CountryByNet.com Forums :: Where did you splurge?

I'm glad you-all re-found this thread, it has sure gone in a few different directions. I's good to hear what everyone did what's "special" to their homes.

I can say, Pat, that I was a long-time reader and reviewer of your Oklahoma farmhouse series. Many great ideas and innovations there. I did like what you said about your shower, so I did somewhat similar, with it ending up around 4' X 7', no door, no curb, just slope, and a standard showerhead as well as the new rain tile from Kohler, which I do love. And you are sooooo right about how nice it is to step from the bedroom (with a warm floor) into a bathroom with a warm floor, into a warm shower, and out. I didn't do the tubing-in-the-walls part and haven't noticed any issues with coolness.

I did order a couple of wall niches for the shower as well as for the tub area upstairs. They had to be inserted in the walls, taped and then compounded over, before being tiled - with 2 openings in them for a shampoo bottle and for soap. These were internet purchases - no such thing in stores up here.

Top 8 best things I did, though, in no particular order :

1. I had the whole house wired for internet, sound, and satellite. The main can for it all is in the basement, with feeds everywhere - it's great.
2. Bought a set of dimmer switches (made by Lutron), called AURORA. These dimmers (they come as a set of 5, but you can add more) are connected to a main control panel that you can plug in anywhere in the house (mine is on a night table beside the bed), so you can leave all the lights in the house on, that are controlled by these dimmers, then hit a "Master Off" button to turn them all off after you get to bed. They also come with a remote control device like a garage door opener that you can hit when you drive up to your house at night, and turn them all on to either full brightness or to the level you had pre-set them to. Or of course the reverse, turn all the lights off or down after you get out to your car if you go out after dark. I LOVE this set-up and use it all the time. Plus, for filling out a survey after installing it, they sent me a second remote device and extended the warranty from 1 to 2 years - not bad. I bought this setup off e-Bay for about $400 - they retail up here for $750.
3. Had the wiring panel wired with a transfer switch for an emergency generator, which can plug in out at the garage, and also added a single whole-house surge protector. The main power feed come from the street to a pole, then down the pole and underground into the garage to a 200-amp panel, then feed underground to the house, with another 200-amp panel plus the transfer switch panel.
4. Had a remote furnace turn-on device added - it works by telephone. Until I retire, and since I live an hour and a half away in the city where I work (Halifax), I keep the radiant floor heat down around 11-12 degrees C - maybe 45-50 F through the week. It takes a few hours to warm up if I wait until I get there after work on Fridays for the weekend. So now I can phone my house mid-day Friday and turn the heat up so this way, it's warm when I get there. So far, a good idea!
5. Sounds a bit cheesy, but I put twin round stainless sinks in the kitchen. They are really unique, look great, are functional, and nobody who comes in has ever seen them anywhere else. They were in the display area at the kitchen place I used, and I liked them right away. And they were LESS expensive than the sink I had originally planned on!
6. I chose hickory engineered hardwood floors for almost the whole the main floor - kitchen, LR, DR, BR, closets. All but for the tile in the entry way, hallway and bathroom. The hickory was glued down because of the cement floor for the radiant heating system, and it too looks GREAT. The maple kitchen cabinets complement the hickory nicely.
7. I wasn't afraid to use some color on the interior walls. Blue walls in the kitchen-living room-dining room, white trim, and a reallllly light blue on the ceiling. The ceiling part had me a bit scared after it went on first, it looked REALLY blue, but when the walls were painted the darker blue, the ceilings look almost white. The master bedroom I made pumpkin with a light tan ceiling. Upstairs - a pale yellow bedroom, a sage green bedroom, and the bathroom is split with both those colors in it.
8. I had ceiling fans put in the master bedroom, and in the screen porch. No need in the winter, but they'll be useful on some of the warmer summer days. We don't get a lot of really hot weather in the summer, and I'm on the water, so central AC is not really common up here, nor really needed. I may get a little unit for the bedroom for the few nights in the summer it gets too hot to sleep. Or I could sleep in the basement!! (as yet unfinished).

I hope some of these ideas help you too, TroyBilt

. This board was a great source of ideas to me before, but I did what you said too - add inn details in every room that are yours, unique and not necessarily expensive, that make it a special home.

Ian M.
Transferred to Nova Scotia, making plans to retire as soon as the economy lets me!

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