Welcome to the Remodeling Guy Round-Up! I hope you’re here for the party with your post all ready to go! Ready to show off your hard work and your big dreams! I can’t wait to see what kind of awesome creativity everyone brings to the party! I know that you all are an amazing bunch, so I’m sure we’re in for some treats!

What’s A Round-Up?

Despite months of hard work, I’m not world famous yet! So there is the chance, slim though it may be, that you’re here and you have no idea what I’m talking about! Here’s what Webster says about a Round-Up:

Round-up

Round”-up`\, n. The act of collecting or gathering together scattered cattle bloggers by riding around them and driving begging and bribing them in. [Western U.S.]

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. Revisions by Remodeling Guy

Well, the begging is over because the time is here! (indicating that if I had more time, I would proudly spend it on further begging) And the bribery, well I’ll tell you about that in a second!

First, I want to show you what I (we) did for the Round-Up!

Before & After Island Style

I don’t technically live on an Island, but I can see some from my window, and that’s close enough! As you’ll soon see, our remodeling has a tropical flare! So, without further ado, take a look at the eyesore we set out to fix today:

Welcome to our side porch! Yuk! I’m telling you what, this was one neglected and un-cared for piece of real estate right here! I’m talking BAD!

We almost never even use this side door. The most frequent use has been to take out the trash, which is generally done by the big kid, AJ. He’s fourteen and he never thinks to straighten the area up a little. And since Kim and I knew it was bad, we were content to pretend it wasn’t there!

You Can’t Pretend!

That whole “pretend it’s not there” is a bad idea. Areas that are just totally neglected like this just quietly knaw at you CONSTANTLY, even if you try to ignore them! I could write a whole book about that…

This area had broken deck boards, dead plants, dead batteries, worn-out rugs, and was just generally messy! And it was completely devoid of color! You can see by looking at the photo above that our house needs a new color outside! Bad!

What A Difference A Day Can Make!

That’s right! Uh huh!

How hot is this picture!? It’s beyond words if you ask me! I mean, if I do say so myself. In most of my life I try to be humble, but a man has to know when it’s just impossible. Like now.

And, I’m not sure if you noticed the little photography trick… but check the reflection in the glass. Oh yeah, that’s my Evinrude Outboard Motor! Now you see why this picture is just perfect!

One Day Only!

I’ve been busy working on some big projects due out on Monday. You’ll see. So I sort of procrastinated on the Round-Up project. In fact, I only started thinking about it last night (Wednesday…late!). So all of this had to be done in a day. Here’s a quick run-down of the day!

9:00 Take before pictures (because no-one would believe it otherwise!)

9:30 Go to shop and get some tools (how to chose? bring ‘em all!)

10:00 Go to Home Depot – paint and lumber (we’ll talk more about this later!)

11:00 Finally start working – Build shutters first (I’m in love with my helper!)

12:00 Kim’s working too! – Inside painting brackets and the French Door (!)

1:00 Shutters almost ready for paint! – I Love My Sander (deeply)

2:00 Shutters painted and drying – Paint house walls (not ALL of them!)

3:30 Install shutters (more in the tutorial)

4:00 Kim touches-up shutters, while I install brackets on screen door

4:30 Fix broken deck-boards, then apply awesome cool finish to deck

5:00 We need some art! Make a lizard (the obvious choice)

6:00 Plants, pots, hang the lizard! (he’s a Fence Lizard!)

Then, we were done! (except for the clean-up…what a mess!) Take a look:

What A Day!

We’re thrilled with the results of today’s work and there is SO much I want to show you about everything we did!

• How I Built The Shutters – tutorial will be in the May Newsletter
• All About The Deck Finish – an upcoming post right here!
• How to Make the Gecko and Paint it – will be at Forever..Wherever!!
• Ralph Lauren Paints – I’ll talk about them at RG:Select soon!

None of these are done YET! I’ll do them over the weekend and update the links.

Enough About Me

I want to see what YOU did, or want to do, or tried to do! Whatever! This Round-Up is all about YOU and anything Home-Improvement related! Large projects, small projects, and projects that are still in the dream stages! Bring them all and include them in Mr. Linky!

It’s the standard set of rules:

Oh Right, The Bribery

I promised there would be goodies! And there are! We’ll have two winners, randomly selected from the entries (only those entries which followed the above rules can win). The prizes are:

Prize Number One:

A Pink Tool Belt from Girlgear Industries! This was a big hit when we gave one away before and people still talk about it, so I figured you would love another shot at it!  (Friday 2:00 PM, I just got an email from Terri at Girlgear Industries and she says she’ll supply another toolbelt to give to a randomly selected Newsletter Subscriber…so if you haven’t already, sign-up for the Newsletter right here!)

Prize Number Two:

Very simple and no picture needed: a $20 gift card to your choice of Home Depot or Lowe’s.

Okay..this is it. I won’t do another post until late Sunday night, so this will be up all weekend. Plenty of time if you don’t have something ready yet, and time to tell your friends! And now, Heeeeeeere’s Mr. Linky!

Powered by… Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets.

Today, we have a great guest post!  I’m honored to welcome Melissa Michaels from The Inspired Room , enjoy!

Top Ten Things I Learned about Remodeling a Kitchen On A Budget

Several years ago, we took on our biggest home improvement project to date — and lived to tell about it.

Sometimes Paint Isn’t Enough

Remodeling a hideously ugly, smelly, rat-infested sorry excuse for a kitchen was not for the faint of heart. We bought the house knowing how bad the kitchen was, but I thought I was just going to break out the bleach to scrub it down, slap on some paint to freshen it up and buy new appliances that actually worked and call it good. I was prepared for everyone to step back and be amazed that something so ugly could be pretty again with a new coat of paint.

But, sadly, sometimes a little paint isn’t enough. Once I really assessed the situation, it became obvious that I had to do MORE! The kitchen is an important room in the house, so it pays to do it right if you can. I am so glad I did, because my kitchen is what probably sold my house this spring.

Let me clarify here: doing it “right” doesn’t mean spending $100,000. It just means doing your homework.

I thought long and hard about what we could do ourselves and what was best left to the professionals. And I also came up with a number of creative ideas that gave me a lot of bang for my buck.

It took a lot of thought but it was worth it. Two years after buying our house, we finally had a lovely kitchen!

Before

So, what are the top 10 things I learned about remodeling a kitchen on a budget?

1. Assess the situation ahead of time and get a lot of opinions.

Let professionals come over and give their opinions. Get bids on doing individual projects like new counters as well as bids on the entire kitchen. Eventually you’ll start to get a feel for what is necessary, what you could do without and who you want to work with.

2. Find a creative contractor.

We interviewed at least five contractors before we decided on one. While the estimate was important in our decision, finding someone who had creative solutions was by far the most important thing to us in the long run. Our contractor would suggest things that made our kitchen look more custom and high end but didn’t cost an arm and a leg. I am not a contractor so I don’t always know what can be done, so having his opinion was invaluable.

3. Take your time in the planning stage.

I was super anxious to have a working kitchen, but my husband and I spent many many hours looking at magazine photos for inspiration, thinking creatively and drawing up sketches to show our contractor.

I estimate we saved about $30,000 by doing a lot of the thinking and creative planning ahead of time. We found solutions to what could have been very expensive fixes simply by taking the time to solve them creatively.

4. Do at least some of the prep work yourselves.

Neither my husband or I are particularly handy with tools or building things. But, we do know how to use a sander and a paint brush. So, we (OK, I really mean my husband) spent countless hours sanding rough dark beams, priming them and painting them.

I cannot even imagine how expensive it would have been to replace the beams, let alone have someone else do all the prep and painting.

5. Details, details, details.

The key to a custom looking kitchen is in the details. I don’t mean fancy pants hand carved marble corbels either. You can choose things that look unique and special, or you can chose something that is plain and non-descript.

It is the little details that will give your room the “ooh and ahh” factor so be unique and add some special features. Here is a post where I shared specific ideas from my kitchen, if you want to see more.

6. Don’t be afraid to speak up.

I think we drove our contractor crazy sometimes because we wanted everything to be just right. Sometimes would get out our level and let him know if things weren’t quite level. We actually overheard one of the subs tell his boss that we were using a “piece of crap level” (can I say that here?) because to his eye, it looked fine. But, we were paying a professional and we deserved to have things look right to OUR eye.

7. Mix things up.

Don’t be boring when you can be special! Mix things up! Yes, you can use more than one style of hardware and more than one cabinet finish.

We had five kinds of cabinet pulls in our kitchen. We chose four types that were hammered black iron, but various shapes and styles. And then for our glass cabinets we chose glass knobs with an iron base. They all tied together but gave more interest because of the various shapes. We had two different cabinet finishes and a couple of variations on our basic cabinetry detail to bring in more personality.

8. Drawers are better than cupboards, IMHO.

If you are putting in any new cabinetry or retro-fitting an old cabinet, I must tell you that I love drawers more than cupboards. I find cabinet doors clumsy. And I especially do not like the cabinet doors that you open and then have to pull out a drawer. Too many steps for me!

I like to pull out a drawer and see what is in it right away. No standing on my head to see in a deep dark cupboard and no fancy maneuvers to pull out a drawer within a cupboard. Just a simple drawer works for me! I had lots of them with HEAVY DUTY HARDWARE in my kitchen and I LOVED them!

9. Creative concealment: my money saving weapon.

I do not like to spend big money to rip things out if I don’t have to. I had the craziest window EVAH in my kitchen. Several contractors told me to rip it out. It was ugly. Yes it was ugly. The cost to replace that beauty? $20,000 because it would involve remodeling the whole corner of my house. Yeah. NOT!

A good coat of primer and paint, a little trim work from my contractor, a curtain rod and strategically placed panels disguised this hideous feature for teeny bits of money.

10. Work with what you have.

We kept the basic footprint of our kitchen intact. We were able to keep plumbing and electrical costs to a minimum, as well as avoided replacing a tile floor by simply leaving our floorplan the same.

Furthermore, we reused all of our existing perimeter cabinet bases and freshened them up with new doors and paint. It all looked brand new! LOTSA money saved. Using what you have whenever possible makes the job much more affordable.

*********************

RG – That’s some great advice…especially the part about hiring a creative contractor!

I’m sure you all know Melissa! She’s the smart and creative soul behind The Inspired Room which is just chock full of, well, inspiration. And humor. And insight.  (and don’t miss that link up in #5 – great pictures of the whole kitchen there!) Thank you Melissa for your post here today!

Melissa was one of the first to RSVP for the Remodeling Guy Round-Up (even though no reservations are required!) and I’ll be back tomorrow to show you some super quick and easy ideas you can get done before Friday!

It’s only a few days before the big Remodeling Guy Round-Up!  I’m looking forward to it!  It may not be the NBA Finals, but I’m excited anyway.  Makes me want to boogie…

This will get you in the spirit!

(clicking will start a short audio clip…it takes a second but worth it!)

I’m Not Alone!

Thank God!  I had my share of “oh, Tim…have you lost your mind?” moments.  Especially after I pasted my face on that clip-art cowboy!   But thankfully, you supported me! I’ve heard from quite a few of The Crew, both long-timers and new recruits, that say they’ll be ready by Friday!

Some of you even put this crazy picture on your blogs.  That was so sweet!  Did you just feel bad for me? (or my family!) 

Want a sneak peak at what others are bringing to the party?

Rockin’ Rhoda Round-Up Ready

You all know Rhoda from Southern Hospitality, right?  If not, you should definitely check out her blog!  Rhoda is a master at decorating on a budget and she does a great job of showing you how she does it!

Many of you have asked recently about framing a mirror… Rhoda did that and you can see it here.  It looks great!

Rhoda gave me a sneak peek at what she’s going to bring to the Round-Up!  Take a look:

Rhoda is well known for her garage sale finds. (am I to understand that this is called “junking” now?)  Well, this particular “junk” apparently was obtained for a big fat ZERO dollars.  I have no idea how she did that!

Keep an eye on Rhoda’s blog because she’s going to show us how she puts this back in shape and to good use!  And you’ll be able to find it listed in Mr. Linky on Friday for the Round-Up.

Jumpin’ Jen Joins-In

Jen from Balancing Beauty and Bedlam is coming to the Party too!  I hope she brings food!  Her blog is the new home for Tasty Tuesday and I’ve taken notice that Jen can cook-up some serious viddles.  And that’s not all!

Jen covers all kinds of cool topics on her blog, from family, to fashion, to getting crazy with spray paint!  In fact, she told me on the QT (what does this mean..QT?..anybody?), that she was going to be showing off some spray paint magic for her Round-Up post! 

I’ll give you a little bit of photographic hints (the photos had to be taken at night because this is Top Secret)…

Before...

and

After!

We’ll see more of this project on Jen’s blog and she’ll be including it in the Round-Up!  I love to see this kind of project!

It Will Be a Hitchin’ Post!

That’s right, this Friday is May 1st and you can bring any post you have on a Home Improvement project large or small and hitch it to my post by way of good ol’ Mr. Linky. 

If you’re still dreamin’, you can come too!  Just do a post on the project you DREAM of doing, show us pictures and share that dream!  That’s a step toward getting it done right there!

I’ll have my post up and ready to be hitched to at midnight Thursday.  Something about the last second of the month sounds cool to me!

Anybody else crazy enough to put my picture on your blog?   You should print that off.  It might be worth something one day, when my kids are famous.  If you would like to play along, here is the button again…

Copy and paste this code for 125 pix:
<a href=”http://www.remodelingguy.net/?p=893″ mce_href=”http://www.remodelingguy.net/?p=893″ target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo217/tlayton_2009/Spring-Round-Up-125pix.jpg” mce_src=”http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo217/tlayton_2009/Spring-Round-Up-125pix.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Ready for the Round Up?”></a>

If you really want the bigger button, you can get it at this post here.

Make sure you come beck tomorrow! I’m having a special guest post from Melissa at The Inspired Room talking about her Remodeling Fun!

BTW – I have not forgotten about the Florida Key’s contest winners… 

So, Crew… you’re in right?  Any questions?  Let me know!

Are you looking to spruce up your bathroom? Personally, I think it’s one of the best places to start remodeling. Let’s see how many ideas we can get from one picture! Here is the picture:

Nice Huh?

Well, I say you don’t have to do ALL of this to rock your bathroom into a new realm of spa-at-home bliss! Just start small and do one thing at a time.

Try these in no particular order:

1.

Frame the mirror!

You can either buy a framed mirror and hang it up, or you can frame the mirror you already have! Everybody is all into black right now, right? How about this: just make the mirror frame black. It works in this picture, maybe it can work for you!

2.

Get new light fixtures!

This makes a huge, ginormous difference with very little effort. You can watch a hundred videos online on how to do this and then you can totally DO-IT-YOURSELF!

3.

Get some new hardware!

Not only is this easy, but shopping for bath hardware is, like, totally fun.

4.

Paint!

I don’t think a single remodeling project can compete with paint for the proverbial “bang for your buck”. So paint! I really like a marked contrast between the trim and the walls, even if the colors remain soft, like this.

5.

Install Some Bead-Board!

Paint and fixtures not enough? Want to get into some woodwork? Then we think alike, you and I. I’m totally into the woodwork in this bathroom! How about doing some wainscot paneling like this picture shows! or…

6.

Trim the door!

How hot is this door trim? This job has all the bells and whistles. At the base of the casing you can see the “plinth blocks”. And the top of this doorway is done beautifully! I say copy it exactly! and then…

7.

Install some crown!

One of the most common things I’ve heard over the years of construction, even after doing hundreds of thousands of dollars in work, are:

“I can’t belive what a difference the crown molding made.”

8.

Tile the floor!

This picture shows about as simple of a tile project as you can find. But look at it… it looks great! Tile is as much about color and texture as it is about material, feel, and pattern. Sometimes you can get a great look with sale pile, El Cheapo, tile. Go for it!

9.

Get a Rockin’ Vanity!

Many people would be totally shocked at how inexpensively things like this can be found online! I’ve seen vanities just like this one with the stone top and all for $500.00 or so. I often wonder how they do it! One thing is for sure, this looks great. Especially in this particular bath!

But if you can only do one thing…

10.

Get a new faucet!

It’s simple, it’s cheap, it’s effective, it’s REMODELING!!!

And it is certainly a start!

When you do this, make sure you take pictures, write a post, and bring your post back here on May 1st for the Remodeling Guy Round-Up!

If you’re interested in these projects, you should use that internal search box up at the top of the first sidebar, just to the left of the little green guy with the bullhorn! There is much more here about most of these projects.

I sure hope you go for it! The bathroom is the first place most people go in the morning It should be a nice place to go, don’t you think?

Excuse me, maam, would you care to join me for the Round-Up?  (Well it’s already started… going on May 1st – 3rd, click here)

That’s funny!

But there is some real serious stuff behind this! So when you stop laughing, read on…

I want you all to have a chance to show off your work! So many readers have sent me pictures and emails with links to blog posts showing off some great remodeling projects! I want to make sure I see every single one of them and I want to give you the chance to show the world!

So here’s the deal! Get your posts ready, take pictures of your remodeling and home-improvement projects no matter how small or large they are! All types and sizes of work are welcome at this Par-tay! Anything that you’ve done to improve your home qualifies, no matter the outcome!

We’re going to build-up to this over the next couple of weeks. I’ll be announcing some of the prizes we’ll be giving away and I’ll be giving you some ideas for projects you can do between now and then! If my little picture is any indication, it will be fun! Yeeeee Haaaaw!

At the stroke of midnight, as the month of April comes to a close, I’ll let Mr. Linky out for a run around the blog and you’ll all have a chance to link-up! I’m doing this on a Friday and I’ll leave it up all weekend so that we all have time to see everyone’s project!

Millions of people per day see blogs, so you’ll get lots of traffic.

Spread The Word

The more people that show up for this Rodeo the better so tell all your friends, tweet your twits, face your books, and, if you’re as crazy as I am…stick one of these on your blog…

200 Pixels Square

Copy and past this code for 200 pix:
<a href=”http://www.remodelingguy.net/?p=893″ mce_href=”http://www.remodelingguy.net/?p=893″ target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo217/tlayton_2009/Spring-Round-Up-200pix.jpg” mce_src=”http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo217/tlayton_2009/Spring-Round-Up-200pix.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Ready for the Round Up?”></a>

And If you prefer “understated” … 125 x 125

Copy and paste this code for 125 pix:
<a href=”http://www.remodelingguy.net/?p=893″ mce_href=”http://www.remodelingguy.net/?p=893″ target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo217/tlayton_2009/Spring-Round-Up-125pix.jpg” mce_src=”http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo217/tlayton_2009/Spring-Round-Up-125pix.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Ready for the Round Up?”></a>

Okay pardners, I’m countin’ on ya!  You gonna join me?