Posted on 06/13/2015 6:12:26 PM PDT by TurboZamboni
We were probably right to leave behind many hallmarks of yesterday's home, but it's time to reconsider these 15 once-popular details, not for their novelty, but for their practicality.
(Excerpt) Read more at bobvila.com ...
Dutch doors
Sleeping porches
Transom windows
Laundry chute
Boot scrapers
Intercoms
Pocket shutters
Phone nook
Dumb waiter
Mail slot
Ceiling medallions
Root cellar
Claw-foot tubs
Rumford fireplace
Picture rail moulding
Dutch Doors. No, there’s nobody who visits that way anymore.
Sleeping Porch. No, modern life is way too noisy to sleep well on sleeping porches. Neighbors and strangers, no.
Transom Windows. No, burglars and thieves love transom windows. Weaken your door security.
Laundry chute. Some places still have them. I have one.
Boot scrapers. Hard to really call this a house feature but you can get boot brush scrapers for your home.
Intercoms. Nothing uglier than the old house intercom, especially when broken down. Phones have intercoms in them.
Pocket Shutters. Will today interfere with various window styles, blinds and other window shade types.
Phone nook. Phones do not require a phone nook anymore.
Dumbwaiter. Again, I’ve seen more of them that don’t work than do work.
Mail slot. Great for letting in that cold winter weather after you’ve done all you can to seal up the house and keep the heat in.
Ceiling medallions. They are nice pieces of architecture if your room design can support this. they can be on their own or with a chandelier hanging from them, but you can see the narrow niche they fit into.
Root cellar. Yes ut most people this is a waste of space because they don’t do that anymore. I’d also say Pantry as well, for anyone, that’s just emergency food surplus.
Claw foot tubs. No. People take showers. Or like tubs that have jets in them.
Rumford fire place. Great design if you actually want to burn wood. Most people want a gas fireplace for the heat, but less maintenance.
Picture rail moulding. No, we don’t hang pictures of hooks and long lengths of wire anymore. The look is horrible.
We had a mail slot in our home and the dog would tear up the mail.
Got a mailbox.
.
Linkee no workee.
Can’t read the article, but based on your list, one they missed was the second story overhang with openings on the bottom so you can shoot down on hostiles trying to get into your house.
I live in a 1913 farmhouse remodeled in the 50s. I have a boiler with hot water heat in the walls and a sunken full-room pantry with a window that can open for bringing in cold air.
My most popular feature, though, is the big pocket window in one of the bedrooms.
Back in the early tv days my dad turned radios into intercoms but he couldn’t figure out how to make them work if the radio wasn’t on. I grew up knowing the words to all the songs of the ‘50s.
Let’s see, we don’t need dutch doors because we now have screen doors which accomplish the same thing AND keep out bugs. Sleeping porches are Arizona/ Florida rooms depending on which side of the country you live on... and they’re overrated. Transoms are kind of cool. Laundry chutes are overrated. Where there are still boots that need scraping there are still boot scrapers. Intercoms might be necessary for a mcmansion, of course everybody has cellphones so there’s your intercom. Shutters are cool, until the sun eats them. With no phones nobody needs phone nooks. Dumbwaiters are useless. Mail slots are useless AND make the mail cost more. Ceiling medallions look a bit over done. Root cellars were killed by supermarkets, really I just don’t need that much food on hand. Viagra has ruined claw foot tubs, and honestly it’s just more space to clean. Fire places look cool but are pointless. Visible wires for your pictures are tacky, kind of like visible bra straps.
So no, looks like abandoning these were good ideas. Of course we knew that, if they were good we’d still use them.
IMHO, Bob’s scraping the bottom of the barrel. There are good reasons these things are history.
Cool. I loved the big old houses and deep shady porches up off the ground. Those styles are available again in the magazines. Bungalows. Large and small ones, with great porches and fun attics.
My house is over 100 years old and has many of those features.
House Bookmark
They are called "murder holes", but I prefer the less judgmental "justifiable homicide holes".
Bay windows.
Wrap around porches.
Hand crafted wood features (moulding, mantle, stair railings. etc).
Solid wood interior doors.
Glass doorknobs.
Window sills.
Lived in houses over my life that had everything listed, yes even an intercom in one house. I do remember one house when I was very young that had two bins built in under the kitchen counters to hold 25 lb bags of flour and sugar. It also had the narrow cabinet built into an outside wall that had screening for shelving. The was for veggie storage and for keeping stuff cool. That kitchen was so neat. Tons of cabinets, both upper and lower and counter space that didn’t quit. Big work table in the middle of the room. Sure wish I had those features today. As for an intercom...naa...now adays you just text the person on the other side of the house.
I use the guest closet for that...it’s temperature is cool. Our small pantry works since we added shelves...but need space for larger items...ie..25# bag of chia seeds
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I wish I had a basement, a big front porch the width of the house with a cold room beneath it. And a huge pantry.
There are very few homes in California with basements. So you either leave all of your semi useful stuff in plain view all over the house, or rent a storage unit. Those are extremely expensive. Or get rid of your things and buy ne every time you need it.
LOL Good thing I 'm not drinking coffee….
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