From the Floors Up

How to Salvage Your Kitchen’s Existing Cabinets

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Let’s be honest; kitchen remodels can be expensive. In fact, budgeting to upgrade your kitchen is essential to make sure you prioritize your needs over your wants. Perhaps you are looking to renovate your whole kitchen from the floors and countertops to the appliances and cabinets. If you can save money in one category, you can free up some of your budget in another area. Recognizing what areas you can salvage can save you money. And since cabinets can be very pricey, salvaging them is a thrifty yet effective way to enhance the aesthetics of your kitchen. So if you are thinking of refinishing your cabinets, this is everything you should consider:

Fixing Any Damage

First, you need to recognize if your cabinets are damaged. For instance, can the scratches or dents be repaired? If so, you may decide that it is best to fix your cabinets instead of replacing them altogether. Painted cabinets have become more and more trendy and can make a stunning appearance when done correctly. Just make sure you patch any scratches, chips, or dents with epoxy or putty before painting.

Painting or Staining

Next, determine whether you are sanding or simply staining your cabinets. Stain can deepen and enrich the wood grain again, yet paint can also hide any flaws and give your kitchen a completely new look. First, sand the wood with the grain and remove any doors then paint intricate areas with a brush.

Just Replacing the Doors

If you hate your door and drawer design, consider just changing out the cabinet doors. You can purchase new cabinet doors and save money. Make sure that the wood or vinyl replacement is similar wood to your prior cabinets. Different woods, even the same color, will stain differently. If you are planning on painting them, you will not have to worry about this.

These simple tricks can allow you to save money in your kitchen remodel. Remodeling a kitchen is a significant investment that can increase the market value of your home. So, determine if salvaging your existing cabinets is right for you.

Modern Flooring Trends

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Are you now in the process of building your dream home? Are you thinking of giving your house a whole new look but do not know where to start? Well, here’s an idea. Did you know that changing your floors can do wonders for home? If you are contemplating on giving it a modern feel through your floors, read on and find out what’s trending on modern floors.

Hardwood:  It’s a very great choice for modern floors. There is a wide variety of plank sizes and colors to choose from. However, the trend today leans toward wider planks with darker and elegant colors. Although the traditional hardwoods like teak, walnut, mahogany, cherry, birch and oak are still popular options. You can also go for the distressed and hand scraped ones. Surprisingly, even exotic choices are great. If you want to go with the green revolution, you can opt for those salvaged hardwoods.

Carpet: It actually never goes out of style. They give a luxurious and comforting feeling to any room. However, unlike hardwood floors, you need to choose more neutral and earth tone colors for your carpet. Many modern homes use hardwood flooring in all rooms except the bedrooms or den where carpet feels wonderful underfoot.

Interior Finish Selections

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One of our clients, Pierce Flooring and Design had a reader submit a question on their blog about which choices should be made first when tackling a remodeling project. The question is a frequently asked question and one that I would like to add some additional thoughts on. Take a look at their post and below are some additional thoughts.

It can be extremely daunting when it comes to making selections for a remodeling project. Not only do you have to worry about deadlines, backorders, discontinued items, etc, but there are so many things to choose from.

The first and most important thing to remember when making selections for YOUR remodeling project, is that it is YOUR remodeling project. The biggest mistakes I have heard as a former designer were listening to too many friends and family or listening to too many different sales associates opinions and having the project turn out to be a combination look of what THEY all wanted. It’s ok to seek the advice of friends and family, but it’s critical to remain focused on the fact that it’s YOUR project and YOUR home. The selections need to reflect your and your family’s taste, lifestyle and budget. It’s very easy to get persuaded by the advice of people you love and trust, but at the end of the day, ask yourself the question. Who’s going to live there?

Also, be careful of starting the selection process around an item that you saw in your neighbors house or your friends house. Chances are, you have different lighting conditions, different styles and many other variables that will cause that item to look completely different in your home than it did in theirs.

If you aren’t sure where to start, consider hiring an interior designer. Most you can retain by the hour and in the end, designers often can save you money. All it takes is one mistake such as the wrong floors or cabinet colors and the designer fees then look like a bargain compared to the cost of replacement or fixing a mistake. The advantage to hiring a designer is that they can listen to your needs (taste and budget) objectively be the impartial person that takes all of the information about the project (including selections) and puts the pieces together to make sense. Again, the bottom line when working with a friend, a designer or several different sales associates from different stores is that the project needs to reflect your taste and style – not theirs and especially not a combination of theirs! It’s your job to make sure that the end result is the look and feel that you are going for.

Most importantly, HAVE FUN and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

From the Floors Up

From the Floors Up blog was created with the goal of providing a destination for consumers, designers and those interested in the flooring, design, and kitchen and bath industries. Here you’ll find, current, accurate and informative information that is always just a click away!

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