Many times when you walk into a house and you see how things were done you just have to say "wow that was a bad idea." Now I am sure that in years to come some future person will look at some of what we have done and say "why did they do that?" Of course they will immediately be seen as ignorant by their contemporaries and shunned for life, but that is a fair price to pay for doubting the skills and ideas of the Spoelstras.
This must have been a nice spacious kitchen at some time before someone decided that building cupboards in the middle of the floor plan with that handy-dandy pass through was just what the kitchen needed to give it that modern look. It took us quite a bit of time with a sledge hammer to get that travesty torn out. When I see those home shows and they begin taking out cabinets with a sledge hammer I always end up yelling at the TV, "take the screws out of the back and they will fall right off the wall." Well, not on this lovely useful set. They were put in with 16p nails. Bad floor plan and bad building skills.
This closet was just the thing when this house was last remodeled. Only when the sliding door was opened notice exactly how high the actual floor in the closet was. There was nothing under that false floor either. Maybe it was just put in so small children could not use the closet. I suppose that might be handy but it would really cut down on storage space which is pretty much the purpose of a closet. I am not sure that the beauty of the mahogany paneling made up for the bad idea of less storage although they do say less is more. Maybe not in this case.
There are home owners that have very strange ideas when it comes to electrical wiring. Pulling triplex wiring out through the sill and just running it up the side of the house is not a good plan unless you are hoping to electrocute someone. And you really want a good money saving idea like this to run right up in front of a window too. That way you can just look out the window everyday and say, "Yea that was a good idea. I saved some expense there" and it is easy to see if anyone is laying on the ground electrocuted.
See that electrical cord plugged into the metal box screwed into the sheet rock? That cord was originally off of an electrical tool. You want to save the cord if the tool fails. Never know when it will come in handy. That is a dead circuit here because I had unplugged it from a live outlet. Yes that is right whoever thought this was a good idea had wired this outlet with the cord plugged into an outlet in the adjoining room. I suppose if you wanted to shut the door you could just unplug the wire. Now I wonder why more remodelers don't use this easy fix to add outlets. It is a life hack everyone should use exactly never. I can just image what the city inspector would have said.
Hey if you are attaching a piece of plywood to the studs you can never use too many nails. If you don't put a nail every inch that baby may just fall right off the studs and who would want that to happen? Not the builder who put this in. I wonder how much of the cost of this built in storage was just for the line item on the bill for nails. There must have been a pretty steep markup on the nails to want to take the time to hand nail that many. That is correct every nail put in with a hammer no pneumatic nailer was used on this brilliant job.
Then there is this lovely safety fix. First nail some plywood along the basement stairs so no one will fall down from the side.Take some pipe insulation and put it on the top edge of the plywood. Then make sure you put some caution tape on the project so it will be highly visible. All in all this should really be on pinterest so more houses could share the joy. Always try to have the railing on each side of the stairs at a different height also, that just adds to the fun-house effect.
Coming in the door with wet shoes. Wouldn't want to set those shoes on the carpet. It could leave a stain. I have an idea. Let's nail a piece of peg board to the floor. That is water proof right. I am sure no water would go through those holes in the pegboard and make the carpet permanently wet underneath. Brilliant, man brilliant.
You have a hole in the paneling. You have a left over piece of OSB board. Well problem solved. Nail that OSB board right over the hole and who would ever notice. It is all wood right? well, sort of, Nah, not even close.
Thinking you could use a little more heat in basement. Why not just cut the bottom out of a heat duct. Might make it a little on the cold side in the bedroom this vent is supposed to heat, but that is probably because your furnace is under sized. Lets see heat rises so the bedroom will heat first right? Well maybe not if the air has to turn a 90 degree corner and rise into the bedom but blows straight out into the basement. This sure seemed like a good idea when the fellow had his tin snips in hand.
Oh I know lets screw an electrical box to the floor. Drill a hole straight down and run up a telephone wire and then sort of attach a phone jack to it. I am thinking they must have missed out on those preschool toys that taught most of us you can not pound a square peg into a round hole. See there was a reason we played with that hammer and pegs as toddlers. Maybe there should be a little remedial learning for some. No, if they didn't learn it before the age of 5 they are most likely beyond hope at this point.
OK for the person who did not know, putting trim around the tub at the bottom of the tub surround is not a sign of high intelligence I have just one piece of advice. Don't do that.Water gets behind it and you have defeated your purpose. It also gives your shower that "aint no way I am showering in that" look. I guess this is one way to keep guests from staying too long.
It's pretty easy to look at other's house projects and shake your head as you ask yourself, "What were they thinking?"But how often do we see people with really bad ideas when it comes to their lives? I see far too much of it in the lives of many I meet. Children born to single mothers. Broken marriages because we "fell" out of love. I need something to make me happy because I just need a break from life, so a little recreational medication comes into play. I really don't want to pay all those taxes so I will fix the books just a bit. No one will miss the money if I take just a little and I will put it right back when I get paid next week.
I wonder if some who see me think I am pursuing some bad ideas in my life too. I most likely am but we are too often blind to our own faults. What starts out looking to us like a good idea can turn bad after some time passes. Maybe its time to start living intentionally building God's kingdom. Making sure every idea will play out well in God's eyes long term and not just a quick fix for today. Those quick fixes that leave us feeling good today quite often turn out to be bad ideas in the long run.
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