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Adding Basement Bathroom Functionality – a Guide for Beginners

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:19:56 +0000

Remodeling professionals say that if you want to add a bathroom to your home on a limited budget, the first place to head is the basement. Adding basement bathroom functionality to your home is a smart choice that will raise its value and increase your home’s convenience. It’ll be a much more pleasant place to be. The basement is the best choice because it’s the least expensive place to do this kind of renovation. Adding a bath with a new footer, foundation or slab, as well as new roofing or siding, is likely to cost at least a third more than adding basement bathroom space to your home. You can put a bath in the basement without adding to the exterior footprint of your house. Most people aren’t willing to sacrifice other existing living space, such as part of a bedroom, to add a bathroom elsewhere in the house, and even if you are, you’ll have to deal with re-routing plumbing. A basement bathroom, on the other hand, uses existing walls and usually existing plumbing and electrical wiring, to produce an exceedingly inexpensive option.You’ll want to work closely with your remodeling contractor (if you use one) to choose the products and fixtures you’ll be installing in the bathroom. Make sure that anyone you’re working with is aware of your budget, and can help direct you to products that will be the most effective for your situation without falling outside your price range. You may wish to supply your own fixtures to be installed by someone else (it’s an inexpensive alternative), but do take care. You’re assuming the risk that the fixtures and products you buy are appropriate for the use you’d like to put them to.Adding basement bathroom space to your bathroom is relatively simple if you have experience with plumbing, building, and wiring, or if you’re working with an experienced contractor. Remember that if you’re doing part of the work, the contractor may need to look over to make sure it’s being done well. Even if you’re doing all of it, many building codes will require you to have a pro come in and perform the last few major hookups or an inspection on the work you’ve done. This may seem inconvenient and expensive, but it prevents big problems later on.Plumbing makes up the biggest chunk of your expenses when adding basement bathroom functionality to your home. Out of a fifteen thousand dollar renovation job, installing plumbing would make up about ten thousand. If you locate the new bathroom close to the old one, and make sure that you use the most efficient methods to get things working, you can save quite a bit. However, many basement bathrooms have complicated requirements, due to the difficulties with disposing of waste water below ground level. If you’re in a situation like this and don’t have much experience, make sure that you talk to a professional about your basement bathroom design.

Bathroom Remodeling: Achieving a Modern Look and Functionality

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:08:07 +0000

The bathroom is the most personal area in the home where privacy and comfort is essential. When compared with the rest of the rooms in your New York home, any change in it could create the greatest impact on your everyday routine. Bathroom remodeling is said to be the home improvement project with the highest return on investment. The results would not only make every moment in your bathroom completely comfortable and luxurious but the project cost can also pay for itself or even more when resell time comes.

With the technological revolution going on for decades now, it is just right that you take advantage of the convenience and unique fashion sense that modernity brings. Especially now that contemporary features can be availed of in affordable price ranges, a smart way to do your bathroom remodeling is tending towards the modern way.

Bathroom remodeling starts off with an idea. Finding a resource is not as hard as before and the challenge now lies in finding inspiration from the good number of designs that you might find. If you have found a great photo that perfectly represents how you want your soon-to-be modern bathroom to look like, it would be best to keep a copy of it.

The Look

If you want to capture a contemporary look into your bathroom remodeling design, you have to take note of modern design elements. Generally, a modern look is achieved through clean lines, much space, sleek surfaces and minimized details. Storage plays a very important role in the bathroom remodeling design. To maintain the stark look and avoid clutter, you’d have to have enough cabinetry and drawer space to keep all your essentials. Wall mounted cabinets and free-standing shelves are ideal for the project.

With a modern bathroom design, less is luxurious. Depending on your personal preference, style and budget; you can integrate other elements into the design. Some of the things that you could use to spruce up the area include plants, rocks, artworks, lights, displays and just anything you could think of to complement well with the overall theme you are trying to achieve.

Functionality

When bathroom remodeling, modernity should not only be in the look alone, take advantage of the technology for maximized functionality. Hands-free faucets are gaining more and more popularity. Other than the sleek design that they come in, they are also great in saving water. Towel warming drawers and floor heating systems are also a must, adding luxury to every bathing experience.

Depending on the available space, your budget and which you like best; you can choose to have a shower or tub. If you can afford both, a separate tub and shower would bring about flexibility in your bathroom remodeling project. Spa features are popular right now with the most commonly availed of including a lighting option known as chromatherapy, steam showers, modern home saunas, Jacuzzi, whirlpools, rain showers, and body jets.

You can also equip your modern bathroom remodeling finish with plasma TV, CD player, sound system, or other appliances that could make every minute spent in the bath worthwhile.

Kitchen Remodeling: Bring in Functionality and Comfort to Your Household

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:09:37 +0000

Kitchen, without a doubt has become the center of any home not only in New York but throughout the country. Its raw essence has evolved into something all-encompassing, making it a place for everyone from the family to guests from all walks of life. Today, the thought of kitchen remodeling can be more exciting than daunting. Projects of this kind have long-since proved their considerable impacts in the family’s quality of life as well as the overall value of the home. And the best part about it? With kitchen remodeling, you can expect a recoup in your investments from a minimum of 85% to more than the total cost of the renovation.

Functionality and comfort are keys to make the kitchen remodeling project result lasting and most enjoyable. Whatever your budget is, whether you plan to go for a total renovation or just a surface-level one, it is possible to integrate these elements into the design. To help you out on this, here are several ideas:

Family time is Quality Time

As much of the family gatherings and entertainment of guests are staged in the kitchen, opening up and connecting to a family room is a great kitchen remodeling idea. This can be done if the family room is at close proximity by either taking the separating wall down completely to adjoin them or just put cabinetry on the bottom part of the walls and keep the top area open. Another way to create a gathering area as an extension of the kitchen is through adding a semi- or fully attached breakfast room.

The Island

Adding an island into your kitchen remodeling design is a great way to maximize functionality in the area by adding to the available storage, making simultaneous cooking and food preparation much easier, as well as serving as a dining counter where people can just hang around or casually dine.

Innovative storage solutions

As clutter and disorganization is a major factor that keeps things in the kitchen not only unsightly but less functional as well, adding cabinetry serves ideal. The key to extend their functionality is integrating innovative designs that saves space and makes items more accessible like lazy Susan and pull-out shelves. Cabinets are considered to be the building blocks of the heart of your home and are among its most noticeable features. The selection of materials and quality of workmanship of your cabinetry will greatly affect the appeal of your kitchen.

Lighting and Ventilation

Lighting is among the elements that could greatly boost the quality of your kitchen remodeling result. Aside from obviously making the changes more pronounced and setting the ambiance, it also creates an illusion of more space making the area seem less crowded and more comfortable. To fully take advantage of natural light and warmth, a cost and energy efficient idea is to have a skylight installed.

Together with strategically placed lighting, proper ventilation also plays a great role in making each and every task in the kitchen done more comfortably. Depending on your style and budget, you can choose from among a variety of ventilation hoods ranging from basic models to extravagant ones.