Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Monday, March 27, 2017
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Monday, March 20, 2017
Kitchen Remodeling Trends: Beyond Stainless Steel Appliances
Learn more about these changing trends below. Call the contractors at Advanced Builders & Contractors for kitchen remodeling in Los Angeles, CA.
Adding Eye-Popping Colors
Homeowners love having the option of choosing from custom colors that make the kitchen their own. Many companies offer unique options like bright red and cobalt blue. While you can always add accent colors with backsplash tiles, every kitchen needs appliance. Why not make them stand out?
Choosing from a Selection of Metal Finishes
Stainless steel is only one of many metal finishes that can give your kitchen the sleek stylish look you’re after. You can choose from a selection of metal finishes that may better compliment your design vision. For example, Whirlpool recently projected its Sunset Bronze as the next big kitchen appliance trend. This could be perfect for a hint of art deco, or to draw attention to gold and yellow accents in the décor. Black stainless is also gaining ground, but you can compare all of the options from the manufacturer.
Hiding the Appliances
Designers drifting toward a farmhouse theme often want to downplay the appearance of appliances. Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to hide them altogether. Often, refrigerators are hidden behind pantry or cabinet doors. Of course, there are limitation on this for ovens (for some obvious safety reasons), but you can keep it largely hidden from view by keeping it low down to the ground or on the backside of a kitchen island.
Throwing It Back to a Classic Black and White
Saluting Mother Earth
Earthy tones and finishes are in now too, including slate finishes. Slate is smudge-proof, and you can find it from manufacturers like GE in nearly any appliance, including dishwashers and vent hoods. It’s a stone-inspired look that fits into a kitchen with natural tones or one that hopes to inspire healthy choices.
Pulling Off Retro Design
Nostalgia is in, folks. Retro refrigerators and oven ranges are no longer limited to antique stores either. Buying used appliances means poor performance and inefficiency, but manufacturers are answering the call for a throwback. You can find retro design with an ENERGY STAR rating from some of the top brands in kitchen design!
Contact Advanced Builders & Contractors for kitchen remodeling services in Los Angeles, CA.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Common Furniture Arranging Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
By Seve Kale Arranging furniture in a new home can be both daunting and exciting. The possibilities are seemingly endless, but it can be deceptively easy to get off track. Arranging furniture is an imperfect art form and you want … Continue reading
New Home Source Blog - Buying a New Home, Working with a Home Builder, Designing Your Custom Home
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Thursday, March 9, 2017
I Made a Thing… Now What? (Paint Stick Project)
I did a thing. And I also don’t know what to do with it now. Tray? Art? Not sure yet.
It started as a surplus of paint sticks to craft with as a goof while watching TV (crafting keeps my hands busy and mindless snacking to a minimum). I didn’t have a plan, and I was betting on it not really panning out. But as it took shape, I realized it could be used for any number of things: put magnets on the back, hang keys from it with little hooks, make it into a sign, and more…
It seems kind of strange to create something and then have too many options for it, but I basically got it finished up to a point, and can’t make a decision on the last step. So, I’m a little curious: what would you do with it? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If you want to make this… um… thingie, yourself, what you’ll need is a simple list of supplies (some are affiliates, which help support this site at no cost to you, but the FTC says I gotta share that disclosure with ya first):
Materials
- Safety glasses
- Pencil
- Paint stir sticks
- Miter box and saw
- Dremel or sandpaper (you could do without, but it makes sanding in the grooves much easier)
- Stainable wood glue
- Stainable wood filler
- Wood Stain (you know I like to mix my own, but I love ZAR products, but modern walnut is a favorite)
- Sealer
- Trim (I used some pre-primed stuff left over from another project)
- White paint
- Dealer’s choice: Magnets? Hooks? A small brush to do some hand lettering? A stencil?
Instructions
Because I never expected it to turn into something other than an activity to do while watching TV over the holidays, I didn’t actually have photos of the first few steps (I know, I know… bad blogger!). But it’s probably pretty straightforward just by looking at the pictures I do have (and you can scroll a little further down to step 3 to see the back side).
Step 1 – Gather a heaping pile of 1-gallon paint sticks (you know the kind – the stuff people use for amazing crafts like this). I find that Home Depot is more generous with these than Lowe’s, but that’s just my experience. If you’re like me, you would have gathered them over time from the home improvement store with the intention of doing a completely different (and bigger) project and ran out of steam. Such is the DIY life.
Get bored one night with the desire to make a craft. Maybe you’ve had a beer or two? I don’t know your life. (P.S. Rogue actually sent me a few to “try”… thanks guys!)
Step 2 – Put on safety glasses and sit on your bedroom floor with your supplies, fully aware that you are going to have to clean this up later (but, that’s Sober You’s problem). If you care about it, you might put a sheet or plastic underneath you to prevent stuff from getting into your carpet… because if you wind up sawing paint sticks on the floor, even if you try to be as tidy as possible, you will make a mess.
Step 3 – In my case, I had already cut the ends off of some of the sticks (just to get rid of the handle part) as well as several more at 45-degree angles for the previous project that I abandoned. Since these were unintended leftovers, I just grabbed the wood glue and first made a square frame (sophisticated graphic below for visual help). If you work it so that one end is always the first edge of the next side, it will form a square frame.
Step 4 -To help support the top layer of sticks, add a middle piece to the frame (this one has to be trimmed a little with the miter box before it will fit).
I also added a back piece for extra support for hanging, should I ever decide to hang it.
Since this was the part where I didn’t know if I was making a thing or not, I’ll just show you the back of the frame for reference (which again, sorry… I took pictures once I started to sand and stain in the garage).
Step 5 -Start playing around with placement before gluing, or just begin without a plan; this is not a high-risk project. I wanted lines going at all different angles so just started at a random spot and fanned out from there. To get the right cut, mark things from the back side and cut each piece manually on the miter box. Glue, cut, glue, cut.
Step 3 – Once the whole piece is filled in, reinforce the back with leftover bits that didn’t make the cut on the front (hopefully, this informs why it looks so weird on the back!). Then, fill in any small gaps with stainable wood filler, let dry, and sand.
Pick a stain, any stain. Then seal.
For a finishing touch, I added some leftover mitered trim to the edge. And voilà : a thing that I don’t know what to do with yet.
I took photos of my project blank, not knowing what to do with it next, but because of the extra piece on the back, I can either hang it on the wall or lay it flat on a table (the trim around the edge is even with the piece on the back so that it won’t wobble). I think I’m going to leave it as-is for now. Plus, the staged photos above will work great as my own personal stock/prop photos if I do a giveaway, etc). Here are my thoughts on other future uses so far:
- add magnets to the back to hold items like keys or whatever (similar to how you’d make a magnetic key older like this)
- add hooks to hang things and mount on a wall
- coat with salad bowl finish to make it food safe, and use it at your next party to display food or as a trivet
- add a stencil to the front to make it look more like “art”
- add a small mirror to the front and hang
- use it as a tray for my jewelry
- burn it with fire (no, I’m not actually going to do this, but if I asked 100 people what to do with something that had no intended purpose, at least one person would suggest throwing it away)
Do you have a different suggestion than my list above? I’d love to hear it!
The post I Made a Thing… Now What? (Paint Stick Project) appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.
Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+
I Made a Thing… Now What? (Paint Stick Project) published first on https://noambouzaglou.wordpress.com/
I Made a Thing… Now What? (Paint Stick Project)
I did a thing. And I also don’t know what to do with it now. Tray? Art? Not sure yet.
It started as a surplus of paint sticks to craft with as a goof while watching TV (crafting keeps my hands busy and mindless snacking to a minimum). I didn’t have a plan, and I was betting on it not really panning out. But as it took shape, I realized it could be used for any number of things: put magnets on the back, hang keys from it with little hooks, make it into a sign, and more…
It seems kind of strange to create something and then have too many options for it, but I basically got it finished up to a point, and can’t make a decision on the last step. So, I’m a little curious: what would you do with it? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If you want to make this… um… thingie, yourself, what you’ll need is a simple list of supplies (some are affiliates, which help support this site at no cost to you, but the FTC says I gotta share that disclosure with ya first):
Materials
- Safety glasses
- Pencil
- Paint stir sticks
- Miter box and saw
- Dremel or sandpaper (you could do without, but it makes sanding in the grooves much easier)
- Stainable wood glue
- Stainable wood filler
- Wood Stain (you know I like to mix my own, but I love ZAR products, but modern walnut is a favorite)
- Sealer
- Trim (I used some pre-primed stuff left over from another project)
- White paint
- Dealer’s choice: Magnets? Hooks? A small brush to do some hand lettering? A stencil?
Instructions
Because I never expected it to turn into something other than an activity to do while watching TV over the holidays, I didn’t actually have photos of the first few steps (I know, I know… bad blogger!). But it’s probably pretty straightforward just by looking at the pictures I do have (and you can scroll a little further down to step 3 to see the back side).
Step 1 – Gather a heaping pile of 1-gallon paint sticks (you know the kind – the stuff people use for amazing crafts like this). I find that Home Depot is more generous with these than Lowe’s, but that’s just my experience. If you’re like me, you would have gathered them over time from the home improvement store with the intention of doing a completely different (and bigger) project and ran out of steam. Such is the DIY life.
Get bored one night with the desire to make a craft. Maybe you’ve had a beer or two? I don’t know your life. (P.S. Rogue actually sent me a few to “try”… thanks guys!)
Step 2 – Put on safety glasses and sit on your bedroom floor with your supplies, fully aware that you are going to have to clean this up later (but, that’s Sober You’s problem). If you care about it, you might put a sheet or plastic underneath you to prevent stuff from getting into your carpet… because if you wind up sawing paint sticks on the floor, even if you try to be as tidy as possible, you will make a mess.
Step 3 – In my case, I had already cut the ends off of some of the sticks (just to get rid of the handle part) as well as several more at 45-degree angles for the previous project that I abandoned. Since these were unintended leftovers, I just grabbed the wood glue and first made a square frame (sophisticated graphic below for visual help). If you work it so that one end is always the first edge of the next side, it will form a square frame.
Step 4 -To help support the top layer of sticks, add a middle piece to the frame (this one has to be trimmed a little with the miter box before it will fit).
I also added a back piece for extra support for hanging, should I ever decide to hang it.
Since this was the part where I didn’t know if I was making a thing or not, I’ll just show you the back of the frame for reference (which again, sorry… I took pictures once I started to sand and stain in the garage).
Step 5 -Start playing around with placement before gluing, or just begin without a plan; this is not a high-risk project. I wanted lines going at all different angles so just started at a random spot and fanned out from there. To get the right cut, mark things from the back side and cut each piece manually on the miter box. Glue, cut, glue, cut.
Step 3 – Once the whole piece is filled in, reinforce the back with leftover bits that didn’t make the cut on the front (hopefully, this informs why it looks so weird on the back!). Then, fill in any small gaps with stainable wood filler, let dry, and sand.
Pick a stain, any stain. Then seal.
For a finishing touch, I added some leftover mitered trim to the edge. And voilà : a thing that I don’t know what to do with yet.
I took photos of my project blank, not knowing what to do with it next, but because of the extra piece on the back, I can either hang it on the wall or lay it flat on a table (the trim around the edge is even with the piece on the back so that it won’t wobble). I think I’m going to leave it as-is for now. Plus, the staged photos above will work great as my own personal stock/prop photos if I do a giveaway, etc). Here are my thoughts on other future uses so far:
- add magnets to the back to hold items like keys or whatever (similar to how you’d make a magnetic key older like this)
- add hooks to hang things and mount on a wall
- coat with salad bowl finish to make it food safe, and use it at your next party to display food or as a trivet
- add a stencil to the front to make it look more like “art”
- add a small mirror to the front and hang
- use it as a tray for my jewelry
- burn it with fire (no, I’m not actually going to do this, but if I asked 100 people what to do with something that had no intended purpose, at least one person would suggest throwing it away)
Do you have a different suggestion than my list above? I’d love to hear it!
The post I Made a Thing… Now What? (Paint Stick Project) appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.
Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+
I Made a Thing… Now What? (Paint Stick Project) published first on https://noambouzaglou.wordpress.com/
Monday, March 6, 2017
Our Best Tips for Designing a Shower during a Bathroom Remodel
We hope these tips may help you to find a feature you love to add to your new shower, or perhaps you may be inspired to revise your previous plans. For more ideas about your bathroom remodel in LA, contact an expert contractor to talk you through.
#1: Set Realistic Expectations
We hate when we have to break it to homeowners that their shower expansion or bathroom design idea may simply not be possible. It’s important to be realistic with your goals, and if you do have a lofty goal in mind, be prepared to hear it may be difficult, costly, or not possible under the circumstances of your current home design and/or budget. For example, expanding the shower may go against local building codes, or it may cost more than you’re able to budget. While we believe your bathroom is a sanctuary and you should make it your own, we want to ensure homeowners are ready to deal with the logistics.
#2: Glass Shower Doors Make a Room Look Bigger
Glass doors on the shower can make a room look a lot bigger. When you walk in the room and can see the tile design on the shower wall, it gives the illusion of more space. In addition, the door looks sleek and creates clean lines in your design.
#3: Shower Curtains Are Just As Viable
However, a shower curtain can be a great option too. The fact of the matter is that sometimes there are things in the shower we want to hide, and a little extra privacy is comforting. A shower curtain gives you the opportunity to change part of the bathroom style at will in a matter of minutes. The shower may also be easier to clean without the barrier involved that always keeps half the bathtub inaccessible to you as you clean.
#4: Little Details Matter
Will you have inserts in the walls for your shampoo bottles and soap? Will you have a window in the shower to let in natural light? Does the overhead lighting you have planned provide sufficient light for shaving and other shower tasks? The seemingly smallest of details make a long-term impact and are certainly important.
#5: Universal Design Isn’t for Everyone
Perhaps you would not prefer a bathroom door OR a shower curtain. Walk-in doorless showers are popular these days, making it easier to clean up and giving the room an open look and feel. The standard in universal bathroom design isn’t for everyone. For example, you don’t need a bathtub and shower all in one; you can separate them. In fact, you may not want a bathtub at all, and that’s okay too!
#6: We Recommend You Make It Rain
You have a lot of options when it comes to your shower head, but there’s one design feature we always recommend: a rainfall shower head. A wide, round shower head mounted above the shower gives the feeling of a warm, relaxing rainfall. And if you feel you need a removable massage shower head, you can always get both!
For bathroom remodeling in Los Angeles, CA, call Advanced Builders & Contractors today! Licensed and bonded contractors are standing by.
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Eight Must-Have Apps for New Homeowners
By Seve Kale When purchasing a new home, there’s tons of paperwork to keep track of. The last thing on your mind at closing is finding a lawn care professional or figuring out how to use your fancy new appliances. … Continue reading
New Home Source Blog - Buying a New Home, Working with a Home Builder, Designing Your Custom Home
It’s WAR!
Have you ever had a clip from a childhood cartoon stuck in your head? The kind where you can almost make out the context of why this odd little clip of some kind of person (animal?) shouting “It’s WAAAARRRR!” repeatedly is forever burned into your long-term memory, but then you go looking for it on the internet, and realize you have too little information to locate the clip to include in your blog post?
I digress. But anyway, as the title implies: it’s freaking war, folks. Meet the latest little guy in a series of assholes to decide that my house is their new BFF and food source:
What’s happening here: apparently the fixes I paid for last year on my chimney didn’t get fixed enough… or perhaps some was fixed, but other parts were not, leaving the stuff that wasn’t to still suffer from wood rot over the winter. I’m guessing on all of this, because this area is literally over my head and I have to make my best educated guess before I devise a plan of attack.
Well, not actual attack. Because that would be a crime.
Woodpeckers are a federally protected species as a migratory bird (and endangered, though you wouldn’t guess such a thing when they’re waking you up). Last I checked though, chucking a pine cone in their vicinity to get them off my house isn’t lethal (especially since the wind resistance of a pine cone makes them difficult to target accurately), so I’m good there.
Annoyed — because they come back after a little while to start chowing down again — but good.
The most annoying part? The chimney area runs directly behind the wall in my master bedroom… the wall that I put the bed and my headboard against. Meaning that a series of irritated, persistent tap-tap-tapping is how I have been waking up for the last week. Which then makes Charlie bolt upright from her dog bed, and then sometimes start barking thinking it’s the front door, and a general mix of chaos and rage ensues.
It would be funny if I weren’t so tired.
I think it’s a wood rot/insect situation mainly because of the areas they’re going after. It doesn’t seem like a territory thing, and there are plenty of pine trees around for shelter (which are other possible reasons why woodpeckers make all that noise; sometimes, it’s not for food, but I think it is in my case). Every year, I have issues with carpenter bees because the house has wood siding, and you also remember that freaking squirrel, so this is just the latest in a long, long list of dealing with pests and my home.
This is basically the price one pays for having a cedar home. It’s charming, but pests are abundant, and winter isn’t always kind… especially if the previous fix wasn’t done correctly or completely. If I could afford to replace the siding entirely, I would, but I don’t think that’s in the cards anytime soon. So, I keep fixing smaller stuff.
As you can probably guess, this means that this spring, I’m going to embark on a new series of how to deal with woodpeckers. Some folks on my personal Facebook have already advised I try aluminum tape, mylar balloons stapled to the house (house bling! score! not tacky at all!), a sticky substance that’s said to make it really gross for them to attach themselves to (which also sounds gross for me to clean up after), give them suet in a different spot in the back yard to keep them from the house, and of course, figuring out if it really is a bug thing that I have to solve first, and then hope the WP’s go away after the area is treated.
It’s going to be an interesting learning experience to see what works and what doesn’t, but I think I can handle it. I’ve got my war paint ready.
The post It’s WAR! appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.
Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+
It’s WAR! published first on https://noambouzaglou.wordpress.com/
It’s WAR!
Have you ever had a clip from a childhood cartoon stuck in your head? The kind where you can almost make out the context of why this odd little clip of some kind of person (animal?) shouting “It’s WAAAARRRR!” repeatedly is forever burned into your long-term memory, but then you go looking for it on the internet, and realize you have too little information to locate the clip to include in your blog post?
I digress. But anyway, as the title implies: it’s freaking war, folks. Meet the latest little guy in a series of assholes to decide that my house is their new BFF and food source:
What’s happening here: apparently the fixes I paid for last year on my chimney didn’t get fixed enough… or perhaps some was fixed, but other parts were not, leaving the stuff that wasn’t to still suffer from wood rot over the winter. I’m guessing on all of this, because this area is literally over my head and I have to make my best educated guess before I devise a plan of attack.
Well, not actual attack. Because that would be a crime.
Woodpeckers are a federally protected species as a migratory bird (and endangered, though you wouldn’t guess such a thing when they’re waking you up). Last I checked though, chucking a pine cone in their vicinity to get them off my house isn’t lethal (especially since the wind resistance of a pine cone makes them difficult to target accurately), so I’m good there.
Annoyed — because they come back after a little while to start chowing down again — but good.
The most annoying part? The chimney area runs directly behind the wall in my master bedroom… the wall that I put the bed and my headboard against. Meaning that a series of irritated, persistent tap-tap-tapping is how I have been waking up for the last week. Which then makes Charlie bolt upright from her dog bed, and then sometimes start barking thinking it’s the front door, and a general mix of chaos and rage ensues.
It would be funny if I weren’t so tired.
I think it’s a wood rot/insect situation mainly because of the areas they’re going after. It doesn’t seem like a territory thing, and there are plenty of pine trees around for shelter (which are other possible reasons why woodpeckers make all that noise; sometimes, it’s not for food, but I think it is in my case). Every year, I have issues with carpenter bees because the house has wood siding, and you also remember that freaking squirrel, so this is just the latest in a long, long list of dealing with pests and my home.
This is basically the price one pays for having a cedar home. It’s charming, but pests are abundant, and winter isn’t always kind… especially if the previous fix wasn’t done correctly or completely. If I could afford to replace the siding entirely, I would, but I don’t think that’s in the cards anytime soon. So, I keep fixing smaller stuff.
As you can probably guess, this means that this spring, I’m going to embark on a new series of how to deal with woodpeckers. Some folks on my personal Facebook have already advised I try aluminum tape, mylar balloons stapled to the house (house bling! score! not tacky at all!), a sticky substance that’s said to make it really gross for them to attach themselves to (which also sounds gross for me to clean up after), give them suet in a different spot in the back yard to keep them from the house, and of course, figuring out if it really is a bug thing that I have to solve first, and then hope the WP’s go away after the area is treated.
It’s going to be an interesting learning experience to see what works and what doesn’t, but I think I can handle it. I’ve got my war paint ready.
The post It’s WAR! appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.
Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+
It’s WAR! published first on https://noambouzaglou.wordpress.com/
MODERN LUXURY HOME WITH TIMELESS APPEAL
This classy colonial-style luxury home is centrally situated and just a few minutes away from the San Miguel de Allende central park. The luxury home has a mix of Old World appeal and modern comfort. The entire luxury property features 7 bedrooms in total with 6 bathrooms and 3 partial baths. The main house also has its own elevator that comfortably moves you between the 3 expansive floors of the house.
MODERN COMFORT WITH OLD WORLD CHARM
In total the main residence and guest house feature seven bedrooms, six bathrooms and three partial baths. The main house includes an elevator that comfortably moves you between the three expansive floors. It offers three indoor dining areas, a deluxe kitchen, an entertainment room with a bar and two wine closets, multiple fireplaces, a private office, and an amazing living area with a… See more at Luxury Portfolio Blog
San Miguel de Allende is really a melting pot, made up of locals and an expat population in all 63 nationalities. Located in the state of Guanajuato, this city has long been a top favorite vacation spot among travelers and tourists form the U.S. because of its historic colonial architecture, all-year-round warm weather, colorful fiestas, and amazing food.
Exploring San Miguel de Allende and beyond
San Miguel de Allende is also a wonderful home base for exploring the culturally rich Magic Towns in the region. Nearby is Dolores Hidalgo, where Mexico’s independence movement began in 1810. Dolores Hidalgo is a great spot to purchase local Talavera pottery as well as see how it’s made. From Dolores Hidalgo, continue to the hot springs, many of which are found in caves. There are several wineries in the region, as well… Read more at Travel Weekly
San Miguel de Allende, Mexican Colonial Property for Lease
Located in a gated enclave of ten luxury homes, Casa Grande’s private residence is an exquisite 3 bedroom, 3-½ bath secure retreat, just minutes from the activity of downtown San Miguel. The main house covers over 4,000 square feet of livable space including stone work, boveda ceilings, outdoor fountains, cupulas, Sautillo tile, outdoor gardens and terraces that… Watch here
MODERN LUXURY HOME WITH TIMELESS APPEAL is courtesy of Arie Abekasis
MODERN LUXURY HOME WITH TIMELESS APPEAL syndicated from http://www.arieabekasis.com
MODERN LUXURY HOME WITH TIMELESS APPEAL published first on https://noambouzaglou.wordpress.com/