Designing the Perfect Laundry Room

Although we tend to spend hours washing clothes every week, our laundry rooms often fall to the wayside when designing or remodeling. Tucked into empty corners or banished to the basement or garage, laundry rooms are usually designed for space instead of use.

There is no standard design for a laundry room, but you can get the most out of yours by asking yourself these easy questions.

1. What is your goal?

Are you planning to remodel your laundry room in its current space or are you going to move it to another part of your house? If you’re just planning to buy new appliances, repaint, and rearrange, your project will be relatively easy. If you want to restructure and change your room’s layout, there’s more to consider. Carefully evaluate the changes you want and the timing of your project. Ask for expert help to get the most out of your remodel for the lowest cost.

2. What will you use your laundry room for?

Depending on location and space, your laundry room can serve as a mudroom, storage space, dog washroom, and more. However you’re changing your laundry room, you want to make sure it will fit your needs. Save space for a hanging area, for your appliances, and for room to store clothes. More room is better than less.

3. How do you do laundry?

For some, laundry rooms are only used for washers and dryers. Dirty clothes are stored in other rooms and clean clothes are dumped on beds or sofas for folding. Others keep the entire process in the laundry room. Hampers, folding counters, drying stations, and ironing boards are kept and used in the same space. Your method will dictate the design of your laundry room. Are you in there enough to want a window? How do you want to position your appliances? Think carefully through all of your needs.

4. Do you want additional features?

Your laundry room can be as simple or fancy as you want. Do you want a sink for soaking/hand washing? Should you put a drain in the floor? Do you want a countertop for folding or do you want to splurge on an island? Adding a dog-washing station is a recent trend, but it might not fit your design or budget. Decide on your essentials and then see how much space and funding you have left for special features.

Do you have any tips for designing a laundry room? Share in the comments!

Good Design: Key To Any Bathroom Remodel

The bathroom is one of the two most popular areas of the home to be remodeled by  homeowners. It goes without saying that bathrooms, as well as kitchens, provide a high return for the investment. According to Remodeling Magazine, Cost vs. Value Report (2007), the average cost for a bathroom remodel in our area is about $14,445.00 for a mid-range project and $46,988.00 for an upscale project. The mid-range project will yield nearly an 80% return, while an upscale project will yield a 70% return on the investment. Although the returns are impressive numbers, this is not the motivation of homeowners desiring a bathroom remodel. The most popular reasons among homeowners to remodel their bathrooms are because the area is in need of maintenance, the desire to create more comfort and useable space, and the desire to use updated products and give the room a “facelift.”

So, where should you begin? A great place to start is the design. Your bathroom should be designed to meet your specific needs and desires. With our hectic and demanding lifestyles, the bathroom may have become a place for you to retreat to. This is one place in our home where we can be alone, so it is sensible to consider transforming this room into a soothing, rejuvenating, and practical place to offer some pleasure to your busy life.

We encounter beautiful bathrooms in magazines and on television; but what about the function of the bathroom? Think about the time you spend in your bathroom, and the way that you use it. Do you have adequate space? Do you utilize a bathtub or just a shower most of the time? Do you have enough cabinetry and counter space? The answers to these questions should be considered when contemplating the design. You can have both beauty and functionality all in one.

An important consideration that is often overlooked by designers and homeowners is an Aging-in-Place design.  If this is your first acquaintance with the term, I’m referring to the idea of designing your bathroom, (or any room), so it can meet your needs as you age in your home.  Most of us live independently now; but, normal age-related changes will occur as we age, which will possibly lead to difficulties in interacting with one’s home. These changes may include:

• Failing vision
• Osteoporosis
• Decreased strength or balance
• Decreased mobility

These are a few of the physical changes many of us will be faced with as we age. This is reality, and it is important to design your bathroom with such challenges in mind whether it is for today or for the future. It makes good sense to design a bathroom that can easily adapt to your specific needs as they arise.
To wait until the need arises will be costly and most likely very inconvenient. For example, I built a new home for a couple several years ago that were in their mid 50’s at the time. Unaware of some physical challenges that they would be faced with, the bathroom design for their home was a design like many that you would expect to see in a traditional family home. They didn’t take aging into consideration at the time. After a few years had passed, they contacted me to remodel their master bath. The husband had both knees replaced and the wife recently had shoulder surgery. They needed a bathroom that they could function in better, and negotiate safely.
So, whether you are approaching the age of dealing with physical challenges or not, all of us can benefit from easy living and good functional design. This is not an age discriminating idea. Some of the features to consider are:

• Applying ¾ “ plywood backing on all walls surrounding the shower, bath, water closet, and adjoining walls areas. This allows for the placement of grab bars at various heights and locations.
• Incorporating a bench in the shower.
• Zero threshold (curbless) showers to allow for easy entering and exiting.
• Varied countertops and cabinets to easily match the individual height of each person.
• Taller toilets.
• Easy access to the toilet. (I often find a toilet that is crammed into a little closet with a door that is smaller than 32”)
• 36” swinging doors at the entrance, or a 32” pocket door for easier navigating.
• Slip resistant flooring.
• Lights in the shower.
• Shower controls located for easy access without having to enter into the shower first.
• Adjustable handheld showerheads for ease of use and cleaning.
• Plenty of lighting.

It has been my experience that many homeowners focus their efforts on the styles, colors, and other finishes when it comes to remodeling their bathroom, and the practicality and functionally often gets overlooked. It is paying attention to the smallest of the design details that will have a huge impact on how much you enjoy your bathroom. A good bathroom remodel starts with a good design that is going to offer you value in a variety of ways both today and tomorrow.

To get started on your bathroom remodel, contact us at (407) 625-8286 or integrityremodeling@me.com.

4 Things to Consider Before Remodeling Your Kitchen

Your kitchen is one of the most important rooms of your house. It’s where you cook your food, entertain your guests, and have those important late night chats over cocoa and cookies. When you decide to remodel your kitchen, you want it to be perfect — somewhere you can enjoy, use, and proudly show off.

Kitchen remodels tend to be some of the most complicated projects you will complete in your house, but they can be worth the stress when done right.

As you prepare to remodel your kitchen — whether it’s in-progress, planned, or dreamed —  here are the five things to think about before you begin.

1. Think about what you want

The first part to planning any remodel is to think about what you want from your kitchen. Do you want to add an island? How about one of those nifty potfiller faucets? Think about your appliances, counters, cabinets, and flooring. Consider the color of the walls. Look at the layout of your kitchen and decide if you want to keep it or change it. Design your dream kitchen and see how it can work in your home.

2. Think about what you need

Now that you’ve spent some time in dreamland, it’s time to come back to earth. Your dream kitchen may not be what you need or can afford. Instead of scrapping your design, adjust it. Do you really need a commercial stove, double-oven or convection? Do you want to put all of your budget into the design when you desperately need new appliances? Take the time to make your plan more practical.

3. Think about the logistics

Once you have an idea of what you want, it’s time to make it happen. Create a budget and stick to it. Research and make a plan. Find professionals who know what they are doing and will work with you to stick with your budget. Lean on their experience and wisdom as you move into the project.

4. Think about life during the remodel

Face it. You don’t know how to function with your morning coffee and you’re not sure you’ll survive the remodel. The good news is that you won’t have to go without your kitchen essentials if you plan well before the project begins. Have a kitchen stand-in ready before your remodel starts and use it for making school lunches and cooking your meals. You won’t want to eat take-out for the whole project. Make sure to keep out your cooking essentials and store the rest. You won’t need them. Stock up on non-perishable and disposable foods and take it one day at a time. Or, go on vacation. That might be easier.

Are you planning a kitchen remodel? What are you most excited about?

Budgeting: The Key to Any Successful Remodel

You have decided to move forward with your plans to remodel your kitchen, add a bedroom, or close in your back porch. So, where do you begin? Integrity Remodeling and Custom Homes will always tell you to begin by finding the right building contractor to “partner” with first. There are many positive benefits to securing your contractor first, so that you can start the design process together, with all parties having the same knowledge and ideas about your project. Often times your builder can provide wise suggestions that offer the same design effect without sacrificing the budget, sometimes referred to as value engineering.

More often, the client has already had the project designed and purchased architectural drawings before searching for a contractor. The danger in this approach is that many times the contractor can’t do the job as it was designed within the set budget. Nothing is more frustrating than growing attached to a design and not being able to build it. Now, you must either attempt to alter the design or keep looking for a contractor that can build your project as drawn for the budget you have already determined. So, instead of selecting a builder based on his quality workmanship, customer service, and his abilities, you are forced to search for the cheapest contractor. This has a very good chance of heading in a negative direction quickly.

Once you’ve decided on a contractor and how much you desire to spend on your project, your contractor should create a job budget he uses to detail your list of desired interior and exterior finishes. This is being done simultaneously with the design process. Once the preliminary design is complete, your contractor can finish building the job budget. You can now review the budget and your contractor can identify areas of the budget that may require adjustment to maintain the original number you have set to spend on your project.

Your contractor may offer suggestions, such as alternative finish selections or project size reduction, so you can keep to your budget without taking away from the design. If you find your budgeted amount isn’t realistic for your design, you will have determine whether you are going to invest more money in your project or compromise on your selections in some areas.

This is the beauty of a properly detailed budget; it allows you to account for everything, so you can make those hard decisions on the front end of the project rather than discovering that your funds are exhausted and you’re nowhere near completion.

When considering green selections such as energy wise windows, high performance HVAC systems, or foam insulation, you can simply insert these costs into the budget and instantly see the impact it has on the bottom line. When making these choices, however, you must not only consider your initial costs, but also what you will save by incorporating some of these products in your project. Energy Raters, which your contractor can find for you, can help determine the payoff of these products.

Integrity Remodeling & Custom Homes likes to do this for our customers, to show the initial investment versus the long-term savings in order to determine the break-even point for these expenditures. In some instances, we have saved initial money on HVAC equipment cost by selecting high performance windows and doors.We spent more money on windows and doors, but saved on the cost of the HVAC system and decreased the projected energy bill considerably. Your green contractor can easily show you areas in the budget to cut so you can increase monies in critical areas that actually offer a significant impact on the operating cost of the home. Your contractor should educate you on the benefits of using superior products, in order to help you make informed choices about what you are spending.

This information may even encourage you to increase your initial spending on your project for  substantial monthly savings in the future. Setting a budget at the beginning, designing the project with it in mind, and making wise selections alone will not equate to a satisfying remodel. Instead, the key to a successful remodel and positive experience is using the budget as a tool to track variances and making the necessary adjustments along the way to maintain your budget. Only then will you get exactly what you’ve been dreaming about.

For more information on project budgets or beginning your remodel process, contact Integrity Remodeling & Custom Homes at 407-625-8286 or integrityremodeling@me.com.