Home Remodeling Blog
July 2009
The Archives
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07.27.0910 Ways to Make Your Kitchen Cabinets Special
kitchen cabinets (0)Jean Pattison Orlando Sentinel ORLANDO -- Thinking of remodeling your kitchen? Here's a word of advice from designer Jim Spence: "Don't just put a bunch of cabinets on the wall." Instead, "take the time with the design and spend a little extra to get a kitchen that functions well and looks great, because you are going to spend a lot of time in this space," he said. What cabinet features are really worth considering? For ideas, we polled three kitchen designers whose work won first-place awards in Orlando's Parade of Homes this spring: Spence, who is co-owner of Spence & Vaughn Fine Kitchen ...
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07.27.09Counter Culture: Taking Granite for Granted Is the New Norm
Kitchen Countertops (0)Ad Hudler Fort Myers News-Press.com It wasn't long ago, maybe the year 2000, when a Realtor would gush to a prospective homebuyer: "The kitchen's got Corian countertops!" Fast-forward to 2005: "The kitchen's got granite countertops!" And in 2009: "Of course the kitchen has granite countertops. (Yawn.) Why wouldn't it?" Countertops quarried from Mother Earth continue to dominate the kitchen-design market for a variety of reasons. And what used to be found exclusively in homes of the wealthy is now in places such as manufactured houses and the bathrooms at Burger King. Even in these tight economic times, the market share of natural-stone countertops continues to ...
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07.27.09Backsplashes Protect, Decorate A Kitchen
Kitchen Countertops, Kitchen Remodeling (2)Bob Karlovits Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Countertop and surface dealer Ed Vangura sums up the nature of backsplash projects rather succinctly. "Backsplashes are where design and practicality come together," says the head of Vangura Surfacing Products of North Huntingdon. It also is "the icing on the cake" of kitchen and even bathroom projects, adds Ruth Thompson, interior designer from New Angle Design in Hampton. Yet, it is an area of design that sometimes can be overlooked by consumers undertaking home renovations. The idea is rather simple: Put a coating on the wall behind the cooking or food preparation area that protects against uncooperative spaghetti sauce. Or it can ...
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07.27.09Green Remodel Eliminates Home’s Electric Bill
Green Remodeling (0)Dana Perrigan San Francisco Chronicle Stepping through the front door, past the foyer and into the living room of Frank and Monika Levinson's home on a bright summer morning, it's easy to forget - for the moment, anyway - that their newly remodeled house in Tiburon is among the greenest around. Just about everything in view through a wall of glass is blue: The waters of the bay from the Golden Gate Bridge flowing past the San Francisco skyline merge seamlessly with the lighter blue of sky. Scattered about on this immense canvas, sailboats and ferries appear motionless. Once you get past the ...
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07.14.09Sunroom Costs More Than a Deck, But It’s a Better Long-Term Investment
Sunroom Additions, Sunrooms/Solariums (1)Matt Stark Indianapolis Star Question: Which is the better investment, a deck or a sunroom? Answer: Having built many decks and sunrooms over the past 10 years, I know a lot of factors can go into deciding which home improvement makes the most sense. A few include the desired use of the space, funds available, maintenance issues and, of course, investment potential. Here's a look at those key areas: Use: Some homeowners are looking for additional outdoor space for living and entertaining during the warm months. But I've heard complaints from those who already have decks that there isn't enough fair weather and bug-free time in Indiana ...
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07.14.09At Home: A ‘Simple’ Landscaping Project Rarely Is
DIY Experiences, Landscaping (0)Marni Jameson Marin Independent Journal To save money (which is how all our home disasters begin), my husband, Dan, decided to install our new backyard lawn and a couple flowerbeds - himself. We paid for a plan to tell us what to put where, then Dan set to work. He started in May so our own little paradise would be ready for summer. We pictured evenings sitting on our deck, which we have, looking onto a lovely yard, which we don't. Now it's mid-July. Our backyard looks worse than before. The small knoll once covered in what some would call weeds, but which ...
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07.14.09Home Improvement Q&A: Getting That Deck Cleaned, Better Late Than Never
Decks and Porches (0)Al Heavens RISMedia Q: I know you’ve written many times about cleaning decks, but mine is looking kind of dingy and, because it sits on the north side of our house, is coated in mildew. The deck is gray, but the color is more greenish-black. Can you dig into your files and see if you can find your advice? I would have liked to have gotten it done for July 4. Maybe I’ll get it done in time for Labor Day. Thanks. A: First, if you don’t want to do the job yourself - especially if it has been a while since the ...
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07.14.09Tip Sheet: Kitchen Lighting
Kitchen Remodeling (0)"Lighting is often the last thing considered in a (kitchen) design and the first thing cut from a budget," says Randall Whitehead, a nationally known designer and author on the subject of residential lighting. But to look its best and function well, a kitchen must be properly lighted — and that involves more than just specifying stylish fixtures. A good plan blends lighting into the architectural and decorative details of the room. Avoid glaring errors. The most common mistake is trying to light the entire room with one ceiling-mounted fixture. Recessed lighting, if installed in a generic grid, isn't much better. ...
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