at the time, opened the door and said "it's a poop closet!" Best line ever.

ShesSoCold

lolo883 said:

SBmini said:

Wegl13 said:

So you know you guys with no Overhead lighting? We have the opposite problem- full ceiling fans in EVERY. SINGLE. ROOM. Now this is the south, so duh there better be ceiling fans in the bedrooms, living room, kitchen. Obvious'd. We also have one in the dining room. Th master bath. The laundry room. The master closet. If you can fit one, we have one. Of course they are all outdated and need to be replaced but that is going to be a hefty chunk of change.

I hear you on outdated fans. We have 9 fans in our house. They aren't anywhere weird like in your house though- one in ever bedroom, the family room, over the kitchen table (I like this fan and use it pretty often) and one in the den. Plus two indoor fans installed outside that definitely need to go before next summer. We've replaced one of them but all of them need to go, more or less. Most of the fans in the secondary rooms don't work, the outdoor fans are warped and our bedroom fan is way too small and doesn't have a light.

But the good news for you is that you can replace the fans in weird rooms with awesome custom lighting. It means you get a chandelier in your bathroom like a baller. I want a chandelier in my bathroom so bad. 

And in the closet! Oh the things I would do for a walk-in closet with a fancy chandelier.

Our current house has a ceiling fan in the dining nook, which I like. My old condo had one in the main part of the kitchen, which was just weird. But it also had a half bath in the kitchen.

Unrelated to quoted post... my sister bought a house last year with the TEENY TINIEST half bath ever. Our nephew, who was 2 at the time, opened the door and said "it's a poop closet!" Best line ever.

LOL. My sister has a ".1" bath off her kitchen. It's just a toilet in the space (usually a closet) under the stairs. Taller guys hit their heads on the stairs if they're not careful.