All your cabinets are filled, but you have nothing in the house to eat; you bring home groceries, only to have nowhere to put them. The kitchen is so cluttered you don’t know where to start. Things start piling up on your dining room table; you’re family no longer enjoys meals together, it’s more like a rush to get back to the last thing they were doing, and you’re still left with a disaster in the kitchen. We understand, you’d spend the day organizing every cabinet, but it still feels unorganized after hours of work; maybe it feels even worse than it did. Meanwhile, laundry is piling up, your kids have events to get to, and you still somehow have to cook dinner. What a mess. You’re not alone, and we can fix this. Kitchen remodels, often times, are not about updating your 1980’s appliances and cabinets to the latest trends. It’s about function. Updating your broken Lazy-Susan to a blind corner cabinet with mechanical pull out drawers can not only save you hundreds in grocery bills, but also keep life organized. Even changing the design of your kitchen could increase traffic flow, efficiency for cooking with better appliance locations, countertop layout and outlet locations. A new color paint can brighten moods, make mornings more calm and enjoyable, as well as bring a larger feel to a small kitchen. Even the subtle details like lighting can change how much strain you put on your eyes, reducing tension and headaches if you work frequently in your kitchen. Installing under-mount lighting can help highlight bowls of fruit instead of the pop tarts shoved to the back of the tallest cabinet. It’s reported that 1/3 of homeowners who’ve recently had their kitchen remodeled eat healthier. It’s not surprising, that a functional, organized kitchen would be more inviting to use than the kitchen you may have now. It’s also reported that homeowners who’ve recently had a kitchen remodeled eat dinner together more frequently and enjoy more family time than prior to their remodel. As a whole, a kitchen remodel can be a new way of life in your home. Often times, the kitchen is the first room you start your day in, and the very last room you leave before bed. Why wouldn’t you want it to be a source of peace and tranquility, efficiency and organization? via Blogger Kitchen Remodeling: The Change Your Family Is Looking For
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Not too long ago, Fisher Building Co. was called out to a home by a new owner who recently discovered hardwood floors under ancient carpeting. Needless to say, the floors were in really bad shape.
Years of pet stains, moisture and neglect had turned, what once was, a beautiful red oak floor into this. In most cases we would recommend a fresh start, tearing out all this hardwood and installing brand new oak, but our client didn’t have enough time, so we went with a refinish. We sanded the floors with 5 different grits of sandpaper, troweled wood filler into all the cracks, scratched and gaps, stained and applied multi coats of polyurethane; and got our final product to look like this!
Needless to say, they are very happy! And so are we! Saving this red oak floor was tough, but it was well worth it. Hopefully your hardwood floors aren’t in as bad a condition as these, but if they are, let’s see if we can save them!
via Blogger Hardwood Floor Refinishing Miracle Story Many homeowners can get lost in the land of paints and stains; some don’t even know it exists, slapping any type of paint on every surface of their house (just the thought of which makes our eyes twitch). Yes! There are specific paints for specific applications, and we’re here to help you identify some of them. Let’s start off with the project most homeowner’s love to tackle, repainting ceiling, walls and trim. Acrylic latex paints are perfect for this application. They’re applied rather easily, with no real VOC’s (smells) to deal with; and they’re fairly durable, holding up nicely to light, residential use. Now within the acrylic latex family is specific application areas, such as paints applied in bathroom and kitchens, or paints applied in high moisture areas like basements. They also have different sheen ratings, which also have their own aesthetic and functional purposes. You can also paint these rooms with an oil based paint, which are more durable than latex, however have a very slow drying time, smell pretty bad, and the cleanup is much messier. We recommend using oil based paints in high moisture areas like the basement, on bare cinderblock or brick, because it’s much tougher than latex, but not as expensive as other enamels or epoxies. Now, we’re sure you’ve either seen or have applied latex paint to kitchen cabinets. Although aesthetically pleasing, it has functional drawbacks. Latex is not durable enough to withstand finger prints, grease, pots and pans, or the cleaning of such. Although oil paint can be applied on cabinets, they’re often times not the quality finish we’d like and oil paints have an extended drying time, which can be more of a hassle than we’d like a weekend project to last. This is usually where we recommend a lacquer based paint. Lacquer is usually applied by spray, due to its fast drying, high gloss finish, which would show any texture left by a roller or brush; so most homeowners steer clear of using it, but if you plan on keeping your refinished cabinets for any length of time, we highly recommend skipping the latex and bringing home the lacquer. We also recommend using lacquer paints for areas such as front doors, interior doors, stair risers, railing and even trims. Just be prepared to pay a premium. Some designers have even used lacquer paints to highlight certain areas of a room, like an orange lacquer on the ceiling with white crown molding. WOW! via Blogger Home paint 101 New Kitchen Care
You’ve spent a lot of money and time picking out the perfect kitchen; you’ve taken your time to decide which contractor is right for you; you have established trust with that contractor and their team. Now you finally have the kitchen of your dreams, and you’re trying to keep it that way for as long as possible. Here are a few tips we tell our clients after they’re handed a beautiful new kitchen:
Keeping just these few things in check will keep your kitchen in great health, as well as the family that lives in it. If you have any other questions on kitchen maintenance, feel free to email us! via Blogger New Kitchen Care via Blogger Ever feel like you and your family just need a little help eating better? Home owners looking for a home improvement, of any kind, all seem to have one common concern; “will we get what we want?” If you’re suffering from this fear, you’re not alone; and it’s not just paranoia. The leading cause of contractor/client relationship turmoil is poor communication and planning, before and during the remodel. A good contractor will always live by the words “plan the work, work the plan.” The more details addressed before the project starts, the faster, smoother and more efficient the job will go during the actual renovation phase. This all leads to you (the homeowner) getting exactly what you want. Many of our clients will browse photos with our staff, either on sites like pinterest or houzz, or even our gallery of previous work. So much planning happens, we often can get down to finishing touches, like fruit bowls and soap dishes, months before the remodel even starts. We also recommend 3d renderings for projects like kitchens, bathrooms and basement remodels. This will give you a computer generated virtual tour of your finished product. A good contractor will create a design plan with you which may take hours, days, weeks or even months; be patient, it’s better to do all the hard work now, instead of half way into the project. There’s nothing worse than a delayed kitchen remodel, when the homeowner has no kitchen. Before you start shopping for contractors, start organizing what your goals are for your project, what you’re really looking for, and find pictures! There’s nothing more exciting than meeting with a client that can vividly explain their ideas, and back them up with examples.
Share some of your stories with us, whether good or bad, we’d love to hear your experiences with home improvements!! via Blogger We Understand Your Concern Home owners looking for a home improvement, of any kind, all seem to have one common concern; “will we get what we want?” If you’re suffering from this fear, you’re not alone; and it’s not just paranoia. The leading cause of contractor/client relationship turmoil is poor communication and planning, before and during the remodel. A good contractor will always live by the words “plan the work, work the plan.” The more details that can be addressed before the project starts, the faster, smoother and more efficient the job will go during the actual renovation phase. This all leads to you (the home owner) getting exactly what you want. Many of our clients will browse through project photos with our design staff, either on sites like Houzz or Pinterest; or even our gallery of previous projects. So much planning happens, we often can get down to finishing touches, like fruit bowls and soap dishes, months before the remodel even starts. We also recommend 3D renderings for projects like kitchens, bathrooms and basement remodels. This will give you a computer generated virtual tour of your finished product. A good contractor will create a design plan with you which may take hours, days, weeks or even months; be patient, it’s better to do all the hard work now, instead of half way into the project. There’s nothing worse than a delayed kitchen remodel, when the homeowner has no kitchen. Before you start shopping for contractors, start organizing what your goals are for your project, what you’re really looking for, and find pictures! You may not know exactly what will work in your space, but a good design team can take your wish list and apply it to your project appropriately. Creating a finished remodel that is exactly what you want, if not better.
via Blogger Design plans and project readiness instead of wishing you had a much larger and nicer bathroom everyday, put your thinking cap on and come up with some awesome solutions utilizing creative ideas. Some Creative ideas we have found included and really focused on storage, calm color schemes and lighting. Its incredible how storage can solve the much dreaded topic of space when you are dealing with a smaller sized bathroom. when having your bathroom renovated towel storage can really open up the space
We love this ladder towel rack, image credit from Funky Junk Interiors, in our featured photo above! Read post here: DIY bathroom towel storage
Now that you’ve got your space handled. lighting and other visual components can be tweaked to provide the most comfortable and relaxing as the space will allow. there are some do and dont’s of bathroom lighting. According to the Lighting Science Group, LED’s are what you want instead of the harsher incandescent bulbs previously used by so many households in America.
See more on this topic here These are just some of the topics that we at Fisher Building Co. can discuss with you when you decide to take the plunge on the bathroom you have always wanted. Treat yourself to a little holiday rest and relaxation in your new bathroom. Ho Ho Ho! via Blogger Your bathroom’s a wonderland!
Today, you, the homeowner, are going to find out why your contractor estimated your home remodeling project so very high. Don’t blame him, it’s not his fault.
Now, you may have slyly thought to yourself, well can’t I just hire a contractor who doesn’t have as much overhead? Or even my brother’s friend who helped him out on the weekends? The answer is, yeah! But we can think of a few reasons why we wouldn’t, ever… An obscure contractor can be a bad sign for multiple reasons Valuable tradesmen have a tendency to not work for cash employers All licensed contractors start off with fairly the same overhead, which is required by law A contracting company who pays well will almost always turn out better products that last longer Contractors that don’t take overhead into account won’t be around long enough to claim a warranty If you enjoy the services and trust you’ve established with a certain contractor, you’ll find value in the price Skill and craftsmanship also comes with insurance and warranties for a legitimate agency, none of which are guaranteed with your “brother’s friend” who does side jobs Experience in estimating will allow a good team to predict, with reasonable fluctuation, how much a job will truly cost, while that cheaper contractor’s hitting you with change order after change order A non-licensed contractor can be fined, heavily, and unfortunately, you’re stuck with the bill. ..We can go on forever with this list…
There’s an old saying “We can’t afford to buy cheap”, which should always be repeated often while looking for a contractor. Now, this doesn’t mean we’re telling you to pick the most expensive contractor, just cause! Pick someone who feels right for the job, whose team is capable of creating the final vision you’re expecting while doing so in a calm, peaceful and all around enjoyable way; without worrying about him going belly up with your down payment. We hope this helps homeowners understand why a good contractor is worth their weight in gold; There’s no price for peace of mind. Make sure you hire right, and the rest should go smoothly. For expert advice on basement finishing, contact Gainesville Home Pros today. For expert advice on your home within Westchester, Dutchess and Putnam Counties, contact Fisher Building Co. today.
(845)-531-1691via Blogger Why your remodel will cost more than you think… And it’s not your contractors fault!! |
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