Pets Love Carpet Too!

Carpet is very forgiving when it come to household pets. Not only does it help disguise animal hair, it also helps minimize airborne pet dander. Unlike your hard surface flooring, carpet keeps those fuzzy hairballs from forming in the corners of the room.

A few things to keep in mind:

Color Choice: Think about the color of the carpet and the color of your pet. Is he black, white or brown? Does he shed? If your pet has dark hair and tends to shed a bit, be sure you choose a medium to dark colored carpet to help camouflage the shedding. The same goes for pets with lighter hair color. You sure don't want dark carpet in your house and a white-haired pet.....unless you enjoy vacuuming every day.

Style Choice: Your pet's activities may dictate what style of carpet you choose. Dogs that are vigorous diggers or cats that enjoy "kneading" surfaces might have issues with a large loop carpet. Their claws can get caught in the pile causing damage to the carpet and themselves.

Comfort: The American Pet Association found that more than 7 million dogs spend their nights on the floor. We like having a soft surface to walk on but have you ever considered what it's like for your pet to sleep on your carpet? Nice carpet + thick pad = a good night's sleep.

Care and Cleaning: The number one rule for homes WITH PETS is vacuum often. This helps with the cleanliness and the carpet's appearance. Frequent and proper vacuuming is the single most important step in maintaining the life and beauty of your carpet. Be sure to visit www.carpet-rug.org for tips in selecting the right carpet and vacuum.

In the Cabinet

The cabinets have all been set in place and are waiting for their tops. It will be a few weeks before the granite is cut and polished so our customer is making due with plywood.

Luckily, it wasn't their turn to cook the Thanksgiving meal this year!

Stay tuned for the plumbing progress. We're just about ready to start really finishing this kitchen remodel.

Granite Slab Chosen

The cabinets are set and ready for the granite tops. Our customer went to Bedrock International in Lenexa, KS to pick their granite slab. This is a pretty cool process...your granite will be unique since they are all natural stones. Jake's Creative Cabinets will then have the granite cut and installed after the slab is chosen.

Tile Choice #2

After days of searching for a new tile, our customer found one that works for our new space. This is Indian Slate 13 x 13 tiles for the laundry room.

and the coordinating tile in a 1 x 2 mosaic brick pattern for the Mud room.

Our customer wanted the slate look in these rooms. Changing the tile size gives them each a distinct look and feel while keeping them consistent. The tile has all been installed and sealed. The next step is the messy part....grout. Sealing the tile before grouting helps with cleanup and keeps extra grout from getting into all the nooks and crannies of the slate tile.

Next on the list: appliances being delivered in 2 days and a template made for the quartz and granite countertops.

Coming Together

Our room remodel is coming together and starting to look like a real kitchen again. The hardwood flooring is done and they are setting the cabinets. Now all the fun gadgets and appliances can begin to find their new homes.

Our customer chose light-colored cabinets this time instead of a wood grain to help make the space feel bigger. This will make a huge difference...look at the before cabinets again.

And the bar and butler's pantry are taking shape too. Our customer chose a different color cabinet for the pantry area to make it a defined space. We can finally see some real progress on our kitchen remodel.

Flat on the Floor

With all the new tile options available, it's difficult to narrow it down and pick one...let alone two. Our customer had a tile picked out, but it turned out to be discontinued. So, back to the drawing board with that. The concrete board is down and ready for the 2nd choice.

The rest of the home has Armstrong Pinnacle Mountain Lodge engineered hardwood so they chose to extend that into the kitchen space. If you didn't know it, you'd never guess this was a remodeled kitchen. The cabinets are next in line for this project. They were custom made by Jake's Creative Woodworks and we're super excited to see how they look in our new space.

Let There Be Light

Our customer decided to change out the remaining windows in the house while doing this remodel. What a difference windows make in a room! Here is the front of our house with new windows.

And the new sliding glass door that was delayed for 2 weeks finally arrived:

They had some special order windows that were a little pricey and took a bit to deliver, but our customer says they were well worth the wait. These arched windows make a statement in the new kitchen, don't they?

With the space now enclosed, things can get serious with flooring and cabinets and paint and......

Wall To Wall

The new sheetrock is hung. It's great to see the actual rooms take shape now.

The mudding and taping is now over and the sanding has begun. Our customer put up Zip Walls and plastic to help alleviate the dust but to no avail. The mess was contained but she said she had to vacuum and dust just about every day. This is the unfortunate part of remodeling your space. They will start spraying the ceilings and do some knock-down next. THEN.....they can start with primer and paint!

Step On Up

Due to some technical difficulties, our blog on the kitchen remodel got delayed a bit. You just gotta love the iPhones...when they work properly and actually send the photos you take. Anyway..... Our side porch is now framed in and we're waiting on shingles and siding. It's nice to have an entrance from the side now. Our customer had a slight delay when the door they ordered came in wrong. BUT.... All is good now and they can use the new entrance from the driveway.

On The Side

Now that the insulation has dried and it's safe to re-enter our kitchen, the side porch is next on the list. Thank goodness we're having great weather right now so our builder can create some nice space outside. The contractor is taking advantage of the sunshine and installing the rest of the new windows too.

It won't be long before we start seeing some photos of the new walls going up and our kitchen space taking shape.

This week BLOWS

Literally. Now that the walls are studded in, it's time for some insulation. Our customer chose Ballard's Custom Insulation LLC to come blow insulation between the studs for maximum coverage. This is a necessary process but using the blown method, it has to cure for an entire week before anything else can take place. So our customer is patiently watching insulation dry...worse than watching paint dry I'd say.

The only other progress last week was Associated Door getting the toe-kick for the Central Vac put in place. This will be awesome in the kitchen...just kick open the door and sweep your crumbs down the hole.

Day #11 Back To The Drawing Board

Now that the new walls are up, the heating and electrical are done, the plumber, Thomas Independent Plumbing, can finish up with a few items. Our customer decided to have a pasta pot faucet installed. These are so awesome! Unfortunately, it requires just a little bit more work. There might also be a slight issue with the upstairs drain now that the kitchen has been reworked, but let's cross our fingers and hope Thomas Independent Plumbing can make it all happen without additional cost. CABINETS ARE DRAWN

With everything reconfigured, Jake's Creative Woodworks can now draw in where the cabinets will be placed. This is the island with the rounded end being used as a dining table. The top surface will be the standard island height and have a drop-down end at a regular dining table level. Great utilization of space here: work surface and dining surface separate yet together.

Day #10 Welcome the Outdoors

It's a beautiful Fall morning, drinking coffee in the kitchen, watching the leaves fall to the ground. Who doesn't love this scenario? It's much better looking out a nice, big double door than a kitchen door with a window, right? Our customer decided to bring more of the outdoors indoors and expanded the opening. Here you see the regular door before our contractors, Preferred Construction, Kevin & Josh Kroeger, begin the reconstruction.

And now the bigger opening for the new door. SLIGHT DILEMMA: The new doors didn't arrive as scheduled and are delayed until October 1st. Oh dear! Preferred Construction will be covering the opening to help keep out rain and any MONSTERS that might find their way into the new kitchen.

Day #9 Sheetrock Defines the Space

What a difference sheetrock makes when you look into our new kitchen space. The walls are up in the garage now so you can begin to see the vision.

Since the kitchen and garage space are getting a new look, our customer decided to upgrade the window in the garage to match. They've taken the old one out and replaced it with a new one that will be more efficient and coordinate. I-land iSell and eBay are great places to get rid of things like old windows so our customer is hoping to help offset some cost by selling them.

One slight dilemma: Now that the garage floor has been adjusted, the garage door comes down too far. If you are vertically challenged, it's not a problem. If you are of "standard" height, well, you might hit your head on the bottom of the garage door when walking in. Associated Door has been called to come give our customer a few options....and pricing. Ouch! Just another one of those sneaky budget issues you don't always think to plan for.

Let's See Some Cool Products!

Now that the space is getting defined, our customer gets to move onto the fun stuff! Picking colors and products and cool new appliances.

Our Flooring Specialists like to put the actual samples of the products together so you can see how they blend. This is a cabinet door painted with Benjamin Moore Navajo White, Ceasarstone Quartz color London Grey for the perimeter countertops and the dark walnut stain from Gemini for the cabinet at the end of the island. Having them all laid out together helps bring the vision to life. Here is the granite for the Butler's Pantry and island space.(color Yukon White, hand picked by customer):

Jake's Creative Woodworks, Inc. is the contractor for the cabinets. He works with Bedrock International in Lenexa, KS for granite and quartz countertops. Our customer was able to go to the Bedrock facility and pick out the slab to be used. A final measurement will be done after Jake sets the cabinets to make sure the countertops fit just right. Now onto the really fun stuff for an amazing kitchen -- new appliances!! Unless your man LOVES to cook, this part of the process is mostly for the female of the home. There are so many cool things to choose from; almost like buying new shoes only a bit more expensive. All the appliances were purchased from Jimmy Case at our local Sears store here in Sedalia. Here's what our customer has to say: KithenAide gas range: "A little pricey but can't wait to use it!"

Samsung refrigerator 29 cubic feet: "SO excited for the size! It's BIG!"

Danby Beverage Center refrigerator: "It's a combo drink/wine set up. It will work great for everybody."

Now that the kitchen area is underway the Laundry room will be next. Our customer says things are still a bit up in the air on that space. They've submitted some products but are waiting on final pricing before moving forward.

Day #6 thru #8 We Can See Some Light

Several work days have come and gone and we can literally see some light...I mean some sunshine through the new windows. "Light at the end of the tunnel" will come much later for our customer. The heating and air conditioning guys have done their part in adding and relocating the duct work to accommodate the new space. The plumber has been busy getting all the new pipes in place and the electricians have things all wired up. Now that all of that necessary business is done, our customer and the cabinet maker met to make sure the design was still going to work. Luckily, only a few minor changes needed to be done. All the cabinetry our customer wanted in their new kitchen will still happen with just a few minor tweaks. Now about that budget....

LOVE THE WINDOWS! But the added depth and color our customer picked has caused an "upgrade" status which wasn't in the budget. This is something they want to share with other people considering a remodel. Sometimes the color makes a difference in the price so be sure you ask that question in the beginning. All in all, our customer is pleased with how things are progressing.

Day 5 New Laundry Area

Very excited to see some new walls up. The laundry room as been relocated and is now in what used to be the garage. The walls are now studded in and the rest of the vents complete.

However, our customer is a bit frustrated....new hot water heater necessary. Ouch! An extra $1500 not factored in the original budget puts a little hitch in the plan. Sometimes during a remodel you find your existing items may not be big enough for the expansion or they may have issues you were unaware of before you started. Let's hope this doesn't change the plan too much and our customer gets their dream kitchen.

Day #4 Garage Stall Gone

Things are progressing on the kitchen remodel. Our customer now has only 1 garage stall but feeling very happy about it. They've almost finished the subflooring over the new kitchen section.

The kitchen space has now expanded and created a very nice area for cooking. We all know the "hub" of the house is the kitchen so our homeowners are anxious for this space to move along. Here they've closed in the garage door space and added dryer vents for the new laundry room.

The nice thing about this remodel is that it's an inside job so the weather isn't an issue for the contractor.

Day #3 The Walls Come Down

After a long Labor Day weekend, the demo finally gets started. The contractors have put up the Zip Walls to help minimize the dust in the rest of the house before they start tearing things out. Our homeowner will certainly appreciate that!

Now it's time to expand the kitchen space. They tore our the dividing wall between the kitchen and laundry room. BEFORE

AFTER

They also took out the wall between the garage stall and kitchen area. This is gonna be a fabulous area! They got the garage floor built up and ready to become part of the living space.

So the kitchen remodel is underway. Our homeowner will need to start thinking about paint colors and flooring for the new space. Luckily, we have knowledgeable staff here to help with all their decorating needs.

Day #2 Demo Begins

Cabinets are gone so now it's time to tear out the wall and take over the garage.

I'd love to say that things have progressed perfectly on schedule, but I'm not going to. It's Friday and the sun is shining. The dumpster is here so things should start happening soon.

The concrete trucks are supposed to arrive sometime this afternoon so our customers are really happy it's not raining today. What a great way to start the Labor Day weekend!