Description: This Venice beach bungalow was never updated since first built in the 50′s. We gutted the entire interior, increase the home’s size by about 50% and finished it in warm, sun washed colors. The maple kitchen cabinets and hardwood match the stainless steel appliances, the doors and windows are all stain grade and the master bathroom has his/hers shower and a large whirlpool tub. This project was featured in a national magazine in a 6-page story!

Tips and Advice: In this small lot there was a tight limit on the amount of footage we could add. This, coupled with budgetary constrains that precluded a second floor addition to increase the home’s size, made it essential that we make the home look bigger on the inside than it actually was. We accomplished that by elimination all walls that were not absolutely essential. The wide open space bely the true size of the home, which is under 1400SF AFTER the addition!

Budget: $100K-150K
Time Frame: 16-24 weeks
Views: 157
Location: Venice, CA 90291

Project By: Mega Builders

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Everyone these days is interested in saving a buck and many of us are even interested in saving the planet and natural resources. Here are four great ways you can make a difference and do both:

1. Update to Energy Efficient Appliances
Appliances are arguably the biggest consumer of energy in the home and unfortunately, one of the biggest energy wasters. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, by replacing your appliances with energy efficient appliances, you could save up to 50% in water and energy consumption. Though the models may cost more up front, the money you save in the long run will make it worth your investment.

2. Control Your Lighting
Lighting can set the tone or mood for any room in your home. If you want to set up a home theater, you need a room where can control the lighting with a minimal amount of natural light. On the other hand, if you want an open room for reading your favorite book, people generally want as much natural light as possible.

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Cleaning out the garage is not the most fun thing to do on a weekend. Cleaning out the garage can be a monumental task to undertake but it can be rewarding once completed. Garages, if people do not have a basement, are sometimes the only place people can store their belongings. If your garage is in dire need of a good cleaning and organizing then this article should offer you some helpful tips.

The first thing you need to do with the garage is remove all of the bulk items. This includes cars, boats, lawnmowers, ATVs and any other large items taking up space in the garage. Once all of the big-ticket items have been removed, you can begin to clear out the smaller things. Once all of your items are completely removed from the garage, arrange them in to categories. Also make sure you throw out anything you no longer need.

Next get things clean. Sweep the pavement, paint the walls, power wash the outside of the garage and begin to build any organization cabinets or buckets you would want for the garage. Cabinets can run you a couple of thousand dollars if you have them installed by a company but you can save some money if you decide to build and install them after purchasing pre-made cabinets on your own. The cabinets can line either side of the garage and along the back wall for as much storage space as possible. If you can get all of the items you are keeping into these cabinets then you will be able to store your vehicles in the garage instead of using the pavement as storage.

A project such as this should only take two days but it will probably take 10-12 hours each day over the weekend to complete. The time frame depends on the amount of stuff you have stored in your garage. When placing your items back into the garage you should organize all of the items into their proper categories such as yard tools, tools, sports gear, garden tools, pesticides, soil, mulch and much more. Try to get rid of, either trashing or selling, as many items stored in your garage as possible so that you do not clutter the garage once it is finally cleaned.

Black Friday is one of the largest shopping days of the year! This year it will fall on Friday November 27th. Are you ready?

With this spectacular shopping day just around the corner get ready to find some real deals. Homeowners can especially benefit from this day of deals since so many high priced items such as appliances, tools and hardware can be purchased for a fraction of the usual cost.

Here are some links to an insider list of Black Friday deals from huge retailers such as Lowes, Home Depot and Ace Hardware. Good luck shopping!

Home Depot Deals >>
Lowes Deals >>
Ace Hardware Deals >>

If you are a Pacific Gas and Electric Company customer, there are a lot of benefits in store for you. PG&E gives you the opportunity to take advantage of many rebates on appliances and materials that not only help save you money, but also make your home or business more energy efficient and environmentally ethical. You can save money now and in the long run by having your establishment economically fine-tuned, as well as conserving energy and limiting the amount of CO2 greenhouse gasses that destroy our atmosphere.

PG&E offers rebates on many ENERGY STAR appliances and products such as air conditioners, dishwashers, gas furnaces, clothes washers, refrigerators and hot water heaters. ENERGY STAR products meet strict energy efficiency guidelines set forth by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. ENERGY STAR is a joint program formed by the EPA and US Department of Energy to help everyone save money as well as protect the environment by using energy efficient products and applications.

The savings are not limited to appliances only. PG&E also offers incentives on materials and products to help make your home or business more energy efficient such as sealing for duct work, attic and wall insulation, a “cool” roof , swimming pool filtration pumps and motors, and energy-efficient whole house fans, which amazingly use up to 90% less energy to operate than a typical compressor-based air conditioner. PG&E will even pay you money to pick up and recycle your old refrigerator, freezer and room air-conditioner. With all these benefits, it really pays to be a PG&E customer.

Make sure you check out their website PGE-Rebates for information on qualifying products and appliances in order to receive the rebates and that you fit standard criteria such as installation must take place at PG&E service addresses, and that you are, indeed, a PG&E customer.

You can’t loose by helping save our planet and saving oodles of money at the same time.

Room addtions can add space and value to an existing home.  The website smitharmani.com describes the various additions that a homeowner can choose from.

If you’re considering investing in an addition to your home, this post can be a useful resource for homeowners.   If you’re wonddering whether to go with a Two Story Extension, a Second Story Extension or an In-law Addition, this article is a must read.

As we moved into our second home after selling our first home we knew that a kitchen remodel was well overdue. We had our plan all together, and the new appliances were on order, some of which were back ordered or were to never show up at all. What we knew was that we hated the entire home had, but the kitchen was horrible. We had bought the home from my ex wife’s father who had represented it to us as a solid home with a lot of potential. On the surface it appeared so. We could knock down a wall or two to make our kitchen more spacious and modern, and we’d have room for our double door Sub Zero fridge and freezer, our Wolf industrial range, as well as have a line of sight from the front of the home all the way to the back.
The first contractor we had hired to remodel the kitchen almost collapsed the entire home when he knocked out a supporting wall and failed to install a beam that would take the load. As the house cracked and banged out noises hours after he’d left I ran around town trying to find something to hold up the impending cave-in of our roof. It’s not easy finding mobile home jacks at 10pm at night, but a friend of a friend managed a park where we were able to scavenge up four of these beautys that were placed under my home along the old wall line of the kitchen we could temporarily support the roof with 4 2×4′s.
The contractor was fired the next day and I assumed command of the remodel as I should have in the first place. I hired a neighbor from down the street who was actually a handy man with a vast knowledge regarding the homes in our area as well as the skills to cope with what we were the shortcomings of the homes built in that track at the time. He put in the proper beam to bear the load and knocked out the other non-load bearing wall and handle the inspector’s quirks quite well and we were on to the plumbing and re-wiring of the kitchen.
The plumbing went easy as the home did have all new plumbing put in a few years back. We roughed in the massive gas line (which as the inspector growled at was more than a home needed) and came to a screeching hault when we discovered the electrical rats nest hovering over obsolete fuses and a switch-box the likes I’ve never seen. Wonderful. We found out through neighbors that only one person on the west coast had anything remotely usable to replace pieces of the electrical mess the homes were built with. Re-wiring the home took the Sub Zeros off the list and we were stuck finding cheaper stainless fridges to put in the now finished hole. GE actually saved the day and I think they expected us to show up or something because they have a model that fits exactly into the hole left for the Sub Zeros. We had a little left so we also bought a wine cooler to put where we had planned to put a dishwasher but decided a wine cooler for my beer was much better.
All took shape rather quickly until the Wolf range showed up and the forklift they unloaded it with sank into my new sod I’d put down out front. We unpacked it realizing we were into heavy lifting the likes of hernia’s came from. Somehow we got the stainless beast into the home but it fell through the floor we had just installed ruining the tile 3 feet out from it. Thankfully it didn’t fall all the way through and the mobile home jacks now reside under the range where it happily cooks meals for the family today. Now this wasn’t the worst horror story by far I know, but it wasn’t without many sleepless nights and marital fights that tested the anger management skills of mine to the limits.

David Migoya, of The Denver Post, says that homeowners are putting more effort into small projects around the house that help maintain the value of their homes.

“Indeed, homeowners say they’re looking at projects as a way of improving the value of their home in a small way, in part to combat the downturn in the housing market.”

The survey of 1.3 million also found that homeowners want to increase the enjoyment factor of their homes, as more people decide to stay home for a “staycation” instead of traveling for their annal vacation.  Ultimately more people are turning towards small home improvement projects as a way to both, enjoy their homes more and help maintain the value of their homes in this housing market.

Remodeleze.com began over one year ago with a dream of finding a whole new way to bring homeowners industry professionals together. We’re trying to create a remodeling community so easy to use that it would finally take the headache out of remodeling. Remodeling with Ease — Now there’s a concept! Our plan is to fill a real need for both home owners and remodeling professionals. Remodeleze.com is the result. It is a community that allows homeowners to post pictures and prices of their remodeling projects. They can search our database to get inspiration, find projects and locate contractors in their area. In the near future homeowners will be able to find everything they need to get great results, and they’ll be able to ask professional contractors questions and get responses free of charge.

Remodeleze.com was created based on our talking to countless
homeowners, contractors, suppliers and manufacturers. We listened to what everyone had to say and began working with the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) and in the process we even founded the Los Angeles chapter.

We look forward to having you as part of our growing community where
homeowners and professionals can mix, mingle and get down to business!

http://www.remodeleze.com