Reclaimed barn wood becomes an office door!

This link will take you to Porter Barn Wood to see the steps taken to make a custom door for one of my clients. When they bought their dream home last year there was originally a solid wall in the foyer and you could only access the den from the master bedroom.  Their first step once they moved in was to create a doorway off the foyer and close off the den from the master bedroom, all done pretty easily with drywall, texture and paint.

From there it became a decision of what type of door to put on the den (now his office) because it’s one of the first things you see as you enter their home.  After much research they found Porter Barn Wood, a local company that makes custom doors made from reclaimed barn wood.  Their work is outstanding!  You can choose finishes that are more rustic or modern and lots of choices in between.

Check out this link to see the steps taken to make the door and the final installation in my clients’ home.  I’m trying to figure out a place in my home to put one of these, it’s truly a piece of (functional) art!

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Raise the height of your bathroom counters

Slab granite has become so affordable and it’s still a stylish choice for our Phoenix kitchens & baths. The secret however to making your investment work in the bathroom is this: you can’t put a pretty granite over short, old cabinets and expect it to pop. If the cabinets are in good shape but just need to be painted or stained, it’s well worth that nominal investment (of painting/refinishing them) and raising the height of them before investing in a new countertop.  This is also true if you’re looking to spruce up your house before you list it, you’ll get the money out of this investment if you do it the right way.

I’ve done this before with old cabinets, painted them and added tumbled tile to the top and sides to build up the height, but this time I tried it with slab granite in a rental property I recently purchased. Because my granite fabricator was so affordable I was able to not only re-do the kitchen but both bathrooms as well.  After one contractor sanded & painted the cabinets I asked the granite fabricator to build a frame around the top of each set of bathroom cabinets before installing the granite. Then he wrapped the frame in what would have otherwise been scraps of granite destined for the boneyard.  This raised the cabinet height by over 4 inches and the total cost to do the kitchen and bathroom counters (which also included the stainless kitchen sink and all four bathroom sinks) was $3,075.  And I LOVE the big stainless sink he got for the kitchen!  There are several levels of granite to choose from so prices may vary based on what you choose but this gives you a good frame of reference on cost.

Four of my clients have gone on to use William (granite contact) since seeing this project and all are very pleased with him.  I’ve also included photos from one of those clients who had two of their bathrooms re-done.  In their case the cabinets were in great condition so they merely added the granite and under mount sinks. I really like the edge they chose for their granite, much dressier than the edge I chose for my investment property.

Here are a few pics. If you’re a local and want my guys number let me know, he’s great.

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