Looking to Do Some Designing? Learn What People Are Looking For in Their Kitchens and Bathrooms!

Designing can be a lot of fun and it can be extremely stressful. Bathrooms and kitchens really make a home so we found this article to help you out. It discusses design trends for kitchens and bathrooms. We hope it helps!

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From the article:

Consumers often rate the kitchen as the most important room in the home, and with good reason: this hardworking area is the spot where families and friends gather together most. Baths, as the serenity space where homeowners go to relax and unwind, follow closely in status. So, what do buyers want in these most-loved spaces?

Here are some of the top design takeaways for kitchens and baths:

Take it Easy
When in doubt, stay simple. An all-white color scheme remains a top design trend among consumers for the clean look that it gives kitchens and baths. Clean edges and streamlined fixtures create chic, modern spaces while keeping design straightforward.

A Pop of Color
Color goes a long way in a room and costs next to nothing to incorporate. A bright wall or vibrant accent features can transform a bland space into something exciting. Such a simple addition can make a big difference.

Functional Style
Homeowners are practical; after all, at the end of the day, the most important design element of any home is that it functions well for its residents’ daily life???. For buyers looking to maximize function in a small home without taking away from appearance, shelves offer the perfect combination of simple and sensible storage. Shelving in kitchens creates a more open feel than traditional cabinets???and costs less to install, too.

Unique light fixtures can also serve as a key design element in a room as an easy and quick way to add flavor and style to the space.

Adding the ???little extras??? will set the home apart from the pack and help buyers feel like they are making the most of their space???pull-out drawers in kitchen cabinets, island extensions, and cutting board attachments on the sink are all examples of the useful additions that buyers love.

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Looking for more design ideas? Checkout this article about design ideas that could be of interest to you.
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Read the entire article here: http://www.builderonline.com/design/consumer-trends/design-trends-what-buyers-love-in-kitchens-and-baths_o

Planning on Renovating Your Kitchen? Start Here!

Renovating a kitchen can be a lot of fun. What you don’t want at the end is designer remorse though. In order to help you out we found this article with helpful information on things to keep in mind before starting your kitchen renovation. We hope it helps!

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From the article:

If you sometimes have trouble deciding what to make for dinner, a kitchen renovation can feel paralyzing. But take heart: It doesn???t really matter much which backsplash tiles or faucet you choose. As long as you get the big stuff right, you???ll be thrilled with your new kitchen. These five rules will help you get the best result at the right price.

Keep your outlay in sync with your home.
To avoid overimproving, cap your kitchen renovation budget at 15% of your home???s value, suggests John Bredemeyer, president of Realcorp, a national appraisal firm based in Omaha. (Check your town assessor???s site or a real estate site). For budgeting purposes, figure about 30% on cabinets; 14% on appliances; 10% on countertops; 5% on lighting; 4% on plumbing fixtures; 2% to 3% on paint; 1% to 2% on tiles, and 35% on construction costs, such as windows, flooring, and labor.

For a house worth $250,000, that translates to about $11,000 on cabinets, $5,250 on appliances; $3,750 on countertops, $1,875 on lighting; $1,500 on plumbing fixtures; $1,125 on paint; $750 on tiles; and $12,000 on construction costs.

To cut costs, hold on to what works.
You can slash the price tag for any kitchen renovation by limiting how much of the old kitchen you replace. Keeping original windows can save you $500 to $1,000 per window; keeping the original wood floor hiding underneath all of those layers of linoleum and vinyl could save you $2,000. And simply keeping the plumbing fixtures and appliances in the same locations likely means you can reuse existing plumbing, saving you perhaps $200 to $500.

Stay skin deep if you???re moving anytime soon.
If you expect to put your house on the market within a decade, skip the $60,000 renovation and go for a cosmetic upgrade instead. You can have old cabinets painted for $1,000 to $5,000 or refaced with a new wood veneer and new doors and drawer fronts for some $5,000 to $7,000. A new faucet and fresh cabinet hardware can be yours for under $500, new lighting for $500 to $2,000, depending on how far you take it; even replacing Formica countertops with granite might cost less than $4,000.

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Looking for information on countertop choices? Checkout this article about countertop choices that could be of interest to you.
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Read the entire article here: http://time.com/money/4280926/renovate-kitchen/

Want to Create a Knockout Kitchen? Try These Ideas!

The kitchen is the heart of the home. It’s where the family and company gather. It’s only natural that you’d want a kitchen that makes a statement but is also functional. In order to help you out we found this article from Houzz with 12 different knockout kitchen ideas. We hope you find some ideas to transform the look of your kitchen!

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From the article:

Bored with plain white subway tile and ???greige??? walls? Tired of making design choices based on what you think a future buyer might want? These 12 ideas prove that kitchens don???t need to be cookie cutter ??? in fact, they???re a lot more fun when you personalize your space exactly the way you want it. Let them satisfy your craving for color and creativity.

Wallpaper.

Wallpaper is so unexpected in the kitchen, and it???s a treat to see an interesting pattern on the walls instead of flat paint. Many wallpapers are not as delicate as you might think, but if you use one near the stove, it???s best to protect it with a sheet of Plexiglas or a specialty finish. Wallpaper is especially great in small kitchens ??? the pattern fools the eye into thinking the room extends farther than it actually does.

Zigzag linoleum.
What a fun way to use plain, supercheap linoleum tiles. Simply apply tiles in two colors you like together in a zigzag pattern rather than in straight lines.

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Looking for white kitchen ideas? Then checkout this article about white kitchen ideas that could be of interest to you.
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Read the entire article here: http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/23233269

Looking to Turn Your Kitchen Into More of a Manly Space? Checkout These Ideas!

Sometimes it can be difficult to design spaces for both men and women. One of those places is in the kitchen. In order to help you with ideas on designing your kitchen in a more manly way we found this article to help you out. We hope it helps!

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From the article:

The kitchen has always been traditionally seen as the woman’s domain but recent years have seen men reclaiming the space.

The rise of celebrity chefs such as the Hairy Bikers have shown that it’s possible to be manly and a darned good cook at the same time; making a mean lasagne doesn’t mean you automatically forget the offside rule.

With uber-sharp knives, naked flames, and fierce gadgets like the chef’s blow-torch, it almost feels like the kitchen is the natural habitat for a man. Plus, of course, there’s the added advantage of being able to decide what to have for dinner… being dished up a tiny meal that doesn’t even touch the sides is a thing of the past!

But to make a kitchen feel like your own, you need to cast aside the cute accessories and make this a true man cave; here are a few ideas on how to create a kitchen fit for a Gordon Ramsay-style feast.

Accommodate your height
Being a man in a kitchen can sometimes mean the dimensions are all out of whack, particularly if you top 6 feet tall.

Kitchen work-surfaces come in a standard height, which can be just a couple of inches too low for comfort if you’re built on the lanky side. Cupboard doors can present another headache – quite literally, if you forget they’re open and bang your head.

By creating a custom kitchen, you can request non-standard sizes, raising the work-surfaces to make it more comfortable for you to prepare your culinary masterpiece. If you will be sharing the kitchen with your other half or family, bear in mind this could end up being a double-edged sword: if the work surface is too high for anyone else to use easily, you may end up being the chef every night, like it or not!

If you are likely to be in and out of cupboards as you chop, saut??, and bake, constantly opening and closing doors can be annoying. However, the simple open and shut mechanism has been given a modern overhaul and there are now a number of innovative solutions available.

Rather than a side to side motion, there are doors which flip down, giving you an extra work surface as well as removing the chances of you banging your head. Alternatively, you could opt for the rather Bond-esque pocket cupboard doors instead. This look like any ordinary door when closed, but once opened can be slid back into a hidden recess, allowing you unrestricted access to the cupboard without having to constantly duck around it.

A nice collection
Most men appreciate a shiny rack of knives, and the difference between a chef’s quality set and a battered old block can be substantial.

Chopping can be made much easier with the right knife, and with a bit of TLC, a set of good quality chef’s knives can last for many years. You won’t want to plunk them in the dishwasher, though; this can warp the sensitive blade. Instead, simply rinse them in warm, soapy water and sharpen regularly to ensure they continue to deliver maximum performance.

It???s time to invest in some quality knives.
One word of warning: if you leave your knives to soak, don’t forget they are there. Plunging your arms into a bowl of soapy water with chef’s knives lurking at the bottom is likely to result in you losing a finger or two. And that’s not going to make your chopping any easier, even if you do have the best knives around…

A great accompaniment to a set of chef’s knives is a butcher’s block. Reassuringly solid, it’s the perfect place to chop and prepare your ingredients. Whether you are dicing peppers or pounding meat, a butcher’s block will provide a stable surface for you to do your thing.

As an extra little treat, getting the right tenderizer can really help you get a good grip. The Knuckle Pounder looks and feels just like a knuckleduster, allowing you to really give the steak a good going over. Perfect for use at the end of a really tiring day…

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Debating between a closed versus open kitchen layout? Then checkout this article about closed versus open kitchen layout that could be of interest to you.
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Read the entire article here: http://www.goedekers.com/blog/kitchen-man-cave/

Have a Tiny Kitchen? Learn How to Make it Really Useful Here!

Tiny kitchens are a fact of life in a lot of homes. Very few homes have enough storage in the kitchen. If you have a small kitchen then you’ve come to the right place. This article we’ve found has 10 different ideas on ways to make small kitchens really useful. We hope it helps!

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From the article:

From unfolding apartments to clever remodels to creative rentals, these 10 tiny kitchens show that their owners and designers haven’t just learned to deal with small spaces ??? they’ve embraced them. With solutions including cutting boards on drawers for extra counter space, affordable alternatives to wallpaper and innovative storage, these small kitchens can’t help but inspire.

A Tiny, Makeshift Bakery
Homeowner: Yossy Arefi-Afshar of New York City

Yossy Arefi-Afshar loves to bake, and refuses to let her tiny New York kitchen stop her. Although she’s learned some hard lessons about planning along the way (“I’ll never forget the time I got too ambitious with my menu and ended up doing dishes in the bathtub the next day,” she says), she’s learned to work with what she’s got.

When Arefi-Afshar is working on a big baking project, she simply clears everything off the counters and moves it to another part of the apartment. For some extra surface area, she’ll pull out a drawer or two and place a sheet pan or cutting board on top.

A Food Blogger’s Brooklyn Rental
Homeowner: Cara Eisenpress of Brooklyn, New York

A rental kitchen isn’t just limited in size, it’s limited in style too. Food blogger Cara Eisenpress uses cute art and her prettiest canning experiments to add color and interest to her tiny Brooklyn kitchen.

A huge part of keeping a small kitchen tidy is prioritizing belongings. Not everything could fit in her kitchen at first, so the most used items were kept on hand. On the other side of the kitchen, a wall-mounted wine rack and tall bookshelves take advantage of wall space for storage. A small setup seats four people for a casual meal.

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Need more storage in the kitchen? Then checkout this article with
kitchen storage ideas that could be of interest to you.
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Checkout all the ideas here: http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/3419146?m_refid=content-ob_3419146

Looking to Remodel Your Kitchen? Checkout These Ideas First!

444867422_5b95476d0a_oRemodeling any portion of your home, but especially a room you consistently use like a kitchen or bathroom, can be very fun as well as very stressful. The last thing you want after going through such a huge endeavor and spending so much money is to not be satisfied with the end result. In order to help you make the best decisions for you and your family we found this article that we hope will help you!

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From the article:

You’ve decided to remodel your kitchen. Now what? Not knowing where to start, many homeowners fall into two camps. Some start by looking at appliances. Others start by collecting inspiring kitchen photos. Some decide they need more room. Others simply want to upgrade their current kitchen. Homeowners may find themselves in this exploration stage for a year or longer before they start interviewing kitchen designers or general contractors.

Once you’ve pondered long enough and you’re ready to green-light a kitchen remodeling project, then what? We’ll start with the first 9 steps and we’ll get into the nitty-gritty details under specific steps as we move through the complete workbook.

Step 1: Think about what you need
This step is all about how you use your kitchen, and finding the layout and features that fit your household’s lifestyle. Get ideas from every resource possible, including Houzz guides and photos, showrooms, books, magazines and blogs.

Think about your priorities: how many people will be cooking and gathering here, and how they’ll need to move around in it. Do you need an addition? Or can you work with your existing kitchen footprint?

If you haven’t already, start saving photos of kitchens with features that suit your style. Your collection can be organized and beautiful like a scrapbook or it can be filled with random, unorganized images. I actually prefer the latter, because I like to randomly stuff images into my folders and ideabooks and go back to them later on for edits.

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Need more storage in your kitchen? Checkout this article about kitchen storage for busy homeowners that could be of interest to you.
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For all the steps click here: http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/1198907/list/Homeowner-s-Workbook–How-to-Remodel-Your-Kitchen