chef, what do you mean, having them match? You are like a sister of mine, very detailed oriented. She notices every little thing. It's so funny what bugs one person, the next person doesn't even think about.

I personally don't give much thougt to switches and receptacles, only that they match the interior and each other.

I'm curious to see what everyone else has to say on this.

Well, like paint colors, this is a subjective question ;-)

Toggle switches vs. tap, decora vs. duplex, satin vs gloss switches/receptacles, the way many installers leave a sloped drywall edge due to how the cornedbeards are installed as opposed to flat square edges....

It's all in the details for me. But that's just me....

Why do you think carpenters have square pencils instead of round ones?

so they won't roll away

I did think about that and purchased all new switch and plugs for the remodeled house. I did stay with the same color (an almond color) because I tend to decorate in earth tones, but the switch plates themselves will match each of the room decor's...or in the case of the kitchen, match the surface they're on (ie the stainless countertop plates will be stainless but the ones in the tile will be painted to match the tile, and the wood ones in the island will be natural cherry.

I guess from reading that you could easily say that I'm a bit anal about the details.

I hate...rounded corners. They're great if you have no desire to decorate a room (ie the color of ALL walls has to be the same) because they provide no natural way to transition a color. I would reject my dream home if the rooms had rounded corners on inside walls.

I understand the switches issue... I have a Victorian house and some old push-button light switches. I also have a 1980s dimmer in the livingroom and one in the master bedroom. I have flip switches in the entryway and the upstairs hallway, and the bathroom and the second bedroom. The guestroom has pushbuttons.

It's one of those irritating little details to me personally, which I want to do something about. Fortunately they've re-manufactured the old timey pushbutton switches, which is what I hope to convert it all over to.

It's not a big issue in the great scheme of things, but it all adds up to atmosphere.

--Jenn

It's funny you mention that igloochic. I totally agree with you (although it may not dissuade me from my dream house, lol). That is actually a selling feature around here (mentioned in MLS descriptions and the like) and I don't get it. The way I've seen it dealt with best (besides having it all one color of course) is to take one of the colors around the edge and start the other color just after the round.

The thing that drives me insane deals with flips, or updated, homes we encounter (DBF is an RE agent). There are just so many half @$$'d ones, and you just have to shake your head and think "WHAT are they THINKING?!?!". For example, in our own neighborhood there is a place for sale with an incredibly well done new kitchen. Really nice. Wood, granite, nice appliances...gorgeous. This kitchen is part of a larger great room. Not very big, but you'd have your kitchen, your eating area, and a family room in a big rectangle. Well, on the opposite wall from the kitchen is the fireplace wall...with the original dated peach tile?!? When you were adding all those pull outs and super susans and cutlery drawers and tiling that incredible back splash...it never occurred to you to do something about the fireplace?!? Bathrooms are the same deal...master bath = gorgeous, guest bath = untouched. Hasn't sold in over a year, and they just reduced the price another $25,000 today. JUST FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED, ACK!!!!

So, yeah...that is a pet peeve of mine, lol.

As for the rounded corners leading from one room to the next: My entry leads to dr and are different colors. The painter used some sort of laser looking light beam and made a perfect line with it just inside the "round". Worked great.

I love the look of old houses in which it is obvious that they have rolled with the punches through the years, they have gone from candelit rooms to chandeliers, from rusty metal to brass, and on to silver candelabras, silver tea sets, brass galley trays, verdigris ornamentation adorning the walls that once adorned the garden, fancy light switches of bronzed gold, to plastic and now to the simplicity of chrome. Is there a right way or is it just because some lack the imagination to move through time? What is it about these rooms that boast oak stairwells and mahogany bookcases, kerosene lamps and large antlered chandeliers that make me love them when I turn on the now-running water in the marble bathroom which has chrome fixtures and use the vinyl tub where a claw foot once sat.

Jenn, although I don't have any original pushbutton switches, replacing all the plain plastic toggles with replicas is on my "wanna" list. There are even dimmers, low-voltage, and multipole switches in that format now, which is super cool. The old-fashioned toggle switches that have that satisfying "click" would be good too, I know someone makes them but I can't remember who off the top of my head. It's not that I want the house to be paralyzed in time, there are just small details that make the place special especially since I am not blessed with such niceties as mahogany and marble. As you say, atmosphere. If I'm going to go to the trouble of researching, purcha$ing and installing period or reproduction lighting, generic white/almond/beige plastic switches to control it just doesn't seem right.

At my previous house I had paintable wall plates that covered the entire receptacle (Taymac Masque) - you actually put the plug through the plate. Looked fantastic, just fading away into the wall, and functioned so well. I can't use them in this house without doing some mondo wall patching, since PO was very sloppy and most of the holes are too big, showing gaps around the sides of the plate. I'll have to put on those icky oversized plates for the interim. Some of the outlets are in the baseboards which I actually quite like. I just can't bear decora switches though. I know some people find them convenient and even attractive but they're just so... huge. Yech.

Rounded corners... yeah, we have that problem with most of the corners on the old plaster walls, although it's a very tight curve not the large one you see with, say, adobe-style construction. Many of them have to be redone, they're all crumbly. :-/ Don't have the paint issue with them though, since all our rooms are well defined, thank goodness.

I don't care too much about the switches, other than I'd love to find some like the one we had in the DR of the 1906 house I grew up in. The switchplate was a beveled edge mirror and the pushbutton was mother-of-pearl. I did change out some plastic plates here with simple white ceramic ones, but we also have some brassy-looking outlet covers in the LR that I might try to find more of.

kim2007,
I was intrigued by the mirror switch covers and look what I found!

This place has a huge number of cover styles - I almost want to upgrade mine.

I have not used this business, just found them on the internet.

Here is a link that might be useful: GLASS MIRROR Switch Plates

woodswell, thanks so much for searching that out! It's bookmarked for future reference! Back in May I spoke with the current owner of the house I grew up in and alas, he said the mirror switchplate (and some other vintage features I recalled) was no longer there in the house : (

Woodswell...you're gonna cost me another fortune! I LOVE that website. I'm going to have a blast ordering plates. Who'd a thunk it!!!!! I have to have the fairy door outlet covers, and the frank lloyd write switch plates and the art.......oh dear I can't decide..I NEED THEM ALLLLLLLLLL

(This might be worse than the knob fixation of 2007 1/2)

It's a fine balance between making everything uniform just like in a brand new house, and the huge amount of resources that doing so can suck up. The resources and time spent getting a flip stylistically perfect aren't always reflected in the purchase price. My partner's parents spent much of their lives flipping places for a living... and their opinion was pretty much that unless you got the materials at a dirt cheap price and wouldn't need to use much purchased labour, if it wasn't broken you should think very carefully indeed before replacing it. Mostly they concentrated on getting traffic flows right, opening up the feel of a place with paint and windows and doors and sometimes new rooms, applying currently missing cornices, trims etc to suit the era and fixing up the flooring to be either polished boards or uniform carpet (usually purchased secondhand) throughout. They would put in a kitchen or bathroom up to the general standard of houses in that area if the old one was disgusting or unusable, but if it wasn't then it wasn't usually worth the effort and cost, most people would prefer not to pay for what was put in. Even when they put in kitchens etc, most of the stuff they used was purchased very cheaply indeed, secondhand, at auctions or salvage places.

So yeah... best flip is dark, pokey, cramped to spacious light and well set out.

JohnMari, I think it's Rejuvenations (and one other catalog that I can't remember the name of at the moment-- "come on, Coffee, do your thing!") that's one of the places that has the old timey push button dimmer switches-- which, yep, are on my list. It's those little details and niceties sometimes that add a bit of atmosphere.

If I didn't already have a few rooms with those switches, it wouldn't be a detail I'd be as concerned with. But since I know they're original to the house... :-)

I've been slowly able to change over the ceiling fixtures to the painted cast iron deco-nouveau bare bulb style I have on my first floor, as well.

Good fun in the details, sometimes!
-Jenn

The only things that really seem to bother me are people that do nothing to their homes because they think it can't be done or may cost them a few pennies.

I hate going into someone's house that you know bought it as a "fixer upper" and they haven't touched a thing because um, they don't know how! Why did you buy it?

My friend often complains about her mother's house. It's older, fine...but they spent $25,000 making this HUGE bathroom downstairs (mind you it's like a master bath but the bedrooms are upstairs?) but you walk in the kitchen (bathroom is just off of it) and you've got harvest gold appliances, dark, dark cabinets, old flooring and paneled walls from a 1970's update. They bought this beautiful tiffany chandelier but it just doesn't go with the rest of the kitchen! LOL Or they have old shag carpeting with paneled walls and really nice, modern looking furniture. I guess my friend pointed out to her Mom that paneling can be painted and she didn't know that! LOL

Another example:

A local agent bought & "flipped" a 1/2 million dollar house in a great neighborhood. He did granite...too bad it is wafer thin with unbelievably poorly done seams. I mean...for goodness' sake a well done laminate would've been so much better. And he put in new wood cabinets...too bad the uppers are so narrow that you can't even fit a standard dinner plate in them. I kid you not.

We showed it to a client and needless to say they were none too happy (neither were we! This guy talked it up like our clients were going to be WOW'd...they were wow'd alright). We haven't shown it since. It also is not moving, no shocker there. I mean pull the uppers out and put in some standard sizes...how can skimping on kitchen cabinets to the point where you have no where to store a regular dish be something anyone would ever do?! I've got a million of these, I better stop, lol.

Windypoint, it sounds like your partner's parents completely transform spaces...I admire that.

Now do those of you with decorative switch plates also have decorative outlet covers throughout? This could get pricey.

:)

And we wonder why the Europeans call us "disposable?"

I can see why some features in homes are redone and others are not changed. Perhaps the people run out of money or run out of steam, or they may not notice or even think something needs to be redone. And they may not be professional flippers, so they splurge on some things that are important to them for the livability of the home and can't afford to on others. After redoing this house I also see why. Everything takes much more $ than you think and much, much, much more effort, time and labor. Particularly if you are living in the home while you are remodeling it. And pretty soon each project snowballs into another one. "Well if we did that - maybe we need to do that" an so on and so on.

I replaced all the plugs, light switches and plate covers in my whole house. They were a tan and now I have white. I am glad I replaced the plugs because some of them were worn out. I thought a lamp was bad in one room and it turns out it was the plug. House was built in 1984. Not sure how long the plugs should last? This was another snowball project. Once we remodeled the kitchen with white plugs, then the two bathrooms, we felt we had to change all the remaining ones in the rest of the house.

One thing I think people skimp on is landscaping. They spend thousands of dollars inside and won't even put in a 5 gallon tree, a few shrubs, some flowers, or a nice walkway up to the front door.

And some folks probably don't know about forums like this where they can get some really great advice from some really wonderful people.

Two things drive me batty. One is an immaculate home that smells like dog, because the owners are so used to dog smell, they no longer smell it.

The other is people who preach about being green because they're composting (or fill in the blank) and then drive SUV's.

I don't preach about being green, but I do compost for the benefits it provides my gardens. That's a no brainer. I think any attempt a person makes to be environmentally conscientious is a good thing.

Natal, bless you for not preaching!! I don't compost, but I'm religious about recycling and I let my lawn go dormant rather than water it. Some of my relatives / neighbors are on me because I don't compost, yet some of them don't recycle and most of them drive SUV's. Ya can't win! I think any bit each of us decides to do is a good thing.

I agree 100%, springvillegardens. What I'm referring to is flippers cutting the most bizarre corners while over upgrading in others.

I wish I had the money to complete my own wish list for this place, but one thing at a time. If I were flipping the place, I'd try and make the budget cover all the basics instead of blowing my wad on one area while leaving others looking terrible. I mean it literally boggles the mind...install brand new cabs, but cheaping out so badly that you can't put away a dish? Leave the old ones and clean them up instead, I would think. These are extremes, and they do hit a nerve with me, lol.

I'm definitely not "green", but I'm mindful whenever possible, and I think every little bit (no matter how litle, it is better than nothing right?) helps!

I wonder how long it will be before we have a "going green" forum on IV...or maybe there is?

The Going Green forum on IV (See link below)

Here is a link that might be useful: Going green

WOW...

I just got back in from picking up DD, refreshed this page and TADAAA! I'm excited to add that to my browsing pleasure, thank you.

I can't even imagine cabinets so narrow a dinner plate won't fit in them - wonder where they got them? I thought all cabinets were standard size?

I do have a compost pile and it does make the best "black gold" for the garden. I happen to have a tractor and can turn the pile with the tractor much easier than if I had to do it by hand. I don't mind a little hard work, but have so much to keep up with outside, that if didn't have a tractor, I would burn my debris because I wouldn't have the energy or time to turn the pile by hand.

We have a well but I conserve water whenever I can because it depletes the ground water to be wasteful - full load of clothes, full dishwasher, low flow toilets, etc. I also have irrigation water and conserve their too, even though I could use much more water than I do because I never use up the amount I am alloted per day. I figure the less I use the better the environment will be. I also try to (nicely) educate neighbors to the benefits of water conservation, but much of it goes on deaf ears.

Some of the green things people preach about irk me too, though. And assuming SUVs are not green is one of them. I drive an SUV and I am proud to say I do. I need a big car to haul all the stuff to remodel my home. Or I could pay HD $100 each time they deliver something to me with their fuel - because I am beyond their free delivery distance. Or I could rent a U-Haul truck each time I find a second hand piece of furniture to haul it home. If I had a pickup it would get worse mileage than my SUV - but no one every says anything about pickups - everyone assumes all SUV's get terrible mileage, but many pickups get worse mileage and some little cars don't get that great a mileage either. It is true SUVs probably don't get as good of fuel mileage as little cars but when you take into consideration what they are doing for their fuel economy then it is money well spent. When I drive my SUV, I am hauling tons of stuff in the back all in one trip: food, lumber, curtains, bags of concrete, furniture etc. and I get the same mileage whether I am loaded or empty.

We actually bought a small car and found out it didn't get the mileage stated by the manufacturer. Then DH hurt his shoulder, he couldn't pull himself in and out of the car any longer, so we sold it. Sometimes people have to drive bigger vehicles for their jobs or for other reasons.

As far as fuel economy goes I must add that most big trucks (18 wheelers) get between 5 and 10 mpg, but they can haul up to 80,000 pounds safely. Most everything we need in our stores: food, furniture, clothing, bricks, lumber, etc comes on a big truck - so they are necessary to keep our world going the way it does now.

As far as recycling cans and bottles, we don't have recycle pickup where I live. I live 34 miles round trip from anywhere that does. So I could drive my SUV to recycle the stuff 34 miles or save gas and throw it in my regular trash. Or I could save all the stuff in my side yard to take it all in one trip and meanwhile the bears, raccoons and skunks could come and dig through the trash and toss it all over the place.

My mom recycles cans and bottles and is on a very limited budget. She spends her time and hot water washing out the cans and bottles because where she is they wouldn't take them any other way - not sure how much she is saving doing that because her water bill and natural gas bill went up doing so.

So I agree we should all do what we think is right, feasible and cost effective for ourselves and not judge others for doing differently. I might check out the green forum, I bet they'd have a field day with me.

Springvillegardens, so sorry I irked, but I wasn't at all referring to you or anyone else who posts here. I don't know you. But I do know my naggy neighbors and relatives and can tell you that they're not being green with their SUV's. And it only irks me because they're on my back about composting. If not for that, I pay no attention to what the next guy is doing. Maybe they have to be divorced and only two years out of a bout of cancer to get that some of us just don't have the energy.

A friend of mine bought a house with the cabinets too narrow for a dinner plate. That kitchen also had very expensive retro-looking oven and refrigerator that didn't really fit the space very well. Definitely a case of renovation & flipping gone awry.

Slight things driving me insane in the current house:

1) Master bath decisions by some previous owner (or possibly each of the previous owners) resulted in an off-white tub, white wall tile with a pink accent tile row, mauve countertop and moss-green paint wherever the tile isn't. Oh, and the floor is carpeted in beige, except the toilet stall which has what I assume were the original white linoleum floor and maize walls.

2) Lots of landings and stairways, all with railings spaced just a bit wider than a toddler's head. They look great, but I think we'll have to replace the whole lot of them... my nerves are shot whenever I'm on the upper floor with the baby.

mareda, you didn't irk me. Please don't take my little tirade personally, because I didn't direct it towards you or any one person. You seem like such a nice person - I think I recall a previous post of yours where you were selling your home that you had poured your heart into? Is that correct?

Anyway, it's been so plastered in the news about the horrors of SUVs. Since I drive one I am sensitive to that kind of propaganda.

Also, I think I am reeling from a local dinner group we belong to, most of whom are so called "greenies". Recently we hosted the group at our home for a dinner party for over 35 people and several came up to DH during the party and said "Where is your recycling?" He said right there - pointing to the trash, then they said "No, where is your RECYCLING" One person even said "Well you won't fit in with the group if you don't recycle your cans and glass". Since it was a party we didn't get into it. Funny, the person saying that didn't realize we don't care if we do fit in.

We try to live sensibly and responsibly for us and if that isn't good enough, well what can I say. Life brings us other circumstances we must deal with that are much more important, and we have had our share too.

Most people have no idea what other people's lives are like. I am trying in my middle and older years to become more tolerant of others, because I see no matter what I think is right, it may not be feasible or right for the next person.

mareda, thank you for bringing tolerance to my forefront.

foxes garden, sometimes other people's decorating decisions, or lack of them, make my nerves go kaput too. We have had lots of those types of decisions we have corrected in this house and are still correcting, it seems like it is never ending. But your descriptions make some of mine pale in comparison. When I worked as a landscaper I think code was balusters should be less than four inches from edge of baluster to baluster, so a child couldn't put their head through a railing and get stuck and also so a toddler couldn't squeeze through and fall. Not that you want to get into it, but depending upon the state building codes anything a greater distance than 4 inches between or 4.5 inches on center in most states would be a code violation and should be corrected by the building or remodelor. Contracors may think they are saving some money on lumber if they space balusters farther apart, but if a child falls through or gets their head stuck, then the savings were definitely not worth it.

Springville, normally the code violation involved in the stair baluster area is only required to be "repaired" if the stair baluster is being worked on. In my real home, our balusters are about 6" apart, and not safe for little heads, not to mention bodies, but because we're not touching the rails, we don't have to fix that (we have safety film over them to protect the kiddo's). In the place we just purchased as a corporate rental, my 2 year old can easily slide right through the railings (they're spaced far more than 6" apart but I haven't measured the specifics). I don't have to fix that either, but since it's going to be a rental, and I don't want a liability, I am going to do so as part of the remodel. I don't want the liability...but I also don't want a hurt baby on my concience. I'm odd that way.

We purchased it and will move in this week...in addition the the danger in the stairs...the bottom two floors don't even have balusters on them...they thought they were a "pain" to deal with so they removed them...OH YA that's bright in a rental!

We're blocking that level off totally until the remodel when that will also be fixed.

Now on the green thing....geeze I get tired of the people who love to preach green. Nifty keen, you've gone green...now get off my back! I don't drive an SUV, but I don't recycle, don't compost, don't ummmm heck I don't do a lot of stuff. Some I would do if it were an option (ie recycling but that's not really a valid option in Alaska) and I suppose since I gave my old kitchen away, that was green...but then I purchased a new one...so that's not...dang.

If someone said I couldn't play with their party people because I wasn't green enough....well honey, me and my fabulous red wine, will find someone else to play with! :oP

Acoreana, are there good sized drawers in the kitchen? That's popular -- putting dishes etc. in drawers rather than above. I think there are plate racks to stand them up in cabinets, too, if that helps :)

Springvillegardens, I'm glad my post didn't irk you because you and everyone else here are such sweeties I'd feel awful if I ever posted anything that offended any of you. I'm not moving ..... yet, so you must be thinking of someone else. I'm holding out as long as I can, but I live in one of the highest taxed counties in the country. Next year I'll have two in college, so 10K in property taxes for a 2,500 square foot home is making me hyperventilate. But I am holding out because the truth is I love my home and wish I could stay here.

Your party poopers sound like mine. What makes mine even more irritating is that composting is about the only thing they do. That's it. They don't go to the store to haul anything home because everything is delivered by the people doing all the work. Some of them don't even do their own laundry. And many of them have three and four SUV's, one for mom and dad and one for each of the kids. So you can see why I might be a little tempted to smack 'em upside the head when they start strong arming me about composting...lol.

We do what we can and try to have fun along the way, don't we? On topic - property taxes drive me insane!

LOL...squirrel you are a giver! You're always looking to help!

Nope, no nice big drawers. I mean why buy such a big gorgeous house, yank out the original cabs (I would've refaced'm, atleast they were standard size) just to cheap the heck out?!

Here are pics...they look regular size right? They're very shallow IRL...our customer is the one who caught it. She pointed out that the upper cabs were too small to put a dish, and she was right. Only the small dishes (dessert?) would fit. Now...I've got standard size cabs that don't fit the big honkin' dishes DBF bought for me @ pier 1, so I don't mean that. I mean a regular dish cannot fit.

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It could've been such a great house, too. Wish someone like reno_fan had bought it and redone it...this is such a shame.

I feel bad for the person who buys this place if they don't catch it. Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants? Spend a 1/2 mill on a place, and no where to put a dish.

The most recent thing I've seen that got me was also a newly redone kitchen. Can you guess what they put over the range and under the pretty wood hood: nope, not a vent-a-hood...nope, not any other venting of any kind...any other guesses? A light bulb.

Okay, I've got to stay out of this thread, it gets me going! lol Big time pet peeve.

(In the very near future I'm going to remove those pics, so there might be red x's later today/tom)

mareda, I must have been thinking of someone else. Yikes that is steep for taxes. We pay ours monthly to even out the dent in our pocket book.

acoreana, you had me going last night. I ran over to the kitchen and pulled out a dinner plate (I have my dinner dishes in a corner cabinet) and was checking the others to see if they fit. They do. But a charger would not fit in those. But I designed my kitchen with two corner cabinets, uppers and lowers, which are deep in the middle - and large enough for big platters and chargers to fit in those uppers, and large pots and pans will fit in the lowers.

I agree that kitchen looks terrible for that priced home. I never would have dropped the ceiling in that kitchen and would have designed it much differently. It does look like an odd shaped space. Sometimes a plain old rectangle is a better use of space than all those angles.

From the Bob Vila site: Standard base cabinets built in the U.S. are 34-1/2-inches high and 24-inches deep. Wall cabinets, except those above a range hood or refrigerator, are 30-inches high and 12-inches deep.

So plates should be less than 12 inches in diameter. My plates are 10 1/2 inches in diameter.

No vent hood - isn't that code? No wonder you are peeved.

That 12" debth is actually from the front of the cabinet to he back typically, which leaves you more like 11" in useable space within the cabinet. This is why we have 15" uppers for our kitchen. I don't want my cabinets to get to choose my dish sizes :)

That kitchen looked cheap to me. The ceiling in particular was awful.

I have 14.5 or 15" uppers myself. Kept the bottoms standard depth. It took a little getting used to.

Next time around, I'm bumping out the upper and bottom cabs.

I can understand why extra slim cabinets exist, we've got one (1) in our kitchen because at a particular spot it is just what fits... but anyone choosing to use them all through a kitchen just for economy needs a good kick in the head.