ᐅ Smart ideas that make everyday life easier incorporated into the home

BeHaElJa schrieb:

I find it just as interesting whether in 20 years everyone will condemn the open-plan living-dining area

*lol I mean, fortunately, we already don’t like it; I would actually prefer a separate dining room...
But please no wood paneling *shudder

Wow, you want to build a house – do you really think you’ll never have a tradesperson in your home again? Especially with your bargain-basement house, you’re setting yourself up for a big fall...

Honestly, you’re not all there upstairs if you look at the nonsense you’ve written.

By the way, if the windows get dirty, it means the stove isn’t being operated correctly. Probably some so-called experts in your circle of friends as well...

To be fair, I have to agree with Grym to some extent – I’m also not happy when a tradesperson or delivery service gives a time window from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on a Monday...

We had a stove in our last holiday home – I thought it was nice (although that was somewhat spoiled by poor insulation, so when the stove was off, the house got cold). By the way, the glass quickly turned black – although I’ve read that this was probably due to my way of fueling and ventilating. Cleaning it wasn’t that bad, though.

Everyone should be happy with what they like – the important thing is to be aware of what you install or do (which isn’t always easy with the first house).

The nice thing is that after a year, you tend to block out anything that doesn’t actively bother you... and that includes things like mint-colored tiles, wood paneling, and pink-painted radiators on the ceiling.

Hopefully, you’ve managed to avoid the real sources of annoyance: the neighbor who feels the need to test his bongo drums at night; the woman across the street interfering with child-rearing; the landlord trying to pass the cost of energy upgrades onto you.

Grym schrieb:
Or was it about the fireplace itself? [...] Most people who install it use it 2–5 times and then it stays off.

Do you have a link to that statistic?

And just as a thought: Your wife complains in the evening that she’s cold – what do you do then? Turn up the underfloor heating so it will be warmer in 12 hours? All fireplace owners then just turn on the stove.

Otherwise, I have two tips, mainly for the planning phase rather than for everyday living later: install empty conduits to the attic to potentially add photovoltaic panels later, and a thick empty conduit to the carport/garage in case you have an electric car in 10–20 years and need an outlet with sufficient power for charging.

I can confirm what you said about the fireplace. We have been living in an older detached house with a fireplace for 4 years now. In the first few years, it was used frequently—there was a lot of enthusiasm at the beginning. However, over time, that diminished because nobody wants to deal with all the dirt and work involved. I am currently noticing an interesting trend concerning the people building houses in our neighborhood. Those who are older (building a second house or who already had a fireplace, like us) are building without a fireplace, while those who are building for the first time or are moving from an apartment are including a fireplace.

Robbaut schrieb:
Otherwise, I have two tips, mainly for the planning phase rather than for living later on: empty conduits leading to the attic to potentially retrofit photovoltaic systems, and a large conduit to the carport/garage in case you want to install an electric vehicle charging outlet with the necessary power supply in 10-20 years.

I agree with your first tip. Regarding the socket for an electric vehicle, I had a three-phase power connection installed in the garage right away. That should prepare you well for the future.