Amazing Kitchen Remodel in 7 Weeks

I wish I could sit here and tell you this was easy, but I'd be lying to you.  I also wish I could find the before photo of this kitchen and bar because it looks completely different.  When remodeling, the first thing you have to do is start with a clean slate.  That means in this case a week of demo, tying down old electrical and plumbing, and game planning for new electrical and plumbing.  You should see it, we write on the walls, the floor the ceiling- everywhere.  It looks like graffiti and a war zone all at the same time.  Then we patch up the walls, paint, get the cabinet guys in and start measuring for cabinets.  This ceiling and lighting                                                                        is new as well,

and it required some framing and repositioning of duct work to pull it off.  These customers were awesome in the sense that they were living there for a good majority of the project and were very patient and kind.  I love before and afters because you get such a great return on effort in such a short amount of time.  They are not easy, and often you miss things that are unforeseen but they are certainly rewarding when finished.  Check out the cool edge the homeowner chose for the island, probably one of my all time favorites.  If you don't think it's that great it's probably because you're not there in person but it's really cool how the granite company fabricated the edge.

How to Improve the Entry of Your Home

This courtyard is only 1 week old

I love this house for a lot of reasons.  True story, the owners brought us a CD of a resort they travel to in the Virgin Islands every year and wanted to recreate it to a large degree.  They really wanted a focus on the outside.  This home has outside showers, amazing landscaping, a wooden door courtyard entry and custom lights we imported from the Virgin Islands that were hand made.  Really cool and fun project.  I wanted to focus however on the sidewalk and front entry.  When you see your home from the street, I think you have 2 curb appeals going on.  The initial impression, and also the feel you get as you walk up to the home.  My theory is it should continue to surprise and impress as you walk to the front door.  You don't have to go over the top, but you can do little things with landscaping, install a water feature, improve the walk way, add lighting, rocks and the focus on the porch area.  This picture was taken shortly after the homeowners moved-in.  If you look closely you can see that they installed a water feature to the left that runs down the rocks and flows into a small pond area, then recirculates back up to the origin and flows back down again.  These kits are sold at Home Depot and Lowes and have come way down in price.  The stones that were laid were field stones from excavation and supplanted with river rock.  The concrete walk path was stained, which is real easy to do with a bug sprayer and could be a fun weekend project.  Lastly, they installed a couple of outdoor speakers in the front, just to welcome guests or have some outdoor tunes going while they work and play outside.  I admit, this is pretty grand, but it if you take an idea or two from this you would be surprised at how different you can make the walk up appeal of your home.

How to Create a Low Cost Media Room

The components are hidden which keeps the room clean

With the decrease in price points for quality surround sound systems, the ability to create a specific space for a theater-like experience has never been easier.  The construction aspect of the picture you see here was relatively inexpensive to do and I can just picture me and my family watching a movie or sports here..  Here are some steps you can do when planning for a media room and how we tackled this project:

• Decide where the components are going to go We walked with the customer and identified the wall where the TV was going to go, and the space where the components were going to go.  Then, we put a flexible conduit in the wall cavity or ceiling leading from behind the TV to the place where the cable box. dvd, etc. is going to go.  If you are just starting this project, I highly recommend leaving additional pull strings in the event you want to add some wires or cables later.
• Consider your light source If you have any windows or natural light, find a way to be able to cover it when need be.  This will make your picture viewing experience the best it can be, just like in the movies. 
• Build a box platform  Because a step is usually 6 inches or so, we use 2X6's as a base framing, then top it with OSB plywood to make it nice and strong.  Screw it together if you don't want creaking.  Then, you can wrap it with carpeting to tie-in to the rest of the floor.  It's so heavy that once you set the platform down loosely, it's not going anywhere.
• Theater seating Buy the best, most comfortable theater chairs you can afford and enjoy!  Make sure when you set up the distance of the chairs, you look to viewing instructions for ideal distance from the screen.

The best part is, you won't have to pay $100 to take your family to the movies and it will be the gift that keeps on giving.  Enjoy your new theater and happy viewing.