When remodeling your kitchen, you have to make a lot of decisions from your countertop material to your paint color. But, one of the biggest decisions you need to make relates to the cabinets you select. It doesn’t matter whether you are purchasing kitchen cabinets that are classified as semi-custom, or custom, their solid construction is important.
Here are a few things you should look for when shopping for your kitchen cabinets:
Drawers with dovetail construction
Self-closing hinges
Solid plywood construction
Quiet close drawers
Full extension guides
Another thing to keep in mind is at what point the cabinets are stained. Some companies stain the individual cabinet pieces (rails, stiles and center panel) before putting their cabinets together. While some others construct their cabinet doors and then stain them. When cabinets are stained after the cabinet is constructed you will see unfinished wood when the center expands and contracts.
Also, if you decide that you would like a custom piece, like a smaller-than-normal or portable island like the one pictured below, would that cause your entire purchase to considered “custom?” We work with cabinet manufacturers (Bertch brand, Legacy model) that will allow you to add a custom piece or two to your order without causing the additional expense of an entirely custom line.
These are just a few of the things to consider. We are happy to help you at any point… whether you’re ready to get started now or if you see your project six months down the road. Please don’t hesitate to call and let us know how we can help you design and plan for your new space.
We were waiting to hear back from a customer about a remodeling proposal when we got a very different call instead. Seems this customer’s foot had slipped off the brake while she was parking and there was now a minivan-shaped indent in the front wall of her garage. It’s not the kind of thing that happens every day, but our customer told us she had one thought when she saw what had happened, “I’d better call Moss.”
One of the things we are most proud of as a company is our loyal customer base. It’s more than knowing that you will be treated fairly and competently each and every time you call us–it’s becoming your “friend in the business.” We really enjoy being the go-to for our customers for anything related to their homes. And because we want to be the one and only call that someone has to make, we have formally launched Moss Home Services, our solution for consistently satisfying clients with needs that do not fit cleanly into our Addition, Kitchen, Bath, and Basement segments.
Basically, we have found a way to simplify your life by simplifying the care of your home. From plumbing to roofing to windows to electric, to drywall and flooring, and everything in between. We offer free, up-front, no-obligation price quotes, reliable delivery, and a salesperson and customer service person dedicated to Moss Home Services to make sure we are what we say.
It doesn’t have to be something as drastic as running your car into your garage wall. We all have things around the house that don’t get done because we don’t have time to find and screen contractors, or because the sales process is too confusing or has a catch. Moss Home Services is here to help you get your list done without adding more burden to your life. Let us know how we can help you!!! And thank you for continuing to allow our family to serve your family.
Kitchen remodeling offers so many ways to reflect your personality and your family’s needs. I love helping solve that design puzzle for Moss’ customers, but having been in real estate, there are a two things that I always keep in mind when I’m working with someone:
Just how “unique” do you want your space to be?
How long are you planning to live in this house?
I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t keep your best interests and resale value in mind.
Here are three examples of what I’m talking about:
A. Room With a View - this design was prepared for a couple who live in their home alone –their children are grown and have moved out. They wanted a way to incorporate the view out of their front window into their eating space. The finished product turned out beautifully and suits their lifestyle perfectly!
B. Dessert Island – here’s a unique idea for a narrow galley kitchen – incorporating your eating space into your island.
C. Steeling the Spotlight – and here’s a personal favorite of mine. This customer wanted to expand her kitchen by removing a wall between her kitchen and family room. She then created a gorgeous island that became the focal point of her room by adding cabinetry panels and stainless steel accents to the front of the island.
So, when you’re ready to remodel your kitchen, gather pictures from magazines and let me help you incorporate them into a design that really expresses your personality while meeting your needs. That way, you’ll get to enjoy the space, but you’ll also add value if ever you decide to sell.
Moss Building & Design is proud to be a Gold Sponsor of the 2nd Annual EarthDay@Loudoun Family Festival. The festival is being held this Sunday, April 25th, 2010 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Willow Creek Farms in the Broadlands. Moss was a sponsor last year and was impressed by how well the event was organized and attended.
This event is rain or shine. We hope that you will come and join us we will continue with our celebration, even though showers are likely. If the weather condition becomes unsafe, the EarthDay@Loudoun.org website and Facebook page will be updated by 6am on Sunday.
Organizers of the EarthDay@Loudoun Family Festival say overall exhibitor and community interest in this year’s event is beyond their expectations. Having to turn away several exhibitors who offered sponsorships in the past few weeks due to venue limitations, event Co-chair Oya Simpson said the interest is unprecedented. “Our venue is a dream for anyone interested in eco-friendly alternatives, environmental organizations’ work and most importantly youth groups that are doing great sustainability projects. We will have over 100 exhibitor booths on-site weaved throughout the farm at Clyde’s Willow Creek Farm offering nearly everything imaginable for the eco-conscious individual,” said Simpson.
Somehow I have managed to negotiate some very cool–though some might say unnecessary– home automation into my house. Maybe it’s not “necessary” to be able to use my iPhone to control the speaker volume on the deck, but we weren’t listening to music out back at all because it was such a pain to get to the equipment.
Thanks to Justin Tsuchida, owner of the local business iHome integration (formerly Executive 411), I will soon be able to use my iPhone to not only turn on and off my A/V equipment from anywhere with a wifi connection (including my deck and backyard), I can view songs on my docked iPod, change them, alter the volume, alter the source, etc. The software is even programmed so that all of the controls for the room you are standing in appear together (i.e. lights, music).
The system is expandable to also control the house thermostat, alarm system, lights, and even cameras that can be positioned around the house. These are all items for future negotiations of course. But I think it’s pretty compelling that anywhere there’s a wifi connection, I could then access my automated home from my iPhone to do things like set the alarm or watch my kids playing in the backyard.
And my wife is already getting something besides an ecstatic husband out of the deal. Her dream of invisible speakers has come true. We will be putting speakers in our wall that are actually drywalled in place and painted over so that they just look like the rest of the wall. And believe it or not, the sound is fantastic. I will keep you posted on if this technology is as cool as it seems. In the meantime, please give us a call if you would like to talk about what you can do with home automation (including home theaters) in your house.
The mystery tool in our How Cool Is That Tool Contest was…a Biscuit Jointer!
Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone who sent in their guesses. For fun, we’re posting the final two video clues. Would these have given you that last bit of info you needed to be a big winner?!
Okay–I’ll admit it–I had to ask what a Biscuit Jointer even does, so just in case you did too: a biscuit jointer is used to cut slots into the edges of the pieces of wood you need to join together. A football-shaped, lightweight, wood biscuit is inserted and glued between the slots to create a secure joint. It’s also sometimes called a Plate Jointer or Joiner.
Every homeowner has remodeling projects bouncing around in their minds. Some of them actually make it to a discussion on what we call at home a ‘need to know’ basis. I personally have come to learn that the projects my wife and I actually discuss are just the tip of the iceberg. And what I ‘need to know’ is not very much.
Nevertheless, there are forces at work that make timing a very relevant and practical part of the discussion for those projects that are on your 5-10 year or sooner horizon.
We have witnessed a significant general slowdown in our industry, which has caused all construction material suppliers, and in turn, their suppliers to significantly cut back inventories. When demand improves, supply will be slow to catch up, and the natural supply and demand equation will push up prices. We’ve seen it already in lumber prices and trim material, and it’s a safe bet that labor will be right behind materials.
The other relevant timing factor involves interest rates. The government has provided a nice soft pillow for our economy, and specifically the banking sector, to lay its head. The feds have manipulated mortgage rates down to provide relief to those having a tough time making their payments. And to encourage folks to buy new homes. This has been successful in providing some stability in the housing market. However I think it is safe to say that rates will only be held at this level for so long before the government has to let the market set the rate again, and there’s pretty much only one direction for it to go….up!
So the bottom line is this: the cost to remodel a home is as low as it will be for the foreseeable future and the cost of borrowing money is as low as it will be for the foreseeable future. These conditions exist right now, but they may be fleeting.
Moss has weathered the downturn well, and while we are always here to sign up customers and keep the business moving forward, we like to do so with as much bang for our customers buck as possible! So we pass this information on to you as we would a friend at a dinner party. Hopefully it is helpful as you navigate your own iceberg.
We’ve seen some interesting guesses – thanks to everyone who has sent them in. We’re at the half-way mark and still waiting for that winning entry. The IPod Touch is still up for grabs!
Think you might know which cool tool we picked? Here’s your next clue:
Congratulations to our first and second place winners of “How Cool is That Tool?” Jim and Mary, respectively. Jim will be receiving an iPod Touch and Mary will be receiving a new kitchen faucet. Since we received two correct answers so quickly, we determined that our picture clue may have been a LITTLE too big. But, leave it to a man to google the picture and solve the puzzle in “10 minutes or less.” (His words.)
So, we’ve decided to throw another iPod Touch into the mix and let the contest continue with Jim and Mary sworn to secrecy. Have fun and keep those answers coming.
