Exterior Upgrades for This Maple Glen Home

March 29, 2023 No Comments

Have you ever had the feeling that your home needs a refresh and an upgrade? That’s just what our Maple Glen clients were thinking when they reached out to us. The homeowners shared with us their desire to create a new look for their all-stucco exterior to create a modern style.

What Is Stucco?

Stucco is a cement-type mixture made of Portland cement, lime, sand and water. It goes on the outermost layer of residential structures and is set to a thin finish coat. Stucco has been a popular exterior finish for many years, but it has its limitations. Due to its brittle nature, stucco will crack as a house’s foundation settles, which can be a pain point for homeowners.

A Stone and Siding Façade Gives Instant Curb Appeal

The exterior of the house had been entirely stucco, but the homeowners knew the problems stucco could cause to the home. Many homeowners, however, are unaware of the risks stucco poses to the structure and durability of a home. Stucco is known to cause water infiltration, encouraging the growth of mold and rot in the underlying structure. We always encourage clients to move away from stucco and replace it with more durable materials that will protect their family’s health and investment in the property.

As you can see from the before and after photos, the switch to stone and siding for their home wasn’t just practical, it also provided a major update and created a polished feel to the exterior. Our clients have found that upgrading to stone and vinyl siding has been a smart investment that not only improved the appearance of their home but also increased its value and reduced maintenance costs.

Since it’s common to have to undergo a stucco remediation process prior to selling a home, our clients were happy to get this upgrade taken care of. Once moisture gets into stucco exteriors, problems multiply. This is a complication any homeowner would want to avoid when they’re ready to sell their home for its full value.

Call Creative Contracting For Your Home’s Makeover, Inside and Out

If you’re worried about your home’s stucco, give us a call. We can help with stucco remediation, and exterior upgrades to prevent minor problems before they become major concerns.

How This Couple Went From Chaos to Calm With a Newly Redesigned Laundry Room

February 17, 2023 No Comments

Do you love your laundry room? That was the question we asked our Lower Gwynedd clients when we began their first-floor renovation. Sara and Craig put extreme effort into designing a beautiful and functional laundry room when updating their home. The room has a simple, yet dramatic black-and-white color scheme, wainscoting for architectural detail, heavy black hooks for outerwear and bags, and a full-view back door that provides natural light and easy access to the backyard.

When Style and Functionality Meet

When style and functionality meet, it creates a balance between aesthetic and practicality, resulting in a finished product that looks amazing and serves its intended purpose effectively. And since the laundry room is often considered the hardest working room in the home, the design must be durable and timeless.

Puppy Approved

This laundry room is equipped with storage, folding space and a hanging rod. It features a no-fuss stainless steel sink and leathered granite for easy cleaning. The room has black fixtures and hardware that contrast the white cabinetry and soft gray walls. The ceramic tile floors and stock cabinetry are cost-effective selections without compromising a gorgeous farm-style design. Additionally, the sink in the room is used to wash off the couple’s Cavachon puppy after muddy playtime in the backyard.

Redesign Your Laundry Room With the Help of Creative Contracting

The laundry room is often subjugated to “closed door” status. Don’t let that be the case in your home. Contact Creative Contracting today to get started on a stylish and functional space you’ll love to show off.

What Aspects Should You Add to Your Aging in Place Renovation?

January 30, 2023 No Comments

Planning an age-in-place renovation is a great way to make your home more comfortable and accessible as you get older. Here are some of the key aspects you should consider when planning your remodeling project in North Wales, PA.

Consider Your Stairs

According to Comfy Living, baby boomers and Gen-Xers make up more than 80% of all homeowners who are renovating. Many of these homeowners are embarking on aging in place renovations since they are looking to stay in their homes and make them more accessible. Those who live in multi-story homes should consider adding features to their stairs such as stairlifts, ramps, and handrails. These features will make climbing the stairs easier for those who have difficulty with mobility as they age.

Choose the Right Flooring

It’s important to choose the right type of flooring for any renovation, especially when you’re getting older. While carpet is a popular choice, it can be difficult to navigate with mobility aids such as wheelchairs and walkers. Hardwood floors are generally easier to navigate and won’t create an obstacle for those who use helpful tools. Additionally, non-slip tile floors are also a great option since they provide extra traction to reduce the risk of falls.

Add Essential Safety Features

When renovating your home, you should also consider adding grab bars in the bathroom and shower, which will help prevent slips and falls. You may also want to add rails or handrails on stairways and ramps. Finally, you should also consider adding motion-sensing lighting in hallways and stairwells to make it easier to see when navigating your North Wales home at night.

Make Sure the Renovation Is Accessible

It’s important that any aging-in-place renovations made to a home are accessible for everyone in the household. Doors, pathways, and other areas of your home should be wide enough to easily accommodate wheelchairs and walkers. Additionally, doorknobs should be replaced with lever handles since they’re much easier to use for those with limited mobility.

Consider Home Automation

Finally, you may want to consider home automation as part of your renovation. Automation will allow for the control of various items in your home, such as lights and temperature, from a single remote or smartphone app. This addition can be especially useful for those with limited mobility who may not be able to get up and adjust settings manually.

By considering these aspects when planning an aging-in-place renovation, you can ensure that the renovations are tailored to meet the needs of everyone living in the home. Get in touch with our team today to start planning your next home remodeling project in North Wales, PA.

A Montgomery County Kitchen Gets a Light and Airy Remodel

January 20, 2023 No Comments

When our clients began their kitchen remodel journey with us, they knew they wanted a light and airy welcoming space with room for their family to gather. What they didn’t realize was that once they decided on the design, finalized the budget and agreed upon a timeline, they thought they’d gotten over the biggest hurdles. But then reality set in and decisions needed to be made on cabinets, hardware, and appliances —and the possibilities seemed endless and overwhelming.

Decisions, Decisions

The homeowners painstakingly weighed every decision to create a beautifully designed kitchen. Refreshing traditional red oak floors were lightened to remove golden undertones, creating a lighter shade that coordinates beautifully with the neutral white oak island. We were able to expand the white oak through the space with custom shelving, an accent file folder and charging storage cabinet, and a new mantle in the adjoining family room.

A light wood table, chairs and bar seating continue the feeling of soft neutrality. Namibian white quartzite and white glossy tile with a handcrafted look, add a subtle, soft texture to the space. This neutral backdrop allows the beautiful Brizo luxe gold faucets to pop. The cabinet hardware echoes the intricate knurling of the faucet design. In this case, thinking of hardware as a jewelry accessory for the kitchen makes perfect sense.

Gold Highlights Create a Vibrant Kitchen

Light fixtures add vibrancy to the gold highlights and paned glass doors in the upper cabinetry supply ambient light, creating a soft glow. All lighting is on dimmers, so it’s easy to create the desired atmosphere at any time of the day. This gorgeous, subtly neutral kitchen is easy to accessorize with pops of color and natural greenery.

The additional set of windows flanking the original French doors to the backyard change the entire feel of the space and offer a beautiful view of the lovely patio and provide more natural light.

Creative Contracting Can Transform Your Kitchen

We love working with clients who are completely involved in their projects. Working closely to create a successful and satisfying kitchen design is extremely important and rewarding. Ready to lighten up your kitchen? Get started today.

How a Bathroom Remodel Can Help You Age in Place

January 5, 2023 No Comments

Aging in place is a major concern of members of the Baby Boom generation in or approaching retirement, as well as older Generation X members who are beginning to approach their retirement years as their 60th birthday comes closer. Many have started plans for an aging in place remodel of their homes by adding features that will become useful as their aging continues and mobility declines. Better yet, according to a 2018 cost vs value report by Remodeling, bathroom remodels typically return 70% on their investment when you sell your home. Let’s take a look at how making this investment will help you age in place in North Wales, PA.

Why Age-Proof Your Bathroom?

Bathrooms can be among the most dangerous spaces in the home for seniors. Bathrooms by nature have floors that become slippery when wet. The curb of the bathtub may present a barrier for people with limited lower-body mobility. Planning these remodels doesn’t have to be expensive, but it should be done before you need the features for aging.

Widening Doors and Spaces

An underestimated need in age-proofing bathrooms is making the doors and spaces in the bathroom wider. This feature is a critical need for an aging in place remodel as older adults will often need to add pieces like walkers and wheelchairs as mobility declines in older years, or injuries require mobility assistance.

Widening doors by even as little as a few inches can improve the mobility of a walker or wheelchair user inside the bathroom, giving them space to maneuver without risking a fall by picking up and turning the device.

Grab Bars, Curbless and Nonslip Showers

Much more commonly understood than doors and spaces is the need for grab bars and handles around fixtures like toilets and showers. These critical fixtures help make life much easier for people with limited mobility in their legs to get on and off their toilets and avoid slips and falls in the shower.

In addition to grab bars, many adults lose the ability to lift their legs high enough to enter and exit conventional showers as they get older and can lose their balance on slippery flooring. Nonslip flooring and curbless shower stalls can make it much easier to maneuver.

The value of an aging in place remodel on the bathroom is not just monetary. It’s a crucial investment in your ability to remain in your home. To get started with your renovation, don’t wait to get in touch with our experienced team in North Wales, PA today.

From Beige to Bold: A Luxurious New Bathroom in Blue Bell, PA

November 29, 2022 No Comments

Our Blue Bell clients came to us wanting to update their primary bathroom, which at the time featured a closed off shower stall and oversized tub. Since this was the family’s primary bath, we wanted to make sure it delivered plenty of opportunities to rest and relax while providing major functionality. It was important to the family that the needs of their twin daughters were kept in mind throughout the design process. To make this space special and unique, we brought in all of the bells and whistles with the latest in bathroom technology and high-end style, let’s take a look!

A Shower Built for Style

This Blue Bell home’s original shower felt more like a closet. It was confining, difficult to clean, and had limited shelf storage. The homeowners stopped using their primary shower because of all the limitations of the original design. By reconfiguring the bathroom space and shrinking down the footprint of the tub area, we were able to give the homeowners a more open feeling, spa-like shower. We swapped the old shower’s small square beige tile for large-format rich, dark gray and black marbled porcelain tiles. This instantly made the space feel much larger and more refined.

We continued that color motif on the smaller shower floor tiles, which replaced the previous space’s shower pan. To bring both fun and therapy to the area, lots of different shower heads were used, including an oversized main shower head as well as a handheld option and several built-in jets.

This is all brought together with high-tech convenience by a Moen digital shower controller which can be controlled through a mobile app featuring preset temperature control. Now the family never has to spend extra time trying to get the shower to that “just right temperature.” We’re sure that will make their mornings much more relaxing. A shower bench flows naturally into the tub area in a warm Storm Gray quartz. The shower space is completed with gorgeous glass panels that ensure the room always feels open and inviting.

Warm Woods Create a Natural

Bathroom Retreat

Wood isn’t the first material most people think of for a bathroom design. However, it can work wonders in warming up and softening the hard lines of tile and stone. In their bathroom remodel, our Blue Bell clients chose a gorgeous Pottery Barn Vanity, generously sized with a double sink that features a neutral marble top and polished nickel finishes. This vanity, with its many drawers and storage shelves is truly a centerpiece of the new bathroom, combining classic elements with modern lines and aesthetic touches.

The warm tones of the vanity were carried through to the matching mirrored bathroom cabinets. On the opposing wall, we added a rustic wooden beam shelf to pull the feeling of wood throughout the space. Here, the family can add decorative touches to personalize the room even further.

Transforming a Tub From

Oversized to Indulgent

Bigger isn’t always better, especially when it comes to bathroom tubs. The wrong tub can take up too much room and limit the functionality of the rest of the space. That is what our Blue Bell clients experienced with their out-of-date jetted bathtub. To take back some of their square footage and put it to better use, we added a spa tub, which provides all of the soaking opportunities for relaxation while using only a portion of the bathroom’s floor space. This smaller footprint allowed us to give the family the best of both worlds, a roomy and relaxing shower and the space to sit and soak peacefully.

Creative Contracting Helps Build

Better Bathrooms

We were thrilled to give our Blue Bell clients their dream bathroom and we’re sure they’re looking forward to guests experiencing the space over the holidays and through the new year. We help bring your visions for relaxation and luxury to life, with a simple, straightforward process that prioritizes your family’s comfort. Ready to soak in the experience of a fully remodeled bathroom? We’re ready to get started.

3 Signs Your Home Needs Remodeling

November 11, 2022 No Comments

Remodeling a house is a big undertaking, and you need the help of a good remodeling contractor to get through the process. According to Comfy Living, a good 80% of homes in the U.S. are more than 20 years old and in need of improvement. This fact shows just how popular remodeling is. But if you take really good care of your home, you might not see that the home could use some remodeling. Here are three signs to watch for that show you are in need of home remodeling.

1. The Home Starts Needing Constant Repairs

Homes need repair. That’s just a fact of home ownership. But when the repairs become constant, it’s time to look at the structure of the house as well as things like the flooring and fixtures. Sometimes ripping out part of the home and rebuilding and remodeling are more efficient than doing constant repairs.

2. You’ve Just Gotten Rid of a Hidden Bug Infestation

Simply having a bug infestation doesn’t mean your house needs full remodeling. But if the infestation was hidden and large, such as with termites, that’s a good sign to start remodeling the home. If nothing else, you need to repair internal damage caused by the bugs and ensure entry points are sealed up. Home remodeling is a great way to accomplish this.

2. People Compliment Your “Vintage” Fixtures

Fashions and styles tend to go through cycles, coming back as vintage fashion usually a couple of decades after they were first hot. If you’ve started noticing that the fixtures in your home that were new when you bought the place are now being called names like “vintage,” it’s time to update. Obviously, if you like having time-capsule kitchens, then the vintage label might not seem so bad. But behind that older stove lies potentially older wiring that needs to be updated or gas lines that you need to convert to another power source.

Remodeling a home isn’t done overnight, so if you’ve decided to start changing up your living space, contact home remodeling companies for estimates and ideas. You can remodel room by room or all at once, but you’ll need a good contractor in either case. Contact us today at Creative Contracting in North Wales, PA to get started on your remodeling project.

Top 3 Qualities to Look for in a Bathroom Remodeler

November 8, 2022 No Comments

Home remodeling, especially bathroom remodeling, seems to be on every homeowner’s radar. About 51% of homeowners report they have a home remodeling project planned for the next year, according to Angi. If you are among the 51% of homeowners with remodeling plans and your bathroom is on the list, choosing the right bathroom remodeling company is vital. Look for these three qualities in a bathroom remodeler to get the best results.

1. Track Record of Excellent Service

While historical performance can’t necessarily predict future performance, it’s a good indicator. Having a good track record is an important quality to look for in a remodeling company. A strong reputation for leaving customers satisfied is hard-won. It means that the remodeling company makes customer service a priority.

2. Experience

One of the key qualities to ensure that your bathroom remodeling project comes together effortlessly (on your part) is experience. The right, experienced remodeling company will be able to overcome any obstacles that they come across during your bathroom renovation because they will likely have come across the obstacle before. Experience is also a factor when it comes to the level of skills that the contractors bring to the table. Choosing a home remodeling company that is established and has the right experience is one of the best ways to get your project done to perfection.

3. Licensed and Insured

You should never hire any company that is not both licensed and insured. Having a business license is proof that the company has taken the steps and has the experience needed to register with the city or state. Being insured means they are able to protect themselves in the event of an accident, rather than the responsibility falling on you as the homeowner.

We all spend a lot of time in the bathroom. Why not make your bathroom a place you want to be? The right company can ensure that you get all the advantages of a newly refinished bathroom. Look for the qualities above in a home remodeling team to ensure that you are getting the best value. Call us at Creative Contracting in North Wales, PA to learn more today!

Luxury Bath Remodel

June 11, 2020 No Comments

Scaled floor plan of original master bath. — Before Floor Plan

This is the original Master Bath floor plan of a two-story colonial home built in the 1960’s. Notice a tiny bathroom with a single sink and a cramped corner shower. Outside of the bathroom was an awkward dressing space with two closets. The closet doors hinged into each other and much of the space was not easily accessible.

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Kitchen Remodel Ideas

May 29, 2020 No Comments

There are so many options to consider when planning a kitchen remodel, that it is often overwhelming to think about beginning the process. To avoid getting mired in all of the details, it is best to use the services of an experienced kitchen remodel designer. But before you take that step, there is some research that you can do to help make the process as seamless as possible.