Often times there is a moisture issue that needs to be addressed which prompts the make over; like a leaking shower pan or toilet or  rotted cabinets or mold issues. Perhaps it’s a damaged sink, toilet or  floor tiles that require attention. It is not uncommon for one problem spot to effect another element of the room, opening the proverbial can of worms.  For example, the new cabinet that has a smaller ‘foot print’ than the old cabinet, exposing a huge gap in the floor. The point is, you may end up spending a little more  money than you originally anticipated for the job. That is why planning and foresight are so important.

In the case of the room pictured below, it was important to the home owners, to remove the giant back to back his and her vanities from the middle of the room. No problem. This requires relocating plumbing and electrical a new floor, some drywall work and painting, as well as new cabinetry and lighting. With all that, there was still a huge savings because the toilet, tub and shower where left as they were. In the end the home owners were able to have exactly what they were looking for, an open space  with a lot of light and fresh feeling.

I have yet to do a ceiling job that didn’t turn into a major re-do. Often I get the paint, molding, tile, kitchen, bath, doors and all sorts of work and referrals from one ceiling job, done right. These photos show a recent job where the ceilings were 16 feet high in some areas and the skylight boxes as high as 20 feet. The home owner did not want a scaffold in the house so I did it all with ladders (this also sucks). The textured walls remain as they were. Each wall had a different texture. Due to the mold damage found in almost every room in the house, many areas of the drywall had to be removed and finished to match the existing. In spite of my misgivings about pulling this off, I surprised myself. Even I have a hard time seeing where the patch work was done. So I’m happy about that.

The happy eventuality of all this is a clean and updated look. In this home  3/4″ X 6-1/2″ square stock was used as base molding and 3/4″ X 3-1/2″ square stock became the casement around the doors and simple 4-5/8″ Colonial crown was used on the lower ceiligs and 6-1/4′ up high. Also on the exterior French doors I installed a wood valance right in the jamb to hide the window shade hardware. In the guest bedroom where there is a sliding glass door I built in a valance across the span of the room made of drywall and hand matched the texture of the existing walls. This way, the crown molding is installed directly on the valance, so that it looks like, it was always there as part of the walls and continues that clean look.

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