Month: November 2009

Whether your bathroom is small and cramped, or it just feels like it, there are ways that you can increase the size of your bathroom, at least perceptually, without having to hire a bathroom remodeling company. Here are five tips that you can use to make your small bathroom seem bigger than it really is.

Walls and flooring – keep them soft and light

The color of your bathroom’s walls and flooring can have a big impact on how you perceive your bathroom. Colors will not only affect the ‘mood’ that your bathroom conveys, but they will also affect how you see your bathroom size-wise. Lose the contrasting colors and crazy wallpaper and replace them with a simple, light-colored theme with a soft wall patten, if any. If your bathroom is too ‘busy’ or has starkly contrasting colors, this tends to make your bathroom look smaller.

Bring in the lights

Lighting isn’t just good for the eyes; illumination can also help to make your bathroom seem larger than it really is. If you can, it’s best to incorporate natural lighting, such as through a skylight or through generous use of windows. However, if those options are not available to you for budget, space, or privacy reasons, adding more light to your bathroom, specifically in low-light areas, can really open things up, especially when used with lighter colors in your bathroom.

Use mirrors to your advantage

Just like the mirror in Snow White had magical properties, mirror can work their ‘magic’ to make your bathroom seem bigger than it really is. If possible, place a mirror opposite of an outside window, or at the very least, place mirrors opposite each other to improve your bathroom’s perceptual space. If you’re an abstract thinker type with a penchant for the scientific side of life, you can even use your mirrors creatively to bounce light off from each other to brighten your bathroom up even more. Which, more light is always better when you’re trying to make a room look bigger than it actually is.

Replace your low-setting, wide cabinets with tall, skinny cabinets

Just like vertical lines on your clothing will make you look taller and slimmer, opting for tall, skinny cabinets vs. clunky, wide-based cabinets, will give your bathroom the perception of being taller than it really is.

Remove the knick-knacks and doodads

While decorating your bathroom to make it feel more ‘homey’ may appeal to you, too many decorations, ornaments, floor mats, wall-hung candles, and pictures will actually clutter up your room causing it too look and feel more restricted. If you have a small bathroom and you want to make it look bigger, you have to minimize the clutter, which can mean removing some of the excess decorations from your bathroom.

The previous ideas are available to just about anybody who is into DIY bathroom remodeling and has a bit of handyman (or handy-woman) experience. However, if you have a bit of money tucked away, you can always hire a bathroom remodeling contractor to come in and make a few changes that can have a big impact on your bathroom space perception. For instance, you can incorporate recessed lighting to free up wall space, opt for a wall-mounted toilet and sink vs. the standard floor-mounted models, and if you have a traditional bathroom door that opens inwards, you can replace that with a sliding door that hides itself within your wall.

Regardless of your budget, though, even these small and inexpensive bathroom remodeling project ideas make a big impact on how you perceive your bathroom’s available space.

Oceanic Construction provides bathroom and kitchen remodeling services to Bonita Springs, Estero, Fort Meyers and Naples, Florida.

Your kitchen’s role in your home is quite important — it’s not only the culinary center for your finest home-cooked meals, but it’s the fast-food joint for microwavable dinners, the storage place for most of your food, and where you, or one of your family members spend time cleaning up between meals. In most homes, the kitchen is one of the most-used rooms in the house, so its organization, usability, and even style can have a major impact on your home’s day-to-day happenings. For this reason, and quite a few more, it’s important that you hire a reliable, and reputable, kitchen remodeling to improve your kitchen’s style and functionality.

Like most home construction tasks, it’s important to hire the right company to do your work for you. Just as you probably shouldn’t trust your vehicle’s maintenance to a random mechanic that you find in the yellow pages, you shouldn’t entrust your kitchen remodeling project to a random construction or home remodeling company. While it might seem like installing new cabinets, replacing a countertop, painting the walls, or installing a new kitchen sink would be menial jobs for somebody even with marginal home improvement skills, there’s still a lot that could go wrong.

With high-dollar projects especially, you should invest a bit of time into looking for a suitable kitchen remodeling contractor instead of picking a name from a hat, so to speak. Whether this means that you ask for references from a prospective construction crew, you ask friends or family for recommendations, or you use the internet to locate contracting companies for your kitchen remodeling project, you should incorporate a bit of judgment into your selection for which company upgrades your kitchen. After all, your kitchen is heavily trafficked and heavily used, and the last thing you need is to hire an unreliable kitchen remodeling company.

If you’re in the Brighton, Michigan or Naples, Florida areas, check out Oceanic Construction. They offer kitchen and bathroom remodeling services, and they have the years of expertise to get the job done right, the first time around.

When it’s time to remodel your home, you need to take some time to consider which home remodeling company you will use. The outcome of your home’s remodeling project is quite important — it not only can affect the value of your home, good or bad, but ultimately you have to live with the outcome of the project. With those things in mind, what traits should you look for when you hire a home improvement company?

Experience matters

When you are going over the construction estimates for your home improvement project, you’ll want to go with a company that has been in business for a while. In this business, experience is an absolute must. Some companies can offer many years of experience as proof that they know what they are doing, and experience, when it comes to comes to remodeling your home, should matter more than the bottom-line price. This is not to say that every new company is unable to pull of your project, or that a low-dollar bidder wouldn’t be the best choice for your home improvement project. The point here is that you should be looking for a company that has been around long enough to know how to handle your project’s requirements and then some.

Companies that oversee their contractors

When it’s your home we’re talking about, you want to make sure that someone is supervising each and every project. In some situations, you hire a construction company that uses contractors, only to find out that the company you hired isn’t doing a good job of supervising those contractors. Before you sign a contract with a home improvement company, you should make sure that they are going to be active in overseeing the completion of your project. The project is much more likely to stay on budget, on deadline, and be completed as agreed if the primary building company is there to oversee to the construction.

A company that takes care of your needs

Your home is likely your biggest, and most expensive asset, so you should have some say in how the project is done. Some companies will want to do it their way and they’ll be annoyed when you try to chime in. The fact of the matter is that you don’t need to work with a company that laughs off your thoughts. The lead contractors should be willing to not only listen, but also work with you to help you get what you’re looking for out of the remodeling project. If you can find a company that does great work and looks after you at the same time, you’ve got a real winner.

Choosing a home remodeling company is a big decision, and not one that should be taken lightly. Take some time, get to know the bidding construction companies and what they have to offer, check out some of their previous work, and really pay attention to how they interact with you. Anybody with some tools can build a house, but a reputable and reliable home remodeling company can help you turn the house you have into the home you want.

Paddock Builders is a Livingston County home construction company offering remodeling and renovation services to Novi, Howell, Brighton and the surrounding areas.

For many home owners out there, increasing the sale value of their property is something that’s a focus. Over the last couple of years, these homeowners have been looking to remodel their home in direct ways that will provide immediate value when they put their home on the market. This doesn’t have to be big time construction, either. A cabinet here and there doesn’t cost a lot of money, so kitchen and bathroom remodeling is a cost effective way to go about improving the home. Statistics say that with a successful kitchen remodeling project or bathroom improvement project, homeowners can get a significant return on their investment. In some cases, they can increase the value of their home by 70% more than what they paid to remodel.

That statistic isn’t true across the board, though. Solid projects will bring in more return on investment than poorly completed projects. If you want your home to be worth a significant amount more when you’re done, you have to make sure the project is done correctly. This might mean hiring the right contractor or contracting company, or it could mean pulling off the custom construction by yourself. Your own abilities will determine which of these is a better option.

If you are thinking about remodeling your kitchen or bathroom, then you probably have some questions. Why do these two things add such value to the home? What real estate agents will tell you is that when people are shopping for a home, they are more apt to remember these big projects. Women and men alike will value a great area to prepare food. Likewise, bathrooms are something that seems to stand out in the mind of many potential home buyers.

Another reason why you might want to remodel the bathroom or kitchen is that it’s one of the cheapest projects to complete within the home. You can find affordable cabinets for your kitchen and a lot of the work can be done on your own. The cost of the projects is often quite low, even if you hire a contractor or two to take care of certain aspects of the remodel. When you only pour a few thousand dollars into a project and you can get more than a couple of thousand in return on added value in your home, it is time to start really considering this project as more than a remodel. It’s an investment in a way, and something that almost any homeowner can benefit from.

Oceanic Construction is a Fort Meyers kitchen and bath remodeling company. Visit their website to view their remodeling services.

When your current housing arrangement does not meet your wants or needs, you have two options in front of you — you can add on to your home, or you can purchase a new home that meets your criteria. While purchasing a new home is certainly an option, many homeowners purchased or acquired their current home for a variety of specific reasons, so moving is likely a last-resort option. However, when weighing out the overall costs and benefits of remodeling or upgrading your home, is it worth the price tag?

One of the most important factors in determining whether moving or upgrading is a better option for you is how happy you are with your home, and its location. If you like your neighborhood, you have an emotional attachment to your home, or you just really like your house, the costs associated with remodeling your home are almost guaranteed to be justified so long as you deal with a reputable construction company. However, if you don’t really like your house, and especially if you do not like your neighborhood, any home additions or upgrades would likely be deemed ‘too much’, even when considering the arduous prospects of buying a home, moving, and trying to sell your home in a poor economic climate.

Another determining factor in whether or not home remodeling costs are worth the price is your reason for wanting to remodel your home. If you’re looking to remodel your home to accommodate your own needs, such as an office space, an updated bathroom, or a play area for the kids, this is one thing. However, if your reasoning for home renovation is to increase the value of your home for resale, this is something completely different. A house’s value is determined, in part, by the values of the properties that surround it. If your sole motivation for home renovation is to boost your home’s selling price, you should thoroughly research the properties in your area, get an estimates for your proposed upgrades, and maybe even speak to a realtor before you commit to a costly aesthetic upgrade for profit purposes. Now, if you just want to turn your current home into a your ‘dream home’, the ends typically justify the means, especially if you like your house and your neighborhood.

Finally, you should assess whether or not you can afford to renovate your home at this time. A good home remodeling company will work with you and your budget, but regardless of how good of a deal you get with a remodeler, it’s still going to cost you some money. Alternately, if you cannot afford all of your proposed home upgrades at present, but have a small amount in your budget to get started on your project, speak with a professional builder to discuss the options available to you.

Bottom line, if you like your home and you like your neighborhood, there’s a good chance that home remodeling is more than worth the price. If you choose to work exclusively with an established, and reputable, home remodeling company, they can help you turn your current home into your dream home without breaking your budget.

Paddock Builders provides home remodeling services to Brighton, Howell, and Wixom Michigan. Visit Paddock Builders for your home renovation needs.

If you want a new look for your kitchen, but don’t want to shell out the big bucks for a full-scale kitchen remodeling job, you’re probably looking for a few ideas on how to create the biggest effect for the smallest impact on your bank account. Fortunately, as with many home improvement projects, sometimes it’s the smallest things that can have the most dramatic effects. Here are four areas where your can remodel your kitchen without, hopefully, having to refinance your whole house.

If the walls could talk…

They would probably say that they’re tired of their worn-out look and could use a fresh makeover. One of the most dramatic changes that you can make to your home — the kitchen especially — is to apply a fresh coat of paint, new paneling, wallpaper, or even spruce up the walls with a natural-looking wood. Even changing the color tone a notch in your kitchen can produce dramatic effects, and the vibe you receive from your kitchen will change dramatically if you choose to move from bright to dark or vice versa.

Throw out your kitchen sink…

And purchase a new one. Purchasing a new, stainless-steel kitchen sink doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, and especially if you consult with a kitchen remodeling contractor beforehand, you can avoid having to replace your entire kitchen counter top. Though, while replacing your kitchen countertop is the number three idea on our list, if you happen to like your countertop, you probably don’t want to spend the extra money fixing something that isn’t broke, so to speak.

Class-up your kitchen counter top

If you have a large kitchen counter top, or if you have an island in the middle of your kitchen, when you’re revamping your kitchen’s walls, that might be a good time to consider a change to the largest kitchen mass area besides your flooring. While replacing your kitchen’s countertop can be expensive depending on what materials you use to replace it with, you can also find an attractive kitchen counter top for budget prices that will help, even more, to create a new look and feel for your home’s culinary center.

Replace your kitchen’s flooring

Unless you have a kitchen the size of a house, replacing your existing flooring can be an inexpensive kitchen remodeling project. While kitchens and carpeting do not always work well together for a wide variety of reasons, maybe adding a foot-warming touch to your cold vinyl flooring can make a big difference in how you perceive your kitchen. Likewise, if you’re currently sporting carpeting in your kitchen, maybe making the switch to tile flooring, vinyl flooring, or even hardwood flooring, will create the ‘new kitchen’ look and feel that you’re looking for.

Remodeling your kitchen does not need to be a massively expensive undertaking. Whether you use one of these kitchen remodeling ideas or all of them, each one, individually, can make a drastic difference in how you perceive your home’s cooking center. Fortunately, even if you can’t afford to make multiple changes to your kitchen all at once, these small kitchen remodeling projects can be worked on individually, at a pace that is comfortable for you and your budget. Even little by little and step by step, it won’t take you long to turn your current kitchen into a new, and more inviting, room that you will actually enjoy spending time in.

Oceanic Construction provides kitchen and bathroom remodeling services to Bonita Springs, Estero, Fort Meyers and Naples, Florida.