I’m seriously excited to share a new book with you today! Today is the official launch of Handmade Walls: 22 Inspiring Ideas on Bringing Your Walls to Life. It is a fantastic new book by my friends Jamin & Ashley Mills over at The Handmade Home. These two are some of the most creative (not to mention [...] Read on →
I’ve got a fun reclaimed wood project for you today that we recently made for a local winery. They wanted a rustic, natural wood feel for their tasting room that was soon to open near downtown Orlando. You can check out the winery at www.quantumleapwinery.com So, here’s what we did . . .
Before starting any renovation (especially on a historic property) there are 7 questions you should always ask. And knowing the answers to these questions will make for the best project possible. So, I thought I’d share these “secrets” of our company to help your next project run as smooth as the pros.
Shabby-chic, French country, vintage, repurposed, picking, salvage..there are tons of names for taking old materials and incorporating them into your home. It can be as easy as getting a great deal on a piece of furniture at the local antique fair, but to create the truly eye-catching conversation pieces it requires re-thinking the materials you have into something unique and special. So we’ve put together some salvaged projects to get your creative juices flowing. And if you need more ideas you can always follow our Pinterest board “Salvage Projects We Can Make For You” which is updated almost daily with new repurposed ideas for your home.
After a century of paint jobs and humidity a lot of your home’s hardware can loose its original luster. It’s a small detail in a historic house, but properly restored hardware on windows, doors, and elsewhere gives a house that extra oomph that adds to the overall vintage feel of the home (whether people consciously [...] Read on →
Living here in the Sunshine State it seems that folks have an unusual penchant for $0.69 sq. ft. 20″ tiles. The most popular colors are blah, boring, and blech. People love to toss these tiles down over red oak, irreplaceable heart pine, and any number of historic floors. And these tile are spreading like a [...] Read on →
Being in the business of restoring and preserving historic structures I have seen many a house that made me cock my head in amazement at some of the frightening things people do to “upgrade” their old homes. The phrase “What were they thinking?” is almost a cliche in our business! But every year people tear [...] Read on →
Restoring a historic structure can be expensive. We should know, it’s our business! From searching for suitable replacements for long forgotten items to custom millwork, the bill for period appropriate restoration and preservation can really discourage the average old house enthusiast. But there is help. There are tons of programs at the Federal, State, and [...] Read on →
According to Build Carbon Neutral, the carbon footprint to build a new house of average size (2,700 sq. ft. as of 2009 in America) will require approximately 65 metric tons of CO2 to be offset. And the average home’s annual energy use requires approximately 10 metric tons to be offset. Clearly, building a home requires [...] Read on →