Our Industry Tips
By Park Winston | June 9, 2007
As one of the primary renovation businesses in the state, we get asked lots of questions about home renovation. So, though it is enjoyable to share our expertise in happenstance meetings on the sunny streets of Missouri, we decided it would be much more efficient to launch a web site.
Thus, this web site will be used to present a look at various topics regarding home renovation and tips from the team that brought you Missouri’s “Winter Porch” concept.
Let us begin..
Topics: Home | No Comments »
Wainscoting for Your Walls
By Park Winston | June 8, 2007
Want the feeling of a cozy library?
High-quality wainscoting can be had at an affordable price, you just have to opt for raised-panel kits. There are several New England companies that produce them. A typical 12×15 room costs in the $500 range. The prefabs don’t have all the elegance of hand-honed beads, but the price is right and your walls get a tasteful cover.
Save more by installing it yourself. Here’s how.
Prep the walls as you would for painting, wipe down with a watered-down solution of white vinegar, tape off outlets, and newspaper the floor.
Unpack the kit: most include panels of wainscoting, straight pieces for framing, baseboards, and trim. You’ll need a hammer, 1 1/3 inch nails, and caulk.
Post panels evenly; trim stiles to the proper width, and fill corners. Add baseboards and toptrim, and fill any gaps with paintable caulk.
Congrats. You’ve got wainscoting.
Topics: Renovation Tips | No Comments »
Renovation Tips for the Home
By Park Winston | June 4, 2007
Choosing Paint for Home
Put work into a well-chosen color scheme for the house body, trim, and accents can help heighten your home’s assets and disguise design flaws.
Here’s how to choose:
Consider Your Home’s History
To recreate an older’s home color history, you can analyze old paint chips to recreate the original color, or choose off color charts meant for historic homes..
Fit In
To fit in with the neighborhood, look around at your neighbor’s choices.
Take Chances but Harmonize
Use a color wheel and choose three colors that harmonize.
Topics: Specialties | No Comments »
Renovation Coach
By Park Winston | June 3, 2007
This Week’s Discussion: The Renovation Coach
Undertaking a Home Renovation project is considered as stressful as putting on a wedding or dealing with our government’s tax issues. Homeowners face a morass of unknown concepts, legal issues and a vast field of players. They’ve long needed help. Out of this need has sprung a new profession: the Renovation Consultant
This is a concept, we suspect, sprung from a script of This Old House. Based on a quote by one such renovation consultant, Bruce Irving, former executive producer of the famed show. “The thing about home renovation is that very few people have been able to practice for it,” says Irving, in an article on the This Old House web site. Homeowners “get wound up and nervous, facing this potential money pit, and it doesn’t have to be that way.”
A renovation consultant’s job is to give ballpark estimates, screen contractors, give out product advice, and guide all involved through the permit process.
Unlike an architect or contractor, who typically gets paid a set sum, a renovation consultant is paid per hour. You can book him for as much time as you need. The rate is in the $85-$100 per hour range in the Midwest. Find local renovation consultants through area directories.
Hope this advice was useful..
Topics: Renovation Tips, Specialties | No Comments »