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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.

Many of our kitchen remodeling clients will ask us about painting their cabinets instead of replacing them. Often, they are considering taking on the task themselves as a DIY project. Before we can provide a simple yes or no answer to this question, there are a few important considerations. We certainly understand staying within budgets and looking for ways to save money, but sometimes painting your own cabinets may not be the best solution.

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.

Every industry has its own jargon, and that’s especially true of the remodeling and construction industry. At Thompson Remodeling, we make sure that our clients understand their project plans, the design and construction process, and do our best to avoid using a lot of remodeling jargon. That being said, if you are going to remodel, it’s always helpful to know the common terms used in the industry as sometimes there’s just no other way to say it!

If your household includes children or pets, your flooring can take a beating. You should select a material that can withstand the wear and tear of little feet and paws running around and the accidents that will inevitably occur. Fortunately, today there are many great choices you can make without sacrificing style and comfort.

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.

Remember the days when all your finishes had to match? Not too long ago, if you had satin nickel door and drawer pulls you had to have satin nickel faucets and lighting fixtures. Today, things are getting more interesting and mixing metal finishes is actually accepted and popular!

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!

It’s completely normal to have questions and even some remodeling fears before beginning a major renovation on your home. First time remodelers don’t know what to expect and second timers often have fears based on previous experiences. The Thompson Remodeling team understands this and our goal is to ease your concerns and guide you through our process from our very first meeting with you. There are four common remodeling fears that we hear most often and we’d like to provide some tips on how to face them head on. We hope that our advice will help you to investigate your concerns further so that you can put your fears to rest.

There’s more to your bathroom remodel design than simply where to place the toilet and sink. Even though bathrooms are the smallest rooms in the house, careful thought should go into how to maximize every square inch of space. Thompson Remodeling’s approach towards designing a great bath space is to marry beauty and function to best serve and reflect the main users. For a powder room you consider the guest, for a master bath you often need to accommodate two users, and for children’s baths there are all sorts of considerations for safety, storage, and bathing.