|
|
Buying A Home – Zoning And Architectural Review Board Restrictions
When you buy a home, you need to be aware of the various things that can limit your control over the property. This is as true for finished lots and single family homes as it is for townhouses, condos, and apartments. It’s a good idea to understand...
Buying Foreclosed Properties: Important Pitfalls
Many people have started looking at foreclosed properties as a new, cheap real estate investment. Properties at foreclosure sales often sell at a substantial discount, so you can get a very good deal in many cases. There are several problems you...
Mobile Home Parks - The Bubble Proof Real Estate Investment
This country has experienced unprecedented gains in housing prices over the past five years. With some regional markets expanding at a phenomenal 25% annual average, the investors who got in early have created tremendous wealth. However, in my...
Preparing Your Home For Sale: Make Needed Repairs
Before a buyer considers your home seriously, it must meet his needs in a variety of ways. It must be a suitable commuting distance, neighborhood, design style, floorplan, size, number of bedrooms, etc. If all or most of these needs are met, the...
Sell Your Home Fast!
Do you have a new job that requires you to move to a new home? Has a divorce or death required you to liquidate your home as soon as possible? Or have bad times turned worse and the only hope of rescuing the investment you've made in your home is to...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mr. & Mrs. Do-It-Yourselfers -- Through The Thick And Thin Of Building A Concrete Countertop
Concrete countertops, recognized first by architects and designers for their aesthetic potential and project versatility, are fast becoming the answer to homeowners’ demands for a relatively inexpensive countertop alternative that doesn’t require a high-level of expertise to install. In addition, they offer homeowners an exciting opportunity to literally try their hands at being creative. Step-by-step books, videos and hands-on training are now readily available for homeowners to confidently engage in such do-it-yourself (DIY) projects as building concrete countertops.
Married couple Chris and Ali were excited to take on a DIY project after purchasing their San Francisco flat. A logistical real estate developer/construction manager and an educational specialist, Chris and Ali are also architecture and home design enthusiasts. With a penchant for getting their hands dirty, building and installing their own concrete countertop seemed a natural choice for them.
Chris happens to be no stranger to concrete: “My interest goes back several years when I was building restaurants and retail spaces. I installed concrete countertops and worked with concrete artisans doing integral color and stained concrete floors.”
In April of 2003, Chris and Ali purchased a two-flat building in space-challenged San Francisco. Recently, they sold the lower flat as a tenant-in-common unit and now occupy the upper flat, which offers roughly 950 sq. ft. of living space. Before they considered building their own kitchen concrete countertop, they hired a contractor for an extensive remodel of the home. The result is an open, loft-like living space where the kitchen and living zones flow together.
“We both enjoy the process of designing and creating our own living space to fit how we live. This applies to the space we occupy as well as the details within it,” says Ali. “We both like the idea of working with our hands, using materials that are natural, accessible […] and flexible.” Chris added, “Concrete counters are beautiful, cool, earthy, solid, and you just want to touch them. The counters were a perfect way for us to create something beautiful out of our own ideas and hard work, and the uniqueness of the end product is a representation of our unique ideas.”
Their kitchen, 10 feet wide by 15 feet long (150 sq. ft.), didn’t offer much room for Chris and Ali to work — but that didn’t stop the big plans they had for their narrow kitchen. They wanted to have a logical cooking zone with a work triangle, plenty of counter space and still have enough room to accommodate a dining area.
Like most urban San Francisco properties, space is almost always an issue. To remedy this, a straight run of upper and lower cabinets and a concrete countertop with a dishwasher, sink, oven and stove were placed along one wall of the kitchen. A built-in banquette and dining table are located opposite the concrete
countertop work area. An adjacent wall hosts a refrigerator and tall cabinets.
Chris and Ali agree that the most interesting addition to the kitchen is the concrete countertop. The couple’s instructional guide and source for design inspiration was award-winning designer Fu-Tung Cheng’s Concrete Countertops: Design, Forms, and Finishes for the New Kitchen and Bath (Taunton, 2002), a national bestseller in the remodeling and design genre.
The finished countertop is a visually stunning work surface with rich, complex colors: reddish-brown with flecks of semi-precious Leopardskin (yellow and black) aggregates. “This particular color combination blended perfectly with the color theme we had for the cabinetry, tile backsplash, floor and wall finishes,” says Ali.
Understated design details of the 12-foot long, 3-inch thick concrete countertop include rounded edges at the countertop front and the sink openings as well as a decorative metal strip under the front edge of the countertop to conceal the plywood sub-top.
Chris and Ali took special note that despite the tight working space of their basement, their collaborative work ran smoothly from pour to finish. “Like the rest of our remodeling project, building the concrete countertop brought us closer together,” says Chris. “We work very well together. It starts from the fact that we communicate very well and our design ideas complement each other.”
With the completion of the project and the creative work done, Chris and Ali admit that their biggest challenge was building the concrete forms. “Particularly for the sink cut-out, which has radius corners and two different size basins,” says Chris.
Despite a couple of minor learning curves, Chris maintains that there is an overwhelming sense of accomplishment upon completing their concrete countertop. “The best part is seeing and feeling the finished product and knowing we did it!” It’s been said that if a couple can survive a home remodel — especially a DIY project — together, they can survive anything.
From the looks of a job well done on their first concrete countertop, these happy do-it-yourselfers are in it for the long haul. Chris says of future projects, “We plan to create a concrete fireplace surround and perhaps a hearth to go with it!”
About the Author: Deborah Meyer works as Marketing Assistant for Cheng Design, an interior design company headed by award-winning designer Fu-Tung Cheng, who has pioneered the use of interior concrete. Deborah's work includes writing press releases with a focus on the do-it-yourself stories of the company’s customers. http://www.ConcreteExchange.com
Source: www.isnare.com
|
|
|
|
|
Real Estate, Property, Land and Homes for Sale, lease and rent ... |
Comprehensive real estate and property listings. Includes information on buying and selling, tips on building, an auction timetable and other helpful ... |
www.realestate.com.au |
  |
Real Estate | Homes for Sale | Houses for Sale | MLS Listings ... |
RealEstate.com provides home listings , homes for sale , REALTORS , house listings , apartment locating services. We have Florida real estate , Texas ... |
www.realestate.com |
  |
REALTOR.com: Real estate listings & homes for sale |
Search for a new home or find mortgage rates, real estate agents, and relocation services throughout the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. |
www.realtor.com |
  |
Real Estate on Yahoo! Real Estate - Homes, Mortgage Rates, School ... |
Yahoo! Real Estate is the most comprehensive place for real estate, housing market information, school reports, local mortgage rates and more! |
realestate.yahoo.com |
  |
Find Your Home Value, House Values and Prices on Yahoo! Real Estate |
Yahoo! Real Estate - Free instant home values and comparable home valuations for millions of houses. Check your home's price or any house value. |
realestate.yahoo.com |
  |
Real Estate, Houses for Sale, Rentals, Commercial and Businesses ... |
Real Estate, Houses for Sale, Rentals, Commercial and Businesses for sale at Realestate.co.nz. |
www.realestate.co.nz |
  |
Real Estate - Buy, Sell or Rent a Home - New York Times |
Online real estate listings for properties in New York and nationwide. |
www.nytimes.com |
  |
Century 21 Real Estate Agents and Brokers |
Agency with franchised offices throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. Find local offices and agents, ... |
century21.com |
  |
Zillow - Your Edge in Real Estate |
Zillow provides a free Home Valuation Tool for Real Estate enthusiasts. Whether you're an agent, broker, buyer of investment property or first time ... |
www.zillow.com |
  |
STLtoday - Homes |
Real estate agent revels in the boom in downtown St. Louis living ... [more real estate news as seen in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch] ... |
www.stltoday.com |
  |
Real estate - Boston.com |
Boston Real Estate - Search the Boston Globe and Boston.com for Massachusetts Real Estate, Boston Condos, Land for sale, Vacation Rentals and more. |
www.boston.com |
  |
ABCs of Real Estate |
Real Estate ABCs consumer tips, hints, and resources for home buyers, sellers, and mortgage borrowers. |
www.realestateabc.com |
  |
washingtonpost.com - Washington DC real estate, Maryland real ... |
Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland homes, real estate news and headlines. [Registration required] |
www.washingtonpost.com |
  |
Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation |
Real Estate from Coldwell Banker ®. Buying a home, selling a home, or finding a real estate agent is easy with Coldwell Banker. Find a home, sales associate ... |
www.coldwellbanker.com |
  |
Detroit News Online | Real-Estate |
Sellers around the state have been frustrated with the slow sales patterns of Michigan real estate over the past year or two. But buyers have been enjoying ... |
www.detnews.com |
  |
Newsday.com - Long Island Real Estate for Nassau County and ... |
In a real estate market increasingly defined by niches, ... Real Estate Resources. Search by school district for recent home sales in Nassau and Suffolk ... |
www.newsday.com |
  |
Real Estate for Sale, Rent and Share @ Domain.com.au |
Real Estate for Sale, Rent and Share @ Domain.com.au. Houses and apartments for sale or rent all over Australia. Thousands of properties in Sydney, ... |
www.domain.com.au |
  |
Luxury real estate news and features - Forbes.com |
Luxury real estate news and features at Forbes.com. Core topics include real estate, mansions, condos, co ops, oceanfront realty, second homes, ... |
www.forbes.com |
  |
Real Estate News - Prices, Mortgages, and Calculators from CNNMoney |
Latest on mortgages, refinancing, & home tips from CNNMoney.com. Calculators for refinancing, mortgage payments and more. |
money.cnn.com |
  |
Los Angeles, California, national and world news, jobs, real ... |
Los Angeles' leading online source for local, state, national, world, entertainment, and sports news. Plus jobs, real estate, cars and shopping information ... |
www.latimes.com |
  |
|