Often in the course of current or past remodeling, in order to avoid opening up walls, remodelers create a 'chase' in the corner of the room through which wires or pipes are run from lower floors to upper floors. One of my favorite things to do is brainstorm ways to make these awkward constructions look like an 'intentional' part of the design. Some of my favorite ways to deal with them:
- Add a matching chase on an opposing wall and run a false 'beam' between them with recessed lighting.
- Add molding to the top & bottom to make it look like a column - add additional 'columns' to the room to enhance the affect.
- In a kitchen, build the pipe chase out to cabinet depth and put a false cabinet frame and door over top to disguise it.
- Build a pipe chase into a deep closet - no one will ever notice that missing 6" of space.
- Build a pipe or duct chase into a regular sized closet and convert that closet to a linen closet. This is especially effective for hall closets.
- Make the pipe chase one side of a substantial, built-in hutch or set of shelves. We created a beadboard, vintage looking pantry area in one home that hid a gas line, water line, and drain in one hollow side of the 'furniture.' In another home, we built a dramatic spice cabinet to hide water lines that had been run along the surface of the kitchen wall.
In most cases, the effort you spend disguising the pipe chase pays off both in affordability (its much easier and cheaper than opening walls and relocating the pipes) and in value. The custom work to make the pipe chase attractive can add architectural detail and useful storage space to the home.
