| Thompson Remodeling (6)

The owners of this beautiful historic farmhouse had been painstakingly restoring it bit by bit. One of the last items on their list was to create a wrap-around front porch to create a more distinct and obvious entrance to the front of their home.

Have you seen a no-threshold shower? It’s a shower that has no curb or surrounding edge to it, making it flush with the bathroom floor. You may have also heard the terms barrier-free, curbless walk-in-shower or zero threshold, but they are all the same thing. I know what you may be thinking. Where is all the water going to go? Won’t I have a flood on my hands after every shower? No! The secret to containing the water is in the drainage system. This type of shower will have either a trench drain, which is a long and narrow drain placed where the shower door would be placed, or a center drain with the floor just slightly pitched towards it.

This desperately dark kitchen was suffering from a lack of light, storage and a poor layout. The main source of light was provided by a decades old ceiling fan, the refrigerator blocked the main traffic path to and from the living room, and a sliding door was taking up prime real estate that could be used for storage.

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!

This year's Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) was filled with fantastic new tile trends. It was nearly impossible to walk 5 feet without seeing another gorgeous display of colorful, shimmering, or three-dimensional tile. So of course, we investigated and took some photos to share with you!

It’s that time of year again. Remodeling Magazine has just published its 2016 Cost Vs. Value Report, an annual report that compares how popular remodeling projects are retaining their value at re-sale throughout the country. We know that remodeling your home requires the commitment of time and thoughtful budgeting and the return on your investment is important. Making improvements today allows you to stay in your current home while the value of your whole house improves overtime. Not to mention, the pride you’ll have in your updated spaces!

Wow! This is very cool news! Thompson Remodeling of Grand Rapids has won “Best Of Design on Houzz®, the leading platform for home remodeling and design. Our design build firm was chosen by the more than 35 million monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community from among more than one million active home building, remodeling and design industry professionals.

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.

The holiday season seems like the perfect time to post a little reminder blog on kitchen safety tips. With the kids being home from school and family and friends visiting, your kitchen will be getting more traffic than usual for the next couple of weeks. It’s always better to be safe than sorry and take steps to prevent accidents in the kitchen, so we’ve compiled a list of safety tips you can easily implement in your home.

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 that time of year again when Pantone, the world-renowned authority on color, selects their top color pick for the coming year. This year they selected not one, but two shades, something that they have never done before. And the colors are (drumroll please)…Rose Quartz and Serenity.

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.

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.

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.