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The holiday season is fast approaching and that means your kitchen is about to start working overtime! As you prepare for the meals, parties, and baking that the holidays bring, you may feel like your kitchen isn’t meeting your needs. And if you do, you’re not alone. This is the time of year when most people recognize the flaws in their kitchen and we get a lot of calls from folks just after the holidays that have decided it’s time for a kitchen remodel.

So you’re ready to remodel your home or maybe you are thinking about it. Great! One of the first things we like to discuss with our clients is their remodeling “must-haves”, the features, specific materials, or aesthetics that must be included in their design.

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.

Remember the segregated formal dining room? I sure do and though many homes still have them, the Thompson Remodeling design team has found that many families are opting to create an informal dining area when they renovate. Typically, these spaces are created to encourage multi-use for other activities such as homework or entertaining. Here are few examples of great informal dining spaces we’ve created recently.

Limited free time and too long a list? We can help! 1. Buy a case of furnace filters (12) and replace it each month. 2. Deep clean the the inside of the house to reduce allergies. Hire a pro if needed. 3. Be sure gutters and downspouts are clear of leaves and other debris.

We often think about our dream house and what it might look like. Is it a brand new home, an old home with character, or perhaps your existing home with some major remodeling? Do I buy a new home or remodel? That’s exactly the question our clients were considering when they returned back home from living overseas. They initially thought a custom home might be the way to go, but the idea of waiting through all the planning and construction seemed like a waste of valuable time they could be spending together as a family. So instead, the family decided to buy an existing home and remodel it to perfectly suit their own needs.

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.

Let's talk about lighting trends! The lighting plan is an essential part of the remodeling design for any space. As designers, one of our top goals is to ensure that a room has adequate lighting to perform daily tasks comfortably. Once we understand the functions the lighting must perform, then we can move on to the style.

The joining of two families is a joyous occasion! And when you have an existing home in a lovely neighborhood with space to spare, a thoughtful whole house remodel can make the space work for all eight (and one dog). Thompson Remodeling was happy to help improve the family spaces of this 4-bedroom, 3-level home and create new bedrooms and bath spaces to accommodate everyone. This whole house remodel included renovations to every level of the home, most notably on the main floor and the basement. Take a virtual tour below complete with existing and after floor plans and before and after photos of this familytastic remodel.

Our clients purchased an old house in East Grand Rapids that needed several updates to make it family friendly. The existing floor plan had an expansive formal dining room that the owners had no plans to use. It also had a small and dark kitchen with a drafty breakfast nook area. Another problem with the layout was the closed staircase, which blocked both sight and sound of the children coming and going.

Many older Grand Rapids homes were designed with small utilitarian bathrooms. Today, homeowners want more than just a place to brush their teeth and take a quick shower; they want a relaxing, well-lit space with modern luxuries. Many times, our clients want to recreate a bathroom space from a luxury hotel or vacation home they visited. And why shouldn’t we want to have that kind of space to enjoy everyday at home? After all, it’s the first place you’ll visit in the morning and the last place before bed. So make it luxurious, rustic, modern, or whatever suits your taste.

When dreaming about the perfect master suite remodel, there are two important ingredients that are always in the mix– the closet space and the master bath. Too often, existing homes will have small closets and baths in the master suite leaving homeowners frustrated and ultimately unsatisfied. At Thompson Remodeling, we have seen our share of strange configurations, but that’s part of the fun. We enjoy the challenge of reconfiguring space to make it work better for our clients.