According to BankRate, there are a few home upgrades that pay off for resale. The suggestions are: Upgrade the kitchen with nicer cabinets, fancier hardware, and good fixtures. Make your kitchen appliances match in color/design. Spruce up the bathrooms with new toilets or contemporary vanities. Brush a fresh coat of paint on just about everything. [...]
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My builder got a phone call from a lighting wholesaler. He was distraught when he found — after reading this blog — that I was purchasing a good portion of my lighting online. He said we were making a big mistake. His response was not unlike that of the plumbing wholesaler who learned I was [...]
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A big milestone in the building of our custom home has been reached! Yesterday we passed the 4-way inspection. This process brings a city inspector out to the house to inspect the rough framing, electrical, plumbing, and mechanical. Our first inspection was last Friday. Most things were up to code, but we had a handful [...]
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When we were getting bids on the house, the electrical bid seemed unusually high. We were told the plan had too many can lights and we needed to remove “some.” Truth: we had too many cans and needed to remove some. We have this thing about living in homes that resemble caves and we crave [...]
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Our first dream home featured Delta faucets in all the bathrooms. After living there for five years, we did not have a single problem with any of them. We were very pleased with the quality and so they are certainly top-contenders for the bathroom fixtures in our new home. I already purchased the perfect kitchen [...]
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Radiant floor hydronic heating systems use a boiler to heat water that is circulated through pipes that are embedded in a concrete slag. The heat from the water radiates through the cement and into the room. If you’ve never experienced radiant floor hydronic heating, let me just say it is luscious. If you live in [...]
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Don’t get technical with me. I’m no tradesman. But I can tell you that the plumber came and ran a whole slew of black pipes all over the ground. They are poking up everywhere. All kinds, for toilets, sinks, showers, floor drains, utilities, appliances. I can’t remember the last time I got this excited about [...]
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Now isn’t this a romantic post? Let’s talk toilets! In 2001, just before embarking on our first, full custom home, I was attending a party at a friends home. This wasn’t just any friend. It was a friend who happened to live in a multi-million dollar home on the intracoastal in Boca Raton. In fact, [...]
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Plumbing excites me. (Wait until I tell you about my toilets!) It ranks right up there with cabinets, counters, and flooring. It’s a long-term, hard feature of your home. To me that means getting it perfect. When choosing kitchen and bathroom fixtures there are all sorts of things to consider. In my world, function cannot [...]
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