Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

CALLAWAY Fla. (WMBB) Callaway residents were welcomed back home at their Northstar church campus.

The Callaway campus suffered structural damage and electrical problems. Since then, they have been working to fix it.

We are back here in the Callaway area, said Michelle Cassell, the Callaway Northstar kids ministry director.

Northstar Callaway Church officially re-welcomed community members Sunday at their morning service.

Cassell said residents nearby were struck by Hurricane Michael, as well as their church, but now they all have a fresh start.

The fact that we are able to be here in this community living and working together with families, just you know, being able to be the light of Jesus in this community is just a special privilege to us, said Cassell.

And the campus pastor, Lee Cordell, said he has seen and felt the excitement from those coming back through their doors.

Weve had some families that are brand new, their first time was today, so thats really exciting, said Cordell. Its great to see, like hey, there is an opportunity here. and its just a new life and a new start. You know, those kinds of things coming around so its been great.

Cordell said he is ready to re-immerse himself into the Callaway community, just like they had in the past.

Were excited really that we have a stable base, where we can then be able to work in the community and help other people with things that come up, and so its just great to be able to have a base of operation, said Cordell.

Northstar Callaway held Sunday services from the Panama City campus until now. But residents were able to walk and ride their bikes to the reopening once again.

We had to close down while we did construction, and so we were a little bit disconnected from things that were going on immediately around here, said Cordell.

Read more:
Callaway residents are welcomed back home to the Northstar church campus - WMBB - mypanhandle.com

ROSSFORD Building will begin in April on a new 137-acre site in Rossford, to be developed by Scannell Properties, the largest industrial developer in the country.

Between this site and the Crossroads, I can envision 10,000 new jobs for the region in the next five years, Rossford Mayor Neil MacKinnon III said. All this will spur other growth and work its way into the traffic pattern, developing the customer base and attracting new development.

The property is at the Buck Road interchange, the largest span of commercial marketed real estate along Interstate 75 in Northwest Ohio, with 2,000 feet of highway frontage. The property is also bounded by Glenwood Road and Mandell Road, with Lime City Road bisecting it. The southern edge of the property is adjacent to the Cedar Creek Church property.

Terry Coyne, Newmark Knight Frank Real Estate Services, said that the site will be for light industrial, manufacturing and logistics.

Its a great site. We scoured the market north, south, east and west. We love this corridor. Rossford and Wood County have been fantastic to work with, Coyne said.

He said that the site is shovel ready, with basic infrastructure already in place, including sewer, drainage, electrical and gas.

Were very excited. This will increase our tax base and will provide jobs and opportunities, not just for Rossford, but to the entire region.

Architects renderings show as many as eight buildings planned for construction. T

hey will break ground on the first building as soon as the weather breaks, which Coyne expects to be in April, but said that they will start before that if possible.

The first building is going to be a 300,000-square-foot spec warehouse.

Coyne pointed out that the facility will be across the highway from Penta Career Center and also near the new FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight Distribution Facilities. Newmark Knight Frank is working on a leasing application now for a possible manufacturing company.

Excerpt from:
New Rossford construction continues adding jobs in area - Sentinel-Tribune

St. Martins Academy Theotokos Hall. Photo was taken from the schools website.The St. Martins Academy all-school photo taken December 2020. Submitted.

Saint Martins Academy, rural Fort Scott, is a Catholic boarding school for boys that combines classical academics with a practical work program on a sustainable farm, according to its website. http://www.saintmartinsacademy.org

The school is in its third year.

Daniel Kerr is the headmaster of the academy and gave fortscott.biz an email interview.

We have 42 students this year across all four grades: 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th, Kerr said. Our first graduating class of nine will graduate on May 29th. Our graduates plans include college, apprenticing in a trade, and mission work.

One of the new faculty this year is Adam Taylor, who is the assistant headmaster.

Adam spent 20 years in the Marines before entering the private sector as a vice president at Cloudera, a software company, Kerr said. His son, Ian, is a 12th grader.

The school also has a new dean of student life, Bryan Meyers.

Bryan has taught at a variety of private and public schools for over a decade and has a passion for integrating academics with the living laboratory of the farm and fields, Kerr said. He teaches several classes and is also the schools beekeeper with several active hives and more on the way.

The school offers rugby as part of the program.

Practices for the 2021 Rugby season are well underway and we have seven or eight matches slated in the late winter and early spring, mostly with teams from the Kansas City metro area, Kerr said. Team captains Ian Taylor, Henry Hickey (12th grade), and Nate Jones, Danny Harrington (11th grade) will lead the Kingfishers in our first year of playing with a full squad of 15. Rugby is played by all the boys who are able and helps develop a real esprit de corps and sense of camaraderie.

The school is still in the construction phase with the main completed building, Theotokos Hall, the center of activity.

Theotokos Hall serves a multifunctional purpose during our first years, Danielle Bauer, who has development and fundraising duties at the academy, said. Currently the building houses our kitchen, dining hall, common area and hearth, library and classrooms. Most importantly, the top floor of Theotokos Hall serves as our chapel where the boys gather daily for prayer and Holy Mass.

It also served as a temporary dormitory until bunkhouses could be built.

Three of our five bunkhouses scheduled for construction are now occupied by the boys, Kerr said. This has been a game-changer for us by freeing up space within our main building, Theotokos Hall, to be developed for proper classrooms and a library. Enrollment next year should approach 60 and it is likely we will have a waiting list by May.

The students are involved in the community.

Among our work project, the boys are currently re-building several picnic tables for Gunn Park and have done some preparatory cooking for Fort Scotts soup kitchen (Feeding Families In His Name at the First United Methodist Church), Kerr said.

I am sincerely grateful for the hospitality and kindness of Fort Scotts civic leaders and residents in welcoming St. Martins these first few years, Kerr said. We look forward to being increasingly engaged in service and cultural projects that make positive contributions to the community.

St. Martins Academy is located at 1950 Indian Road, Fort Scott.

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St. Martins: Third Year Educating Boys - FortScott.Biz

Repairs and cleaning of the Alamos Long Barrack will soon begin as conservation experts determine the best way to preserve one of the oldest buildings in Texas.

Roof repairs at the mission-era structure began Monday and are expected to be completed by Friday. Cleaning of the exterior walls will begin later this month, as early as Feb. 15. But the state-owned Alamo complex will remain open to the public.

Just like when caring for artifacts like historic documents and artwork, the Long Barrack needs cleaning every so often, Alamo conservator Pamela Jary Rosser said. We will use the gentlest methods possible to clean the stones in the Long Barrack walls, using skilled masonry cleaners, and will not perform any repairs that pose a risk of damaging the structure.

On ExpressNews.com: Work to determine if Alamo church exterior was painted in mission era

During recent archaeological investigations in the Long Barrack, the Alamo preservation team discovered blisters in its replacement roof, installed in 1975, resulting from cracks in a roof membrane added in 2014. Parts of the roof have bulges up to 12 inches high from moisture infiltrating the membrane, which is under warranty. Areas where blistering has occurred are being repaired this week.

The long, rectangular building is less celebrated than the iconic Alamo church. But it was among the first structures built after the site became the third and final location of San Antonios first permanent mission in 1724. Much of its west and south walls are of original mission-era construction.

The Long Barrack was built by Spanish craftsmen and indigenous people living near the Mission San Antonio de Valero. It was completed by the 1740s as a two-story convento, where Spanish friars lived and worked. Later, as part of a fort, it housed a jail and, on the second floor, the first hospital in Texas, dating to 1805.

The Long Barrack also is the location where a high concentration of Texian and Tejano Alamo defenders are believed to have died in hand-to-hand fighting in the early morning battle of March 6, 1836.

Decades after the battle, the building was part of a grocery and liquor store. It was threatened with demolition by a hotel developer when Clara Driscoll and Adina de Zavala worked to save it in 1903, starting a new era of Alamo custodianship by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. The DRT renovated the building to house museum exhibits in 2005.

The building has been closed to the public in recent years for archaeological digs conducted to preserve the church and Long Barrack. Excavations in the Long Barrack have unearthed 1800s musket balls and other artillery, and a piece of earthenware believed to date from 1650 to 1725. Archaeologists also found, about 5 feet below the surface, what they believe is the base of the Long Barracks original mission-era west wall, the oldest intact structure at the Alamo, with a foundation dating to the 1720s.

On ExpressNews.com: Early mission era artifact unearthed at Alamo in downtown San Antonio

In the weeks ahead, masons will clean the exterior limestone walls with water, specialized soap and soft-bristle brushes to remove dirt and black and dark green biological growth so the preservation team can assess the condition of the stones and mortar for a long-term repair and treatment plan.

In a YouTube video posted by the Alamo, Rosser explained that a very gentle cleaning process will remove the growth materials and contaminants that visually obscure details and conditions of the stone and grout.

And then the building will be preserved in the best manner possible, she said.

shuddleston@express-news.net

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Cleaning, repairs to begin at Alamos Long Barrack, one of the oldest structures in Texas - San Antonio Express-News

HARTLAND When the Village Board gathers on Monday evening it will hear a presentation on a developers plan to transform the historic Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church property at 415 W. Capitol Drive into an event center and small hotel.

According to a staff memo, the church would be expanded and transformed into an event space, while the existing house on the property would be razed and replaced with a new house that could house event center patrons.

The church addition would be about 1,500 square feet. The single-family house would be roughly 2,000 square feet and have underground parking.

Developer Miller Marriot Construction Co., LLC, has had several successful projects in the village, the memo states, and will be on hand to explain his proposal to trustees on Monday.

The future of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church property has been a topic of discussion in recent years in the village. The building had previously been eyed by the village as a potential community center, but that plan ultimately fizzled.

In 2018 the church announced that it was hoping to sell the building and would be moving services to its school campus at 1023 E. Capitol Drive. According to a calendar on the churchs website, however, many services are still taking place at the church. The church is still owned by the congregation, according to online tax records.

Political signs

Trustees on Monday are also expected to review some proposed changes to the villages sign ordinance, most of them designed to ease restrictions on political yard signs.

The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Village Hall, 210 Cottonwood Ave.

Read more:
Developer wants to make Hartland church into event center - Greater Milwaukee Today

Bob Montgomery|Herald-Journal

Many road and bridge projects are planned this year in Spartanburg County by state and county transportation departments.

Funded projects on county-maintained roads this year include:

Intersection improvements at 4th Street/Hanging Rock and Valley Falls roads in Boiling Springs; Lightwood Knott and South Hammett Roads at Reidville Road; Willis Road at U.S. 29; and the installation of a traffic signal on S.C. 290 at Draexlmaierin Duncan.

Also, the county will continue to resurface roads, replace and repair bridges and large culverts on county-owned roads.

More: Spartanburg County roads see greater need than road projects planned

Projects planned on county-maintained bridges and culvert replacements include:

Calvary Road Bridge, Miller Town RoadBridge, Gate Road Bridge, Rabbit Moffit Road Bridge, Reidville Sharon Road Bridge, Beardon Road Bridge, Waspnest Road Bridge, Frey Road Bridge, and Settles Road Bridge.

More: A look at some of the key Spartanburg County, state road improvements planned for 2021

Spartanburg County Public Works Director Travis Brown said county road projects such as improvements in Boiling Springs near Highway 9 are often done in tandem with state Transportation Department projects.

At the recent Spartanburg County Transportation Committee, comprised of state lawmakers who represent all or parts of Spartanburg County, these new projects were approved:

Highway 14 East paving; widening of Robinson Road from Fulmer Drive to Highway 290; paving of Sloan Road/Mill Gin Road, from Jordan Road to Mt. Lebanon Road; paving of Shiloh Church Road, from Highway 358 to Wasp Nest Road; paving of Westmoreland Road in Greer; paving of East Church and Savannah streets, Tumbler Rock Road and Pebble Court in Cowpens; Edwards Lane in Duncan.

Also, Woods Chapel and Victor Hill Road intersection project; and curb, gutter and storm drainage improvements to Preston Street in Spartanburg.

S.C. Department of Transportation projects planned in Spartanburg County this year include:

Lyman Traffic Triangle, $6.5 million. Construction is expected to start this fall. Improvements to main intersection areas in the town of Lyman: U.S. 29 at Pine Ridge Road; S.C. 358/Holly Springs Road at Pine Ridge Road; S.C. 129 at Holly Springs Road and U.S 29. at S.C. 292.Nearby in Lyman, left turn lanes on U.S. 29 at Pine Ridge Road will be lengthened and left turn lanes added on Pine Ridge Road.

Chesnee Highway and Old Post Road intersection. A traffic light will be installed, and a right turn lane added on eastbound Chesnee Highway, as well as left turn lanes on all four legs of the intersection.

Old Post Road and Hyatt Street intersection. A traffic light will be installed and the intersection will be reconfigured to allow for through traffic to and from Interstate 85 along Hyatt Street, construction of a right turn lane on eastbound Old Post Road, and a left turn lane added on northbound Hyatt Street.

Farmington Road will be extended a short distance to align with Old Post Road after the Old Post Road/Hyatt Street intersection is modified.The project is needed due to anticipated growth in the Gaffney area and the corridors proximity to both I-85 and the Gaffney Premium Outlets.

Country Club Road corridor. The existing corridor is primarily a two-lane roadway that connects the City of Spartanburg at Union Street and South Pine Street to Glendale.The $6 million project is near the trailhead of the Mary Black Rail Trail and trails near Glendale Shoals and is expected to start this spring.The road will be widened, drainage improved and safety upgrades at key intersections for a multi-use pathway.

A roundabout at S.C. 11 and Paris Bridge Road.

Planned paving and widening projects included in DOT's 10-year planin Spartanburg County include:

Holly Springs Road (SC 358), 3.3 miles; Bryant Road, 1.15 miles; Southgate Drive; 0.35 miles; Brice Road, 1 mile; Old Georgia Road, 2.65 miles; Lawson Road, 1.68 miles; Freeman Farm Road, 0.33 miles; Walnut Grove Road, 1.69 miles; Greenpond Road, 3.5 miles; S.C. Highway 101, 11.3 miles; S.C. 14 (East Rutherford Street), 1.45 miles; S.C. Highway 14 East, 0.54 miles; S.C. Highway 417, 2.3 miles.

Also, Waddell Road, 1.83 miles; Fairfield Road, 0.9 miles; Fairfield Street, 0.51 miles; West Georgia Road, 2.69 miles; West Georgia Street, 0.89 miles; S.C. 292 (Inman Road), 2.59 miles; S.C. 292 (Lyman Road), 2.61 miles; South Pine Street, 0.52 miles;U.S. Highway 176 Bypass, 2.93 miles; S.C. Highway 14 West, 3.7 miles; S.C. Highway 14 (West Rutherford Street), 0.86 miles; S.C. Highway 56, 22.73 miles.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers from Spartanburg County are allocated state funds to designate for road projects in their districts.

Is there a road or project in Spartanburg County you want us to check on? Email Bob Montgomery at bob.montgomery@shj.com.

Read more from the original source:
Here's a list of road projects planned in Spartanburg County for this year - Spartanburg Herald Journal

From the time they met, Mark and Christina Thomas were married within a year. Yet they werent exactly an instant match.

We didnt hit it off right away, because hes bold and Im a little more shy, Christina said. The first question he asked me was, If you were to die today, would you go to heaven? I was like, Yeah, of course. What do you mean? Then I pondered that thought and began considering what it meant. I thought that was a little strange and bold, but it did make me think.

The Carmel couple will celebrate 21 years of marriage Feb. 12, two days before Valentines Day. Mark, raised a Baptist, was 30 when they married, and Christina, raised a Catholic, was 10 years younger.

Former Colts defensive end Mark Davis celebrates a tackle of former Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe during a home game. (Submitted photo)

The two met in a Chicago gym where Christina worked. Mark, a defensive end, had played with the Chicago Bears but was now playing for the Indianapolis Colts and was in the process of a move. He learned Christina was going to school for interior design, and she suggested he look at furniture from her uncles store for his new home in Carmel. She came to Carmel to help him set up his house.

The couple would meet with Colts teammates Hunter Smith, Jeff Saturday, Justin Snow and Adam Meadows on Monday nights for a Bible study born out of the Champions for Christ athletic ministry.

The couple was supposed to get married April 1, 2000 but moved it up to hold a ceremony at a Champions for Christ conference in Orlando.

We were champing at the bit to get married, Mark said.

They would later have a wedding ceremony in the Chicago area, but Mark wanted football and ministry friends to attend. Close friends attended as well.

We had an ulterior motive. We wanted people close to us to get a dose of Jesus and we knew they would never come to a conference, Mark said. Members of (Christinas) family got saved. Her parents got saved. It was a powerful week. It wasnt the most aesthetic wedding. It was borderline cheesy. We were married in a ballroom. But lives were forever changed from the wedding.

When Mark retired from the Colts after the 2001 season, he attended a two-year program with Champions for Christ in Austin, Texas, to become a pastor. He returned to become pastor of a Carmel church in 2003, leaving in 2018. The church, which has undergone several name changes, is now The Well in Carmel.

Because I wore so many hats as pastor, I started counseling people, and then more and more people came as couples and Christina would join us, he said. We work well together. We were five years into marriage and shes only 25 and counseling people that are twice her age. The Lord just gave her wisdom and people benefited from it. We enjoy doing it together, and the way were wired is so different.

Sometimes, it was a one-week counseling session and sometimes it would be 10 weeks. If he was going to perform a marriage ceremony, Mark said he would usually have six to eight pre-marriage counseling sessions.

The couple could speak from their own experiences.

We faced a lot of challenges early in our marriage with job loss and moving across the country. We had four kids in six years, Christina said. Our youngest has special needs.

Christina said they dont officially charge for the counseling service.

Weve just always said whatever you think its worth, but weve never said this is our rate, Mark said. It hasnt been that formal. Its just been they need help, and they are our friends, or they introduce us to their friends.

From left, Katelyn Thomas, Christina Thomas, Deb Hudson and Mark Thomas attend a house church session. (Submitted photo)

Besides counseling couples, Mark Thomas leads a group of friends in a service called house church in the home of he and his wife, Christina, or a cabin on their property. Its typically a group of approximately 20 people. House church is a term given to a group of Christians meeting in private homes.

What we like about it is that it fosters, almost necessitates, community, he said. This is who we are with all the time. Realistically, three to five times a week these people are in our home. We actually do life together. The other thing it really cultivates is participatory gatherings.

Instead of a minister delivering a sermon, everyone participates.

Its discussion-based, instead of just monologue, Mark said. What this does is, my kids are all involved, and they love it. The dialogue process helps people grow and mature.

The couple has four children: Caleb, Katelyn, Naomi and Jude.

The couple conducted services by Zoom for nearly two months when the COVID-19 pandemic forced a lockdown.

All of us in the family then had COVID around the same time at Thanksgiving, Christina said. We think our youngest son got it from going to an arcade.

But they have been able to resume services after a break.

Once every other month, well do it at someone elses house to spread it out, Mark said.

The cabin on the couples 8-acre property was the first house built in Carmel. Constructed in 1828, it was originally owned by the Kinzer family. The main house was built in the 1840s.

The deed is on sheepskin, Christina said of the property, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The couple also keeps busy as Mark has found a way to assist in Christinas home design business.

Instead of just wanting interior design ideas, she was finding clients would want a new master bathroom or kitchen.

We decided to do a design and remodel business, said Mark, who has taken on the role of project manager. I handle the construction, and she handles the design.

See more here:
Legacy of love: Former Colt, wife work together to improve marriages, homes Current Publishing - Current in Carmel

If youre in the middle of designing a new kitchen or you just want to spruce up an old kitchen design, you might be considering a new look for your kitchen cabinets. If you want to save money by not replacing your cabinets with brand new ones, then you have a couple of options available to you refacing cabinets or painting them.

Both cabinet painting and refacing have pros and cons to consider, and you must choose the method which best suits your existing kitchen cabinetry. Ultimately, youre trying to make the most out of your old cabinets, so you need to choose your new kitchen look based around their condition and style.

Our Kitchen Infinity staff is going to help explain the difference between cabinet refacing vs cabinet painting and answer your most common questions!

Cabinet refacing is when you give your kitchen cabinets a new look by replacing the front-facing hardware but leaving the cabinetry framework in place. The cabinets frames and internal shelves remain the same, but you get brand new cabinet doors, hinges, handles, and fixtures.

Basically, youre replacing the parts that people can see.

If youre choosing a very different color scheme to your old cabinets, you might use a wood veneer (or possibly paint) to change the color of the old cabinetry framework so it matches the new cabinet doors design. This way, you can give the illusion of brand new cabinets, even though the core of the refaced cabinets hasnt really changed.

Refaced cabinets are ideal if youre happy with the layout of your kitchen and the storage space you have, but you just want a fresh look. Refaced cabinets might have new doors and drawer fronts, as well as new hinges, door handles, and other pieces of hardware.

Painting

The real difference between painting (or refinishing) and refacing your cabinets is relatively straight forward. Painting your cabinets gives your existing cabinetry a fresh look, whereas refacing them gives your cabinets almost an entirely new look. Cabinets refacing should not be confused with resurfacing or refinishing. A resurface cabinet is an old cabinet which has been sanded down (assuming its wooden) to create a new design, but this is not always possible because lots of existing cabinets will not be thick enough to be sanded down into new styles.

You cant salvage everything!

Refacing

On the other hand, refacing your cabinets is when you replace the doors and drawer fronts entirely you dont try to salvage the old ones. The idea is that youre giving a new face to the existing cabinet framework. However, with refinishing or resurfacing, youre polishing up or sanding down the existing front-facing doors.

Its easy to get this mixed up when every term starts with re.

Basically, you should reface cabinet designs if the front-facing doors are ugly and you want to change them entirely. However, if the cabinet front-facing doors are in good condition and you just want to modify their style, refinishing or resurfacing could be the way to go.

Obviously, cabinet painting is when you repaint your existing cabinet doors with new paint. You can always paint your unfinished cabinets yourself. Although this sounds like the better option, its not always the case. Painted cabinet boxes can easily flake, peel, or fade in a kitchen environment, especially if youre cleaning them frequently. The more you clean them, the easier it is for the paint to fade away over time.

They can also look a little drab if youre not careful, so beware.

Also bear in mind that painted kitchen cabinet naturally attract dust, dirt, and grime, so youre going to need to clean more often and just generally get more maintenance done on them. It becomes a vicious circle because the paint attracts dust, so you need to clean them a lot, but then you remove the paint by cleaning them.

Not ideal.

While its very possible to paint your unfinished kitchen cabinets yourself, especially if youre good with DIY, I wouldnt recommend that most people do this. Although painting cabinet doors and drawer fronts looks easy, its easy to have streaky, splotchy, and uneven finishes if youre not a professional painter.

Its not as easy as it looks!

Painting around the sides of hinges and door handles is very intricate work, as it will look incredibly sloppy if you dont do it right. Also, if youre not careful, its easy to get drips of stray paint on your expensive granite countertops or other pricey pieces of kitchen equipment. In general, its just not worth the risk. Hire a professional if youre going to paint your kitchen cabinets. And if youre going to DIY think about the best finish for your kitchen cabinets.

Replacing cabinets requires you to buy completely new cabinetry from top to bottom, while cabinet refinishing requires some maintenance so its usually cheaper. When you reface cabinets, youre only replacing hardware for the doors (and possibly a veneer for the framework) but when you replace the cabinets, youre buying EVERYTHING new again the doors, the frames, the shelves, everything.

So yes, refacing cabinets is almost always cheaper than replacing them entirely.

The only exception would be if you wanted to replace your old kitchen cabinet with VERY basic and cheap cabinets rather than refacing them with a more luxurious front-facing design. Ultimately, it all depends on the condition of your current kitchen cabinets and how you want them to look when the redesign is complete. Kitchen renovation is an expensive task so if you could save some bucks by refinishing cabinets, then go for it!

Generally speaking, cabinet refacing does add significant value to your home when it comes time to sell. Although the ROI is hard to measure accurately, there are estimates that homes with refaced kitchen cabinets see profits of 50% for the work completed when it comes time to sell.

Quite an impressive way to add value!

On the other hand, people who replaced their kitchen cabinets entirely only see around a 30% profit when it comes time to resell because theyve had to spend a lot more money on installing brand-new cabinets from top to bottom. If your old kitchen cabinets are in a decent condition, refacing just makes more financial sense. We are that by now the difference between cabinet refacing vs painting is becoming more apparent.

If you like your cabinets but you just want to freshen them up or update their color scheme, then painting could be a decent option for you. However, bear in mind that paint will only last so long before it begins to fade, chip, peel, and require maintenance work. The life expectancy of cabinets depends on whether you do them yourself or not.

If you paint the cabinets yourself (assuming that you do a good paint job) then the paint should look decent for at least a couple of years before it might start to need maintenance. Painting cabinet doors not only adds freshness to your kitchen look but also saves the face frames, base cabinets and cabinet boxes from water damage. Its useful to know how to repair water damaged cabinetry. But obviously regarding the paint on your cabinets, this is very subjective and depends on your kitchen and how much you use it regularly.

We dont all have time to cook every night!

On the other hand, if you get a professional team to paint your kitchen cabinets, they could easily last for 8-15 years on average, though they may require maintenance work from time to time. Painted wood cabinets will last for a while, but refaced cabinets will undoubtedly have a longer life expectancy in your kitchen.

So, you dont know whether painting or refacing is right for your cabinets. Well, the choice ultimately comes down to the condition of the cabinetry, the overall feel youre going for, and what youre trying to achieve with the kitchen design.

Here are some tips to help you decide between painting and refacing:

You should reface your kitchen cabinets if they meet the following criteria:

You should be painting your kitchen cabinets if they meet the following criteria:

I know its not always easy to decide, but hopefully these tips have given you some food for thought (no kitchen puns intended).

I hope youve enjoyed this guide to cabinet painting and refacing. Redesigning your kitchen can be difficult at the best of times, so its essential to work with reliable contractors and interior designers who have your best interests at heart, as well as the homes future resale value.

While painting cabinets may seem like the cheaper and easier option, refacing your cabinetry is a very cost-effective way to give your home a significant facelift without breaking the bank in the process. If youre happy with the layout and condition of your existing cabinetry, refacing can be a very sensible idea.

Either way, we wish you luck!

Read the original here:
Cabinet Refacing vs Painting | Which Should You Choose?

Every Friday, SAfms radio anchor Sakina Kamwendo speaks to Martin Creamer, publishing editor of Engineering News & Mining Weekly. Reported here is this Fridays At the Coalface transcript:

Kamwendo: South Africas mining industry is at the ready to make big investments into electricity generation.

Creamer: This was made very clear this week at the ENSafrica conference when the head of Eskom Andre de Ruyter said he would support red tape being removed to allow the private-sector to self-generate 50 MW of electricity unrestricted. At the moment, if you dont want red-tape, you do 1 MW, which is hopelessly inadequate. Now, they want the nod to be given to 50 MW without red tape.

I personally got 12 responses immediately from organisations saying they were ready now to invest and move in with renewable energy, particularly mining companies, because theyre facing higher upcoming Eskom power tariffs. Theyre going to have to pay more for electricity. There are so many mining companies around that want renewable energy on their mine sites.

The mines dont even have to set it up themselves; all they have got to do is agree to buy the electricity from an independent power producer at a certain price, which is always below the Eskom price. So, a huge surge, which could mean about 5000MW of new electricity, is likely, which would help to take the strain off Eskom. This needs to go ahead and were looking to the Cabinet to give the nod, fast.

Kamwendo: The Northern Cape this week received another boost with the announcement of a new mining development.

Creamer: Its amazing that a company with a primary listing in Australia, secondary listing in Joburg, can pave the way for new mine development, junior mining development, like no other company in South Africa. The South Africans seem unable to do it. Now, Orion Minerals has come in with a second big base metals hub.

They are just about to release the Prieska hub, which is a magnificent project for them, because its an existing but closed mine and they found so much new copper and zinc and base metals around it. Now, probably in 18 to 24 months time, they could well come in with a second one. This time at Okiep, near the town of Springbok, 450km away, which is also very rich in available resources information, also has ready-built infrastructure, and also has an existing but closed mine there to build on, and then expand, because there is so much more scope around there.

These two hubs could be a major boost to the economy of the Northern Cape. We know that the Northern Cape is very prospective, but South Africans have been so slow in turning this great mineral endowment to positive account. South Africans dont explore, and here you get Orion Minerals coming in with a primary listing in Australia, showing us the way, how to do these things, because were really not good at junior mining.

Kamwendo: This weeks Mining Indaba saw Botswana going all out to attract new investment in exploration.

Creamer: Its very good that the country next door, Botswana, is also showing us how fast they can move, and how slow we move here. We still havent come out with our exploration strategy, and the President of Botswana Mokgweetsi Masisi was full of life at the Mining Indaba.

He was saying Botswana is ready to go ahead at full steam. Botswana has got new geoscience information, new digitising techniques, and intends using these to attract international investors and local investors, and President Masisi is opening the way for them. Already Botswana has shown that it can attract exploration investment, but it wants to do so even more intensely, because its far too heavily linked to diamonds, and it needs to move into the other metals and minerals.

President Masisi also pointed out that Botswana is endowed with copper, for which there is significant upcoming demand, gold, nickel, soda ash and other metals and minerals. President Masisi also indicated that Botswana has got potential in new-era metals, the rare earths and lithium. We know in Namibia they found lithium. We know that Botswana has already attracted exploration investment and I think that it is setting a very good example for us to follow, with President Masisi determined to attract more foreign investment into Botswana, to do exploration, a low-hanging investment fruit.

Kamwendo: Thanks very much. Martin Creamer is publishing editor of Engineering News & Mining Weekly.

Read the rest here:
On-The-Air (05/02/2021) - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly

Not with this one, though. Designer Valerio Rivellini of Studio Tecnico Rivellini unveiled a new superyacht concept that puts all Transformer cars to shame. Its a shape-shifting, 184-foot (65-meter) vessel thats part superyacht, part explorer, and all pure luxury.

Here is the aptly titled Extended Explorer.

The highlight, though, is the expanding stern. This isnt the first time that Rivellini tries something like this. In fact, back in 2015, the studio penned another concept that had an expanding cockpit. Extended Explorer applies the same idea, but to a more striking effect: thanks to a single lowerable platform on each side, both the upper and the main deck expand outwards at the same time.

The result is nothing to scoff at:

In addition to opening up both decks at the stern and thus erasing physical barriers between guests and the surrounding elements, there is a more practical consequence to this. The available on-deck space nearly doubles, which renders it perfect for a variety of new uses, whether for entertainment or exploring.

For instance, the studio notes, the stern of the upper deck could serve for sunbathing and/or a relaxation area. Chaise-lounges would fit laterally, a conversation area would be located towards the stern, while al fresco dining would be possible in an expansive area in the center. Now expanded, the main deck could fit an outdoor gym and an extra sunbathing area, in addition to the already generous beach club. Stairs leading from the beach club directly into the water would offer easy access to water.

In the end, though, the use of this readily-available space would be entirely up to the owner. Everything about Extended Explorer is customizable, the studio says, depending on individual taste and, of course, the kind of sailing it would be used for. No sense in decking it out with chaise-lounges if youre going to sail it on Arctic adventures.

The interior would have customizable layouts but the same choice of fine, sustainable materials. The overall feel is elegant, relaxed, timeless, and luxurious but in the most simple form. In keeping with the idea of offering an authentic relationship with the sea, the marine inspiration would be obvious in the choice of nubuck leather fabrics in blue shades and white lacquer.

The owners suite occupies most of the entire upper deck and comes with super-panoramic views, including of the wheelhouse. Rivellini does not detail the other suites available or, for that matter, the guest capacity of this new project.

Link:
Extended Explorer Concept With Expanding Deck Is a Different Kind of Transformer - autoevolution