Outdoor steps repair job

A woman called me to fix up her once beautiful, round river rock staircase. It was a tedious and time consuming job. The walls on each side of the stairs were falling apart, many rocks had fallen out, and some sections were caved in.  It took enormous patience to fix these new, but still have them look old. The steps were in pretty good shape, just needed some minor repairs, and had some weeds growing through the cracks.  The lady of the house was pretty happy with the job.

Beige Bathrooms

I'm starting to get sick of beige.  But it really really looks good in master bathroom showers.  Here are three baths I finished recently.  All 3 are porcelain tile.

wood burning stove

With the price of oil so high now, people are trying to find ways to cut down on cooling costs.  I get a lot of inquires for pellet stoves and wood burning stoves for supplemental heat.  Not a bad idea if you have lots of trees to cut down near you.  Here is a wood burning stove I installed recently in a finished basement, for a friend.  It worked really well.  In fact my friend said the heat produced was substantial, she had to change clothing to accomodate the change in temperature.

Kitchen remodel

The kitchen was in terrible condition. So I gutted it, and put in all new kitchen cabinets and granite countertops. Mid-level Kraftmaid cabinets are probably the most cost effective thing you can buy. I spent $25,000.00 on the upgrade. Then I had a friend over for a quiet celebration.

Brick and Flagstone steps

The brick and flagstone steps are in great shape. All I do is powerwash them maybe twice a year.

Front of the House

How do you like the view of the front of the house?  Nice I think.  I have much work to do inside, but the previous owners maintained the outside of the property quite well.  Beautiful gardens.

Foyer Raised Panel Wainscoting

Wainscoting is one of the best home improvements you can make for the value of your house. It is pretty cheap and makes your house look fantastic.
Around the doorways I created something like a fireplace mantel. I routed a 5/4 x 4 x 8 pine board for the sides, plain 5/4 x 6 x 6 for the top, with a crown molding on it. Up the stairs I did a simple chair rail.  Below the chair rail I did a simple shadow box.  I painted it all with an oil based paint to get a smooth finish.  I spent only $350 on my foyer.  Looks dressed to kill, don't you think?
Click the pic for a larger view.

New Front Door

I got a beautiful new front door for my house.  Two sidelights, wrought iron rain glass, curved transom  window above, it cost me about $5000.  I installed it myself to save some dollars.  What do you think?

Click for larger view.