Home Remodeling Blog
September 2008
The Archives
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09.24.08Six Popular Paint Colors That Will Help You Perk Up Your Walls This Fall
Painting (0)Margaret Slaby McClatchy Newspapers In these tough economic times, sprucing up your home might be the last thing on your mind — or in your budget. However, there's a relatively inexpensive way to give your home a facelift: a fresh coat of interior paint. Depending what you buy and where you shop, for around $2,000 you can get everything you need — except the muscle power — to prime and paint using 10 different paint and trim combinations throughout a roughly 2,000-square-foot home. "Paint gives you the biggest bang for your buck as far as decorating expenses," says Pam Milam, owner of Reinvented Rooms, a ...
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09.22.08Kitchen Design That Invokes and Invites Movement
Kitchen Remodeling (0)Katherine Salant Washington Post Last week, I saw the most remarkable kitchen I have ever encountered. It looked as though a dancer or a sculptor designed it. On one side of a simple galley arrangement, the cabinets were held in the embrace of a thick, curved, black walnut butcher-block slab that was a study in movement. Rising from the floor, it flattened out at countertop height to become a work surface around the sink area, before curving up. Then, in a serpentine gesture, the slab turned back on itself, flattening out again to support the wall cabinets, before turning up again toward the 12-foot ...
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09.17.08When Buying Cabinets, Focus on Price, Function
Kitchen Remodeling, kitchen cabinets (0)A. J. Bauer Gatehouse News Service When considering new kitchen cabinets, it's easy to get caught up clipping photos of your dream designs out of magazines and lose track of the ultimate task at hand: rebuilding your kitchen. While she recommends using magazines to develop aesthetic preferences, Marlene Ketchen, owner of The Cabinetry in Hanover, Mass., said it's equally important to consider a kitchen's functionality when shopping for cabinets. "How do you use the kitchen? Do you do a lot of cooking or is it more of a social room?" Ketchen said. "(Answering) those questions helps with design." Ketchen said she approaches cabinets as part ...
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09.15.08Countertops Cover Many Kitchen Needs
Kitchen Countertops (2)Adrian Sainz Associated Press For homeowners looking to remodel their kitchens, picking a durable and attractive countertop is a way to make the room both comfortable and practical. Kitchens are usually among the busiest rooms in the home, the place where families cook, eat, gather and entertain. It's also the room that's usually seen -- and judged -- by visitors and guests. Durability, ease of maintenance and appearance are important aspects to keep in mind when choosing a countertop. And the nicer and more expensive countertops, made from granite or quartz, for example, can also add value to your home. "You get a lot ...
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09.11.08Weighing the Difference Between Wood and Vinyl Fencing
Fences (2)Q: My children just got a dog, so we need a fence. Since I am going to have a fence, it might as well also function as a windbreak for energy savings. Is expensive vinyl fencing a good choice for this? Judy M. A: Adding a windbreak on the northwest and north side of your house can reduce the energy loss from your house walls during winter. The savings result from reduced convection heat transfer from the walls and less pressure differences across your house. Pressure differences on the sides of a house can contribute to increase air leakage into the house. People often ...
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09.10.08Quality Landscaping Can Raise Value of Home
Landscaping (0)By Maureen Patzer The Tennessean Three years ago, when Lisa and Lance Strawn bought a home in Franklin, Tenn., their landscaping consisted of the standard "shrub it up" builder's package of two trees and bunches of big bushes. "But it didn't look like anyone had done any planning," Lisa Strawn says. "And most of the bushes were hollies, which hurt if you cut them because they're so prickly." The couple lived with their less-than-desirable shrubbery until July, when a desperate attempt at pruning made things worse. Armed with a shovel, a chain saw and an ax, Lance Strawn wrestled the offending foliage ...
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09.09.08The Beauty of Cork Flooring
Flooring (0)By Lisa Sim Epoch Times We usually think of cork as something we attach to our walls and stick memos to, or pull from a wine bottle, but cork has been used in flooring in Europe for over 300 years. At first glance, it seems that cork would be easily damaged because of its softness, but cork is tougher than you think. It is a strong and resilient product made of millions of honeycomb cells that hold air pockets, and therefore lends itself to be a quality floor product. Cork comes from the bark of a cork tree, and when carefully harvested will ...
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09.08.08Experts Choose Browns, Blacks for a Cozy Feel
Painting (0)Ask an interior designer about rich, dark colors and they're likely to bubble over with praise: "Dark colors are my favorite for my own home and for clients," says designer Brian Patrick Flynn. Chocolate brown, midnight blue, deep scarlet -- even black. Deep colors are welcoming and cozy, they say, perfect for fall and winter. "I really like that warm, enveloping feeling that using layers of dark colors can give you," says designer Mallory Mathison. These shades make a room distinctive and memorable, says designer Janine Carendi, but they can be tricky to use. Clients are often interested in colors like eggplant or ...
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09.05.08High Quality Kitchen Counters Finish On Top
Kitchen Countertops (0)For homeowners looking to remodel their kitchens, picking a durable and good-looking countertop is a way to make the room both comfortable and practical. Kitchens are usually among the busiest rooms in the home, the place where families cook, eat, gather and entertain. It's also the room that's usually seen – and judged – by visitors and guests. Durability, ease of maintenance and appearance are important aspects to keep in mind when choosing a countertop. And the nicer and more expensive countertops, made from granite or quartz, for example, can also add value to your home. Those who are shopping ...
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09.02.08Five Tips for Kitchen Remodeling on a Budget
Budgets & Remodeling, Kitchen Countertops, Kitchen Remodeling, kitchen cabinets (0)It’s the height of remodeling season during a weak economy, which is a tough combination for homeowners needing to make upgrades to their kitchen. This summer, things are heating up as people debate a costly home improvement that also offers one of the best returns on investment. To help, DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen offers these five tips for kitchen updates that look good and also make "cents." 1. Granite counters: Look for thinner widths without the beveled edges. 2. Cabinets: Shop stock items or semi-custom cabinets that can rival custom craftsmanship. Or, for real savings, consider refacing your cabinets to get a ...
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