Details Matter | Hour 3

about little things today, little details that matter in your home. Also, you know what, I'm gonna go back to the phones next break, So just so you know, we're not done with calls yet today. If you're already on the line, you might want to hang tight. Otherwise. The number to reach me eight three three two. Ask Dean. A three three the numeral to ask Dean, and that can be any question about anything that's going on with your home today. A three three two, As Dean. We will go back

to the phones right after the next news break. All right, I'm still struggling with this frog in my throat, so forgive me if I have a moment or two here, Uh, I left you hanging at the end of the last segment, I said, how does the fact that there are trims available, lighting trims available for your recess can lights other than the ones that you're staring up at right now, how does that become a detail that matters that can transform

your home. Well, I shared with you that the number one rule of lighting design is that we light things, not rooms things. And and of course we talked the sad, sad story of most people's recess can lights just in a big grid on the ceiling. So without moving those cans, how can we get them closer to the ideal? Well, here is how we go out and we get a

new trim for that recess can light. That trim instead of being a down light where it just straight down, throws light down onto the floor, also producing glare as you look up to the ceiling because you see the light source right with your eyeball there. Instead of that, what we want is something like a gimbal. A gimbal a gimbal is a movable They used to be called eyeballs, but they don't look like eyeballs anymore, so we don't call them that. A gimbal is a movable, directional, pointable

light source. And yes, there is a gimbal trim for the recess can light in your home. What that means is that we can take those can lights that are close to walls but pointing straight down where they shouldn't be, and we can use them to point them out at the wall and wash the wall with light. You don't need it down on the floor, you don't need it directly on the sofa or the thing that you're sitting on. You don't want it there. You want it bouncing off

the wall. Direct it over to the wall so that it can light up the piece of art or the family photos, or whatever it is that's hanging light up the fireplace brick or the stone work, there anything on those walls that we want to feature. And so yes, for a relatively low amount of money, you can go and replace the trims in the recess can lights in your home, the down trims with directional wall washing gimbal trims. Plug them in LED. If you've got LED, now they unplug.

There's a universal LED connector you can plug in the new trims, slide it up into place, and boom. Now we're creating romantic lighting, textured lighting, layered lighting, non glared lighting throughout your home. We've changed radically the look now, maybe not one hundred percent of what we would do if we had been there to help you lay out those lights when they were first installed, but we can

get really really close to it. I mean, we can get way over eighty percent better with your recess can lights by just utilizing a gimbal trim and or a snoot. What is a snoot? A snoot is also a lighting trim that has a little tube on it or a

controlled baffle. And this in the case if we really have a piece of artwork that we want to accentuate without washing the wall around it, a snoot is what essentially allows us to focus that light in a kind of a spotlight form right onto the artwork without bleeding to the wall around it, so that the art really

pops boom. So gimbals and snoots and baffles, oh my, yes, this is how we transform that improperly designed but not improperly installed, but improperly designed recess lighting on your ceiling. And by the way, while we're at it, one detail that matters immensely throughout your home when it comes to

lighting dimmers, dimmer switches on everything, just about everything. Why, because the light in your home is constantly changing, the light at night, the light in mid afternoon, the light in the early morning, and your use of a space is constantly changing. No more of just full on, full off. That's all you get, this binary choice. It's a one or a zero. It's just bright or it's dark. But control, especially if we're throwing accent lighting now onto your walls.

Control the amount of light, bring it down so that we can see it, but it's not overblowing the room. Lots of control. Lighting is theater, my friend. And the more you can get theatrical level control on your lighting, the better your house will look at all times. Does that make sense?

so forth. How to end a molding. Well, it's probably not the way it ends in your home, but we'll talk about it right after.

we got to get out in that. I went out this morning with Tina, went to the gym early this morning. I went out to a little three mile walk this morning, right as the sun was coming up. It was cold, like well so cow cold. It was like forty something. Awesome, It was awesome. What a great way to start the day. Anyway, I hope you got plans to get out in this today because it is waiting for you and it would be a shame to miss it. Anyway, Thanks for being

on the program with us. We're talking about details that matter. But also I said that we were going to go back to the phones, and now is the time to do just that. I want to talk to Sean. Hey, Sean, welcome home.

square footage, conditions, all of that kind of stuff. The only way, like so many areas in construction, that you're going to know if you're getting a square price or not is whether or not you've had you know, two or three companies take a look at it and all give you pricing for it and get their input and advice on it along the way. Then you'll know, because then once you've got two or three qualified estimates, then

you'll know, well that one's out to lunch. These two are within you know, a few couple hundred bucks of each other. This is clearly you know what this thing should cost.

washer and dryer. Are saying all of that has to go or or you can sign up on it and say, I don't care if it has asbestos, and I don't know what that leads to, but they're saying, yeah, everything like that under this program is supposed to go.

I just want you to realize that the danger of asbestos is breathing it in, Okay, it's It's not when it just lays there and stares at you. Okay, it is inhalation, that's the problem. And so when asbestos is undisturbed, uh, then when it's particular its particulates are not airborne, then it is not a risk to anyone in any way, shape or form. It is only as its carcinogenic effects

when it is inhaled, when it is breathed in. So when you disturb it and it goes airborne, which is why as opposed to taking it out of a lot of houses, a lot of popcorn ceilings and or vinyl floors, we will encapsulate it, which means cover it up, cover it over. That's, by the way, completely legal and acceptable in every code and every jurisdiction because the concern is not we just need all asbestos to disappear from homes. The concern is we want you protected from it. Okay.

or that the kitchen floor should not be addressed. But the reason I'm holding back, my friend, is because you know, it's a carcinogenic substance. And I don't want to put myself or KFI or any or you in the position where we're making a decision that you know, based on advice that I'm giving you to like, yeah, you ignore the carcinogens in your home. You know I'm not telling you to do that. But there has got to be some limit to where this. I mean, asbestos is not

a live Okay, it's not baby powder either. It doesn't just creep and crawl and get everywhere waiting to be disturbed again. But I am not the expert in and so these are This is my concern. This is where you've got me up against a place where I really really want to tell you that they're going way further

than what practically needs to happen. But I can't tell you that because I don't want to put your your health at risk by me being ignorant of the fact that if you miss this one thing, boom there it happens. But yeah, all I can tell you, Sean, all I can tell you is that asbestos is not a powdery substance that just floats everywhere all the time once you've disturbed it. Yes, there are controlled ways of taking care of it. Yes, you want to be careful not to

make it airborne. Yes you want to encapsulate it or abate it so that you don't come into contact with it. But just disturbing some of it in one area of the house. Are we now saying that it's literally everywhere and your life is in danger being in that house if we don't wipe down every wall, every ceiling of.

abatement contractor or an asbestos expert. But man, if you were to ask me an encapsulation or abatement of my kitchen floor for thirty thousand dollars, I'd say that's insane. Okay, But they're talking about wiping down every surface in the entire house. That is something I've never had to send a client through that before, and to me, it just seems extreme. It just seems extreme. But man, I feel you. I feel you don't know what to tell you. Man,

You've you've kind of stumped me on that one. Sean, all right, y'all when we come back. Details that matter. I feel bad that I can't give him more direction, But it's a sticky wicket asbestos details that matter when we return.

they'll just change everything. They'll change everything. I can't tell you how many times we have We've gone to like a restaurant and Tina has walked away saying, I just love that place. They are the nicest people there. It's like, well, you know, we also went for the food. Well, the food, of course was great, because it's prepared with the same kind of detailed care as you have in the front of house, you know, staff service. But the point is

detailing the details in life. This is the thing that gets missed out. It was absolutely, without question overlooked when your classic tracked home was built. There are a few details here and there, but not many, because tracked homes are built in you know, large strokes, broad swaths of idea.

And so now now that you're there, now that you've got control, now that you've decided to make it your place and you own this thing, or whether you're just living in a condo or renting an apartment, these are the kinds of things that, without breaking the bank, can make a big, big difference in your daily experience of this space and everybody else's as well. So there you go. All right, back to the list. I promised you that

we would now address something. I don't know if I've got another thing on the list that fits into this, but nevertheless, we're going to move into the area of finished carpentry here for moment moldings. There's probably as a as a carpenter myself. There are very few things that unnerve me, kind of like make my head go sideways twitch when I see a molding that has been ended inappropriately at the end of a wall. There are a lot of reasons why sometimes a baseboard has to run

out and then just come to an end. And I don't mean it runs into a thing. That's easy. You just run it into a thing and then you cut it as it hits the other item inside corner of a wall or a piece of furniture or what have you. But now I'm talking about these moldings that will run and that have to just end near the end of a wall, but not quite. They don't turn a corner, they don't do whatever their ends are exposed. How do you end a molding? All right, I'm just gonna resolve

this once and for all. Well, first of all, i'll tell you how not to what Number one. You don't just ninety degree end cut it, stick it up there and let it be. No, you don't because the back of a molding has a hollowed out cut in it, and you'll see that from the side. So which leads us to number two. You don't just ninety degree end cut it and then use caulking like on a slant to end out that molding. That's not right either. That's

even worse, if that's even possible, it's worse. Now, this is how you end a molding, and there is never ever an excuse not to do it this way other than somebody didn't take the time. Now, if you ran some moldings in your house and you just didn't know, okay, I'm going to give you that excuse. But for a carpenter not to do this properly, it's you know, it's unforgivable.

So here's how you end a molding. You know that when you come out around an outside corner, you make a miter cut on a molding, right, a little forty five degree angle, and then a forty five degree angle on the next piece and they join at the corner. Inside corners, you've got an inside miner cut outside corner, you have an outside miner cut where the two join up.

And it's a very very lovely connection when they line up just right, because not only does the molding just continue whip right around the corner, but also on an outside corner, you get to see the profile of the molding, whatever's going on with it, whatever little details they're kind of visible. It's a little bit of a sculpted profile visible on that outside corner. Well, imagine that we're gonna make an outside corner cut on our molding as we have to end. It just comes to an end without

connecting to anything else. That's exactly what we do. We make an outside corner miter, a little forty five degree miter cut on the end of that molding, and then we take another little piece of molding and we're gonna make another the opposite out side corner molding cut there on that one, all right, So that as if we were going to go around a corner, turning a corner, but we're not turning a corner, we're running into the wall. So the second piece of molding that you just cut

with that outside corner angle on it. We're going to put that under the saw again, and we're literally now going to make a straight end cut right down where that outside angle comes to an end. I mean, it's a tiny little sliver of molding that you end up with. You should, if you've cut it properly, end up with a tiny little sliver of molding with a forty five degree angle on it that is only its length, is only the width of the molding board that you're ending.

That's it. Like, how in the world am I supposed to nail that in? If I nail it, I will crack. You don't nail it in. You take a little bit of wood glue, and you put a little on the surface of the existing molding face and a little bit on the surface of this tiny little piece, and you shove it in there. You can use a little masking tape temporarily to hold it in place if you need to.

You shove it in there, clean up the excess glue that has spilled out of the joint, and you walk away, and you come back fifteen minutes later, and you take the tape off, and you have a beautiful molding that has self terminated at the end of the wall. Who I took a whole segment to explain that. That was

a long explanation. But here's why it's so important. The finished carpentry in your house is a prime example of the details that people see that you see that ascend a signal somebody cared or somebody just threw this thing up at seventy miles an hour and just kept moving on. And this is such that idea. I believe me. I know this, having been aske to run thousands upon thousands

of feet of molding. You have to pause, You have to take the effort to do this, and it interrupts your workflow, and you really want to get this thing done. But to do it right, you got to do it this way. And those who do it these are the people who know what they're doing because the results are beautiful. Okay, there you go. All right, A couple more thoughts when we come back, and a closing thought for the day. Don't go anywhere.

your clutter. Just clear out the clutter. We all have too much stuff, period the end. Nothing says I have no vision for my home like having too much stuff in a room. Just it's just the truth, Okay, because you're all over the place. And I don't mean those of you who are brilliantly eclectic, and I think most people who struggle with hoarding things think of themselves as brilliantly eclectic. But I'm just saying, clear out the clutter. Cluttered people, This is not a clear vision for any

room in the house. So this is the way I'll put it. This way, It's on the Deep Tails Matters list because sometimes you need. The best thing you can do for a room is remove details, too many of them around. Okay. Another thing that I want you to think about is not just visual elements, but details when it comes to the other senses all right, textures and especially scent and sound when it comes to experiencing a space.

So candles, especially this time of year. Right, you've got full permission this time of year to have scented candles going on all around a house. Tina and I need to replace one of our favorite apple based candles that just ended yesterday where you I know it's gone now, so we've got to get a replacement for it. We roasted some apples. We just roasted apples in the oven last night. Unbelievable how it made the house smell incredible. So don't underestimate the power of scent. It elicits so

much memory in us. There's nothing in our senses that to strike at memory better than aroma's right. And then sound, you know, if you don't have running water around the house, then you can introduce it through apps like nature Space, one of my favorite apps. Look it up on your mobile device or your phone. Nature Space beautiful, beautiful, not contrived, natural sounds, soundtracks that just roll and not in some

short little loop where you detect a pattern. But like hours as it rolls, So capture all the senses, clear the clutter. Last thing I'm gonna tell you for this is make your house meaningful. And when I say that, I mean no props. Okay, no props in a house. Demand of yourself and of your home that every item that you put on display in your house has some kind of meaning to it. Does that make sense? Some kind of meaning that means? Don't display books that you

can't talk about. When I was younger in my career, I was talking to Amy King about this Friday morning when I was younger in my career and just you know, how to impress everybody and just do whatever any client wanted, you know. And I was still I was working in a state level home. So people are like, well, Dean, we're gonna I want you to build me a library.

And I'm like, okay, show me the books. I was like, well, we haven't got the books yet, but that we want you to shop the books out too, And and you know, I I was young and just willing to please and

not the old cantankerous guy that I am now. And and so I'm like okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, I have filled so many personal libraries with so many books, and you know what, they're just all props because these are books that they look they give you the impression when you walk in like wow, this person is well read, very intellectual, very traveled, and yeah, no, no, no, I bought those books. So when it comes to books in

your home, don't display books that you can't have. No book in your home that you can't pull off the shelf and have a conversation about. You don't have to have a memorized but just say, oh yeah, let me tell you about that story. Keep it real, That's what I'm saying. You really want to live in a beautiful home, not just a designer house, a beautiful home, then keep it real. Okay, no props, No books that you can't talk about. Don't display anything that doesn't have a story

behind it. Be guided by this quote from William Morris, a great, great designer and textile famous textile and wallpaper designer from the late eighteen hundreds. He said this, it's one of the guiding principles. Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. Period, end of story. And that's a great way of capping off the idea that details matter, because they do. All right, I got just enough time to leave you with a thought today. So here we go.

Here we are. It's election week in America. You know you know that I don't talk politics here, aren't you glad? Aren't you glad about that? That is not what we are here for? And I, for one am very happy about that fact. But we do talk about our humanity here, because that's what a home is all about. So I'm going to take advantage of this being election week to share with you one non political, nonpartisan perspective, and it's this.

As important as voting is, and it is obviously extremely important, the heart of democracy is not about voting, or free speech or any of the other rights that we hold dear, No, because democracy is people powered, which, by the way, is what that word democracy means, people powered, not person powered people e pluribus many. Okay. So, because democracy is people powered, what lies at its very heart is not a right or a list of rights at all, but rather a responsibility.

And no, it's not the responsibility to vote. It is the responsibility to listen. Because we're all in this together. What lies at the heart of a successful democracy is empathy, the ability to walk a mile in another person's moccasins. Along those lines, I read a quote this week and its need so deeply with me that I wanted to share it with you. It said this, Democracies die not only when people are not free to talk, but more often when people are not able or willing to listen.

The problem with democracy in America right now, in my opinion, is not that enough people are taking up their right to talk. It's that not enough people are taking up their responsibility to listen to each other. So there you go, just a thought, So this week, maybe take some deep breaths.

We all need that. Maybe unclench your fist a little, argue a little less, listen a little more, walk a mile in another person's moccasins, and then course vote, and then get back to getting busy building yourself a beautiful and we will see you right back here next weekend. Have a great Sunday afternoon. This has been Home with

Dean Sharp the House Whisper. Tune into the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from six to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific time or anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.