Trends in Bathroom Remodeling

Bathrooms are a huge area for remodeling in homes. Contemporary colors, new styles and technology advances modernize your home to fit you’re your family’s changing needs. Here are some of the trends we are seeing in remodeling bathrooms.

Contemporary Styling
Changing the style of your bathroom brings a whole new feel to your home. There are many options to choose from for updating the lines and look of your bathroom with new cabinetry and fixtures (lights, faucets, etc.). We can help with interior and design choices to fit your style.

Custom Cabinetry
Custom cabinets have become a huge focus for storage in the bathroom. Each family has its own needs and custom cabinetry can fit your style, your look and your exact family needs for storage.

Dark Espresso Custom-Stained Maple
A newer style people are bringing into their bathrooms for a dramatic look is dark espresso stained wood. The combination of dark wood and warm colors brings out a spa feel for relaxation and beauty.

Large Built-in Linen Cabinets
Expanding on custom cabinets, home owners have been requesting large built-in linen cabinets in their bathrooms to store all their bathroom needs.

Granite Vanity Tops
Adding a contemporary, stylish look and an extra ‘pop’ in bathroom designs are granite vanity tops. Using remnant slabs for small countertops offers a reasonable cost and lasting beauty to bathrooms.

Tile surrounds with In-Wall Niches
Incorporating custom needs into all areas of the bathroom, tile surrounds with in-wall niches for holding items in showers and around bathtubs are extremely popular.

Are Your Locks Safe?

Have you heard of a Bump Key? The bump key is a threat to about 95% of the locks in America.

Standard Locks
Most locks work on a pin tumbler system design that uses a set of lower pins cut at different heights to match the key and a set of top pins that contact the top of the bottom pins. When inserting the right key, the bottom pins are lifted to the correct height, creating an even line between the top and bottom pins so you can turn the key. If one pin is off, the lock cylinder won’t rotate and you can’t turn the key.

The Bump Key
The Bump key can open a lock easily even though it’s not the proper key. By striking the Bump Key in the lock, it transfers a force into the lock system pins making them jump therefore separating the top and bottom pins for a fraction of a second, allowing the lock cylinder to be turned unlocking the lock.

The Pin tumbler lock design is found on most locks we use every day. If a matching bump key is possessed, most likely the lock can be opened in seconds.

Lock Standardization and Quality
There are hundreds of different types of locks available around the world but American manufacturers use primarily use two different key shapes which allows for two kinds of bump keys to open most locks including deadbolts. High quality and deadbolt locks tend to be made to tighter tolerances so the bump key energy transfer process is even more effective.

High Security Locks
Here are some high security locking systems you can research:
- Abloy Protec manufactured in Finland
- Medeco manufactured in Salem, Virginia
- BiLock manufactured in Australia

Protect your home and other valuables by installing bump key proof locks in your home and other valuable areas.

Protect Your Home While Your Away

Over the last year we have done some major whole-house remodeling projects that were as a result of furnace failure while the owners were out of town. This had prompted us to provide some information for caring and protecting your home when leaving for an extended period of time.

It is a good idea to take some precautions to minimize the likelihood of major damage to your home due to equipment malfunction. We have repaired several homes when during lengthy winter vacations the furnace has failed causing freezing and bursting water lines throughout the house. In the summer a washing machine supply hose or icemaker line can burst and with no one home for days, the amount of water damage is unbelievable.

If you are leaving your home to go out of town for more than a few days it is a good idea to:

1. Shut off your water at the main house shut-off by the meter. If you have a well, shut off the well circuit breaker. Do NOT drain the system.

2. Turn off your water heater, or turn it down to ‘vacation’ setting

3. If you are going to be gone for a month or more, fill all drains with RV anti-freeze so they do not dry out. Dry drains will allow sewer gas to flow back into the house.

4. Have a friend or neighbor check your home on a regular basis (daily if possible).

Other things you can do to protect your home while you are gone:

1. Check to see if your furnace thermostat has a battery. If it does, change it yearly. Some thermostats have a battery power supply and do not control the furnace if the battery dies. If this happens while you are on a two-week vacation you will come home to a house full of frozen burst pipes.

2. There are several models of home monitoring systems. Some have a feature that will call to alert you if the temperature of your home drops below a set level. Others are integrated with a thermostat so you can control the temperature of your home from anywhere in the world through phone or internet connection.
If you have any questions about protecting your home, give us a call.

2012 Top 5 Kitchen Remodeling Trends

A successful kitchen remodeling project can be a great return on your investment, since it automatically raises the value of your house. Kitchen remodels bring better utilization of space to meet the demands of lifestyles too – as well as providing better storage.

Hiding Appliances
Tucking away or hiding appliances is a new kitchen remodeling trend that is very popular due to the artistic way of saving space. It improves functionality in the kitchen and also prevents the kitchen from looking too cluttered. Some good examples of concealed appliances are: steam ovens, warming drawers, and built-in coffee centers. Built-in coffee centers, provide a customized cup of coffee with just one press of a button.

Color Trends For Appliances
Stainless steel is a common color choice for over a hundred years now. It has a universal appeal and a shiny appearance, which is often associated with luxury. It also provides a more sterile surface than the others. Black is another favored color. It offers a more formal, yet contemporary appearance and goes with any style. Other popular colors are beige, gray, and cream.

Cabinets
Maple cabinetry is among the most favored kitchen remodel ideas in 2012. Woods with different shades of white or off-white hues make good finishes, as well as dark natural finishes. Finishes that are either light natural or color painted are popular too. There are a variety of trendy styles of cabinets: floating units, cabinets with touch-latch doors, systems that are hidden behind sliding doors, and cabinets with innovative surfaces, such as semi-translucent glass, bamboo, and aluminum.

Countertops
Countertops with custom touches, such as marble pastry slab inserts and wooden butcher blocks will be huge in 2012. Some homeowners even embed concrete with metal and glass bits. Choosing renewable and recycled materials over natural stone, marble and quarts are a great option for those who want to cut down on maintenance. Some of the recycled materials that are used are laminate and paper.

Illumination
Light fixtures are also in the top five kitchen remodeling trends. Accent lighting to draw attention to kitchen decorations like glassware, dishware, and frames are extremely popular. For decorative light fixtures, sconce lighting is a great choice. They spill the light upward or sideways and form attractive backdrops.

2012 Home Remodeling Trends

Remodeling in 2012 is full of new ideas to benefit your home with practicality. Instead of going big and extravagant, people are looking more cost effective and useful features for their home.

Steam showers are on the rise since soaking tubs are rarely used and can be expensive. Homeowners focus their budget on a larger and more comfortable shower for therapeutic effects and conservation of water.

Drop Zones or Mud Rooms are extremely popular because they serve as a great way to de-clutter and organize your home. Cubbies, hooks, or closets are custom designed to hide these items and eliminate clutter in your home.

Formal living rooms are considered wasted space so opening the living room is a new trend that creates a great room that is warm and inviting. An open family room combines the kitchen, living room, and dining room. Creating one big room will help lessen energy consumption and create a more inviting environment.

Developing a lifestyle center for your whole family. Computers and electronics are put in this room for kids to do homework and parents to be able to monitor their children. It’s a versatile room work at home, paying the bills and more - instead of a closed-off office space.

Creating an outdoor living space remains popular. A patio can serve as a secondary dining room or living area. Making this outdoor living space available year-round with electric radiant heat, like slab heating or a snow melting system is the ideal for use all year long. It also makes your house feel larger, by adding sliding doors that lead from inside your house to the patio.

Now is a great time to maintain and clean the inside of your home for the upcoming cold weather months. Plus, it will help you get ready for Holiday parties and gatherings.

• Clean from top to bottom. Vacuum drapes and window treatments. Clean window sills and window wells. Dust curtain rods. Vacuum baseboards and corners.


• Wash the inside of your windows and vacuum screens.


• Vacuum upholstered furniture or have it professionally cleaned. Move all furniture and vacuum beneath and behind it.


• Schedule professional carpet cleaning or clean the carpets yourself with a carpet cleaning system.


• Wash bowls from light fixtures.


• Pull refrigerator away from the wall, and vacuum the condenser coils. For bottom-mounted coils, use a long, narrow brush to clean coils of dust and debris.


• Check and empty the central vacuum's collection area if you home has this system.


• Clean or replace humidifier elements.
  Inspect washer hoses for bulges, cracks or splits. Replace them every other year.


• Check dryer exhaust tube and vent for built-up lint, debris or birds' nests! Make sure the exterior vent door closes tightly when not in use.


• Drain sediment from hot water heaters.
  
  
  
  

Outside The House

With a few warmer days of Fall left, you still have time to finish preparing the outside of your home for winter. Here are some tips and suggestions before cozying up inside your home during the snow and cold.

• Clean and store outside items: patio furniture, umbrellas, children's summer toys and other items.


• Wash exterior windows.


• Check caulk around windows and doors and re-caulk if needed.


• Inspect outside doors and garage doors to make sure they close tightly. Install weather-stripping or door thresholds if needed.


• Touch up paint on house trim, hand railings and decks. Remove flaking paint, prime bare wood and paint.


• Drain and store garden hoses. Install insulating covers on exterior spigots. Have sprinkler systems blown free of water.


• Check gutters and downspouts. Clear leaves and other debris if necessary. Here in Minnesota consider installing heating cable to prevent ice dams.


• Have chimneys and flues inspected and cleaned if necessary.