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No, I am not talking about the condition of your skin personally, but the “skin” of your house. The exterior "skin" of a house typically includes all the surfaces of its functional and decorative features. The exterior surfaces consist of the roof, chimney, exterior walls, stucco, siding, woodwork, paint, windows, porches or decks and doors. Since the "skin" of your house serves as the primary defense against the sun, rain and wind, taking care of all exterior surfaces is of critical importance. Neglecting it can lead to replacing an entire feature or can allow for something as damaging as a flooded home because the roof was in disrepair. Look at the condition of your skin. Does the paint or stucco have cracks? Are there open joints between parts, are a few pieces falling off here and there? If so, your home may be in need of a “facelift”! When the paint film cracks, moisture penetrates the wood, causing the paint to peel, and letting in more moisture. The added moisture then causes the wood to swell, opening up a joint where more water can enter. Mold can start to form in your walls from the moisture as well as cause dry-rot of the wood. Just like the interior of your home, that is cleaned and polished and taken care of; the exterior of your home needs the same love and care. Do your house a favor and maintain it. By simply having the exterior of your home repainted (which always includes a thorough check of windows and door casings) you can give added life to your home. If something has to be replaced, it generally means someone waited too long to repair it. What you don't want is an unsightly, broken-down exterior as a result of neglect--or a brand new exterior as a result of having to replace almost everything. There are many options when it comes to protecting the
“skin” of your home: stucco, siding, new paint, new windows and new casings around windows and doors. I am happy to come to your home and help you determine what the best preventative measures are to keep your “skin” glowing!

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One of the best home improvements you can make is to enhance the outdoor living areas around your own home. Now is the time to start considering renovating you're backyard before summer. Decks and patios are the most versatile outdoor areas of all. In this economy many people are choosing to stay in their current homes and improve them for enjoyment and to increase their value, to sell at a later date. While the mainstream for our Santa Clarita area has been the standard concrete patio with built-in barbeque area; something to consider as an alternative to the standard, is a deck. Decks are great for many backyards, including an uneven or sloped backyard. If you have a sloped hill (which a lot of areas in our Santa Clarita Valley have), you can sink piers into the ground and still build a level surface for your deck; creating additional usable areas that you may of thought impossible previously. Decking also looks great around a pool or under a stand-alone patio cover. Decking materials have come a long way from the splintered wooden decks of the past. Most local retailers carry redwood; and lumber is generally more affordable but still requires maintenance and sealing on a regular basis. If you would like a virtually maintenance free deck, no sealing, splitting and splintering wood, then man-made deck materials may be right for you. We have been designing and installing many more composite decks recently using Trex®. Trex® is a composite material made from recycled products such as wood and plastic fibers; their products are an environmentally responsible alternative to wood. The composite products come in a variety of colors and shades and require virtually no maintenance. Trex® also offers non-wood railings that do not need to be painted and offer the added advantage of not splintering and being weather resistant. So whether you are looking for a three level deck with a complete outdoor kitchen, a patio and patio cover with a tile roof, lighting and fans, or an outdoor fireplace and tranquil water feature – let Randal G. Winter Construction help you, as you design the perfect backyard living space that fits the needs of you and your family.

Once you have settled on the size, location and style for your new dream kitchen, the next thing to consider is where each cupboard is going to go and what use it will have. If the range location is decided then chances are that you would want a couple of large roll out drawers to house your pots and pans. Perhaps on either side of the range you would want a tray holder for baked goods. Of course one or two of the adjacent top drawers should be for the miscellaneous utensils. The newer kitchens usually have a deep upper wall cabinet above the refrigerator which works well for those large serving platters. For those of you who use your heavy mixer frequently, you may want to have a pop-up shelf so you don’t have to lift it all the time from one cabinet to the counter. Don’t forget to have an electrical outlet placed behind that pop-up cabinet.

Most often kitchen clients want the everyday dishes and glasses closest to the dishwasher and/or sink. If you have one of those corners cabinets, it is nice to put in a lazy susan so everything that is stored in those huge cabinets is accessible. The cabinet above the lazy susan is sometimes in a location that lends itself to having clear glass doors so that some of the finer china or glasses can be on display at all times. I like to design my kitchens with glass shelves and a light above so that the contents are always on display. Make sure that there is always enough counter top space next to the following areas: Sink, Refrigerator, range, oven, and dishwasher. At least 18” on either side and at the sink one side should be a minimum of 24”. If you are having built in pantries then for sure have roll out shelves from just below eye level to the bottom. Some tips on hardware; if you go frameless then you will need to have knobs or handles for the doors and drawers. Most new kitchens have the handles or knobs regardless of cabinet style. Soft closing concealed hinges for doors and self-closing hardware for the drawers are the only way to go if you ask me. One cool option that can be seen on our web video is the toe-kick roll out drawer that houses a step stool.

Next month I’ll discuss finishes.

There are those who say “if it works don’t fix it” and in today’s economy it certainly rings true for many. However, for those who want to maintain their investment, be proud to entertain in their home, need order and convenience, and have the capital to invest, a new Kitchen is in order. Now having said that, you may not go out to one of the big box stores and simply order a new kitchen like you would an automobile. The New Kitchen needs a fair amount of consideration unless you are just fixing it up to sell your home.

It is hard to say where the best place to start is when trying to arrive at the best design for your new kitchen, but I usually like to start in the existing kitchen; as it is less expensive to build a new kitchen in the same location. This is true because most of the utilities are in this location. I first determine if the space is large enough for the client and then, if not, look to see if there are any walls that I can knock down to make the space flow into other areas. Of course this is the trend, and my guess is that this trend to have a kitchen part of other rooms is going to stay. I also like to see if there is a natural flow to the outside. I also like to know how many cooks are in the house. Increasing the number of cooks changes the flow patterns and spacing required. Next debriefing or quizzing the cook(s), to see what specific needs exist.

So, besides figuring out the size, location and configurations of the kitchen, it is necessary to find out the style of the kitchen. Is it going to be traditional, French colonial, contemporary? These answers help to solve the problem of what type of wood, stain, colors, counter top and appliance finishes will work the best. Then we need to look to the actual construction of the cabinets, the hardware for the doors and drawers. There is particle board frames, veneered plywood, solid wood doors, plastic drawer guides, metal drawer guides that have self closing mechanisms, exposed and concealed hinges with and without soft
close, to mention a few. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

More to follow next month…

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