Countertop Resurfacing? Don't even go there!

I am all for being frugal where you can on your home remodel. What I will never promote, however, are do-it-yourself projects that will devalue your home, and the home stores are FILLED with them. Today I have to go into one of the newest and worst ideas I have ever seen for your kitchen- Countertop Resurfacing…

I can’t say enough to discourage you from ever using such a product, but I’m going to do my best! Que feo! Rust- Oleum has some fantastic products. I use their spray paints all the time for various projects around my home, but this product is just WRONG! My strongest advice when you are ready to replace your laminate countertop- is to actually REPLACE your laminate countertop. Consider where you live and the materials that other homeowners in your surrounding neighborhood are using for their home. If you are not going to upgrade to a more luxurious material such as granite or quartz, I can tell you that Formica, Pionite, Wilsonart and a few other laminate manufacturers have come up with a slew of amazing laminates that resemble granites and slates and fantastic stones. Many have textures or scratch resistant coatings and are very affordable. I will most definitely do a post on one of my favorites by Formica soon. For now let’s get back to this horrible idea of resurfacing your countertops.

Have you ever seen a garage with a coated floor? They look pretty neat. The floor has a nice polish, thick coating of paint with a sealer and can contain flecks in the mix to give it some pizzazz. Would you ever put that on your countertop? That’s exactly what you are doing if you use this kit. Yes, it’s appealing to think you can do it yourself and save a ton of money. This kit can range from $140.00-$200.00, but a post-form laminate countertop can cost you around the same price and a custom laminate countertop- brand new- is not much more than that. The look that this kit offers is more similar to the older style laminates of the early 90′s or the older solid surface countertops that had small or medium sized speckles throughout. It looks NOTHING like a granite or stone, like it attempts to represent. The result of the work you will do with this kit will never look even close to the overdone flecking they show on the box and even that does not look spectacular. Furthermore, if you ruin this project or don’t quite like the look when you’re done, you’ve wasted time and effort and will still need to replace it in the future. This project falls under my “Measure Twice, Cut Once Philosophy”. A skilled craftman will measure twice to avoid a mistake. I use this quote all the time to inform homeowners that proper preparation avoids costly mistakes. Usually, when I say proper preparation, I mean hire a professional. It is great when you can do it yourself and some projects qualify for this, but specialized trades have come into existence for a reason. If everyone could do it, everyone would open up a business doing it. Things that require skill should be done by their trade professionals. Countertops fall under that category almost as much as refinishing your own kitchen cabinets (oh, don’t even get me started on that non-sense! That will be another post!).

Resurfacing is a process that offers a questionable time period of wear and tear. The look is not desirable so it is not an improvement and therefore it decreases the value of your kitchen. If you were to sell your home, this would deter buyers who would consider this an item that must be replaced, a cheap fix for the most important room of the home. Please, don't even go there! You will be disappointed and pay twice as much for something you could have done right the first time. I hope this post will help you make an informed decision on this product. Hopefully, with enough complaints, dislike or lack of sales, the big box stores will take such a bad product off the shelves!

Forzastone- The Newest Name in Luxury Bathroom Design

Travertine is one of the most luxuriant and most popular surfaces for bathroom remodels in the last decade, but it has not been without it's flaws. Being natural stone, to try and get it to look like this picture was a labor intensive and highly expensive feat. Slabs of any stone are extremely heavy, therefore costly to purchase and install, requiring several men just to lift and put your stone in place. Then there's the typical, lighter but not so less intensive method of application- travertine tile. While beautiful and offered in thousands of styles, patterns and colors ranging from lower cost and lower quality Mexican travertine to the costlier Turkish variety, owners of this beauty had the horrors of natural stone maintenance to contend with. Travertine is an extremely porous stone, with random veining and pitting allowing bacteria to fester in any moist environment. Tiled showers also have grout lines which, even when sealed, change color from dirt, mildew and age. 

Forzastone offers a beautiful, affordable solution to homeowners who seek the luxury of travertine, with the ease of maintenance available in a standard shower surround. Forzastone is a lightweight, natural travertine or marble panel that installs with NO grout and in less than a day. It comes in six varieties of travertine and two different marbles, offering you endless looks when combined with a decorative tile border, like the shown here with a marble mosaic.

Forzastone is comprised of many layers, blending the highest quality natural stone with the best in technology to bring you luxury for your bathroom that boasts a LIFETIME WARRANTY. The stone itself is a sealed 5mm slab mounted on a reinforced metal alloy, which is then mounted on a 4mm reinforced plastic ply laminate, which is mounted on another reinforced metal alloy. Cleaning and maintenance are a breeze because each panel is pre-sealed and 100% waterproof, and I have to say it again... NO GROUT! 

Forzastone cannot be purchased by homeowners, as it must be installed by a certified installer, ensuring proper installation of the product and no void of your warranty. As a designer, I'm having fun creating unique bathrooms with interesting combinations of Forzastone and porcelains, glasses and other natural products on decks, counters and walls. For more information on this phenomenal new product and their range of colors, please check out their website at www.forzastone.com. Clients in the Phoenix- metro area interested in this product for their homes, I'd love to work with you to create a luxurious lav with  old world appeal or cutting edge modern looks. Please reach me at 480-227-1832 or www.fashionhouseinteriors.net and let's begin your journey into maintenance-free world of Forzastone. To all of my friends in the trade interested in using Forzastone in your own projects, please contact Jay Dunbar of J&M Custom Millwork & Remodeling. He's a certified installer who has done several installations throughout the valley. He's fast, professional and will make working with your clients on their bathroom a joy! He can be reached at 480-206-9183 or at his website at www.jmcustommillwork.com. 

Avoid Costly Design Mistakes With A D-I-Y Consultation

YUCK! SAVE MY UGLY ROOM!

In this time of economic uncertainty homeowners have become "crafty" in attempting to handle their own home remodels. They're hitting the big box stores in record numbers to bombard the paint department with their stabs in the dark at the right color for their walls, trolling discount furniture stores for the "perfect" pieces to create their dream room and stalking every liquidation center gathering decor to complete their look. Then they bring it all home, paint the walls, stuff all of their furnishings in there and top off their room with their carefully scouted finds, only to live with it for a week and find out it all doesn't quite work together. That shade of tan looks peach, the sofa is far too large for the walls they sit against and you have to walk around half of the room to get to the next. Something seems to be missing and you don't know what. But you've now spent so much money that you don't want to admit to yourself or anyone else that you probably shouldn't have done this on your own. Your husband tells you he loves it even though he finds the sofas uncomfortable and the kids are already ruining the finish on the coffee table and your household cleaners have made it worse. 

This economy has brought out the worst in those who have vowed to help you. HGTV and DIY have told you that you can save thousands by taking on your own remodel. You can re-purpose finds at tag sales with scrap fabric and for a few hundred bucks you can get mosaic tile that you can just slap on top of your 4" granite backsplash and it's an instant makeover! Then discount furniture stores like Ashleys and Razmataz  tell you that you can get that "Old World" look with overstuffed furnishings in rich looking fabrics that will make your room look like you spent a million bucks,but you really have no idea of the fabric codes and what they mean, the wear of them, the build of that sofa- is it sinuous costruction? 8- way hand tied? Is it corner blocked or screwed and glued? Is it pet friendly? Does it fade when steam cleaned? Does it even fit where you are putting it? Just because the wall is 8' wide and the sofa is 6' DOES NOT mean perfect fit. How deep is it? What style is it? How do you eclectically marry your style and your husbands? Do you see where this is all going?

You might have good taste but it takes far more to put together a fully functional, livable space. Interior design is not decoration, it's a skill fused with artistic interpretation of the innermost desires of a homeowner brought out through a designer's creativity. It is VERY easy to misinterpret the undertone of a paint color, to misread the scale of that sofa you love in the store. Then you have these "designers" in the stores who work on commission, have never seen your room and more than likely are not designers at all- trying to make the most off of your sale and recommending pieces for your home that they will never have to live with because it's your space. HOMEOWNERS- There's a reason that we designers exist! But I can also appreciate that not everyone can afford what we do. I don't believe that you should simply have to go it alone. All homeowners deserve to live in a beautiful, well functioning space! Therefore, I have created a solution to your problem...

Call Fashion House Interior Design Co, LLC for a D-I-Y Consultation. How does it work?

1. Prepare- Gather your thoughts, color ideas, pictures, magazine clippings and any notes on what you 

    might want in your room.

2. Schedule Your Consultation- We will meet for up to two hours, review your ideas and pics, get to 

    know you, your family and how you live within your space. We will then discuss colors, styles, 

    furniture ideas, flooring, walls, windows, lights and everything in between to create the perfect  

    space.  You can take as many notes and professional expertise from me as you can use to plan the 

    best space. These tools will help you make the right decisions when shopping on your own and 

    prevent costly mistakes.

3. Do It Yourself- Go out and shop for the items to create that dream room on your own with the 

   confidence necessary and the basic knowledge you need to accomplish your goals. 

The cost of this process is $300.00. The value is worth thousands!

A D-I-Y Consultation is assistance that you need to master the basics of design, but it is not meant to replace the expertise and extreme creativity that comes when hiring an interior designer to do your job from start to finish. It is meant to be a starting point for those who insist on going it alone. For more thorough assistance, drawings, layouts, project managing of sub-contractors, skilled labor and the many professional facets involved with creating your dream space you will need to hire a designer.