design your own home in scituate | Colony Home Improvement

The right backsplash should be part of your kitchen remodeling.

How to Choose the Perfect Backsplash for Your MA Kitchen Remodel

October 6, 20160

If you’re planning to pursue kitchen remodeling in MA in the near future, you’ve probably got ideas about your ideal kitchen floor plan, what type of appliances you would like and what material you prefer for your flooring and countertops. There’s one important detail you may not have considered: what backsplash will you choose? Here are three things to keep in mind when considering your options.

What Is Your Budget?

Kitchen remodeling in MA ranges from sprucing up a space while staying within tight budget constraints to creating a dream kitchen regardless of the cost. One of the great things about choosing a tile backsplash is tile is suitable for all budgets. Backsplash tiles are available in a head-spinning array of colors, materials, patterns, shapes and sizes. Regardless of budget, tiles of varying sizes and colors can be combined for a whimsical, completely custom look. For a more traditional look, choose one subway or mosaic tile that inspires you (and you can afford) and use it to create a simple, solid backsplash. Whether you prefer bright and bold or understated and subdued, you are sure to find a tile you can afford that will put the finishing touch on your kitchen remodel.

Consider a unique backsplash in your custom built home plans.

Custom built home plans can include a unique backsplash.

What Size Backsplash Do You Want?

Home addition contractors in MA are reporting more homeowners are foregoing traditional four-inch high backsplashes in favor of backsplashes that go as high as the bottom of the kitchen cabinets or even higher. If you decide to extend your backsplash, you’ll want to make sure the material and color you choose blends well with the rest of your space. As noted, tile is a popular choice because it’s available in so many styles, sizes and colors. Other options include marble and granite. These natural materials are more durable than tile and, when sealed properly, are low-maintenance. Granite and marble are ideal materials for covering a large space in a kitchen with a classic style. Like tile, these natural materials are available in a wide array of colors and price points.

How Important Is Low-Maintenance?

When considering materials for your backsplash, take into account the fact some options require more maintenance than others. One increasingly popular backsplash trend is metal tiles, such as stainless steel and copper. Beautiful and shiny upon installation, they quickly lose their luster unless they’re polished regularly. Another up-and-coming backsplash trend is cork. It’s beautiful, but it also needs to be sealed regularly to prevent stains. The functional purpose of a backsplash is to protect walls from the splatters and splashes common in a kitchen. If you cook a lot and prefer a low-maintenance kitchen, you’ll probably be happiest with a backsplash that can easily be wiped clean.

Whether you are ready to design your own home in Scituate or simply update to your existing home’s kitchen, contact us at Colony Home Improvement. Our team would be happy to show you examples of our custom built home plans in Scituate, photos of our completed projects and testimonials from happy customers.

Increase storage space with kitchen remodeling.

home additions, kitchen remodeling

Kitchen Contractors in Ma Will Help You Increase Storage in Your Kitchen and Add Value to Your Home

July 28, 20160

If you’re tired of clutter in your kitchen and piles of stuff lining your countertops because there is no dedicated home for it, you will be amazed by the dramatic improvements you can enjoy from a project like kitchen remodeling in MA. Here are just a few of the benefits you can expect when you hire a kitchen specialist to help with your custom built home plans in Scituate,

Look Up for More Storage

If you are blessed with an abundance of accessories, dishes, barware, decorations, collectibles and more, you may struggle with where to put your bounty. Especially when your items are seldom used or solely decorative, you can get away with storing them in hard-to-reach places. Consider adding one or two shelves above your cabinets or refrigerator to store your salt-and-pepper shaker collections, cake stands, beer steins and other rarely used items. The shelves will draw the eye up and make your ceiling appear higher. If you’re meticulous about staging your belongings, the shelves will be as inviting to look at as they are functional. Another way to create storage near the ceiling is to hang a decorative pot rack. If you love to cook, you may find having a visual on all your pots and pans helpful and convenient.

Utilize your space with the help of kitchen addition contractors.

Kitchen addition contractors help you utilize your space.

Look Inward for Hidden Storage

If you have a kitchen island, it is the ideal spot to add drawers, cubbies and shelves to hold table linens, silverware, crayons or whatever else needs a home. If your kitchen doesn’t have an island now and you’re planning to design your own home in Scituate, do yourself a huge favor and make sure the kitchen includes one! Also make sure your kitchen contractor knows you want to take advantage of the storage opportunities an island presents. Islands are great for adding storage, extra seating and prep space, and they also serve as a pretty focal point of your room.

Look Down for Storage and Seating Combined

If your kitchen has a bank of windows or, better yet, a bay window, consider having a storage bench or window seat built in. Not only will you be adding more seating, you’ll enjoy a considerable amount of storage. Simply lift up the seat’s lid and you can store anything and everything. Have you always puzzled where to store your nonperishable purchases from the bulk warehouse? A storage bench could be just the place!

Remodeling your kitchen is a win-win, in the short-term, while you are still living in your house, as well as when you choose to sell later. When your kitchen is functional and uncluttered, you’re more likely to spend more time cooking, entertaining and enjoying the heart of the home. If you are looking for skilled, responsible, courteous, affordable kitchen addition contractors in MA, contact us at Colony Home Improvement before you contact anyone else!

Make sure your outdoor kitchen addition is kid-friendly.

home additions, kitchen remodeling

How to Make Your MA Outdoor Kitchen Addition Kid-Friendly

May 12, 20160

If you are planning to design your own home in Scituate, congratulations on choosing an outstanding place to put down roots and for opting to build your dream home. If you want to maximize the enjoyment you’ll get from your new home, make sure your southeastern MA home improvement plans include an outdoor kitchen. You’ll use it more than you realize! If you have children or plan to host friends, neighbors or relatives with children for backyard barbecues, do yourself and your guests a huge favor: Design your outdoor kitchen to be kid-friendly. Here are some things to think about during the design phase.

Flooring

Every kid is different but most of them love to roughhouse and run. With the wrong type of flooring, kids, an outdoor kitchen and a pool or hot tub (or rain or sprinkler water) is a recipe for disaster. You may love the look of tile or stained, polished concrete. You will not love the look of skinned knees, chipped teeth or worse when kids slip and slide across it. Texturized flooring like pavers and flagstone is a much safer alternative.

Countertops

Not only do running and roughhousing kids risk slipping and falling on a slick floor, they also risk running straight into the edge of your countertop. That can lead to a nasty gash on the forehead. Rounded countertop edges will do less damages than angular ones. Additionally, expect kids to spill on your countertops. Opt for a low-porosity, easy-to-clean material.

Consider an outdoor kitchen when you design your own home.

When you design your own home, consider an outdoor kitchen.

Placement of Appliances and Accessories

One of the biggest risks of having young children around an outdoor kitchen is accidental burns. Typically, kids don’t incur these burns by looking for trouble and mischief. They are injured when they go to grab a juice box from the outdoor fridge or wash their hands in the outdoor sink and accidentally brush up against a hot surface. When you’re designing your outdoor kitchen, think about the things kids will want to access most, such as the fridge, bathroom, sink and seating. Separate the grill, outdoor fireplace, pizza oven and fire pit from kid-magnet appliances and accessories.

Seating

You can easily keep an eye on the kids and have a degree of blissful separation if you design a kids’ seating area. Depending on the age of the kids, that could be an outdoor island with bar stool seating or a cute kid-sized table and bench situated away from anything hot or fragile (and away from the big-screen TV, unless you plan to use that to distract them rather than watch the Red Sox or Celtics.) Actually, it might be a great idea to incorporate two TVs (one for kids and one for adults) into your MA outdoor kitchen addition!

Whether you are in need of a room addition in Scituate or plans for a new kid-friendly outdoor kitchen, Colony Home Improvement will deliver. We have more than 40 years of experience and thousands of happy clients, and we would love to add you to that list. Contact us for a free consultation!

Benefits of Natural Lighting for Your Custom Built Room Addition in Scituate

February 23, 20160

Natural light is important when you design your own home.

When you design your own home, natural lighting can help.

Natural lighting holds many benefits, not just in terms of interior design and reduced energy consumption, but also in terms of health. If you are planning to adding to your home in Scituate, you may want to consider ways of maximizing the amount of natural lighting brought into your home. Window placement and style can bring sunlight to just about any room addition or room improvement project in your home.

Practical Value

Making sure your custom room addition plans in Scituate allow your home to be filled with natural light has practical value. With natural lighting, you use less electricity, which saves money on your monthly utility bill. Skylights can bring sunlight into your home in ways windows can’t. Use smaller windows to bring natural light into closets and pantries so you can keep the lights off. Window installation and placement can stylishly brighten hallways and foyers.

However, reducing electric light use isn’t the only way natural lighting can reduce your energy costs. You can position your home and windows to use the sun’s heat instead of your utility company’s to meet a major portion of your winter heating needs. A passive solar system design features a lot of south-facing glazed windows to collect the heat of the sun during winter. Precisely measured and positioned overhangs on those southern windows help prevent too much sun from coming through during the summer months. That could cause the home to overheat, and the cooling system to work too hard.

Talk to your local southeastern MA premier home remodeling and additions specialist for ideas on how to incorporate this type of solar planning into your custom home design. You may even want to consider going all the way, completing your passive solar system with a heat absorbing thermal mass to enable you to gain even more utility cost-cutting benefits from the sun.

Use natural light in your custom built room addition.

A custom built room addition requires natural light.

Natural Light Is Healthier

Numerous studies during the past decade have confirmed natural light holds benefits for health. Natural light is important for proper eye growth and development. Too little exposure to sunlight can contribute to the development of vision problems in children. Spending three hours a day in natural light can reduce the risk of children becoming nearsighted. Separate studies in different countries found bringing natural lighting into work sites and schools improved productivity rates for both adults and children. Spending time in sunlight during the day can yield longer, deeper sleep at night and can improve cognitive function and mood.

Plan to Benefit

When you design your own home in Scituate, plan your windows carefully, positioning them so you can maximize the health and energy benefits natural lighting has to offer. Talk to a southeastern MA premier home remodeling and additions expert who uses 3D design technology to help you experiment with window placement until you find an attractive arrangement that yields the amount of sunlight you want throughout the day.

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