It Was Like This When We Bought It Part 3 | Hour 1

That's right, that beautiful list that we've been moving through of mistakes and bad things that you inherited when you bought your home from the previous owners, hopefully not from yourself. But it's a big list. We've taken two now three shows, and today will be the wrapping up of that list. So lots of great stuff ahead, and of course your calls as always. Eight three three two ask Dean A three three the numeral two. Ask Dean. That's the number

to reach me. Anything you want to talk about regarding you home, anything that's got you scratch in your head, give me a call. Let's talk about it. We'll get it worked out, I promise. Eight three to three the numeral two. Ask Dean. Let me introduce you to our awesome team.

you pay for people on planet Earth. Sitting across the table from me, my better half. Stop looking at that, put on, put your headphones on and get your microphone. My design partner, the co owner, co founder of House Whisper, my best buddy in all the world, Tina is here. Welcome. Why does that elephant follow you around everywhere you go? He's my little friend, your little friend, Yes, your little friend. I found a way to shrink him down and he's the size of a dog and he comes around with

the averywhere that is your dream? Actually, that's like, that's one of your great fantasies. And ephant to have an elephant the size of a dog as a pet. Oh wow. He's just walking around, walking around the studio. He's quite active. He's saying everybody, Oh goodness. All right, y'all, hey, I need to tell you today. Today, it's the last day.

It's the last day for you to enter to win a seat at next week's House Whisper Holiday Home Show, a live audience event that we're doing right here at iHeart Studios in Burbank Sunday, November twenty fourth, That is next Sunday's show in the helpful Honda Lounge iHeart Studios, Burbank. You can visit the home of home at iHeart here in La and hang out with me and the team. We got refreshments, we got some special guests coming, and you're going to get some expert advice on site from

the decor pros at Aldack Home. Because Aldick is sponsoring the whole show next week, you can watch them decorate one of their unbelievable Christmas trees seven and a half foot tall. Aldk Ah gold Christmas tree, fully professionally decorated before your eyes as we do the show, and then one of our lucky audience members is going to get to take that tree home. That's right. Oh my gosh.

I don't want to attach a value to it, but you know what, that is an incredible, incredible thing because these are literally the best Christmas trees in the world and Al Dick really knows how to decorate a tree. So here's what you do. Today? Is it? Today? This is it? You go to Home with Dean on Instagram or Facebook Home with Dean and you will find right there a post, a Holiday Home Show post right at the top. It should be pinned to the top so you'll see it run when you go, and you can't

miss it. It's all sparkly with you know, decorations and all all that jazz says Holiday Home Show. All you have to do to enter to win is just leave a comment and say, hey, I would love to be at the show. And that's it. You've entered to win, because we're going to start making those decisions. Actually, some of those decisions have already been made from previous weeks, all right, and today is the last day for entries and then all the final decisions will be made. But

there is still time for you, so and so. Yeah, and Tina's whispering something to me. Check your inbox, Oh yeah. For those of you who've already entered, yep, check your inbox on Facebook or Instagram for direct messaging people the congratulations noticed. So because if you've already entered and you've been selected, you've got a message waiting for it, and we need to hear from you before the day is out. Otherwise we're going to hand that seed over to somebody

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I love it in all shapes and forms. I love the soft scape, I love the hardescape, I love the plant materials. I love paving areas just I love creating spaces, whether it's decks or walkways or what have you. And I also am a huge fan of what I like to call and I believe I've coined this phrase myself, design by demolition DM designed by demo. What does that mean.

It means that of all the things that you would pay somebody to do for your home, right of all the money you got to come up with for stuff, building stuff, demolition is almost without exception, the least expensive of those kinds of things. And that's good news. And it's especially good news if you can actually improve something just by tearing out something that's there, and that's it, I mean by removing or demolishing something that shouldn't be there.

If what you get when you're done is already way way better, then you have achieved design by demo and you've paid a minimal amount of money for a maximum amount of effect. So what does this have to do with the topic of it was this way when we bought it. Well, we need to talk about concrete and hard escape around your home, too much of it. There are too many houses that have too much concrete and

hardescape around your home. Now, setting aside those of you who have no desire whatsoever to interact with the natural world, that's fine, all right, Well, you know I have I'm resigned to accept that you don't like the idea that outside there are things like, I don't know, dirt bugs, things you can't control. You would like to make your entire property from wall to wall one gigantic clean room and and just not deal with it. Right, I don't want to have to water things. And believe me, I've

seen those houses. I've seen way too many of those houses. And if that's your thing, you know what, Hey, I who am I to say that you can't have your house that way? It's not my place. It is my place to say though, that generally speaking, that's not good design. And I have never seen an overpaved house that I would say, Wow, this is really, really lovely. The fact of the matter is this, and I'm going to be giving you this advice as a home designer, right and

I'm just being perfectly honest with you. The principle that I want you to hold to is that hardescape hard escape, no matter how beautiful we may make it. And that's great, all right, let's make it as beautiful as possible. But hardscape is a utility. It's a utilitarian function, all right. Hardescape does not exist to just gaze upon for beauty. If we could just pave your entire backyard, because all we want to do is go outside and just look at the paving, then that's the thing that would happen

all the time. But it's not. Okay, hardescape is a utility, And by utility, I mean it enables us to move from point A to point B without you know, getting our feet money, without walking on unstable ground. All right, it's a utility. It serves a utilitarian function. And as such, right, have you embrace that idea? I mean, are you okay with me saying that that it's a utility. It embraces

a utilitarian function, not primarily a decor function. Okay, So, as such since it's utility, we want as little of it as we can get away with. Why because it takes up space, and we don't want a utilitarian facet or component of your yard to be taking up the space that something truly beautiful could be using that same space for, such as softscape, plant material, other structures, whatever

the case may be. So this is my approach, right And if you think that that's crazy and out, you know, to lunch, then you're not going to hire me as a designer. But let me tell you I'm right.

as possible. And what is superfluous hardscape? What is bonus hardscape that we don't need if it's not defining a space like it's holding up a set of furniture, or it's not part of a kitchen an outdoor kitchen, or it's not part of a driveway where things are actually going to get parked and you're actually going to walk on it, or it's not part of a pathway to get from the house to one of those areas outside

that we don't need it. And yeah, when you really think about it, I mean, if you really get technical with your back patio, with all the stuff in your front of your house as well, walk out, park the cars, walk around the yard and track where you're walking around, what furniture where, and then take a look at places you never step. I mean, yeah, you know where you have those eighteen potted plants all clumped together. Well, guess what, Guess what the back of your head, your subconscious has

actually been trying to tell you. Nobody walks there and where.

topic of the day. It's been our topic for a week or so now, and that is it was this way when we bought it. The things that you have inherited, the mistakes that you've inherited when you moved into your place. Okay, too much concrete hardscape. Okay, I don't want to belabor the point, but I just want to underscore and make sure you're all there with me that it's hard to let go of and some of you are saying, I just donette, you just you got to really really trust

me with this. I've taken driveways. I have a couple of very very dear friends, family really, who asked me to take a look at the front of their place and tell them what's wrong with it. Why is it just rip rip instead of but boom, And that's what they said. I'm just quoting them, And so I'm looking and I'm looking in one of the things that was obvious to me. Now they happen to be, you know,

nicely situated, big three car garage. And guess what they had right in front of their big three car garage all the way out to the street a three car wide driveway. And you're thinking to yourself, well, yeah, Dean, because there's three cars three car garage. No no, No. Here's the thing, when you really look at it, and you really think through the process of entering the property, you only need the width of the three car driveway

at the garage, in other words, at the street. You know, unless you're planning on pulling three cars in simultaneously, which is a thing that never happens, right, then we only need the width of one car at the street, and then the driveway, with the right curves and contours can widen up and open up and allow that car to choose any of the three garage doors. Now how big of a difference does that make in this situation, It made a huge difference. It enabled us to cut out

a large piece of the tarmac. And that is exactly what I think of when I see most homes with too much hardescape tarmac. Just it's an aircraft carrier. It is a it's a landing strip. It's way too much. And just remember, okay, just be guided by these two thoughts. One that hardscape is utility. It is it is a practical necessity to get from one space to the other. Now, of course, we make it as attractive as possible, but it's first and foremost job is not to be lovely.

It is to be useful. And because of that, because other things can be more lovely, way more lovely than hardescape and minimize it. Walk your yard, walk drive the front, walk your yard, and don't take license. Just walk your yard and be honest with the paths that you normally travel. And notice that beyond that there is a ton, a ton of hardscape space that is never getting walked on, and it's just sitting there getting in the way of making your ordinary house an extraordinary home. The end. Okay,

what's next on our list? Broken pocket doors? Now we've jumped to the inside of the house. If you have an older home that's had any kind of pocket door in it from years past, what are the odds right now? I would say the odds are seven out of ten that you've got a pocket door in your house that you never close. Why And as you're touring me around the house, you'll say, oh, yeah, we never close. Is that because it's stuck? That thing closes weird, It doesn't

close at all. We can't get it out of the pocket so on, And I get it. How discouraging is that. But here's the thing. You've given up on it. Don't give up on it if you understand how a pocket door actually works. And I'm not, by the way, saying that your pocket door can or should be fixed. Not that door that track, okay, because the reason very likely that it's all junked up and stuck and not working, or it rubs, or it scratches the door as you open and close it, or whatever the case may be.

The reason that it's that way is that it was a builder special It is literally the least expensive pocket hardware that they could have bought and installed in that home when it was built. And or you know, a previous owner did it and went down to the big box store and just picked up the thirty five dollars pocket door set up and popped it in. There is

a massive difference. Okay, Now there is a price difference, but just hear me out there, is a massive difference between a thirty seven dollars pocket door and a one hundred and thirty seven dollars pocket door. Yes, it's a one hundred dollars difference in price, but the difference once it's in your home is decades of accurate, efficient, trouble free performance. A lot of people I meet think pocket doors are the worst. As we design new spaces for people, they're like, oh,

you put a pocket door there. I don't want any pocket doors. Pocket doors just break down and they and they're useless after a while. Let's not use a pocket door. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no. Let's not use a cheap pocket door. Let's not use a bad one, but let's use use them. They exist for a reason. They're brilliant in saving space and creating all sorts of opportunities where the swing of a regular door just gets in the way. But got to use

the right stuff. And what is the right stuff, Dean, what is the right stuff? Well, there's more than one great pocket door manufacturer out there. And I mean by this I mean the pocket I don't really care about the door. Okay. One of the things you need to learn about pocket doors is the door can be any door, any door, and it should be a door that matches the rest of the doors in your house. But the pocket hardware itself, the track and the pocket and all

of that. Johnson Hardware, just telling you right now, Johnson Hardware the minimum soft, open, soft close, multiple wheel, multiple track, brilliant, great hardware. And it's gonna, you know, set you back about one hundred and thirty dollars or so ish, and they go up from there. But that one right there, solid, solid as a rock, and you'll never regret it. All right, I got more. We'll pick up this discussion right on the other side.

iHeart Studios. If you have already entered to win a seat at that event, then you need to be checking your Facebook and Instagram messages, because we very well may have reached out to you already to let you know that you have won a seat, and you need to get back and respond to us no later than today, because if you don't confirm your seat, we're going to hand it to somebody else who wants it as well.

So I know you want your seat, So check your messages on Instagram and Facebook for a message from us. See if you find one there, and if you do, you are a lucky winner and you will be joining us next weekend. Also, just want to remind everybody what was the other thing? Now I've forgotten the other thing I want? Oh oh yeah. Right after the next news break, we're going to the phones. So the number to reach me eight three to three two ask Dean A three

to three the numeral two ask dean. Phone lines are open and we'll get to it right after the next break. Okay, back to it, too much concrete, heartscape, broken pocket doors. That's where we went thus far. Do you need to know anything else about pocket doors? I know I told you very quickly that pocket doors are a good thing, not a bad thing. When they are the right pocket hardware. That's the key, that's the key to the whole thing. And do I know of what I speak? I do.

I have had the privilege of being a part of renovation and restoration of some homes that are one hundred, one hundred and twenty years old that have large, very very heavy oak pocket doors that have been hanging on those tracks for well over a century, and they just glide like a butter Okay, it is not the concept of a pocket door that is your problem. It is the hardware, the track, the wheels, the bearings, and so on. Don't buy cheap pocket doors and the other thing you

need to know. It's not a structural change out. To change out your pocket door now, it will involve some dry wall, okay, because the pocket has been covered in drywall and you're going to have to cut that open. But drywall, in the big scheme of things, is a relatively inexpensive change out. And if you just take the time to change out the pocket of the pocket door situation, you too can have that back in action for the life of the home. There's literally no reason why not. Okay,

shall we jump outside again or inside? Well, you know what we're gonna stay. We're gonna jump outside for a second because here's a real quickie. I told you about getting rid of unnecessary hardscape outside yesterday. In the previous episode, we also talked about getting rid of little brick planters. That if if those planter lines and spaces don't define the yard the way you want them to, don't just accept the fact that, well, somebody drew a line in my yard at some point in the past, and now

I have to obey it. No, you do not have to obey that line, especially when it comes to something that literally can come out in a matter of a couple of hours and boom it's gone. You've been living with it for decades and in two hours you can redraw those lines. That's the brickplanter, the you know, the the kissing cousin of the unwonted brick planter is for some of you, the old broken down water feature or fountain in your yard. Hy yay, they're made out of concrete.

Why no idea? Because you know what, guess what, concrete not waterproof. It's not the same as having a pool with pool plaster on it. Somebody poured a waterproof fountain. You can see the concrete. There's nothing about it that reminds you of nature. It's all broken down. It's just sitting there collecting, you know, pine needles and who knows what. You don't run rod or in it because it leaks like a sieve. Let's get it out of there. Now, you want a new water feature, great, love them, love them,

have a couple of them myself. I just don't want you to try and rehab an old school, broken up concrete water trough kind of thingy. You know where the stones are like half embedded in the mortar and all you know of what I speak. Let's get rid of it again. Designed by demo. The yard will instantly thank you for even if you don't put anything back in its place, you will be instantly thanked for getting rid of that old thing because there is no fixing it.

Do you hear me? There is no fixing it? And believe me, this is coming from the guy who tells you there is hope for just about everything. There is no fixing that stuff. There's no ceiling it properly, there's no waterproofing it or bringing it back to the point where it's ever going to look like a mountain stream ever. And so let's lose it and then we can get serious about if you really want a water feature, we can get serious about diying one in the right way.

In that can be just stunning stunning and not costly all at the same time. So there you go. Get rid of the old broken up water feature, whatever the heck that thing was supposed to be, or the fountain, whatever that was. Let's lose it. Let's move on. Let's move on to the home and the yard that you want.

Now after calls, I'm going to promise you this. The next step is one of the most troublesome and complicated and emotionally trying things in your home, and that is the fireplace, the fireplace inside the most important room in their house, right the family room or the living room, the weird fireplace, the damaged fireplace, the fireplace that might be sitting on what is really the best view wall or the best furniture wall in the room. This is

why they are so difficult. We'll talk about that when we return to the subject. But right after the news, we're going to the phones. Your Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper on KFI. 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 iHeart Radio app.