Designing a Bath

Bath renovations can be some of the most challenging and rewarding projects.  There aren’t too many spaces in the home that get used as frequently, cost as much per square foot, and can encompass as many material selections.  Tile surfaces can encompass floors and wall, shower interiors, and tub decking.  The list of choices here can be almost infinite, ceramic, stone, porcelain, etc. Then you’re on to plumbing, faucets, tub and shower, shower vs. tub. Storage is always a topic to consider and can be addressed with vanity cabinetry, shelving, and medicine cabinetry. Add lighting to the mix and accessories like towel bars and hooks and you’re almost there.  An experienced designer can help make these decisions easier and keep a project on track. Our staff and Design Studio has hundreds of material samples and product specifications all available for you. Give HomeRebuilders a call and we can chart the waters for you to a new bath renovation. We will be continuing to post bath tips and highlight products, so stay tuned!

10 things for a great kitchen

Chicago designer Mick De Giulio, who has long been considered one of the nation’s leading kitchen designers, recently wrote an article on some of the things he feels are important when designing a new kitchen.  Here are some highlights. We at Home Rebuilders wholeheartedly agree with the last two!click here

1. Natural Light
Look for ways to maximize light, from eliminating cabinets next to windows to using transparent or reflective materials like glass and stainless steel.

2. Comfort
I like to incorporate soft seating, a TV, and — when I can — a fireplace, to make the kitchen the coziest place in the house.

3. Visual Texture
It’s the mix of woods, countertop materials, and finishes that creates warmth, personality, and mood.

4. Stainless Steel
The consummate neutral, it looks great with everything and will never go out of style. I love its organic quality — it develops a well-worn patina over time.

5. An Island
If space allows, an island is essential. It’s the social center of the kitchen.

6. A Great Sink
Accessories such as an integrated colander and a sliding cutting board make working there more efficient.

7. Integrated Refrigeration
Creating cabinet facades to hide refrigeration units gives me a tremendous amount of design freedom. By eliminating a large, boxy element, I can make a kitchen feel more room-like.

8. High-Performance Appliances
Today, high-efficiency burners and ovens with convection and self-cleaning are really indispensable.

9. A Hook
Every great kitchen has a hook, that one unique element that just pulls you in. It could be a hood, a sink, a pot rack.

10. A Kitchen Designer
Kitchen design is complicated, and the landscape is constantly changing. Hiring a professional is perhaps the most valuable investment you will make.

11. Ice Cream
In my opinion, no kitchen is complete without it.

 

Custom Homes are Back

The real estate market has been a wild ride for the last few years.  Thankfully, things are smoothing out and the rollercoaster is heading uphill.  That leaves many people revisiting the dream of building a new home and reopening their file of ideas or plans.

At Home Rebuilders, we’ve helped many people realize their dream of a new home, designed especially with their family and goals in mind.  Unlike renovations where we are often constrained by existing floor plans, layouts and structure, new home construction can be like starting on a blank canvas with a full palette of paint!  That’s not to say that parameters are boundless.  We are constantly focused on client needs, neighborhood requirements, and we always have a mind on the budget.

If you’ve thought of a new home, this could be the time to start the process.  We have a real estate professional on staff experienced in negotiation purchases of land and familiar with the market.  Our architectural staff can take your vision and needs and produce concrete plans.  Our construction staff produces quality work, on time and on budget. Visit our portfolio to view a few of our more recent custom homes. Our process also eliminates the developer and realty fees on purchasing a finished product.

 

Cabinetry: Exclusive Value

One of the universal truths in quality residential home building and remodeling is that inferior cabinetry construction inevitably leads to disappointment and frustration.  Unfortunately, often in the spirit of economy and smart investing, many homeowners find themselves making compromises and concessions during home improvement project that ultimately results in craftsmanship that will not stand the test of time. At Home ReBuilders we simply refuse to put our clients and ourselves in that situation.  This commitment fosters an environment that allows clients to make design and product decisions with an unparalleled degree of confidence.  Home ReBuilders’ clients know, from design concept to final punch, that an entire design/build team is there to maximize the project’s value and protect their investment.

In the interest of continuing to provide the most diverse range of quality products that our clients can trust, Home ReBuilders has partnered with several of our most distinguished and skillful cabinetry manufacturers to develop an expanded product offering that blows all of the standard budgetary constraints out of the water.  This exciting partnership now allows Home ReBuilders to offer clients the same superior construction quality that we have been committed to for over 30 years while REDUCING cabinetry budgets as much as 25% below Atlanta’s average semi-custom cabinet price point.

Here is just a “tip of the iceberg” list of some of the great options that future Home ReBuilders’ clients can now take off the “possible compromise” list while staying within budget:

– Beautiful upgraded stained or stained and glazed solid Cherry cabinet doors

– Ultra-durable factory paint finishes, including beautiful accent glazes

– French dovetail maple drawer boxes with soft-close, full extension, concealed undermount drawer glides

– Durable all plywood and solid hardwood cabinet box construction

– Internal roll out shelves, deep pot & pan drawers, durable wood shelf lazy susan cabinets for tough corners, trash and recycling pull out storage, chef’s pantry organization systems, cutlery dividers, knife drawers, spice drawers and pull-outs, pull out column storage, tray and cookie sheet dividers…the storage solution options are literally limitless

– Focal point wood vent hoods

– Virtually any millwork configuration imaginable – crown build-ups, turned posts, hand-carved corbels

– Mullion glass display cabinets with any style glass available

– Custom door panels for fully integrated and built in appliances

– Factory backed protection – minimum 100 year warranty, maximum lifetime warranty

Home ReBuilders is thrilled to be the first design/build firm in the Atlanta Metro area to facilitate a solid home investment opportunity that once again allows homeowners to take pride in their accomplishments and add value to their property while dramatically increasing quality of home life for their entire family.

 

Home Design: The Mud Room

As we settle into the fall weather that makes Atlanta so enjoyable, thoughts turn to sweaters, jackets and boots.  Where better to egress a home than a proper Mud Room. This room can add value to your home by making it a warm invite, and improved first impression thru expanded space and organization.  The Home ReBuilders design/build team has tackled mud rooms that range from simple and straight forward to spaces that serve a variety of functions.

The mud room is most often a transition space from the exterior elements to the sanctuary of your home’s living spaces.  Although some mud rooms are relatively open to other living spaces, many include a secondary interior passage door.  This secondary door serves several purposes – it creates an easy way to separate the living space from dirt & grime carried in during nasty weather, and it can even increase the energy efficiency of your home.  The mud room essentially becomes an “air lock” that catches the cold air (during winter months) and hot air (during summer months) as you open and close the exterior door.  The concept of an “air lock” to maximize efficiency is not a new one.  In fact, every time you enter a grocery or department store you pass through an “air lock” which is used to dramatically cut unnecessary energy loss.

If your home is missing a transition space, or if your existing mud room is simply not working for you, let Home ReBuilders help you work out a great solution.  We can design mud rooms that are purely functional, that maximize storage, that help your family stay organized, and much more.

 

Contemporary Taste in a Traditional Home

As homeowners are deciding to stay in their homes longer, often opting to renovate verses build a new home, the question of personal taste often begins to play a larger role in design.  Many homeowners live in homes that do not currently reflect their personal taste – sometimes due to resale concerns, sometimes simply because the options were somewhat limited when they purchased their home.  For those homeowners living in one of Atlanta’s many traditional homes with dreams of a simple, sophisticated modern aesthetic, all is not lost.

Home ReBuilders has worked with many in-town homeowners whose design style desires have ranged from French Country to Cottage to Modern.  And many of those homes have been in neighborhoods with homes that don’t necessarily reflect that same design aesthetic.  There are many embellishments to explore – creative ideas that keep the neighbors satisfied while allowing the homeowners to live the lifestyle that suites their families best.

If you are considering a renovation, or a brand new home, but are not sure how to merge the style of your neighborhood with the style home that you want to live in, give Home ReBuilders a call.  We will work with you to find the ideal balance and we will work with any neighborhood design review associations to make your dreams come true.

 

Kitchen Design Budget: Cabinetry

Whether you are considering a renovation, or are building a new home, you will almost always become intimately familiar with the budget.   This is particularly true when considering all of the components of a new kitchen.  The budget is one of many areas of any design/build projects that the Home Rebuilders team pays special attention to throughout the process.

Kitchens are traditionally one of the most expensive rooms in your home, but typically have the greatest impact on your every day life.  Although there are many line items that can be broken out of the overall kitchen budget, one that will almost always be the most significant is the cabinetry budget.  According to the National Kitchen and Bath Association most cabinetry budgets represent about 50% of the entire materials budget for a kitchen.  Although this is sometimes shocking, it is usually very representative of the amount of material and labor associated with constructing the boxes, the level of detail involved with the finish, and how sophisticated all of the internal gadgets and gizmos are.

For a design team that not only understands the components of a new kitchen’s budget, but also cares about making sure your design goals and aesthetics are met, be sure you give Home ReBuilders a call.  We will work with you during every step of the process to make sure you are maximizing value with each decision and selection.

 

Bathroom Renovation: The Shower Door

Shower doors come in all shapes, sizes, and configurations these days, and they can make a significant impact on the overall design of your Atlanta bathroom renovation.  The Home ReBuilders’ design team works with each client to select the best option to fit their functional needs, design aesthetic, and project budget.

When many think about shower doors visions of old track systems that constantly come off their runners, or those old shower doors with glass patterns that are just the WRONG  type of “retro.”  But today’s shower doors are anything but frustrating eyesores.  They can add a sense of sophistication to a bathroom and actually reduce the amount of required maintenance.  A new track system will always stay on its runners, a frameless glass system will give your bathroom a clean, updated look, and both clear and frosted glass has never been so easy to keep clean.

Call Home ReBuilders today to find out just how easy and economical working with a team that can both design and implement the bathroom of your dreams can be.  We will work with you from concept to completion to ensure your project is completed on time, on budget, and adds value to your home.

 

Cabinetry Hardware: Universal Design

With so many options out there today the ability to make your home user friendly for the entire family, and for you as you age in your home, it is becoming easier and easier to keep universal design in mind when designing your home.  One economical way to do this is with updated cabinet door and drawer hardware.

When selecting new hardware for your kitchen cabinets be sure to keep a few things in mind.  First, make sure you are selecting hardware that feels good in your hand.  You don’t want to select a knob that is difficult to grab – or a drawer pull that is hard to get your fingers around.  Levers can be much easier to turn than knobs. Second, consider some of the new “hidden” hardware options that are available for cabinets these days.  There are soft-close mechanisms for both doors and drawers that keep them from slamming closed.  This eliminates the need to hold onto the cabinetry hardware as the doors and drawers close.  Third, if you want to update your home in a way that provides maximum usability for everyone – you may want to consider touch-latches.  This hardware choice allows you to just touch your cabinets to open or close the doors and drawers.

To ensure that you are taking every universal design opportunity into consideration when designing a new home, or renovating an existing space – make sure you have the right design/build team looking out for you and your family   Home ReBuilders will help you make the right decisions, choose the best selections, and will be there for you every step of the way to create the best experience and end product.

 

Kitchen Countertops: Wood

When designing a new kitchen you want to select materials that are not going to need to be replaced only a couple of years down the road.  You want to make decisions that will result in a space that is easy for you and your family to live with.  Oftentimes, with SO MANY options available, particularly when it comes to countertops, it’s virtually impossible to settle on one material.  That’s where the Home ReBuilders design team can make the difference between a scenario where you want to pull your hair out & one where you KNOW that you have made the very best decision.

There are literally hundreds of options when considering replacement countertops – and the price range is just as diverse.  But if you’ve already decided that granite and quarts based materials just aren’t your style, why not consider wood!  Wood is one of the most versatile building materials and will always be a classic option for kitchen countertops.  When considering wood for your kitchen countertop it is important to keep in mind several key factors.  First, wood countertops can vary dramatically in price depending on wood species.  A standard maple countertop will be much more economical than an exotic wood like Iroko or Mahogany.  Another important detail to consider is the finish of the wood.  Because kitchen countertops typically need to stand up to a lot of wear and tear, a good natural oiled finish – much like your favorite butcher block – is usually the best option.  Furniture finishes and stains will not usually meet the demands of a functional kitchen.  Also, you will want to consider maintenance.  Wood countertops will need to be oiled every three to six months to keep the bacteria out and the wood grain beautiful.  The oiling process, fortunately, is pretty simple.  Many homeowners choose to oil their countertops just before they go to bed so the oil can really penetrate the wood well and then the next morning any standing oil can easily be wiped up with a clean paper towel.  And because wood is both self-healing, small bacteria harboring cuts will naturally close themselves, and has inherent bacteria reducing properties; they will help keep you and your family healthy for years.

For the most functional, most beautiful, most value conscious selections let Home ReBuilder’s help with the design of your home.  We will explain the benefits, the drawbacks, and all the considerations that you NEED to know about when choosing the best materials.