Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Editor's Note: The following is a guest contribution from Houzz, a leading platform for home remodeling and design.

Designers have many secrets they deploy for a successful kitchen remodel. Recently I shared 17 of my favorites, and here I offer 11 more. Read on for ideas that will make your kitchen more beautiful as well as more functional.

Before we get started, heres a bonus piece of advice: I highly recommend you invest your dollars in the best cabinetry you can afford, and worry about the appliances later. In other words, dont sacrifice the quality of your cabinets for new appliances if budget is an issue. Instead, delay purchasing your [clients] dream appliances. Why? Long after [your client has] replaced [the] refrigerator and dishwasher, the cabinets will be standing, and they are the foundation for a beautiful kitchen.

Now, onto more details that make a difference.

Most kitchen remodels incorporate the refrigerator into the design by adding side panels that match the cabinetry for a built-in look. Standard countertops overhang base cabinet doors by half an inch. Be sure the depth of the refrigerator panel is slightly greater than the depth of the counter. Otherwise, the counter will jut past the panel instead of converging with it.

Related story: Get Started on Your Kitchen and Bath Remodel Today

In addition to increasing the depth of the refrigerator panel, also increase the depth of your tall cabinets as shown here.

Consistency is the key to good design, therefore all counters should have the same reveal, or edge configuration.

Not all countertops overhang the doors by a half-inch. Some clients prefer their counters flush with the doors and drawers for a modern, streamlined appearance.

Pullout cabinets should be only 9, 12 or 15 inches wide, in my opinion.

Why? By virtue of the pullouts design, every time you need a can of soup, you experience the full weight of everything thats stored there.

A wider pantry pullout is simply too heavy.

For pantry cabinets wider than 15 inches, I prefer rollouts. That means youre pulling out only the shelf you need, not the whole pantry.

Also, consider the projection of the hardware of any cabinet next to the wall.

Make the filler (a matching strip of wood that fills the gap between the cabinet and wall) at least 1.5 inches wide to keep the hardware from hitting the wall and possibly restricting the usability of a cabinet with a rollout.

Related story: Are Soapstone Countertops Right for You?

Kitchens are all about function. I always try to put at least one pullout for frequently used oils and sauces next to the range.

Although some worry that the heat from the range may turn the oils, most ranges have great insulation.

That, coupled with the thickness of the cabinets sides, means sauces and oils rarely spoil.

Some clients dont need tall tray storage because their trays arent that wide or they store them on their sides, as shown here.

If this is the case for you, consider adding a shelf above the trays for extra storage.

Not everyone needs an abundance of tray storage. For those clients, I will add a partition to the cabinet and adjustable shelves to the other side.

For years I specified a single-layer cutlery holder for my clients. Now, I include a two-tiered insert to double their amount of cutlery storage.

A common mistake is placing the dishwasher adjacent to a corner sink. The consequence of this is that youre unable to stand at the sink and load the dishwasher in that tight space.

One remedy is to add a cabinet between the corner sink and dishwasher. Ideally, that intermediating cabinet should be a minimum of 15 inches wide.

Stainless steel had been my go-to finish for sinks for many reasons, including its durability and availability at many price points. Then I realized its not always the best option, depending on the countertops finish, as well as the look you are trying to achieve. With a lighter countertop, a stainless steel sink may look like a dark hole in the island. A white sink, though, will not.

Related story:Concrete Countertops - A Nearly Indestructible Option

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11 designer details for kitchen remodels - Construction Dive

If you want to transform your kitchen but keep it simple and budget-friendly, check out our easy kitchen makeover tips.

1. Boost storage

Take advantage of unclaimed wall space by adding shelves for a practical upgrade. This will add value to your kitchen and allows you to keep dishes, food, and cookware within easy reach.

2. Add color to your cabinets

Kitchen cabinets are often overlooked during kitchen remodels, but a bright color on your cabinets can add an entirely new look to your kitchen. Not to mention, it costs mere dollars!

3. Shine, shine, shine!

Polish your kitchen floors using any kind of floor wax for an added shine that will make your floors look brand new.

4. Try a blacksplash

Add texture to your kitchen by adding a decorative backsplash. Not only does a backsplash add decoration to your kitchen, it also protects your walls from splashes and spills.

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Easy kitchen makeover ideas - Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3

Renovating your kitchen? A trip to the flea market or antique store should be near the top of your to-do list. No, not to find your dining table, but to unearth gorgeous fixtures and architectural details. When everything else in the space is going to be shiny and new, some oldies but goodies are just what you'll need to warm it up. Sweeten , a free service that plays matchmaker for home owners and contractors, has seen an uptick in the use of vintage sinks, doors, and windows in their clients' remodels, and they've shared a few of them with us to spark ideas for your own renovation. Now, onto perfecting those bargaining skills. . .

For his 1940s-era New York bathroom, architect Brian Kaplan crafted a one-of-a-kind sink pedestal by pairing a vintage wood table with a modern sink basin from Kraus, which fit right in next to the reclaimed tub. "We found the basin table online and delivered it home from Hudson, New York, ourselves after a weekend camping and picked up the several-hundred-pound clawfoot tub at the UPS depot under the Kosciuszko Bridge in Brooklyn!" he writes.

Photo: Courtesy of Sweeten

When fashion designer Christine Yao was renovating her New York apartment's bath, she needed a door that would let in light without taking up a lot of space. On a visit to Big Reuse in Gowanus, Brooklyn, she discovered an old office door, which her Sweeten general contractor cut down to fit the doorway and then painted.

Photo: Courtesy of Sweeten

Interior designer Meredith incorporated vintage finds throughout her newly remodeled New York townhouse . "I snagged a vintage enamel sink from BIG, and paired it with the restaurant-style sprayer faucet of my dreams from Signature Hardware," she writes of her kitchen fixtures. In the home's powder room, she installed a window from Olde Good Things and a vintage pedestal sink.

Photo: Courtesy of Sweeten

After salvaging a 1948 Kohler slop sink from an old steel warehouse, a couple asked their Sweeten contractor to build a custom vanity beneath it and a mirror above it for the bathroom of their Brooklyn home.

Photo: Courtesy of Sweeten

Sweeten is a free service in New York and Philadelphia that personally matches renovation projects with vetted general contractors, helping until project completion. Follow the blog for renovation ideas and and when youre ready to remodel, start your renovation on Sweeten.

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Every Bath or Kitchen Renovation Should Include Something Vintage - Architectural Digest

Charlotte Business Journal

What's cooking? These key trends are driving modern kitchen design Charlotte Business Journal But the kitchen remains one of the larger rooms in the house in new homes and remodels because they are just so useful. It's where important conversations happen, where meals are prepared and eaten, and where the mail gets dropped and the cell phones ... and more »

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What's cooking? These key trends are driving modern kitchen design - Charlotte Business Journal

Kansas City Star

Lawsuit, other delays interrupt 'greener-than-green' River Market apartment construction Kansas City Star By September 2015, Arnold had the lean building construction team in place and was working on financing. At the time, he expected tenants to move in by February 2017. But it took months of financial deals, including getting approvals for tax-exempt ...

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Lawsuit, other delays interrupt 'greener-than-green' River Market apartment construction - Kansas City Star

WATCH LIVE

Federal investigators on Monday pieced through the charred skeleton of an under-construction apartment building in Oaklandto determine if the blaze was accidental or intentionally set.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sent a national response team to examine the fire site at 2302 Valdez Street, which caught fire early Friday and forced several hundred evacuations.

4-Alarm Fire Engulfs Building in Oakland

The four-alarm blaze engulfed what would have been a mixed-use apartment complexexpected to house 196 homes and up to 31,500 square feet of retail space upon completion next spring.

No one was injured by the fire, but at least 700 people living and working in the area around the blaze were asked to leave their homes and businesses while crews battled the flames and worked to dismantle a structurally unstable crane marred the fire.

The crane was successfully removed Saturday evening, allowing many evacuees to slowly return home.

As mostevacuees returned home Sunday, a new evacuation order was issued for a neighboring building.

About 7 p.m. Sunday, glass and debris began falling from the building at 180 Grand Ave., leading to the closure of that building, fire officials said. The evacuation order at the building would remain in place until an investigation to determine its condition, officials said.

The blaze comes on the heels of three separate fires at construction sites in the area between July 2016 and May 2017. The ATF is offering a $110,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for those blazes. The reward does not mention the most recent blaze.

Published at 5:49 AM PDT on Jul 10, 2017 | Updated 5 hours ago

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Federal Investigators Examine Oakland Construction Site Fire - NBC Bay Area

San Francisco Business Times

Oakland housing developers are on edge after spate of apartment fires, but determined to keep building San Francisco Business Times The threat of fires destroying apartment construction projects is keeping some developers up at night. Oakland is the middle of a housing construction boom that developers won't let up anytime soon. and more »

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Oakland housing developers are on edge after spate of apartment fires, but determined to keep building - San Francisco Business Times

RINGWOOD Ringwood School Primary Center will have a new look when it opens for students in the upcoming school year.

Tom Schwartz, director of buildings and grounds for Johnsburg School District 12, said renovations began in early June for the school that houses pre-K students through second-graders.

The project is estimated to cost about $1 million. Initial renovations include installing new carpet as well as painting classrooms, offices and hallways.

We have a really successful program where we hire our high school students for the summer to help with maintenance, Schwartz said. And what weve done is weve put together a painting crew of eight students from the high school.

Schwartz said the district is replacing the buildings windows, doors and original 1961 boiler, in which two energy-efficient units will take its place.

The Ringwood school opened in 1961 with four classes. Four more classes were added in 1971 before other additions in 2000.

Basically, three-quarters of the school as it sits today was an addition in 2000, Schwartz said. And when they did that work, they didnt do a full renovation on the original areas, so they had things left out like the sprinklers. So were catching up to what we couldnt afford back in 2000.

Schwartz said fire sprinklers will be installed this summer in the original section of the school.

Its never had them, Schwartz said. So after this project is complete, the entire school will be covered by fire sprinklers.

The technology department has upgraded the districts internet infrastructure, replacing old equipment with new switches, cabling and Wi-Fi access points.

The technology department also has been modernizing the buildings security.

Weve got security cameras going in, Schwartz said. Weve never had security cameras before at Ringwood.

Technological enhancements will include new door access controls for security purposes, a new sound system in the gym and upgraded outdoor lighting to LED.

Other school improvements include new cabinets in the pre-K area for storage purposes, repair of the gas main on the roof, installation of new toilet partitions in the washrooms and repavement of a section of the parking lot.

Were also doing a major rooftop unit, [heating, ventilation and air conditioning] replacement, Schwartz said. So were replacing four large multizone units.

Superintendent Dan Johnson said District 12 has been planning an extensive renovation project during the past few years.

The benefit of these renovations is that were going to have lasting, excellent learning environments for our kids, Johnson said. We want to thank our community for supporting all these renovations. We look forward to the kids and staff seeing the updated, renovated facilities.

The Ringwood school construction comes after District 12 renovated Johnsburg High School and the Johnsburg Elementary and Junior High campus, where third grade through eighth grade students attend. Both of those renovations were completed in August.

Those renovations allowed us to close [James C.] Bush Elementary School, so the students there moved to the [elementary/junior high campus], Schwartz said.

Schwartz said that what makes the project unique is that the Ringwood school construction is being completely managed by the school district.

We are not hiring a construction manager or construction management firm to help us, Schwartz said. So all the coordination of activities are being done in-house.

The Ringwood School Primary Center renovations are expected to be complete by early August before teachers return to start setting up their classrooms.

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Renovations underway at Ringwood School Primary Center - Northwest Herald

Heather Cunningham married into the flooring business 27 years ago. Today, she and her husband, Mike, are continuing to expand the family business, which began 45 years ago. And they are bringing the Cunningham name back to the business name.

Cunningham Flooring Direct is the new name of Carpets of Dalton Flooring America. The 13,000-square-foot showroom is the largest flooring showroom in Northern Arizona. Located at 2720 E. Lakin Dr. in Flagstaff, just west of Steves Boulevard, the showroom has an immense selection of name-brand flooring, including carpet, tile, wood, ceramic, laminate and luxury vinyl, as well as counter and vanity tops.

Throughout the last 45 years, the business has continued to grow, change and transform, but the family says one thing has remained constant the Cunninghams commitment to offering quality products, exceptional customer service and a priority to personalize every sale.

Our goal is, and always has been, to provide superior customer service and the highest quality merchandise at the best prices to all our customers, said owner Heather Cunningham. Our motto is: Get comfortable, take control, get floored!

Born in Sacramento, California, Heather lived most her life in Ohio before moving to Flagstaff. She and Mike decided to move to Flagstaff, Mikes hometown, to lead the family business. In 1972, Mikes older brother established the Carpet Barn. In 1974, as the business grew and expanded, the name was changed to Cunningham Interiors. Then, in 1995, when Heather and Mike took over operations, the business continued to expand and the name was changed to reflect the merchandise and services.

As Flagstaff changed and expanded, so did we, Heather explained about circumstances since she became one of the owners. At first, we were just simply Carpets of Dalton, and we had surprise! just carpet! Then we became Carpet Max as we added several other flooring categories. Then Flooring America, to reflect a full-service flooring showroom for the builder, homeowner and commercial client.

July 1 marked another important name change as Heather and Mike launched a new name, expanded merchandise and a new business model.

We wanted to incorporate our family name back into the business name because we want people to know that even with all the changes and growth in Flagstaff, the Cunninghams are still in the flooring business, Heather said. Flagstaff knows, the Cunninghams know flooring.

The showroom is expanding to include a selection of lighting fixtures, kitchen and bath faucets, and other home decor. Interior design services have been a mainstay through the years and the Cunninghams say they will continue and expand.

As part of the name change and merchandise expansion, Cunningham Flooring Direct will no longer employ flooring installers. Rather, Cunninghams team will work with each customer to coordinate installation with the flooring installation professional based on the product and the customer needs.

Who was your hero when you were a kid?

My grandmother. She was a tough, strong lady who had lived through the Great Depression and World War II and she had seen so much. I really looked up to her and loved her. She rode a Harley Davidson motorcycle from Maine to California and back. She was something.

What is the best advice youve ever received?

I like to read a lot so this is a hard one to pin down. I guess I would say, Live each day like it was your last. It is important to always say I love you and dont go to bed mad.

What is your favorite food?

Chocolate, hands down! It goes with wine, red meat, most side dishes and is good by itself. Yes, definitely chocolate.

If there was to be a movie about you, what would it look like?

It would be in an epic period piece about strong women, long marriages, beautiful and amazing children, and dogs Doberman Pinschers, to be exact. FBN

By Starla S. Collins, FBN

Cunningham Flooring Direct is hosting an open house and new name celebration with refreshments and music from10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,Friday, July 14, and10 a.m. to 2 p.m.,Saturday, July 15, at the Flagstaff showroom, 2720 E. Lakin Dr., Flagstaff.

Photo Caption:

Cunningham Flooring Direct owner Heather Cunningham stands in the expanded showroom filled with flooring of all kinds, home decor, light fixtures, counter tops and more.

Photo by Starla S. Collins

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Long-time Family Business Continues to Change, Grow, Expand - Flagstaff Business News

Award-winning UK carpet manufacturer, Cormar Carpets, has announced that it has made significant improvements to its Bury-based mill, as the British carpet industry success story has upgraded its loading bay facility using specialist apparatus, designed and installed by Thorworld Industries.

The two British companies have enjoyed a working relationship since 2009, when Cormar first used Thorworlds services to create a loading ramp solution, specifically designed to better enable carpet loading logistics, from mill warehouse to vehicle container.

Eight years on and Cormar, regarded as being one of the UKs select few privately-owned family carpet companies, continues its dedicated approach to investing in services, quality materials and customer commitment, as it updates and improves its onsite facilities.

At Cormar, our primary aim is to manufacture high-quality carpets and provide a first-class service to all our customers. Part of that service revolves around the effective and safe despatch of our products, explains Mike Wykes, FLT Training Officer at Cormar Carpets.

To fulfil this requirement to the best of our ability, we need access to specialist loading equipment thats been specifically designed to enable operatives to perform their loading tasks effectively, prevent stock from becoming damaged, and enable employees to stay safe at all times.

The Thorworld loading ramp we brought into our warehouse facility eight years ago, has fulfilled its role on all counts. However, a recent decision to change our loading process, and expand apparatus provision to include a docking system featuring two ramps, led us to readdress the design of our existing loading bay, and make some enabling alterations.

Mike goes on to explain that he and the team had no reservation in bringing Thorworld back-on-board to perform the required re-design of the companys loading bay facility.

Weve always found Thorworld to be a great group of people to work with, and would work with them again on any future loading bay project without hesitation. Like us, the company has a customer focused ethos. We simply explained what wed like our loading bay to do, and Thorworld came up with designs that would work.

Thorworlds plans for Cormars refurbished loading bay has involved the installation of two platforms with a Bimagrip anti-slip surface, access steps with side platforms and two bespoke, short type 10 access ramps, each with expanded metal decking and 1000mm high handrails. The equipment has an impressive 6,000kg capacity and has been specifically designed to improve access within Cormars loading facility.

Cormar will be using Thorworlds maintenance division to ensure the new equipment is professionally serviced on an annual basis, and the carpet manufacturer has also sold its original loading ramp back to Thorworld, as part of re-installation process.

With this latest loading bay installation for Cormar, we purposely designed the loading ramps to be one metre shorter. This bespoke design has helped to create additional space enabling easy vehicle access onto the ramps and allowing for greater manoeuvrability, explains Ian Langan, Technical Director at Thorworld Industries.

Cormar Carpets business has evolved considerably over the past eight years, and now, the firms loading apparatus has advanced alongside it. We hope the new bespoke design and improved capability of the equipment will serve to better accommodate the changing logistics of this impressively adaptable British firm.

http://www.thorworld.co.uk

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Thorworld loading bay solutions prove perfect fit for Cormar Carpets - Materials Handling World Magazine