Home Remodeling Blog
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05.22.09Check Out Potential Contractors Before You Build
Uncategorized (0)Ellen Gabler Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Kurt Hildebrand needed a new garage door for his Milwaukee home. He found what seemed like a suitable contractor on Craigslist, a free Web site for local classified ads. David R. Barrett, of Ideal Home Improvements, came to Hildebrand's home and gave him an estimate - $660 for a new door. Five weeks later, Barrett still hasn't fixed the garage door and won't return the $500 that Hildebrand gave him as a deposit. "That's the easiest $500 he's made," Hildebrand said. Barrett is still advertising on Craigslist, touting himself in separate ads as a Christian or as a U.S. veteran willing to ...
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05.08.09Bedroom, Closet or Wine Room?
Uncategorized (1)Tanya Manus Rapid City Journal Be creative, take the labels off your rooms and make your home work for you. That’s the advice of Kara White of Kara White Interiors in Rapid City, who encourages homeowners to find new ways to make their homes fit their family’s unique needs. Many people have a hard time seeing past room labels, she said. “You have an architect design your house and they label the rooms,” she said. Or perhaps you buy a house and the previous owners used the rooms in specific ways that don’t fit your family’s needs. “It’s often hard for people to step back and say, ...
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04.10.09Homeowners: Now Is The Time To Invest In Remodeling
Uncategorized (1)Emilie Rusch Rapid City Journal The economy may be in a slump, but many homeowners at the Black Hills Home Builders Home Show on Saturday weren’t abandoning their plans for a new deck or kitchen just yet. With rock-bottom interest rates and contractors eager for work, they agree, now might be the perfect time to get the biggest bang for their home-improvement buck. “We’re spending our money anyway. We’re not putting it in a bag in the yard,” said Dede Sullivan of Newcastle, Wyo. “Let’s spend it and get the better deal.” Sullivan and her husband, Forrest, have been looking into buying a new home ...
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04.02.09Staying Put? There May Be Cheaper Remodeling Coming
Uncategorized (1)By Russell Grantham Cox Newspapers Despite the dismal economy, Ashley Lee launched into an ambitious remodeling of her family's home in January. With a growing 2-year-old daughter, Lee and her husband decided they needed more room than their two-bedroom, 1940s-era home offered, but they did not want to move. "I guess we just decided (to remodel) now because our house was so small," Lee said after a recent meeting at her home to go over project details with her contractor. A few houses down, another neighbor recently demolished his home to build a bigger one after waiting for two years. "It was too expensive, and then ...
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04.02.095 Hidden Tax Breaks for Homeowners
Uncategorized (0)Luke Mullins US News & World Report As the real estate crash destroys property values across the country, it's easy to lose sight of one of the most appealing features of owning a home: tax savings. Uncle Sam has long used the tax code to promote home ownership. And although real estate prices are plummeting, those tax savings remain as lucrative as ever. While some of these benefits are well known--such as the mortgage interest deduction--others are less intuitive. At the same time, recently enacted legislation has introduced new opportunities for tax savings. Here are five easy-to-overlook, housing-related tax breaks you'll want ...
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12.22.08As Temps Drop, Simple Ways to Keep Cold Out
Uncategorized (0)Charles Ewing WGHP Fox-8 HIGH POINT, N.C. -- A chilly draft around doors and windows can put you in a deep freeze and send shivers through your wallet. But a few simple and inexpensive upgrades can make a huge difference in the temperature in home while reducing your heating needs by 10 percent. Weather stripping and window wraps can help keep cold air from coming in the most obvious places: your windows and doors. Kits are available for as little as $2 per window or door. Don't overlook outlets and light switches, which contain openings that also let cold air. Inexpensive covers for those are ...
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11.04.08Home Libraries: Paneling, Bookshelves Can Turn Den Into Refuge
Uncategorized (0)A home library is to the brain what a kitchen is to the body. It’s a place for nourishing the mind, for feasting on the comfort food of the written word. For an avid reader, it is perhaps the ultimate escape. It has also become an attractive feature to home buyers. In a 2007-2008 survey by the National Association of Home Builders, 13 percent of potential or recent buyers described a library or den as essential in a new home, and another 50 percent called it desirable. A comfort zoneHome builder Fred Zumpano thinks he knows why. In tough times, "I think there’s ...
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10.17.08Home Remodeling: Super Low Bid a Reason to Question Contractor Further
Uncategorized (0)Kathy Maynard Sacramento Bee Q: We want to remodel our kitchen and have collected estimates from remodeling contractors and a custom home builder who has turned from new home construction to remodeling. The builder was referred by friends who love the house he built for them a few years ago, but his bid is so much lower than all the remodeling specialists that we wonder if we should be concerned or just consider ourselves lucky for finding someone who happens to be more "hungry" than the others. – Tom Piper, Rio Linda A: There can be many reasons for differences in estimates, but if ...
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10.13.08Remodeling Trends: Make Room for the Seniors
Uncategorized (0)Think you have a crowded house? Maybe you're not alone. Surprising new data from the U. S. Census Bureau finds that many Americans are making room in their home for parents, followed by siblings and other relatives. From 2000 to 2007, the number of parents who move in with their adult children grew 67 percent to 3.6 million. Even more interesting, the number of parents younger than age 65 in these households increased by 75 percent and those 65 and older rose 62 percent. With uncertain economic times and higher housing costs, combining households has become a more prudent approach to managing ...
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07.11.08Eight Ways to Keep Kitchen Remodeling Costs in Check
Uncategorized (0)MINI-MAKEOVERS A five-figure makeover might be beyond your means, but the kitchen of your dreams doesn't have to be. Here are seven ways to resuscitate a tired, old kitchen for $5,000 or much less along with product-specific advice on ways to save. REVAMP THE CABINETS Provided the cabinets are structurally sound you can spruce them up with a fresh coat of paint or reface them with peel-and-stick veneers. Improve capacity with inexpensive cabinet organizers. And applying crown molding to the top of cabinets gives them a finished look. ADD OR UPDATE AN ISLAND Whether it's a permanent unit with furniture-style looks or a small portable ...
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04.14.08Feel Cramped? Open Up Floor Plan to New Space
Uncategorized (0)Carol Fletcher Hackensack Record Open floor plans, with one room flowing seamlessly into another, have been de rigueur in new-home construction for nearly a decade. But how do you take your gridlike Cape or boring center-hall Colonial and turn it into one of these? Renovate to liberate - that's been the popular way to convert isolated rooms and cramped spaces to open, light-filled places. For years, homeowners have been removing walls to create large spaces for entertaining and family time. "Anything to provide areas for interaction amongst the family members. That's what's in right now," said Renee Rewiski, president of the National Association of the ...
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04.08.08Top 5 Questions to Ask Before Starting Home Removations
Uncategorized (0)Marshall Loeb Market Watch Spending on remodeling is expected to reach $316 billion this year alone and the number is still climbing, according to the Home Improvement Research Institute. So make sure you know exactly how big a renovation you can afford and whether it justifies the time you intend to spend in your revamped home. The Nest, a home-improvement Web site, says before making any big changes to your home you should ask yourself these big questions: • How long do I plan to stay in my house after the renovations? The longer you plan to live there, the more creative you can ...
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03.13.08Be Your Own Handyman: 10 Skills Homeowners Should Have
Uncategorized (0)Allen Norwood Charlotte Observer Here are 10 skills every homeowner should master. You don't need to run out and learn them all immediately, of course. But you'll appreciate them -- and save yourself lots of money. You can tackle most with simple hand tools, either items you own or those you can buy for $10 or less. The only power tool here is a variable speed drill. We'll start at the front door. 1 Replace a door lock. Especially if you buy an existing house, with lots of old keys floating around, you might want to replace the exterior locks. On the inside of the door, remove ...
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02.19.08Some Senior-Friendly Home Makeover Ideas
Uncategorized (0)Lake County (Illinois) News-Sun Dear Savvy Senior: My husband and I (both in our 60s) are interested in remodeling some areas of our home to make it more senior-friendly, but we're not sure what to do or who to call for help. Any suggestions? -- Home Bound Bobbie Dear Bobbie: How to make a home safer and easier to live in as you age has become a common question today, as most older Americans want to live out their lives in their own home. Here are some resources that can help. Getting started There are literally dozens of different things you can do to ...
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02.15.08Out with the 80s, In with the New: Pink and Ornate Transformed into Sleek and Modern
Uncategorized (0)Janet Eastman Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES - When Ron and Deborah Rader first saw the pink stucco house with the glass-block walls, they were hit by a 1980s flashback. Rounded walls, whitewashed oak cabinets, blue neon illuminating the pueblo-style fireplace - might as well pop a Cyndi Lauper cassette in the Walkman and go for a jog. The four-story Playa del Rey house was a relic of the Reagan era, a place where design exuberance went unchecked. The entry's black-and-gold granite stairs had a glass railing wrapped in wood. Oversized corridors led to rooms painted in "Miami Vice" colors. All that was ...
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02.13.08Make Your Home Stand Out for Under $10,000
Uncategorized (1)Ellen James Martin The Ledger.com Your home has been up for sale for longer than you'd like. You and your agent are sure the price is right for the market. You've done all the basic fix-ups -- like purging clutter, pruning bushes and repairing leaky faucets. Prospects come through week after week. Yet still your place doesn't sell. You're stumped on what to do next. One plausible idea is to pull $10,000 or less out of your savings account to make your place a stand-out in the eyes of would-be purchasers -- what real estate agents call a "cream puff." This is a ...
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02.01.08Reap Sun’s Benefits with Skylights
Uncategorized (1)Tom Skevin North Jersey Record Any homeowner who wants to add more interior light can look toward the sky -- and think skylight. Once it's in, there is no switch to flick, the utility company does not get a piece of the action and the light is not subject to a power outage. "I have a customer with a kitchen in the center of the house," says Fred Salerno, owner of Manor House Cabinetry in Paramus. "They wanted a skylight to get some light into the house without having to always turn on a light switch." They've become a hot item, so to speak. "In most ...
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01.25.08For Tax Advantages, Improve Rather Than Repair
Uncategorized (0)Kathy Price-Robinson Los Angeles Times 'Pardon Our Dust' Blog Why do we elect politicians who pass legislation to benefit the rich? My theory is that we all think we could be rich someday (most of us won't be!) and we want the laws set in place when we get there. I mean, isn't that one of the main advantages of living in the United States, the idea that a person of average means can become wealthy? And so perhaps that's why I picked up a copy of Real Estate Tax Secrets of the Rich, a new book by CPA Sandy Botkin. I figured I should ...
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