Archive for the ‘Bathroom Renovations’ Category

Bathroom Tiles seem like a rather mundane task to choose but the plethora of options both makes it further confusing but also potentially exciting. Beyond the aesthetics we must also consider their practicality. Will they be slippery, will they brighten your bathroom, will they wear well. All this must be considered when choosing your bathroom tiles.

The first question is do you want standard or ritzy. Standard will give your ceramic tiles, Ritzy will give you stone, and if you can’t make up your mind spring for porcelain.

Things to consider beyond the budget:

• Stone may win aesthetically but it is a natural, and thus porous, material. This means that it will “hold” stuff more readily. Harder to clean, more likely to stain.
• Ceramic and Porcelain are non porous and so not so susceptible to this. With these two you also have your choice of glazed or unglazed, either giving you further depth to the look you are trying to achieve.
• Careful of tiles that need to be “sealed” as this may counteract their non-slip surface.
• General rule is the smaller the bathroom, the smaller the tiles so as not to offset and contrast.
• Consider the grout! As this can both clash and compliment the tiles you have chosen and lighter grouts are notoriously given to staining.
• Some tiles require more “maintenance” than others, be sure to find out what is involved in the upkeep of the tiles you have chosen.

Always check the physical product first before you go buying in bulk as nothing else can possibly do it justice, or in many cases, misrepresent it!

For any and all enquires regarding the tiling of your bathroom renovation please do not hesitate to call Rosemary on 99 675 675

The beauty of renovations is that you can fashion for yourself the kitchen you have been wishing you had since you moved into your home. You can have that extra bench space, those drawers you covet in your friends kitchen, that stove top with the industrial wok burner. However the process of designing your new kitchen comes down to more than a wish list and requires the consideration of several factors. We will try and outline some points here that you will need to address.

• Budget, Budget, Budget – So much of your design is going to be determined by the amount of money you are willing to spend.
  

  what to consider in design

• The most important part of kitchen cupboard design is to consider how food moves through the kitchen from storage to preparation to cooking and washing, etc.  As part of the plan you also want to minimise the movement triangle – fridge to sink to oven.
• The kitchen sink is usually located under the window (so you can look at things whilst washing the dishes)  The sink size being dependent on wether you are having a dishwasher or not.
• Now is the perfect time for you to vent the range hood outside, so this might put restrictions on your plan.
• Give the flooring consideration as different materials are more prone to slips and falls.
• Don’t Forget Lighting! There is nothing more frustrating than trying to cook or prepare food while you cast a shadow over your area of work
• Design a Safe kitchen, especially if there are children in the house
• If the kitchen’s sink features prominently then your bench top is King. Make sure it is large enough to accommodate your needs and situated such a focal point. It will also consist of a large amount of material, so If you are splashing out on granite pay close attention to its size and design.  Incorporate a breakfast bar?

For all enquires please contact Rosemary on 99 675 675

your chance to be unique

to produce "your" kitchen

Kitchen tiles are one of the little accents that you may apply to your kitchen to really individualise your kitchen and have it speak for you. A careful co-ordination of floors and splashbacks can draw the eye and soothe the mind, not to mention stop you from slipping and protect your walls from hot oil.

Here is where boldness pays off, a contrasting of colours or a prominent line is called for rather than uniform beige. A successful coordination means a contrast of the tiles and your cupboards/bench top. You can even use different materials and textures to effect this contrast, a healthy mix of matt, silk, gloss, natural stone, porcelain, metal and glass and don’t forget to pay attention to grout colour.

Tiles are among the best choice for your kitchen floors. If Ceramic floor tiles strike you as cold and hazardous then stone or  terracotta awaits you. The downside to these is that they are naturally porous and so naturally attract more dirt, this can be combated with the application of a sealant. And on the subject of avoiding the caking of dirt, it is best to opt for a darker grout for floor tiles so that it may show less. However, this may not fit with your design if you have opted for lighter tiles, this just means that you will be rolling up your sleeves and applying grout cleaner more often

For all enquires please contact Rosemary on 99 675 675

Cupboards, more crucial than you may have realised

When starting to plan your kitchen renovation you may get quickly waylaid by the glitz and the glamour of appliances. However a kitchen is not built around your oven, rather it is your preference for cupboards that dictates a kitchens design. This is not simply because they provide the façade for your kitchen but more because they compose the bulk of your kitchen. So let’s look at three sections of cabinets; materials, Design and functionality/features.

Materials:

Wood is the most common option as the range that it affords is staggering. It also allows for a range of budgets from cheap and nasty birch to bourgeois ebony. Metal is another viable choice which is not given to the aging/warping of wood, however it does not come with such a range of colours and styles. They are exceedingly durable but at a raise in price above wood. The cheapest option is laminate, but they come in a myriad of colours!

Design:

The design is largely constituted by the type of door panel. The most common categories are slab, raised or recessed. A Slab look makes for a clean modern look for your kitchen whereas a raised or recessed panel can give it a more traditional/country feel.

Functionality/Features:

The options here are endless but so we will just make mention of a few items to wet your appetite.

• The walk in pantry – If you have the space they are invaluable
• Soft Closing Drawers – So your pubescent offspring will never be able to close a kitchen cupboard in anger again
• Deep drawers – To store deep things, great for that ever increasing collection of canned vegetables
• Spice racks – Because nothing says OCD better than a meticulously organised spice rack
• Roll out trays in base cabinets – so that you never have to forage the dark recesses of your cupboards again
• Rubbish Bin in base cabinets – Hide them away so they don’t sully your kitchens appearance

For any and all queries about your kitchen renovation, please do not hesitate to call Rosemary on 99 675 675

If you were to wiki Mosaic (and if you are reading blogs then you are no doubt wont to) it would tell you that it “is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials”. Whilst this form of art has historically found expression in cathedrals and Roman public baths it can now be effectively used to brighten up and truly individualize your own bathroom or kitchen. Does this fall into the “trends of 2010” category? No, it is actively distancing yourself from a trend and making your own unique voice heard… or rather seen.

• Stone Mosaics are smooth and non-slippery so they are perfect for bathroom floors. A natural cascading zen flow can be fostered from pebble wash or slate, marble or travertine may be used to give the impression of natural stone
• Glass and Metal Mosaics find their place on bathroom walls and kitchen backsplashes, the pair of them (glass and metal) always conspiring to bring more space, light and colour to whatever room they grace. Common materials used here are vitreous glass and smalti (Byzantine glass).

So when you are considering your dream bathroom or kitchen renovation remember that there is the accent of mosaics available to you, truly making your dream a unique one. For any and all queries regarding mosaics and bathroom and kitchen renovations please do not hesitate to call Linda on 99 675 675

like it or not, it's a hot topic

whether you’re a skeptic or an environmental radical you can’t deny that it is the trend of 2010. Beyond ideals and the aversion of extinction, creating a “green” bathroom is often cost effective as you are essentially trying to use less. Beyond this we should also consider the global microcosm of Sydney; Hollywood Bathrooms and Kitchens is based in Willoughby and primarily services the north shore and it is our duty (as “north shorers”) to take the first step in this and take up the slack of the developing world (read “the west”). So if you are looking to expiate your eco-guilt or if you just wish to drop your bathrooms carbon footprint into conversation there are several things you need to consider.

Low-Flow Toilets

These are not simply toilets with that half flush option that we in Australia are so familiar with but rather toilets that reduce flow dramatically without compromising their original purpose.

Energy Efficient Lighting

If you haven’t installed these already for savings alone then get on it

Low Flow Shower Heads

In the same vein as Low-Flow toilets, Bathrooms hog the most water in the home after the Laundry. Curbing the usage, however possible, is key.

Sustainable Building Products

When designing your renovated bathroom, opt for materials made of recycled or renewable sources

So if it’s the parallels with cost cutting or displaced polar bears consider the environment as you consider your new bathroom. For any and all questions regarding your dream bathroom please do not hesitate to call Linda on 99 675 675

An Essential Part of any kitchen

Range hoods are essential to any kitchen. Without them you are left with a thin film of grease covering all exposed surfaces and the sound of the smoke alarm resonating in your ears. Your choice of range hood becomes more important depending on what you intend to be cooking. If lots of stir fry’s are on the menu then you will need a range hood of some force in order to remove all the airborne oils. There are essentially three types of range hood ducting options to consider when renovating your kitchen.

In ceiling

The gasses will be vented into the ceiling space. You will need to ensure sufficient airflow exists in the attic space so that the gases can get away.

Carbon filter

This will filter the gasses, oils, smoke etc and eject clean air but the filter must be changed at regular intervals.

Outer wall

Send it straight outside for mother nature to worry about, she loves it.

The ducted option (in ceiling, outer wall) is always preferable and a renovation is the perfect time to knock a hole in the wall and not have to replace a carbon filter ever again.  Hollywood Bathrooms and Kitchens have all the trades to ensure that the work will occur without hassles and all under one project manager.

For any and all enquiries about range hood installation call Linda on 99 675 675

How do you make a little space look bigger?

Lining the walls of your bathroom with mirrors will certainly have your bathroom stretching out to infinity.  However it is not the most orthodox choice and perhaps only suitable for the more narcissistic among us.  Here are two key elements for attaining “Open Space”

1. Jostling your Bath and Window

Jostling either does not sound easy, or in the latter case cheap, but the finer points of how these two are placed can dramatically change your perception of a bathroom.  Invariably a bath should not be placed below a window, compare…

a)  A bath jutting out from the window.

b)  Seeing the floor all the way up to the window wall.

Our eye picks up the vertical plane of the front of the bath.  If it sits below the window the room is perceived to be smaller.  Not to mention not having to awkwardly reach over the bath to open the window (a more significant hassle if you are without an exhaust fan)

2. Knock Down a Wall or Two

When you have exhausted the possibility of shifting the elements around it’s time to produce a sledge hammer.  Many bathrooms are separated into 2 or three compartmentalized units (basin, toilet, bath/shower) each walled off from one another.  At the obvious sacrifice of multiple people using the facilities at once (or as the children leave) you may join all these areas together and reclaim more “Open Space” so you can fit in a corner spa or a double bowl vanity.

Hollywood Bathrooms and Kitchens are licensed builders (only those with builder’s licenses rather then just renovation licences can knock down walls) and are therefore able to provide the convenience of not only a new bathroom Layout but an entirely new bathroom.

For any and all enquiries about these or other options for redeeming some coveted Open Space do not hesitate to call Linda on 99 675 675

believe it or not, this is a heated towel rail

At one time or another we have all experienced the pleasure of dryer-fresh clothes, that minute or two where they impart their toasty warmth to your cold morning skin.  And if not then I advise you to go into the laundry and begin cooking your underwear immediately because you are missing out.

And I can also make the assumption that we are also too familiar with the towel that just doesn’t manage to dry in between showers, that really only succeeds in smearing the previous days water over you, imparting the musty presence of showers past into your bathroom.

So let us consider the second heating option for your bathroom renovation, the heated towel rail. Far from the image of the ugly ribbed radiator sitting in the centre of your feng shui bathroom, messing up your chi flows, heated towel rails can add a minimalist flair (if there is a such a thing) that is both eye catching and agreeable.  And the running costs, we’re talking a couple of cents per day.

The most common installation sees a direct connection to the mains, with a manual on-off switch and timer at your disposal ensuring warm towels every morning and evening.  The range of styles is ever widening ensuring that your specific desires for your renovated bathroom are met and exceeded.

For any and all enquiries about these or other options for heating your bathrooms please do not hesitate to call Linda on 99 675 675

the stove present below a Korean Palace

For those in the know Ondol is the traditional form of heating employed by our industrious friends the Koreans. Whilst its traditional form saw actual stoves beneath Korean palaces, it is now common practice to have electrically heated floors in the modern Korean home.

However this is not one of those space age Japanese toilets (also heated) where integration into the west is unforeseeable. Rather the modest Ondol has found its way into bathroom renovations. Far from reducing the aesthetic of a bathroom it is barely detectable (besides the obvious warmth) and can be installed in conjunction with practically all the regular surfaces you would choose for your newly renovated bathroom. So consider these Ondol options and consider stepping out of the warm shower and no longer contending with the frigid bathroom floor that winter bears.

Electric:

Much like your electric stove top, there are coils residing beneath the surface that will provide resistance and thus heat when fed an electric current.

Hot Water:

Here we see hot water piped in coils transferring the heat to its surroundings. This may be sourced from your regular hot water supply though size is a consideration.  This is normally used in Europe and America where homes have extensive water boilers but not so much in Australia where the climate is warmer.

Cross Section of Modern Ondol Installation

Other options for heating a room (to be discussed in further posts) are using wall heaters, heated towel rails, IXLs or equivalent.

For further information about the installation of heated floors and any and all bathroom renovations please do not hesitate to call

Linda 99 675 675