[tranquility]

Originally Posted by oVeRdOsE.

1- electric fireplace, and bonus if there's a TV over it



2- combo stove. bonus point if the microwave is over it.



3- vinyl siding. And bonus if it's the front of the house too.

Interesting, pls explain.

1) due to heat issues affecting the tv?

2) sure, but not everyone is well-off as usually those dedicated embedded ones are found in nicer homes

3) an aesthetic thing solely?

[paimon.soror]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Odd, i love nothing more than having folks over, pool full of fun and games and man-ing the grill.

as long as i can stand behind you and totally critique how you grill ... because you know ... theres always that one guy

[tranquility]

Originally Posted by a5m

If you have children having a hands free device is a God send, especially one you can give commands to in order to put on a YouTube video or turn the volume down.

Same with the thermostat, if you're preggers or old, can come in handy on a cold or hot night to adjust the temperature.

True true, good pts.

[tranquility]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

I bit my tongue on replying to the $2,200 countertop/sink repair thread a few days ago.

My DW and I have already agreed on a free-standing $100 plastic garage slop sink for the kitchen when we build the Garage Mahal, along with cheap/disposable workbench "butcher block" tops for the counters. Function over bling.....

Ya, I'm a ftn over form guy too, e.g. I marvel at ppl basically laying a brick wall as a kitchen backsplash. I just pasted those rubber sheets and called it a day.

Btw, what's a "DW", Devoted Wife?

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Very funny! The bugs in our yard have in all seriousness sent a professional exterminator *running* for his van to call for backup. We live next to hundreds of acres of protected wetlands in the woods, and nothing short of a crop duster over government-owned lands would stop them. As an example, my DW's homemade carpenter bee traps are catching 2 liters of bug carcasses every week at this time of year...and those aren't even wetland bugs.

If ever there was a more appropriate time to say KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!! LOL. Where do you live man? I would go INSANE. Maybe erect some mesh structure over your deck? No way those stupid bugs will prevent me from going where I wanna go (unless it's heading into their territory in the forest), but my own deck? It's war and IT'S ON!

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Let me add a guest bedroom to this thread. Ours has been used exactly zero times in 18 years. The one overnight guest that we ever had was my F-I-L, who slept on our couch after coming from an hour away to bring us an emergency generator during a major snowstorm back in 2010. For the amount of time it is never used, I'd be better off paying for a guest room at the Holiday Inn Express if someone actually came to visit. Ditto for when we go to someone else's house and they offer their guest bedroom. Thanks and I appreciate the sentiment, but I'd rather pay for a hotel room than impose on them.....

Are you just talking about extra bedroom(s)? I'd just use them as storage spaces in the meantime. *shrug*

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Hands down it's a central vac. Absolute nightmare to lug around that stupid huge hose, just an awful idea. I think OP would be surprised how few chemicals go into a salt water pool.

100%, to me it's obsolete tech now, I hate the noise vaccuums make when I can just use my swifter. I plan on getting one of those robot vacs (+maybe washers if the tech is good) for my next home.

Originally Posted by paimon.soror

https://www.reddit.com/r/hottub/comm...ng_of_success/

Ahhh, my home came with a hot tub. Was out of commission since i moved in because it sprung a nice leak as the previous homeowner drained it but not all the way so the water froze in some of the pipes.

it was awesome for the first several months after repair .....

now its just sitting htere .... getting very little use .... but im still balancing water.

it has become an additional chore :-p

How come you don't use it regularly/more?

[paimon.soror]

Originally Posted by tranquility

How come you don't use it regularly/more?

Honestly, its become an afterthought - i def need to get back into it.

[tranquility]

Originally Posted by paimon.soror

Honestly, its become an afterthought - i def need to get back into it.

Tell me more about it, I've always been fascinated w that 'lifestyle', seems cool that's why I thought of having one but that stagnant water thing gets me haha. So, I'm curious why you suddenly stop?

[paimon.soror]

Originally Posted by tranquility

Tell me more about it, I've always been fascinated w that 'lifestyle', seems cool that's why I thought of having one but that stagnant water thing gets me haha. So, I'm curious why you suddenly stop?

So i think its one of those "honeymoon phase" things. After we fixed it, we were in it multiple times a week because it was a "fresh" and "new" thing (and a "quick lets use it before this breaks again" LOL)

Like with most other home luxuries, i think we are just "used to" having it that we dont appreciate it as much because ... hey its there if we need it.

Its a crappy thing when you consider how much things like that cost.

The sad thing is that growing up, my parents had an indoor pool at our house. When we first moved in we used it ALL THE TIME. Then as the years went on, it barely got used. My parents are now selling the house and its bittersweet to think about that pool and all the missed opportunities to continue using it over the years, especially now that i have kids of my own.

hope that makes sense.

[bagekko]

Many things on the list might be good ideas & used more if you choose a childless life. My neighbor with no kids, they use a sauna they have in their basement all the time.

Fireplace, jacuzzi, pool table, sauna, massage chair, etc... require kid free time to maintain and enjoy.

[paimon.soror]

^ this, a lot of this.

[Alfisti]

I agree on the fireplace thing, hate them, they are always right where the damn tv needs to go.

The other I will add is Stucco, I just spent my morning with a BB gun getting rid of birds pecking holes in ours. What totally shit idea stucco is. Brick people.... fucking brick. Fuck.

[tranquility]

Originally Posted by paimon.soror

So i think its one of those "honeymoon phase" things. After we fixed it, we were in it multiple times a week because it was a "fresh" and "new" thing (and a "quick lets use it before this breaks again" LOL)

Like with most other home luxuries, i think we are just "used to" having it that we dont appreciate it as much because ... hey its there if we need it.

Its a crappy thing when you consider how much things like that cost.

The sad thing is that growing up, my parents had an indoor pool at our house. When we first moved in we used it ALL THE TIME. Then as the years went on, it barely got used. My parents are now selling the house and its bittersweet to think about that pool and all the missed opportunities to continue using it over the years, especially now that i have kids of my own.

hope that makes sense.

It sure does, tx. My my, aren't we the one born w a silver spoon, indoor pool, nice!

So, everything considered, it's not worth it to get a hot tub?

Originally Posted by bagekko

Many things on the list might be good ideas & used more if you choose a childless life. My neighbor with no kids, they use a sauna they have in their basement all the time.

Fireplace, jacuzzi, pool table, sauna, massage chair, etc... require kid free time to maintain and enjoy.

Hmmm, truedat. I qualify, so maybe I'm missing out on a lot of that list haha.

[tranquility]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

I agree on the fireplace thing, hate them, they are always right where the damn tv needs to go.

The other I will add is Stucco, I just spent my morning with a BB gun getting rid of birds pecking holes in ours. What totally shit idea stucco is. Brick people.... fucking brick. Fuck.

Ya, hate that and similarly popcorn ceilings and this stupid trend to have textured tiles....I have to clean my crappy bathroom floor cuz it always traps dirt, etc in the various grooves. Talk about totally stupid designers, I can understand using them for walls, maybe, but on the floor?!...what were they thinking??

[paimon.soror]

having kids makes it all interesting.... so things like:

hot tub
quality entertainment setup (i.e. mancave/sheshed)
pool

its one of those where:

before kids: lots of use!
newborns / new parents: barely used
kids grow up: probably more use from kids than parents
kids move out: im too old for this shit / how does this work again?

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by paimon.soror

having kids makes it all interesting.... so things like:

hot tub
quality entertainment setup (i.e. mancave/sheshed)
pool

its one of those where:

before kids: lots of use!
newborns / new parents: barely used
kids grow up: probably more use from kids than parents
kids move out: im too old for this shit / how does this work again?

See to me that's where the pool comes in. Over the summer we re doing one of three things on weekends;

1) House league sports (baseball for one lad, soccer for the other)
2) Taking the 997 for a spin
3) In the pool

Kids use the pool a lot.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by tranquility

Btw, what's a "DW", Devoted Wife?

Darling Wife.

If ever there was a more appropriate time to say KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!! LOL. Where do you live man? I would go INSANE. Maybe erect some mesh structure over your deck? No way those stupid bugs will prevent me from going where I wanna go (unless it's heading into their territory in the forest), but my own deck? It's war and IT'S ON!

Don't think that spraying agent orange from a helicopter hasn't crossed my mind, but it would probably poison our well and bring the wrath of environmentalists by the busload.

Seriously, I cannot even check my oil or tire pressures during bug season without getting eaten alive. The deck is just another example. When I was a teen, our house had a huge screened deck with a roof that was never used because it was too hot most of the year.

Are you just talking about extra bedroom(s)? I'd just use them as storage spaces in the meantime. *shrug*

The guest bedroom takes up about 20% of the entire floor space in our modestly-sized house. The guest bed and furniture are long gone (and never used once), and we use that room as a walk-in closet with central air conditioning.....

[bagekko]

LMAO, so realistic from my view.

Between kid 1 & 2 bought wife a really nice massage chair, she used but once the babies became mobile couldn't get 5 mins of peace in it, with kids 8&9 if they see her in it then they want a turn.

Pool, we get a ton of use, it costs a ton and is a ton of work. Wife tolerates using it with the kids, wishes she could just relax in it peacefully.

Soaking tub (which she has wanted to upgrade to jacuzzi tub), again can't use peacefully.

PO ruined the fireplace room in current house by moving a wall, its useless. In other house I used it to heat TV room late at night vs heating the whole house. Yeah they are usually where the TV should go. In former dream home though there was a huge built out multi tier shelve/mantle around it that having the TV over it wasn't an issue.

In our next fully custom home it will not have any kind of fireplace but will have a large jacuzzi tub in the master bath. Will also finally have a pool table and hopefully the kids will not use the sticks as swords or hurt anyone/anything with the balls, will prolly just lock it all up LOL

Originally Posted by paimon.soror

before kids: lots of use!
newborns / new parents: barely used
kids grow up: probably more use from kids than parents
kids move out: im too old for this shit / how does this work again?

[bagekko]

Have you ever gotten one of the pro bug yard fog people to spray? At my old wooded area house we finally got them to come every month. It was amazing how well it can work, once you walked off property it was swarming with bugs but inside of where they sprayed it was 95%+ better.

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Don't think that spraying agent orange from a helicopter hasn't crossed my mind, but it would probably poison our well and bring the wrath of environmentalists by the busload.

[jsf721]

I’m just Missing the hot tub.

Pool is work but brings my kids around. It’s a
Magnet.

BBQ is not much work and we love it.

Originally Posted by tranquility

I've thought of 3 and they all pertain to outdoors:

swimming pool
It's a no-brainer for me since I'm not into swimming, and the upkeep is a bit of a nightmare in addition to just not liking the idea of stagnant water being treated w chemicals to keep it 'clean'.

hot tub
I thought that I would like it and actually was entertaining the idea but then I found out it's basically like a mini swimming pool w the stagnant water thing.

BBQ
Just don't want another hard-to-clean appliance, the grills are left outside and who knows what critters can crawl in there?

[Tyga11]

There is no upkeep in having a pool. I have a pool guy who charges $110 a month and he does everything.

You have to clean the filters 2x a year and maybe acid wash once every other year and that's literally it. The new pool pumps are bullet proof and actually not that expensive to install.

A boat is minimal work also, especially if you are on a lake.

[tranquility]

Originally Posted by Tyga11

There is no upkeep in having a pool. I have a pool guy who charges $110 a month and he does everything.

You have to clean the filters 2x a year and maybe acid wash once every other year and that's literally it. The new pool pumps are bullet proof and actually not that expensive to install.

A boat is minimal work also, especially if you are on a lake.

LMAO, ofc there's upkeep....you just paid someone else to do most of it!

[Tyga11]

Originally Posted by tranquility

LMAO, ofc there's upkeep....you just paid someone else to do most of it!

Very minimal. I don't really do anything and it's literally $100 a month...

[tranquility]

Originally Posted by Tyga11

Very minimal. I don't really do anything and it's literally $100 a month...

Dude, if it's very minimal, why waste ~$100/mth when you can just diy? ...and I'm not really talking about money, why have a stranger come onto your property handling your stuff if it's a breeze?