Home Features We No Longer Use

I was flipping through my design magazines and came across several articles on home features we no longer use. Some were interesting. Some fun. Some I had never heard of. Some brought back fond memories from my growing up years when a home can mean so much. Read on for five of my faves.  

Five Interior Design Features – The More You Know!  

Dumbwaiter in hotel.

1. Dumbwaiters. If you’re unfamiliar with this feature, let me explain. It was basically a mini-elevator that ran from the kitchen to another floor in the home. Before electricity, it ran on a pulley system. This made getting food, dishes, etc. from one floor to another much easier. They can still be found today in a few large homes but mainly are found in commercial settings. What’s with the name? Likely the name came from the fact that the dumbwaiter acted as a silent servant, thus the term dumb as in someone who doesn’t speak.

Beautiful transom window over front entry.

2. Transom windows. A transom window is often located above the transom of a door. Back in the day, before air conditioning and ceiling fans were a thing, transom windows would be opened all throughout the home helping with air circulation, especially to let heat escape. These windows could be quite ornate. In more expensive homes you could find them made with stained glass, creating a beautiful feature when the light shone through.

Laundry chute located in closet.

3. Laundry chute. I actually had an LC in a house we lived in years ago. It was a chute in the wall with a door where you could dump your laundry a floor below into the laundry area, which in my house was in the basement. I loved it! The location was perfect in the hallway between the bedrooms and across from the main bath. It was especially handy at the time because we had a new baby. New baby means lots and lots and lots and lots of laundry. Thanks, LC, for saving this tired new mom a lot of footsteps!

Phone niche in hallway.

4. Phone niche. We had this feature in the same home that had the LC. The niche was in a central hallway. This made perfect sense when landlines were a thing. It had a phone jack in it,  although by that time we were living in “modern” times and had had cordless handsets. I know, practically Star Trek. Back in the day, the niche made it practically impossible to misplace your phone. It also was handy since it prevented you from needing an extra table for your phone. Ah, the good old days! I’m not sure I’d go back but it definitely had its simplicity and charm.

Slot for razor blade disposal in old medicine chest.

5. Razor blade disposal. Believe it or not, homes built in the 60s and earlier often had a feature located in the bathroom, usually in the medicine chest, with a slot where you could dispose of your old razor blades. Again, I know! Obviously, I’m talking about the old-school thin, flat, and very sharp blades. What seems bizarre is that the blades simple fell in between the walls. Gone forever…almost. There are countless stories of people finding stacks of old razor blades in the walls when they tackled future remodeling projects. I guess the theory was it was safer to get rid of the blades that way rather than risk someone getting hurt if thrown in the regular trash. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling good about the evolution of our species after learning about this feature. 

Final Thoughts 

I hope you enjoyed this trip through home history. There are plenty more features like this to share so stay tuned for future blogs. 

Now, what will you do next to love where you live? 

Please feel free to reach out to us at The Redesign Habit and ask questions or simply share a project that you are working on or have completed. 

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