Month: April 2014

Boys and Girls Club of America, Crawfish, and Poker

Last Friday, Cody and I attended the North Texas Gas and Oil Crawfish Boil and Poker Tournament. This is an annual event that benefits the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and, as always, was a great one.

I’m always happy to be a part of helping out the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. For over 100 years, they have been dedicated to helping young people prosper by providing safe, educational programs and activities with positive reinforcement. I remember fondly attending Boys and Girls Clubs events as a youth, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity. I like seeing today’s young people continue to have the same opportunity. If you would also like to help this great organization, go to www.fortworthkids.org/ to volunteer, donate, and read about how you can help impact the lives of today’s youth. Read more

Microwave Drawers: A New Trend That Makes Sense!

One of the toughest pieces of a kitchen design is sometimes the microwave. Where to put it? At one point, the “solution” was to hang it above the stove top, with a recirculating vent. This solved where to put the microwave, but has proven to make a mess of venting out cooking gases. No one wants to give up counter space, so more and more, the microwave is ending up in the lower cabinet. I think this will soon become the standard in kitchen design. This design trend is causing microwave drawers to become more and more popular. The feedback and reviews on them are very positive. Read more

Three Reasons Why You Should Learn to Live with Less Cabinet Space in Your Kitchen


When I’m designing a kitchen remodeling project, my clients often fret about the cabinets I want to remove to open up a wall or provide more counter space. The client is usually thinking, “A new kitchen means cabinets for my stuff!” I’m then tasked with convincing them that they can live with less cabinet space to gain more functional counter space, openness and style in their new kitchen. Here are my three talking points for why you can live with less cabinet space in your kitchen:

1. More efficient use of space. If you look into your cabinets and pantry, you’ll see that there is a lot of empty space for you to reach through to grab what you are needing. There’s also a lot of unused area where the items on the shelves are smaller than what the shelves will hold. We design our client’s new cabinets to maximize the cubic footage of the cabinet so the empty unused storage space is minimized. We accomplish this primarily by using drawers and pull outs everywhere. When a kitchen is finished, it can have 10% fewer cabinets, but because of the design efficiency of the new cabinets, the storage capacity will actually be more than that of the old cabinets. Read more

What is a Contractor?

A lot of homeowners don’t really understand the true nature of the titles and roles of the people who remodel their homes. Knowing how these titles and roles function can save you lot of time, frustration and money.

What is a Contractor? There seems to be a tendency to call any person you pay to work on your home a contractor. In a sense, they may be, but a contractor negotiates contracts to make a living. A remodeling contractor negotiates a contract with you to do a project, like remodel your bathroom. They then negotiate contracts with the tradesmen, the vendors, the city, insurance company and whomever else they need to engage to complete your project. These agreements are called sub-contracts because they are minor contracts to complete the major one, yours! The people involved, primarily the tradesmen, are often called sub-contractors. Read more

Cellulose or Fiberglass—Which Type of Insulation Should You Use In Your Attic?

When it comes time to insulate your attic, often you will have the choice of cellulose or fiberglass insulation. Both cost about the same and get the job done, but each comes with unique benefits that you should consider depending on your circumstances. Here is what you need to know to make the right choice for your home.

What is the difference between the two? Fiberglass is exactly what its name implies, strands of very thin glass broken down to fibers to make the insulation. Cellulose is made from wood pulp products, like newspapers, and has chemicals added to retard fire and repel insects. Read more