Cool shit for a new house

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Superhiro

Silver Knight of the Realm
439
43
I've lived abroad since graduating college in 2007. I've never moved for a new job with anything more than my 2 checked bags and carry on luggage. I just bought a place back in the states to use during summers, and I need to completely furnish it.

So the question is, what is some cool shit you've got in your house that you'd recommend? Anything from the mundane (a cool garbage can?) to gamer specific (a particular wifi router?) or the exotic (...?).

Show us what you've got!
 
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Fight

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,553
5,359
My friend is an engineer for Boeing and he made an R2D2 Kegerator. It lights up and makes the beep boop noises.

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AladainAF

Best Rabbit
<Gold Donor>
12,846
30,787
I got a really cool hand painted picture of a dragon on my wall. It's gigantic.

(I put a $20 bill in the corner to scale it). It's really fucking huge.

203958


Close up detail of the head (it has glitter sparkles on it)

203959
 
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Szeth

Trakanon Raider
2,190
991
Get a bidet, life changer. Garbage disposal, heated toilet seats and towel racks. If you’re really a baller you can get your bedroom and bathroom floors heated so when you get out of bed or the shower it’s pleasant to put your bare feet down.
 
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dizzie

Triggered Happy
2,509
3,937
Smart lights are really good. If you're not going to be there alot over winters set alexa or whatever to turn your lights on and off to stop potential burglars.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
37,961
14,508
I wasn't sold on the idea of my Ring video doorbell until I installed it. Game changer
 
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lurkingdirk

AssHat Taint
<Medals Crew>
39,965
166,887
Get a bidet, life changer. Garbage disposal, heated toilet seats and towel racks. If you’re really a baller you can get your bedroom and bathroom floors heated so when you get out of bed or the shower it’s pleasant to put your bare feet down.

Put in heated flooring in my master bath, along with a towel heater. Get out of bed on a freezing morning, step into the bathroom and instantly feel completely warm. Have the heated floor on a timer, so it gets warm before I get up. Sit on the can with warm feet, everything feels warm. Put the towel warmer on when I get in the shower, have a hot, toasty towel when I get out, and step onto a warm floor. Not cold at all when getting dressed. Makes the morning shower routine even more awesome. I wish I could put radiant floor heating everywhere.
 
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Cukernaut

Sharpie Markers Aren't Pens
<Gold Donor>
1,656
2,558
Haiku fans are awesome but expensive.

Nest thermos great.

I don’t prefer smart lighting, instead I like really efficient dumb lighting. (Better roi)

I installed a sense power meter on the mains of my house for real time power readings which I love a lot.

One thing to be aware of as a new home owner that hardly anyone talks about is home humidity. Measure it and keep it between 40-50% if possible for most of the year. You’ll be much happier.

Also agreed the ring is a game changer.
 

yeahthatisneathuh

Trakanon Raider
265
584
Get a bidet, life changer. Garbage disposal, heated toilet seats and towel racks. If you’re really a baller you can get your bedroom and bathroom floors heated so when you get out of bed or the shower it’s pleasant to put your bare feet down.

Second the bidet and garbage disposal. You can't go back.
 

yeahthatisneathuh

Trakanon Raider
265
584
you have my attention

I cook at night, i buy a new "gel" top coat every year or so. how well would this cool and how loud/annoying is it?

Yeah I researched this, it doesn't appear to really cool that much, more heats things up. Only goes down to 70. I want a 30F degree breeze blowing across my bed at all times. During the winter it gets -5 to -15 regularly during december and I sleep with the window open. Thankfully my wife also prefers this.

I suppose 70 would still be nice as after you get in bed it's gonna heat to 80ish just from your body...but man I want that shit freezing.

I actually bought a bunch of ice packs recently and I've been rotating them out of the freezer each night to take to bed with me and it puts me to sleep way quicker, just letting it rest on my stomach or chest.
 
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Kaige

ReRefugee
<WoW Guild Officer>
5,399
12,158
I live in an apartment, but when I get a house I'm going to get more of something I definitely started to swear by: blackout curtains.

They really don't cost that much more than regular ones, but they really do make a big deal. They're nice for blocking sunlight during the day when you want to watch a movie, or sleep in on the weekends. A streetlight at night is negated that way too. You'd also be surprised just how well other people can see inside your home when your lights are on at night and you have cheap blinds/curtains.

Highly recommended for privacy sake.
 
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Fucker

Log Wizard
11,407
25,666
I live in an apartment, but when I get a house I'm going to get more of something I definitely started to swear by: blackout curtains.

They really don't cost that much more than regular ones, but they really do make a big deal. They're nice for blocking sunlight during the day when you want to watch a movie, or sleep in on the weekends. A streetlight at night is negated that way too. You'd also be surprised just how well other people can see inside your home when your lights are on at night and you have cheap blinds/curtains.

Highly recommended for privacy sake.

I have blinds, window tint, and blackout curtains in my bedroom and office. The layers also go a long way towards cutting down noise, too.
 

StJesuz

Graybeard Lurker
448
1,485
In my city the tap water tastes bad. It's also pretty hard at 400mg/L.

So therefore I have a water softener for all inside water and a RO system for drinking water in the kitchen. Vastly improved water taste with the RO system and it takes out the salt from the water softener.

These are both great things but you need to learn a bit about them and keep an eye on them. The RO system was a DIY install that I bought at Costco (Watts RO Pure) and it needs new filters from time to time. I've had this system for ~9 years and recently one of the valves went out, its function was to shut off the incoming water when the holding tank gets full. I didn't realize this right away because I put my discharge past a P trap so I wouldn't hear it and it ran for several months costing me $100 or so in increased water bills. I replumbed it when I replaced the valve (under 8 bucks for a new one) and now pay attention to it making noise.

The softener I've had for 7 years. The one place to not use softened water is for watering plants, especially in a dry climate the salt can build up in the soil. Nicely enough the hose spigots on my house use a separate line from the rest of the cold water inside and it doesn't go through the softener.
 
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