| remodeling grand rapids mi (3)

Here's a remodeling story that's close to my heart. In fact, it's actually about my own home! Have you noticed how popular mudrooms remodels have become over the past several years? Well, when you have a family of five, including three youngsters and a dog, it really becomes a necessity. Unfortunately, our home didn't have one and we were in desperate need to create a space to manage our comings and goings that would connect to the rest of our home. Kristin came up with a fantastic design that not only allowed us to do just that, but it also included space for our guests and a family command center.

Back in the eighties every new or remodeled home had brass chandeliers, doorknobs, and fixtures. Fast forward ten to twenty years and all that brass had been replaced with nickel and chrome. Brass was out; but just like trends in fashion, many styles come back around. What’s different this time is the finish, it doesn’t have to be polished or shiny, you can select burnished or matte brass.

There’s no place like home. It’s where you feel safe, comfortable and cozy…and that’s a good thing. However, even inside your safe haven there can be some potentially dangerous areas or situations. Here’s our list of the top 10 potential dangers in your home.

Every house has windows and eventually those will need to be upgraded or replaced. When you are planning to remodel, windows are always an important part of design plan. Last week I blogged about common remodeling jargon and while I was writing I realized that windows have so many terms it would be easiest to dedicate one blog to the subject.

Before most renovations can start, you have to tear down or demolish what’s currently in place. This can range from walls to cabinets and even tearing out old plumbing fixtures and appliances. Many clients ask us if they can do the demo themselves to save money on their project. Depending on the complexity of the demo, it’s not an easy yes or no answer. Most often we would recommend that our clients not take on a DIY demo due to the potential safety hazards you may encounter during the process. Safety is always our main concern, but there are several others reasons that you may not realize.

Bathroom remodels are one of the most popular renovation projects homeowners are interested in completing. One of the most common questions we hear when working with clients on designing their new bath space is how removing the bathtub will affect the resale value of their home. There are two important considerations that we will look at in order to direct our clients appropriately.

This week we found out that we won a Regional CotY award from The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) for a recent master bath remodel we completed! What's even more exciting is that this is the second year in a row that we have won in the Residential Bath $50,001-$75,000 category. The Thompson Remodeling team is honored to be recognized again by NARI in this category. Our design team worked closely with the homeowners to create a master bath remodel that would provide maximum functionality, the best use of space, and a combination of modern and classic aesthetics. We share this award with our clients who had such a great vision for their perfect master bath!

Thompson Remodeling is excited to announce that Kristin Thompson has just launched PostBox Designs, a new and unique decorating service. Kristin is a member of the Thompson Remodeling design team and has enjoyed working with clients over the past decade to create custom remodeling designs. As the years went by, she began to notice a common conundrum that many clients faced when their project was completed.

As we close another year of working with great clients and completing lots of remodeling projects, we thought it might be fun to create our own list of the top 5 remodeling selections we saw this year. All the magazines do their own "Best of" or "Top Trend" lists, so we thought why shouldn't the Thompson Remodeling team get in on the fun too. So, without further ado, here's our list of the Top 5 Remodeling Selections for 2015!

Thompson Remodeling's Tips for Increasing Curb Appeal Ah yes, we all know what they say about first impressions and when it comes to your home, that first impression can be summed up in two words -- curb appeal. Improving your home’s exterior appearance has two great benefits: improving your pride of ownership and increasing your home’s value. Seasonally, it’s a good idea to take a look at the outside of your home to see how your curb appeal measures up.

I can remember when a mudroom was just a simple room off of the garage with a few shelves and maybe a sink. Thankfully, designers and remodelers have realized that the mudroom can be so much more! Even tight spaces can be maximized to provide the much-needed functional storage space every family needs to keep a variety of “stuff” organized. Depending on your lifestyle, that “stuff” can include the obvious coats, scarves, gloves and shoes, but can also extend to sporting equipment, pet necessities, school books, computer bags, and cleaning supplies.

Does your kitchen look dated? Could it use some updates to make it more functional? Just like any other room in our house, as time passes it may need a bit of sprucing up. With as much time as we spend in the kitchen, you want it to be visually pleasing and user-friendly. To help, we’ve put together a list of updates that you can implement with a relatively small investment.