Irwin's Kitchen Remodeling: Scope of Work

Irwin Weiner ASID - We're a bit behind in catching up our readers on the progress of our home remodeling project in rural Pennsylvania. We really miss our kitchen, and the novelty is fast wearing off of having to eat out all the time on the weekends when we're in our weekend house. Part of our Weekend Therapy is to plan a meal and cook something spur of the moment, so we'll be happy when it's all over. In this video, I'll take you through our emptied kitchen, laundry room, and powder room and describe the scope of work - and next week I'll show you two videos with substantial progress made on the project. Whenever homeowners begin an extensive remodeling or renovation project, however, always plan for the process to take longer than you expect. In our case, this is holding true and we expect to be without a kitchen through the months of January and February and sometime into March. It's the nature of the beast, even though every contractor we interviewed told us the job would take only 6 weeks. 

 

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Our Top Tips: How to GREEN-UP Your Home's Interior

Irwin Weiner ASID - There's little excuse ... well, maybe inertia ... for not jumping on the GREEN bandwagon with your home design and decor. If you want to think ahead and plan for your family and planet's overall health and wellness, GREEN is the answer. We've come up with a list of eleven tips on how to go more eco-friendly around the house.

• Engineered quartz countertops made with recycled materials are scratch resistant, stain resistant, scorch resistant, chemical resistant, mold and mildew resistant, and stronger than natural stone or other solid surface materials. Use them on countertops throughout the house, including kitchens, bathrooms, dining rooms, and mud rooms. 

• Always use highly rated Energy Star appliances to save energy.

• Air purifiers and humidifiers ensure optimal indoor air quality regardless of the weather. An ERV (energy recovery ventilator) works with the purifier and humidifier to make sure fresh outdoor air circulates year-round and indoor air is kept fresh and clean.

• Traditional vacuum cleaners actually pollute indoor air. A central vacuum system is 5 times more powerful than handhelds, eliminates 100% of the dirt it comes in contact with, and reduces allergy systems up to 60%.

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Consider Concrete Decorating Solutions for Your Home

Irwin Weiner ASID - I've not been quick onto the custom concrete bandwagon for home design, having relegated concrete to the realm of the too-architectural approach to home design and home decor. Concrete can be an amazing addition to a home, both as a practical design feature and as a tactile element. There's nothing cooler than a concrete floor - one kind of texture - overlaid with a shaggy knotted handmade rug - another rich contrasting texture.

Here are some of my favorite concrete applications from Concreteworks East, a supplier of custom concrete products out of East Brunswick, NJ. My personal favorite is the use of terrazzo within concrete in the tub below. Out of this world! We need to look forward to the "next thing" in design, and I like the use of color within concrete, moving away from the concrete-only look (I'm still not a huge fan of tinted colored concrete - I think the final product comes out a bit too gloomy and muddy).

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White Decor Adds Winter Wonder to Interiors

Jessica Ackerman - If you think that white is one of the more boring colors to decorate with, think again. White can actually be used in many exciting and creative ways throughout the home to add a dash of decorating excitement. Because it can be combined with practically any other shade, white is also extremely versatile and easy to work with. Although white can be used to great advantage in your decorating scheme year-round, it can be especially fun to use during the winter months to create a "winter wonderland" look. In fact, what better way to celebrate the beauty of the snow outdoors than to use white to re-create the look indoors? If you'd like to freshen up the look of your home with white this winter, here are some great decorating tips to help get you get started.           

White Walls for a Clean Slate

White walls can provide the perfect backdrop for a myriad of other decorating options. It's important to remember that if you'd like your other decorating accents to really "pop," you have to make sure that the room's wall color isn't too overpowering. If you walk into a room and the wall color is the first thing you notice, chances are the rest of the room's decor isn't receiving the attention it deserves. For example, a beautiful piece of wood wall decor could serve as an eye-catching accent piece when hung on a white wall. However, if hung on a darker colored wall, it could blend in too much.

White walls can also provide a nice visual contrast to other darker colored decorating pieces throughout a room. For instance, if your furniture pieces are dark, white walls could provide the perfect backdrop. The same is true for dark woodwork, dark cabinets, or dark flooring.

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