Should we Keep This?
I need help from my readers!
We purchased our home 4 years ago and it still has the original intercom system throughout the house (1978). However, we never use it!
We thought it was fun and exciting at first, and my husband would turn classical music on in the mornings to wake up the kids! Â But the novelty wore off.
I’d love to hear from you, your opinion regarding whether we should upgrade the master panel or just take it out?
Taking it out means eventually having to remove the speakers in each room. Thanks for your help and tips!
(I wonder what Marni would do? Winner to her House Always Wins book is … Kim from What’s Up Bird?)
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Hey, Girlfriend –
Since you asked my opinion, I’d take it out. Vintage rocking chairs? Yes. Vintage stereo and intercom equipment? Uhh. Even if you upgrade the master panel, that 30-year-old wiring probably won’t sound so hot, and will likely blow soon. When I want my kids to come to dinner, I call them on their cell phones or send a text . Saves me from yelling. As for the speakers in each room, can you hang pictures over them?
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oh…that is, unless you can have it wired up to something more modern??? check with someone on it before you rip it out!
take it out :-)
My grandparents had one in their house when I was a kid and I was always intrigued with it. I think upgrading it would be nice. :) I'm so happy I won the book!
I don't know WHAT you should do!
We had that in our growing up home, built 1973.
Mom was never able to use it to call us because we didn't like her radio station and so turned the volume off in our rooms.
So when she wanted to 'intercom' us, nobody had their speaker on, and she ended up standing at the bottom of the stairs and calling us anyway : )
Eventually she hung a beautiful painting over the kitchen central panel.
The others really date the rooms, but nobody even sees them anymore.
deb meyers
Get rid of it..it dates your house and if something goes wrong its a pain to repair. We covered all the speakers in our 1970 house, but still have three outdoors that would take new siding to deal with. We have a great texure guy that matched the drywall perfectly…can't even tell and oh…so much nicer. The ones outside…I have hung decor of somekind to cover them.
If you are not using it I would take it out.
My husband would use it to make random farting noises throughout the house, LOL. If yours isn't as gross, then maybe keep it? But, if there's any chance of spontaneous flatulation…kick that baby to the curb. ;o)
I was going to say, "You know the old saying, if you haven't used it for a year get rid of it."
But then I started reading the ideas here and am thinking maybe that phrase doesn't apply to all things! :-)
Be sure to let us know what you decide…
Ooooh… girlfriend!
Upgrade it, 'cuz you've already got speakers wired in all the rooms.
In our area the new homes have intercom systems or speakers wired into rooms for the "whole house music experience".
Of course, Nester says to take it out, so….
love ya!
I would just leave it there. It's practically vintage now! What a selling point if you ever leave your house! :)
I would suggest upgrading it, as another blogger pointed out, you already have the speakers in place. Upgrade to a model that allows you go connect Mp3 players, etc. and tha way its a modern feature that makes for great re-sale value to your home. Also, this would be a great time to add speakers to other areas of your home where they may not already be. Wonderful feature for large gatherings in your home. Good Luck!
We upgraded ours when we moved in. It accepts CD's We love it. It even has a way to hook up your ipod to it. I use it all the time. We have one speaker on our patio outside and when we have company out there we play music from it. It is nice it goes throughout the house. I love it when I clean the house because I listen to talk radio and do not miss anything going from room to room. We don't really use the intercom as much though. Just my 2 cents. Good luck!!
We also have one of those. I love to use it at Christmas. It is nice for listening to music on our screened in porch too. I would love to upgrade ours.
I say keep it and upgrade.
Blessings,
Robin
Although my kids would probably disagree (I could see that getting way overused at our house!) I'd say if you don't use it-lose it!
Why have something sitting around that you don't use? But on the other hand, it could be upgraded-right?
Oh I love the iPod idea. How great would that be. If you don't use it… take it out.
Cynthia
I remember our parents put one in our home – in the early 80s. It never worked right! I do wonder if it could be wired for an ipod…now wouldn't that be awesome?? Otherwise I'd take it out and have a good laugh about it.
If you think you might sell in the next 5 years or so I'd upgrade. It's an awesome selling point and will give you home that little edge over the competition. If you're going to be there forever and don't use it, then rip it out. Even then, if it's not too expensive to upgrade, I still think I'd keep it since it's already wired and the holes are there for the speakers, etc. Almost seems like more of a pain to rip it all out.
It's a popular feature in most homes. Wish I had one so I wouldn't either run through the house or yell at the top of my lungs. I'd keep it, perhaps upgrade the main unit to something more up to date, but I'd definitely keep it.
If it's possible to upgrade the system, I'd keep it. We toured a $9 million home in Maui that had a system that you plugged your iPod right into. I'd love to be able to play my iPod music througout the house. Let us know what you decide!
Oh my goodness, my parents put one of those in when they built the house in '81. It was such a hoot…until the novelty wore off, as well. As they've been remodeling various rooms in the house, that sucker came down. We had a moment of silence for it, then said RIP and crossed ourselves. No one has missed it. ; )