Short Video on what you’ll see when we come to your home.
October 11th, 2009
Solving kitchen problems.
September 17th, 2009
Kitchens problems are typically bad lighting, poor work zones and insufficient storage. If you have a problem kitchen in St Paul or the Twin Cities area we can solve your kitchen problem.
Our designs and cabinets are made in the Midwest and we are fully licensed to do the complete job as Licensed General Contractors.
Also we offer an Ultra refacing for high end results, refacing saves time and money. Each kitchen is different so we need to see what you are hoping to achieve before we can give you a price, but your kitchen problems can be solved in a smart and efficient way.
Call 612-788-5584 for a consultation with a real Minnesota Kitchen C
ontractor
10 Bath remodel tips.
September 15th, 2009
10 Tips For a Better Bathroom. By John Clark.
Everyone loves a good top ten list! Read on and enjoy our top ten “Must Do” for bathroom remodeling,
1. Install a Pocket Door. Most bathrooms are so small that doors can sometimes make them even smaller. Converting the swing door into a pocket door always opens up the space visually as well as physically. 
Credit: PocketDoors.usWarning: Pocket doors should always be installed by a professional as the installation often involves dealing with structural components of your home.
2. Venting? Always, always, always ensure your bathroom is properly vented. Many homes lack venting in the bathroom, resulting in black spoor-like stuff growing from the ceiling. Also many homes have undersized fans that often sound like an F15 on a takeoff roll. When it comes to venting, our favorite is a remote fan with light as pictured below right. The fan motor is installed in a location away from the bathroom many times in the attic, which reduces significantly the noise you will hear when the fan is on. This style of fan will have a 6″ grill in the ceiling which in the center, has a small halogen light that you control with a dimmer. The actual fan is controlled by a timer with push button presets ranging from 10 minutes to 60 minutes.
Credit:Fantech.net
3. Comfort Height Toilets are just so much better! Comfort height or chair height toilets are much more comfortable for users. They are about 2″ taller then the old standard. If you have young children, you may want to have one toilet in your home that is at the lower height.
4. White Painted Beadboard lends an elegance and look to a bathroom that is classic and clean. For a long time, I did not like beadboard in a bathroom. Why? Because beadboard usually consisted of 1×6 pine milled with a tongue and grove and beaded on the edges and center. As the beadboard was wood, it was subject to moisture changes. The nice tight paint job looked great until the heating season when the beadboard shrank and showed cracking in the paint. The beadboard would look awful until the humidity of summer rolled around.
Credit: Nantucket Beadboard CompanyEnter stage right, a product made by Nantucket Beadboard Company (Beadboard.com) in the form of 4′ x 8′ and larger sheets of bead-board. Manufactured from premium medium density fiberboard, the sheet beadboard is much more dimensionally stable and less prone to movement. ie a tighter paint job. We also like it because it installs much faster then the piece by piece method of wood strips. If you want to install the beadboard in your bathroom, make sure you purchase the moisture resistant grade rather then the standard grade.
5. Heated Floors. Quick Quiz! Can you name the healthiest, safest kind of heating system? If you said radiant heat, give yourself an A! Yes, we’re big fans of radiant heat, especially in the bathroom. Nothing beats stepping out of a shower onto heated tile on a cold winters morning. Our preferred brand of radiant heat is Warmly Yours. They have a system that is well thought-out and easy to install. The running costs of radiant are minimal for a small area such as a bathroom. AD ALERT: With every complete bathroom remodel, we will supply and install at no charge a complete underfloor heating system! Call or email for more information. To find out more about radiant heating visit WarmlyYours.com
6. Handheld Shower. One feature we suggest to clients who are upgrading, is to include a handheld shower in addition to the standard shower head. Handhelds are more flexible then a fixed shower head and allow you to do everything from bathing the dog to cleaning the tub or shower, as you can put water where you need it. Very Important: Be sure to install a handheld shower system that has a wall mounter diverter. We have found the diverter that is mounted into the fixed shower head, is either too hard to use or too high. One system we often install is made here in America by Symmons. (Symmons.Com)
7. Taller Vanities. Like the toilets we mentioned above, vanities have grown up which is a godsend to those who spent many a time stooped over at sinks designed for the vertically challenged! The taller height is more comfortable to use. Don’t forget however, to have a step-stool handy for the little un’s.
8. Flow in Sink. Is a type of sink you can have with a solid surface product such as Corian or Swanstone. The countertop material flows into the bottom of the sink creating a seamless bowl making for easy cleaning. You can see an example below right.
Credit: Swan Corp.
9. Hooks. Sometimes towel bars can be just too fussy and formal. Big hooks to hang towels allow you to hang and run and you have more hanging space. Some we have used, can be found at RestorationHardware.com Be sure to use the large ones to allow towels to hang freely so they may dry.
10. Creative Storage. One example is recessing mirrored cabinets in locations other then over the sink. Another is creating a space for a 20″ wide and 24″ deep linen cabinet when we have removed a 60″ tub and replaced it with a 36″ shower. One trick we have done in the past, is to recess a cabinet into closet of an adjacent room keeping the face frame of the cabinet flush with the bathroom wall.
Watch for future postings for more ideas for a better bathroom.
Author is John Clark of Cape Cod Bathworks.
Who Let the dog out?
September 15th, 2009
It started with a call for a kitchen remodel, a Minneapolis kitchen in the Uptown area. I set the appointment and met with the owner who proceeded to give me her wish list. We needed to take the existing cut up space and have enough room for a half bath, cooking, cleaning areas and an island plus room to dance and a place for Heidi’s water and food dish.
Heidi is a Great Dane of happy proportions, somewhere around 130 lbs of pure sweet doggy.
First thing I mentioned is lets remove the dining room wall. Nope, wall stays. OK. Then lets move the entry wall. Nope, entry is needed to keep Heidi from roaming around. OK? What was left?
It was time to break the rules. When remodeling kitchens in Minnesota you have the code book to follow, then you have National Kitchen Bath Association guidelines and your customer, who in this case was a savvy consumer who had done her homework, she knew most of what she wanted and expected to get it. I like a challenge so I drew up a design, we tweaked it a bit and we had a plan. So onward and upward we went.
Instead of getting frustrated on the ideal plan we organized the kitchen to meet the exact needs of the customer. Part of what we did was throw out the old work triangle method of organizing a kitchen, we used a step method that worked by grouping the main activities in the central part of the kitchen, and the cleanup right around the corner where were had removed the old pantry. Did this fit NKBA guidelines? No! But it made the customer happy.
To sum it up, we broke some rules and the customer got all their needs met and so did Heidi, who got to be in the kitchen with the owners but yet still out of the main traffic and food prep areas.
I have to share this. When finishing the base trim in Heidi’s food corner I felt a weight on my shoulder, and then heard a sigh. It was Heidi resting her head on my shoulder and I assumed she was letting me know she approved of the design.
And my point, break the rules when the rules need to be broken, think outside of the box or forever be constrained. I entered this kitchen in a design contest and did not win, I broke the traditional rules of kitchen design and I don’t think the judges cared for that, but we came in on budget and 2 years later the homeowners are happy still, so it ended up being a winner anyway.
Break the rules, but know which rules you can break. And the kitchen triangle, yeah it makes sense but so does meeting your customers needs.
Did my customers dance in the kitchen, they told me “yes we did”.
Paul Lesieur
St Paul Kitchen Magicians
August 31st, 2009
After doing kitchens in Minneapolis for over 20 years I moved to the White Bear Lake area. Traffic is less than the Western suburbs and I like all the open space and wetlands. Its just a short drive to Stillwater and the fall colors are right out my window.
Are St Paul kitchen remodels different?
Yes, in a way. St Paul and its suburbs have an East Coast flavor, people are snappy and its been more real in my opinion.
Now that the dust has settled Silvertree Construction has opened its doors for cabinet refacing, interior modifications and kitchen and bath design.
One new offering is Ultra Kitchen Cabinet Refacing. Granite tops, Cambria, Lighting, Flooring and all with a Green approach. Ultra Refacing is for people who have a high end need but don’t want to change out the cabinets. Silvertree can take your kitchen and with less time and money get you a high end finish, without trashing the materials you want to keep.
Look for an article on Ultra Refacing coming soon.
And check out Remodel Crazy Blog and forum, its where homeowners and pros meet and in a friendly way exchange information.
Paul Lesieur- Silvertree Construction
Back to School Organizational Tips
August 12th, 2009
Back to school
Written by Sean Lintow Sr.
Ahhh, back to school time – maybe I can now get a little peace, some quite time, get some things caught up – truly, it is one of the most wonderful times of the year…
Honey, have you seen my keys; Mom where’s my homework; I forgot you need to sign this; Hurry up your going to be late – I know I just can’t find my backpack; Oh yah, don’t forget I need to be picked up after practice & …
Here are a few handy tips that may make this & every other day a little less stressful on everyone involved.
Put a shelf and / or cubby with a hanging rack by the front door for everyone in the family. Jackets, Backpacks & umbrellas can be hung on the rack. Wallets, keys, phones, etc… can be placed on the shelf. Shoes, sports gear, or even the backpacks can be put in the cubby.
Set up recharging stations on each shelf as needed, simply plug a surge strip up & attach the charger for the phone, PDA’s, IPod’s, etc… on each shelf. Now everything is charged up & easily found the next morning. Energy saving tip – all chargers eat up power whether they are being used or not, so make sure you turn the power strip off when you leave in the morning.
Teach your kids some basic organizational skills – setup a few baskets & label them; Attention (needs to be signed or other action taken *hint* one simple effective rule – if it’s not in there before they go to bed, it doesn’t get signed till the next night); Informational (PTA meetings, fundraisers, etc…); Completed (graded papers, completed projects – you might want to scrap book or save some of these)
Put up a calendar / message board by the refrigerator where the kids field trips, school half days, business trips, church or other extracurricular activities are all written down
Setup a homework area; preferably away from the TV & close enough so that you can check on them & they can find you with any questions, have them put their homework away immediately after completing it, or in your Important basket (make sure that you go through that basket & place everything checked & signed back in their backpack, cubby, or shelf that night)
Set their clothes out the night before; pretty self explanatory, but it will help eliminate the what am I going to wear, or I don’t have any socks to wear
A few other helpful tidbits; Your kids should pre-fill out all the forms with their name & other known information required (homeroom, period, street address); Have some envelopes already printed with your child’s name, grade & homeroom teacher – this will help the teacher’s figure out whose lunch money is whose, or where the mysterious note came from; Make their lunch the night before & place it in a lunch bag the night before (or have them do it); have a special hamper setup for uniforms, or clothing that needs to be washed ASAP
I hope that some of these tips will help you and your family start the day off right.
Sean Lintow Sr.- SLS construction.com