At my vanity / dressing table I had a 4x outlet wired specifically for curling irons. It's wired to a switch, and I keep a night light plugged into one of the outlets -- so I turn on curling irons with a switch and can tell whether they're on or off because of the night light.

We also had a switch wired to the outlet we planned to use for the Christmas tree . . . so can turn it on and off at the wall without crawling under it.

Lights for the stair steps (but maybe this is standard nowdays) and central vac dust pan in the kitchen (central vac isn't "low cost" but adding the dust pan was!).

Rope lights on top of the cupboards . . . one small run provides a perfect night light.

Thanks for starting this thread . . . I'm looking forward to the responses!

We put cable tv outlets outside for our annual Derby/Oaks day parties.

My dh ran speaker wire, speakers and volume knobs to just about every room in the house. Now we can have music whenever and wherever we want it.

Added an uncovered grilling deck to our covered deck.

We added a gas bib to our covered deck so we can hook up the BBQ. We can grill year round.

The mention of bibs reminds me: put frostfree water bibs outside wherever you even "think" you might want water.

We like our bluestone chip driveway. Much less expensive than cement or asphalt. One day we will add some pavers. (You do need to hire an snow plower experienced with gravel driveways.)

We got "instant landscaping" by buying a teardown. Only had to landscape close to the house. Sewer and all utilities were already there -- big savings.

Our carpenter took cheap, flat panel garage doors and overlaid them with wood trim, creating unique carriage doors for a third of the cost of Wayne Dalton-types.

Same carpenter made extra deep boxes that became our medicine cabinets. Mirrored backs. Framed mirrors are the fronts. Elec. outlets inside each one.

Kitchen man adapted stock cabinets to create our library bookcase wall.

Ceiling mouldings can be manufactured wood product.

Wide window casings are attractive enough without drapes.

hostagrams...could you tell more about your lights for the stair steps? We are trying to avoid can lighting above the stairs...

chisue.....could you tell more about the library bookcase wall? We are plannning on big bookcases in the office, but didn't want to take out another loan to do it! Pics if you can...

Thanks! Love this thread...we really need it!

And, chisue, could you give a little more information about your medicine cabinets? That sounds like exactly what I'm after. Thanks! Kate.

Sorry, too computer-handicapped for pictures. In the Library we just added "kitchen" base cabinets and shelving all across one wall, on a raised platform (covered by our 8" high baseboard). There are four 22' wide base cabinets with shelving above them. They flank a low shelf (for the TV) that is atop two 20" wide drawers, laid side by side. Above the TV recess are a pair of cabinets that hold our electronics. Six groved vertical panels separate the units. Our speakers are mounted into the top shelving. More grooved panels trim the top. There is a two foot deep area behind all this to access the electronic equipment. My laptop is on a pull-out shelf in one of the base cabinets. The kitchen guy spray-painted everything in his shop and assembled it all on site.

For the medicine cabinets: Find a pair of big, framed mirrors. These will be the "doors". Build boxes as deep as you like, to be recessed into your walls. Mirror the back interior of the boxes. Add electrical outlets to the interior of the boxes. Add shelves (ours are glass). You can add mirror to the back of the doors if you like (we didn't). Install the boxes. Hinge the framed mirrors and add magnetic catches. Voila!

Be sure the boxes are level so that the doors will open and close properly and be sure you have hinges that will support the mirrored weight. Choose a size that is good with your sinks. (Our pedestal sinks are 30" wide; mirrors are about 24" wide by 36" high.) This provides a lot of space, but I also have a linen closet in the bathroom.

Of course you can buy ready-made, deep, triple-mirrored medicine cabinets, but for more money and only in certain sizes.

Kate, the stair step lights are pretty basic . . . I still have can lights in the stair well but we tend to turn these on at night and then don't use the can lights. They're especially nice for overnight guests - we leave them on for nightlights.

Here is a link that might be useful:

hostagrams! that is exactly what I wanted to do, but was told that lights like that are only for decks!! Where did yours come from?? Thanks!

my addition is strictly cosmetic and I stole it from someone who moved into her house months ago. her house turned out beautiful and I apologize i forget her screename. We added a transom to the casings between 2 very open rooms--the dining room and living room. It was relatively LOW cost and I think it adds SO much to the space. It was about $400 for the materials and no upcharge on the labor since they already had to trim it out--they just trimmed it in a different way as a result. here's a picture:

{{gwi:1481277}}

Weary: My son-in-law built this house and will build the new one in Tennessee. He puts these in almost all his houses . . . I'll check with him and see what to look for and where.

I'm wondering if there are any that are a little less utilitarian looking . . . may ask him that, too!

thanks hostagrams!

Weary: My SIL said he just calls them tread lights and picks them up at the local electrical supply house. I found the same thing on a website . . . link below. I'd print off the picture and check around your city -- even the box stores -- you can probably find it locally. They're only for interior use, carry a 40 watt max bulb, which is more than enough. Mine alternate down the stairway, about every 4-5 steps.

good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: tread lights

Thank you so much Hostagrams! When you say alternate down the steps, do you mean a light on the left, go down 4 steps or so, light on the right, then repeat?

And, do you use the can lights above, or do you think those could be left out? I've seen several people mention that can lights are actually only for looks....they don't really light anything up.....

Our house is 1.5 stories, with the back wall of the laundry/kitchen/pantry backing the stairway to the second floor. The other side of the stairway wall is the wall for the garage. There is a 3/4 height door from the back of the garage into the under-stair space for servicing the tankless water heater there, as well as getting at the small storage space that's there.

We have 4 cats, and REALLY didn't want the litter boxes in the pantry, but where to put them?!? So, after a flash of brilliance, we had a 1 x 1.5 ft hole framed into the back of the pantry wall, in the lower corner. So, the cats have their own private cat bathroom under the stairs, away from everything!!!

Transoms - as above. We added 6 of them, all of them downstairs: 1/2 bath, entry to Mster BR, Study - both door openings (we changed our dining room to a study & added double french doors to the main entry & a french door to the kitchen side entry - it looks really nice!), transom to both kitchen entries that lead from the family room. Total - ~$100 each. All of these are visible as you walk-in the main entry.

Added lots of single & double crown molding, chair rail milding, picture frame molding to stairway wall. Haven't gotten the final cost for the extra molding, but I believe it will be very well worth it!

Transoms here too! I hadn't seen them anywhere else on new construction, but with this thread we might see a trend back to them? :)

We paid $200 a piece. They are the one element that gives the most character to the house.

Still can't get this to work on here with the IMG link, which would put photo right into thread. Any tips?

Here is a link that might be useful:

maggiepie11 and tragusa3, your transom windows are stunning. Can you tell me how tall your ceilings are - I'm guessing 9'? Thank you -

Karen

Thanks! They are 9' in the photo, but the great room has a 10' tray.

We put 5 total in the house, and in hindsite should have added a few more.

To those with those beautiful transoms....

Are they open millwork or paned glass? Do they tend to collect dust? Like the old traditional transoms, did you consider the operable transoms (allows better airflow).

I have always loved operable transoms in old homes - both for aesthetics as well as functionality.

our ceilings are 9' in the rooms with the transoms as well.

roses--i'm not much of a wood or glass worker, so i'm not familiar with the terms you're using.

ours are strictly interior decoration--no need for operable transoms here. i'm sure it collects dust like everything else unfortunately! haha it's a 16' wide space the transom spans, so it's 4 separate pieces (3.5' long each) of 4 pane window strips that were trimmed out and finished by a carpenter. i think that answers your question but not sure. :) we just showed our builder a picture and said "can we have this?"

Mine are individual panes of glass that have been framed and trimmed around. Is that what you were after?

Haven't noticed dust, but its only been a month. I'm sure it will.

Operable transoms would have easily been 4-5 times as much. Didn't see the need, although it would have been cool!

Yes maggie and tragusa, you answered my questions! I have thought about adding operable transoms over doorways to my bedrooms/bathroom, so even if the door is closed, cooling/heating will circulate better throughout the house. Yours are very beautiful and certainly adds character to the rooms.

Maggiepie your transom is very pretty and your wall color is beautiful. Are you finished renovating this area? I would love to see photo's of the furnished area.

Great topic!! Chisue, could you explain in more detail how your carpenter trimmed your garage doors to make them look like carriage doors? Were they basic garage doors or do they have windows? Did he completely cover them with wood or just add wood trim to the edges of each door panel?? I am dying to find out how this would work because I would love to have wood doors instead of metal ones.

Is there a way you could explain it? Thanks!!

gosh, hard to remember everything now, but these things come to mind:

outdoor wiring for x-mas lights under eaves and wiring run in trench down to street for future light posts at driveway's end. also ran water line to street for future irrigation needs.

outdoor wiring for stereo speakers which will hang on the back porch adjacent to the deck we will build. perfect for outdoor entertaining. many key rooms in the house are also pre-wired for stereo speakers in the ceiling - the rooms that come to mind are the bedrooms, family room, loft and study/office.

lots of water spigots on outside of house - two on the front, one on the back and one on each side.

ran water and electric lines to the barn for future bathroom in barn and for electric in barn. DH did this himself. and he ran water lines to the garden for irrigation.

electric outlet under center window in two-story foyer (we have a small shelf there) for x-mas decorations.

ceiling fans on back porch - they are pure heaven this hot summer we're having!

wired every room in house (except butler's pantry and small bathrooms, although master bath itself is wired) with data and phone and TV lines. (I'm serious. Even the laundry room and barn have the potential for computer, phone and TV.)

put in special speaker at front door instead of doorbell - it rings on the phone when someone pushes the "doorbell" and we can talk to them over the phone line. This prevents dogs from running like maniacs to front door if a doorbell were to ring.

made room in laundry/mudroom for future dog shower and a wall for hooks/cubbies for coats, boots, gloves, etc.

made huge walk-in pantry. it is my favorite thing in the entire house. (almost - kitchen is real fave!)

recessed area for fridge into the wall so that we could put in a full-size fridge and it looks like a counter-depth - saved us $600 on counter-depth fridge and we get a bigger fridge. the bump-out is in the walk-in pantry so completely unnoticeable.

potfiller over cooktop - so handy for filling big pots of pasta!

prep sink in island - I love the second sink. it's fabulous.

instant hot tap at kitchen sink

dedicated iron plug in laundry room

manual transfer switch so that we can convert to generator power if electricity goes out.

rough-in plumbing in basement for future bathroom when basement is finished.

lights in glass-front cabinets in kitchen and butler's pantry - so pretty to show off dishes.

special glass-front cabinet for cookbooks.

extra strong vent-a-hood fan over cooktop - vents to outside and sucks away ALL cooking odors

added blocking and extra support behind fireplace wall where we knew we'd be hanging a flat-screen tv.

added blocking to all bathrooms where towel bar and tp holders would be installed.

put tilt-out trays on fake drawer fronts under sink for sponges, etc.

put pull-out trays in many of my kitchen cabs - great for easy access to pots and pans.

that's all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure I'm forgetting something...

I have the lights on my steps. We bought them at Lowes. To be honest, we never use them. They take very low wattage bulbs or they get very hot and shut themselves off (which is a good thing). We also have a small overhead light so I guess that's why we don't use the little stair lights. I think they were $20 for the light and then $20 for the trim.