What would be best location for Wet bar & Open/close Home theater ?
Victor
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
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electrician vs home theater specialits
Comments (6)A lot of home theater specialists are jokes just as an electrician that claims to be one but is not really. A well rounded electrician would be best, one guy taking care of everything and integrating it together. Have to check out their website or research products they want to use, might check some references too. The price goes up with better quality in control and extra wiring for flexibility. For example my friends Electrical/AV business bid $60k on a 2 mill house for having distributed high def, audio, and everything. A big chain store bid against him at about $1,000 plus some equipment and tv's. At finish, nothing worked and the TVs only received standard cable TV. Turns out each place had only 1 cat5 wire or 1 cable TV wire, often running to complete random places. My friends business got called in to give them a bid to fix, post sheetrock. Going up $20k in price from his last bid, they had to settle with rigging the wiring together and using basic universal remotes. If you want control of all aspects, check out the website for Elan home systems, they can locate a dealer. It integrates nicely with several brands of alarms, t-stats, ipod, lutron lighting. They have a basic touchpad with an LCD screen that tells you what is happening. Also a full touch screen that can view cameras, have lots of buttons, and even watch TV on the screen itself. I use it in my own home and haven't found much it can not do. Adding the alarm system I just installed to it only involves adding a re-made driver to the touchpad/screen programming. The stuff is not cheap at retail, ($1,000 touch screen, $350 touch pad, $1000 radio tuner, $600 Ipod dock, $1,000 6 zone switcher/ amp) But it is serious stuff that will not be screwing up and breaking. For lights, if your A/V company is not already an electrician. Make sure to find an electrician that offers lighting control and that it is compatible with the A/V company you chose. It is often not good to have someone else come in to put lighting control on the other electricians wiring. Especially if you homerun lights to a control panel instead of conventional switch boxes. A very basic, lowest bidder would say, "Huhhh... we can't run the lights all the way there..." Just check what your getting. Telling someone you want sound in those rooms could result in them popping in an A-bus keypad that only does volume and sounds like crap with being powered by cat5....See MoreWhat kind of bar would look and work best from the other side?
Comments (38)Marti- We went through that too. Thought about every possible potential use of the space and got discouraged by people who insisted we needed to have an island or nothing at all. I understand the sentiment, but different things work for different people. I mentioned it took us a year to go through the layout/design phase, right? We considered everything. I am going to try to attach a copy of an ideabook from houzz where I collected some photos to help me decide what to do with the beam/bar area. I liked some of the photos and disliked others, but kept them all to help me think it through... I have some other pictures, not on houzz that I will try to attach separately. Here is a link that might be useful: Houzz ideabook...See MoreTurn Wet Bar (Room) Into Pantry?
Comments (8)Thank you all for the additional insight. I do not have a floor plan yet, but I can try to draw one out and see what I can do about finding somewhere to host the images. Any suggestions on free software that I could use to draw out a layout? Otherwise maybe I can use graph paper and take a digital picture. The wet bar room is literally just across the small laundry room from a powder room (which is a much larger space than this teeny tiny room). So you're probably right that a hand washing sink really won't add much of anything. I could see the sink being useful when we do remodel the kitchen (as a temporary kitchen), though it would require that area to be finished prior to the kitchen remodel. I think I'd want the cabinetry to match, so I'll have to plan accordingly. I've also been considering having a plumber look at adding a sink off of this same plumbing stack in the garage (for working on cars, gardening, painting, etc). The little room and sink back directly onto a bump out section of the garage. Maybe it would make sense to get rid of the inside sink and just have the sink in the garage. (I need to find out if this is possible since we do have to worry about pipes freezing in Utah.) If I do close off the space, I'm not certain whether I can fit a sink and a pantry in the enclosed space. It's fairly narrow, so it might be difficult. I'll have to post a layout for your review to get some help with that. I'm actually not even certain if I can comfortably fit cabinetry across what's now the bar (if I go standard 24" deep cabinets to fit a wine or beverage fridge) without visually negatively impacting our family room. I think all in all I like the idea of somewhere to keep barware, wine, maybe some beer (so it's not all outside in our garage). I have quite a few beer, champagne, and shot glasses that I really love, though we rarely use them. It might be nice to have some glass display cabinets to show them off. And I think the practicality of an actual pantry (yay!) would be very high on my list. In terms of resale, I think you're absolutely right plllog. It's a house with 3 bedrooms (maybe 4 depending on how we finish the basement) and a nice yard. Considering the region (Utah) and the neighborhood (suburban, fairly upscale with great schools) I suspect swapping out the wine fridge for a beverage fridge will be a must. The cabinetry probably would still be desired since it could easily be a place for kids to grab drinks and such. For us, we do not have children or any intention of having children. I'm honestly not certain when we might sell. This is our first house (we've lived here for 5 years) and I really hope to some day move somewhere with a bigger yard that's hopefully at the base of our spectacular mountains. (We live about a 5 minute drive away, but want to be closer.) I would hope we might be able to upgrade within 5-10 years. However, life happens and my significant other is changing his profession so that impacts our financial plans for the near future....See MoreClose to finalizing home plans, would ❤️ any feedback/suggestions!
Comments (29)There are some lovely details to your plans, and I love the elevations! With a home of that size I would make each bedroom with an ensuite bathroom including the boys rooms. It will make a difference for resale down the road. Upstairs you have 2 bathrooms not attached to bedrooms. I would lose the half bath and make duplicate baths where the Jack and Jill is now. or, keep the half bath and add the second ensuite. The extra cost for 2 baths with those bedroom is minimal compared to the overall cost of the home. The bath in your daughter's room is huge. Bigger is not always better. (I have had big bathrooms and a big house and sometimes the bigger rooms feel like a hike to get across! Especially the distance to the toilet in the middle of the night. The toilet should be closer to the bed in case there is a middle of the night in the dark trip to there) As the mother of a teen daughter, I would recommend a double vanity/sink, huge counter space and expansive well lit mirror that will accommodate a gaggle of teen girls putting makeup on and doing hair to get ready to go out or just because. That will make a bigger difference than all the floor space in there :)The only reason I would make that attached bathroom that big is if I thought I would use that room and have the kids doubling up in the other bedrooms there when smaller so you are all close. I would move the closets in your daughter's room to between her room and the other bedroom for sound proofing. That would allow some reworking of the bathroom. Noise proofing between rooms will go a long way to peace between teens who are playing music or games. Downstairs, where does the dining room table go? I would swap the entry closet with the half bath that is right by the front door. This moves that half bath right across from another bath, and it might be more clear one can be eliminated. Or keep both for big parties. The closet by the front door it too far as is. Awkward for guests to be arriving while other guests are exiting the bathroom right there! If guests come with purses or coats, where will they drop them? Maybe you already planned a bench in the entry area? If there is a long hallway that is interior and will be dark, I really like a window with direct eyesight as you walk down the hall. Such a window in your daughter's room such that if her bedroom door is open, you see out it if you are going down the hall. But it would give her more privacy if you had her bedroom door off to the left and the end of the hall could be a closet or lit shelves or niche. There is also an opportunity for a window at the end of the hall on the extra bedroom past the game room. If that is a guest room, not to be too paranoid, but would you want a guest up there with your kids so far from you? Is there supposed to be a door on that room? It can be made so the bathroom is outside of the room. It is far enough down a hall it is private if not attached. I would consider adding a closet to the "den" downstairs as a better guest room/bedroom alternative/extra storage space, and adding a door there. In general I try to avoid long halls since they are wasted space. I would add more closets overall such as to the game room. You can't have too many closets :) The mud room layout is inconvenient. You have to come in and go around the wall. I would have it be a bigger room without that dividing wall that is easier to maneuver and drop armfulls of stuff off (coats, backpacks etc). Folks here can give you more specifics. Overall, You have a very nice plan. There are just some nitpicky details I would change if it were mine :) But it is not mine, it is yours. So read all of the comments. Ignore the ones that are not right for you. And keep making changes til it feels right to you incorporating the comments that you agree with! As others said, you need thick skin to post here. So hopefully you will get some helpful ideas from all of the comments! :) :) I hope no one scares you away. I will look forward to seeing in progress and finished photos of your home! lafdr...See MoreVictor
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoVictor
3 years agoVictor
3 years agolast modified: 3 years ago
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