Awning; With this type of window the operating devices are located at the bottom of the window that makes it easy to operate. These windows are hinged at the top and swing outward. The problem is that the kitchen countertop is 36” tall than the window is about 24-36” tall. IE the top of the window is between 5’to 6’ off the floor so when you are looking out the window at the sink all your eyes are looking at the top of the window jamb, you must duck to look out the window.

Glider; With this type of window the operating devices are located half way up the window that makes this window hard to operate when you lean over the sink and faucet.

Casement; This is a great type of window the operating devices are located at the bottom of the window that makes it easy to operate, also if the wind is coming from the left and you want to bring the air in open the right window and it will hook the wind and bring it into the kitchen.

Double Hung; This is a good looking window but it has a draw back you must on unlock the window, the lock is half way up the center of the window opening it from the bottom is adequate again the sink and faucet is the way.

Hopper; A hopper window is a cool design of a window but it swings and tilts into the room in the swing mode the window can not open the faucet is in the way.

Transom; Having a transom window over the regular kitchen window is great unless you have a ceiling under 9’ again the bottom of the transom and the top of the regular is in your line of sight.

Low Maintenance
Permacast columns are cast from a proprietary fiber-reinforced polymer composite with exceptional strength-to-weight characteristics and requiring minimum maintenance. They are weatherproof, insect-proof and highly durable. They look best painted, and repainting when the color looks out of date.

Low Maintenance
PermaCast columns are cast from a proprietary fiber-reinforced polymer composite with exceptional strength-to-weight characteristics and requiring minimum maintenance. They are weatherproof, insect-proof and highly durable.

Capitals & Bases
Tuscan style capitals as well as the five differenttypesof ornamental capitals also follow the guidelines of Greek and Roman architects. Attic bases, copied from those of ancient Attica, are also available.

Plain & Fluted
Permacast columns are available plain or fluted in the widest variety of sizes in the industry. Deep, sharp flutes and smooth, easy to finish surfaces set Permacast apart from wood columns.

A cheap exposed tread system looks like this photo. What makes it look cheap is the skirt board. The reason is that it does not match the baseboard joining up with it.

If you have to put in an inexpensive knee wall over a handrail this is a quiet but elegant way of going about it.

If you have a smart carpenter use a 1”x 8” board and a piece of 5” tall base to make a custom make skirt board. Join them to together with a biscuit jointer and glue. Than run it through a surface planer and bring them down to the same thickness. A few minutes of light sanding, and your new skirt board is ready to be custom cut.

Not only can it be custom cut into the base, but you can make it follow up the staircase to the 2nd floor enhancing the look of staircase.

Columns make a person take note of their surroundings that something has in the past, present, and/or near future will be happening in this place.

Going back to theses homes I have installed these columns, It bring me back to the meeting that I had attended in these rooms over the years.

Installing cheap columns or ones that are improperly built cheapens the room, which sends a massage to the people coming in seeing them actually ignore the fact columns are there, even thought they have to step around them as they walk through the house.

Think long term 5 ,10, 15 ,or 20 years and/or 2 or 3 different types of jobs or hobbies you might have in the future.
You may spend 10 minutes and up 2 hours a day in this prep room. Doing things right in this room will set your mode for the rest of the days you live in this house.
Thing to think about when you design a bathroom;

Number of people needing to use this room at the same time; 2 or 3 kids, a couple, 2 or people staying over IE relatives and friends, room mates, etc.
With these things in mind your now ready to start answering questions.

a. Think about cleaning
B. Bathing
C. Midnight strolls
D. Getting your makeup on
1. Lighting
2. Putting on makeup
3. Storage
4. Accessibility to storage, and left or right handed people
5. Accessories- hair driers, curling
6. 6. Room accents

We had some fun with personal area we installed quarter sawn white oak with accent walnut strips in the corbels, top rail of the panel system and the desktop edging.

With box cabinets you have face frame of 1 1/2” wide per box, when you join 2 boxes together it becomes 3” wide with a vertical seam between all the boxes. Custom cabinets have face frame of 1 1/2” –2” wide allowing more room for access as well as wider drawers.

Most box cabinets have a 1/8”-1/4” overhang on the face from the cabinet box. This makes it hard to put crown molding around the top of the cabinet, as well as toe shoe around the base cabinet. These box cabinets have no extra material to custom fit the boxes to the wall. There will be a gap between the back wall and the cabinet. If the person installing the cabinet followed the bow of the wall now the front face of the cabinets are no longer straight. Installing a counter top on these boxes will have to custom made to get a big enough overhang on the counter top to make it look good. If there is a bow in the wall this could be hidden with custom cabinets.

The only time a box cabinet looks above average is when it has a full over lay door covering most of the face frame.

All the quality in box cabinets is located in the appearance of the cabinet, not in the operation, structure, or functionality.

What’s the difference?
The Department of Labor and Industry requires licenses for residential building contractors, remodelers, roofers and manufactured home installers. The department requires certain standards of education and professional conduct be maintained to obtain and retain a license.

Licenses are required for all residential building contractors and residential remodelers who contract with a homeowner to construct or improve dwellings by offering more than one special skill. Owners working on their own property must also be licensed if they build or remodel for the sole purpose of speculation or resale.

Liability insurance with limits of at least $300,000 per occurrence, which must include at least $10,000 property damage coverage.
Minnesota workers’ compensation insurance certificate or a written explanation of why the applicant is exempt from workers’ compensation requirements. Applicants who have no employees and have no intention of hiring employees (other than spouse, parent or child) during the next year should attach a written statement with the license application explaining the specific reason they are exempt. If applicant is uncertain whether workers’ compensation insurance is required for your business, contact the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry at (651) 284-5005.

A handy man needs none of the above unless he and/or she does more than one of these items concrete, frame, side, sheetrock, trim, tile, hardwood flooring, carpeting, painting

If a handy man gets injured at your house he or his insurance company can sue the home owner. Always Protect Yourself.

This closet was designed for more internal storage, but it uses up 18 square foot of floor in front of the closet that cannot be used for storage and or any thing else.

Installing Lockers in the same place where you would put a closet, it will hold more items as well as being able to organize your items or your kids.

A walk-in closet laid out right yields more and better quality storage as seen in the next 3 pictures.

The house was built in 1950 on a nice lake. The new owners decided to remodel it before moving in. We updated the whole house from electrical,plumbing, heating, phone, security and millwork.

We make our own pillars to fit each house. Buying factory pillars the heights are wrong for the jobs as well as are the fluting. factory flutes are done with a tables saw blade instead of a router giving a shallow look (cheap look).

On this photo we are building up the bases of the pillars.

Applying crown and bed moldings to make up a 6 ply cornice look.

The final look of the front entry with a siting bench.

We changed the location of the sliding glass door and the kitchen sink window. Then we flipped the kitchen layout to flow better with more storage.
There was a large footprint for the kitchen but no storage or ease of operation. People visiting had to pass through the cooking area to get to the dining table.

To the right of the kitchen sink is the dishwasher with a wood door panel to match the cabinets.

The center island has a built in microwave on the right around the corner on the right there is a built in bookcase. The center door has a 3′ drawer that hold 3 -13 gallon garbage cans with 2 recycling bins left the kitchen sink for glass and metals.

The kitchen, and bar sink are cast iron w/ a gray porcelain finish. We also installed a secondary Reverse osmosis water system to the refrigerator, kitchen, and bar sinks for better taste, as well as no impurity in the water.

When making meals in this kitchen, everything is ease to get to with plenty of storage for food, supplies, as well as decorations for any type of family get together. The layout of the kitchen makes it ease to be involved with family whether there in the family room or in the kitchen.

Standing by the patio door there is plenty of room in the cooking area of the kitchen for 3 people work as well as 4 to sit at the upper level of the island and 4-6 more at the table. What a great place to entertain guests.

The first picture is on a bridge looking into the living room.

The second picture is looking from the home office into the arboretum.

The third picture is looking down in to a water fall system and ponds.

In the first hours of interviewing home building contractors, this is the time to ferret out if the contractor, is out for his wallet or to gain a friend. Remember once you sign a contract with him/her, the working relationship will late up to 10 or even 12 years. The house may be done in 3-6 months, but the warranties and call back could be a nightmare.

Fireplaces are designed to make you comfortable in the room. Its like a feeling of what you would like and then actually have it built in the room for maximum relaxation and enjoyment.

3. Can you lock the turntable at 1/10 of a degree at a time?

4. Does the miter box allow you to set the blade depth as to kurf a board
or notch the backside of a baseboard?

5. Are you able to set the turntable as 69 degrees both ways, all the miter
boxes I know of can not do this yet. When you are doing beam ceiling
with 45degree boxes the miter angle is 67 1/2 degrees this angle is used
a lot on a 6 ply beam build up?

6. Can the bevel turn to 50 degrees both directions?

7. Does the slide arm have a second dairy lock for custom cutting?

To date I have used several different types and brands of miter boxes not one is perfect but the Dewalt Series of miter boxes are a delight to work with.

2. A pneumatic nail gun that can shut 2 1/2″ trim nail with a round head this is important a T style nail brakes the thinner trim boards and has no power to drive the nail through sold hardwood. I recommend Senc Finishing Nailer Model 1Z0001N

3. A pneumatic pin gun SENCO SLS18 18 GAUGE 1-1/2″

4. A bottle of Titbond 2 Glue

5. An orbital sander (Porter Cable Quicksand® Random-Orbit Sander)
Now with these tools you have a good start on doing a great job.

Always glue your joints and keep a wet rag with you o wipe off extra glue.

Let’s say you just finished installing casing around a window. Ok it time for the nail set, counter sink all the gun and hand nails.

Lets go back with 150 grit sand paper and sand all the trim and joints this causes the stain to penetrates evenly with less splotching across the entire trim board.

Take out an air chuck and blow out and excess dust in the nail holes and off the trim board.

If there are any nicks of dents in the millwork it time to fix them with Lacquer base wood putty let hardens and re-sand.

For today’s standards it looks plan ordinary If we were to add 5″ base and 3 1/4″ Casings with a 3-6 piece crown molding with a couple of fluted columns.

The look of the same house has changed the house for a average house to quiet masterpiece tucked away is suburbia.

You say well I won’t get the money out of the house when I sell.

Good point lets look at your car you take out a 40,000.00 loan on a car which in 8 years has no value and you are only in about 30 —45 minutes a day, while your house your in 8-14 houses a day.

Look at which one puts more strain on you mode.

I’ve watch people go from their regular house to a high quality home and see their mode and mannerisms change.

The higher quality home cancels out a lot of negative thinking and actions.

With this in mind can you not afford to upgrade your house? Less sickness do to stress, and a better adatuded about life in general.

If you like clear maple don’t buy it from the discount lumber stores the millwork in the racks don’t match the maples board on there racks they are 2 different types of maple 1 is hard, lite yellow color with good graining and the other is soft with light brown color.

Most all of the United States birch is gone we are importing it from Russia and again this is blotchy with black streaks in it.

So to compensate for this they are selling popular a soft hard tree. The problem is that it comes 2-4 colors in 1 board from yellow -green -light red- black spots.

They call it a paint grade wood. When moisture lands on it the wood work firs up like 100s of small burrs or dog hairs.

If you were to hard maple or birch you could get a good paint job with 3-4 coats of paint but with popular there is a ton more work for the painter with a lot of sanding between each layer of paint.

With maple you may spend 3-10 seconds per layer of paint per board and with popular you may spend 30-120 seconds per layer of paint per board.

And that is the reason for more layers of paint.

It’s cheaper to buy the maple trim from the start.