This week Talavera Custom, is working installing a full custom kitchen for our new partnership and satellite showroom location inside The Floor Store in Mesa AZ. We designed this new kitchen with a spectacular island and a wine station. So we want to let you know how is the process of this new masterpiece.

This client/partner asked us if we could innovate their kitchen. For us it was very important to know what they wanted, capture it and make it a reality. After some meetings, we had an incredible brainstorm, many ideas floated in the air and we settle some of them. Today, we want to share them with you.

In the design of this renewal, we included a kitchen island, we think this could fill gaps of space and at the same time add more storage (this can work in case you don’t have enough space), also the island adds style, and extra seating to share with your loved ones.

Additionally, we are remodeling the kitchen cabinets, and we have decided to add a wine station, so they can have it on hand, it will be sensational!

We are still under construction stage and all you can see a little mess. But work together with our partners/clients from The Floor Store and Spencer’s Appliance made a team of specialists to offer full service/turnkey home remodeling solutions.

In coming days, you will see a completed showroom pics and or video when counters and appliances are all in place.

[See image gallery at wp.talaveracustom.com]

Don’t forget to read our other articles and comment below with us any ideas you have in mind to remodel your home.

Have a happy remodeling day!

Before remodeling your home it is recommended that you review the ideas you have for remodeling and your budget. It is very important to have clear ideas! if something is not comfortable it will be changed, and this costs money. So it is better to plan well the idea of remodeling you want; it is a smart way to save time and money.

Here are some ideas to plan and put together the budget to remodel the home.

MAKE DECISIONS EARLY.

Start prowling the aisles at the hardware store or home center way before the wrecking crew shows up. Get a good feeling for what you want in fixtures and appliances and what they cost. If you aren’t absolutely specific up front about what you want, you’ll have to rely on your contractor’s estimate, called an allowance, and his notion of what is acceptable may be quite different from yours. For instance, you may have had a glass–tile backsplash in mind, but your contractor’s bid was for ceramic.

BALLPARK THE COSTS

Get a handle on how much your remodeling dreams will cost. In general, major upgrades, such as a bathroom remodel or a family-room addition, run $100 to $200 and more per square foot. If you’ll be using a design pro or remodeling contractor, discuss your project with them to get a rough idea of costs. Remember, have a clear idea of what you want it will save you a lot of money and time.

FIGURE OUT HOW MUCH YOU HAVE TO SPEND

Once you’ve zeroed in on a project, the next question is whether you have the money. If you’re paying cash, that’s easy to answer. But if you’re borrowing, you need to assess how much a bank will lend you and what that loan will add to your monthly expenses.

SET PRIORITIES AND TRIM THE PROJECT TO FIT YOUR BUDGET

Dreams and budget not in alignment? Carefully scale down your dream — chances are you’ll end up satisfied and solvent. Enlist your contractor for suggestions on cutting costs — that way, he’ll be an ally in helping you stick to your budget.

Possibilities include:

• Low-cost alternatives. For example, specify laminate countertops instead of granite.
• Keeping older items that are still in working condition. Appliances, furnaces, and lighting fixtures can be upgraded later.
• Making the project smaller.
• Buy it yourself. You’ll save up to 20% on your project costs if you buy materials and appliances yourself. Be sure to coordinate with your contractor.

GET QUOTES FROM CONTRACTORS

Before seeking bids, determine exactly what you want, right down to the kitchen countertop material and the type of faucet. By specifying these details up front, you ensure that prospective contractors are all pricing the same items.

Get recommendations for at least three contractors from friends, neighbors, and other tradesmen who you trust. Give each one your project description and specific product lists and request an itemized bid. To find the right contractor:

• Ask to see their recent work
• Check references
• Look at online sites that provide peer reviews of contractors

At Talavera Custom we will happy to help you and guide you to remodel your home with a tight budget. Give us a call!

Brick fireplaces are the most popular, it’s an easy solution is to simply wrap the brick in either tile, leaving the exposed brick for the firebox. Definitely, It’s one of the least expensive, Others prefer to use drywall to cover all the zone where the fireplace will be in, but let us tell you that wood is a way to remodel a fireplace with a low budget, and it looks original, modern and sophisticated, sounds perfect, right? By the other hand, if you set the wood over the brick, this remain beneath the new material in case a future home buyer prefers brick. Clever!

For this client, we decided to cover the entire wall where the fireplace is in order to make a simple and uniform design yet stylish. The wood gives a spectacular finish and best of all, it will be easy to clean. Then we framed out with a black coated angle iron, this makes see the place with a cleaner design.

Replacing a fireplace wall is mostly an aesthetic choice, but besides that, an updated fireplace can also add a resale value to your home.
You must be asking yourself when to do this? Well, our recommendation is to start this project if you’re considering remodeling the entire room or doing anything to the walls, including painting. It is best to start with the fireplace.
When you decide what kind of fireplace want, let us know! We will be delighted on helping you creating a masterpiece, and for sure we will do our best to make it real.

[See image gallery at wp.talaveracustom.com]

Clean your gutters

If your gutters overflow, excess rainwater can flood your gardens and saturate your home’s foundation, which, can make your home more unstable and may ultimately cause your foundation to shift or even collapse.

To avoid these issues, please be sure to clean your gutters at least once a year (yes! that’s enough!). You can do this yourself with a few simple tools or you can hire someone to come clean your gutters for you. For extra protection, you can install gutter covers to prevent debris from getting stuck. (We can do that for you! Thanks in advance for contacting us!)

Be aware of downspouts

If your gutters are working correctly, they will effectively push water down to the ground through downspouts. Ensure that your downspouts are placed so that they do not release water right next to your home, which causes water to seep directly into your home’s foundation.

If your downspouts are not in the right spot, you can try extending them so they release water in a different location, like a side yard, instead of close to your home.

An extended downspout is essentially a series of small, underground drainpipes that move water to a location where it is safe for water to seep into the soil. This project does require some digging to place the pipes underground, but it creates a great drainage system that does not interfere with the beauty of your landscaping.

Wall Cracks

Ok, This is important too!

Another important check to be made is the walls of your home. When the rains affect the exterior of the walls, it damages the walls thus paving the rain water to seep in and cause cracks. It could even result in the fungal growth, thus putting your family’s health on stake. This can be prevented by painting the walls with water proof paints and continuous monitoring of the walls twice a year.

Check for the imperfections in doors, windows & air conditioner ducts

You have to make sure that both doors and windows close and seal properly. Do not take it lightly as it can cause the leakage of rainwater inside your home and cause your discomfort. Air conditioner ducts can leave the trail of rainwater streaming across the surface of exterior walls. Plan and fix the problem while you are preparing your home for this rainy season.

Waterproof entryways

Make sure that your doors, windows and entryway flooring are adequately waterproofed and can withstand a good amount of moisture. However, waterproofing these areas once will not get the job done for future monsoon seasons.

Weather strips on doors and windows should be replaced regularly, as they can tear and bend over time, which lets our precious air-conditioned air out and rain water in. Good waterproofing on the outside of your home will keep the inside of your home safe and dry.

If you are looking for ways to protect your indoor flooring from water, try sealing your floors. Many sealers will help make your flooring water-resistant. While this is not the same as waterproofing, sealers provide one extra layer of protection from the rainwater, dirt and other debris that might make its way into your home.

Be mindful of yard grading

Water will run down your yard and build up quickly if your yard is angled even slightly toward your home. You need to beware, because can seep into the ground after the storm, potentially ruining landscaping and saturating your home’s foundation.

Try installing a retaining wall close to your home. Retaining walls can be a great spot for a small garden, an outdoor fireplace, or bench seating, and can be made of beautiful stone. Installing a drain pipe, sort of like the extended downspout mentioned above, in front of or behind the retaining wall can also help divert water away from your home. These walls can be practical and luxurious.

Rains can bring you happiness and make your mind soothing and relaxed. Do not let monsoon season sneak up on you this year! They may be harmful to your home in certain ways but with the above tips taken seriously and acting wisely by taking necessary precautionary steps, you don’t have to worry about the devastation caused by monsoon rains. Make sure to look out for flood advisories (we can help you with this) and monsoon warnings and stay safe during the storms.

If you need to do any of the corrections advise above, contact us, we can take care of it. Sit back, relax and relish the rainy moments knowing that your house is guarded totally safe. For more information, click http://wp.talaveracustom.com

At Talavera Custom many of our clients share with us their concern about remodeling or upgrading some items of the kitchen. Let’s be honest: the kitchen is the center of the home and the hub of activity. So you MUST be concerned about remodeling the kitchen because it  can be a major undertaking.

Make your dream come true!

Find inspiration in our gallery, or any other website as Pinterest; you will find tons of designs but consider a BIG tip from Mary Jo Peterson, principal, Mary Jo Peterson Inc says “Choose cabinets you love, and a layout that works for your family’s lifestyle”. When remodeling a kitchen, think function, efficiency, style and longevity. A kitchen should last for 20 years or more.

Once you know what you want, think about the budget. Make a plan that will fit with your dream and the money you want to spend, also you can make a plan about selling your old kitchen’s stuff and use that money for the new appliances.

Where to storage or hide your mess?

We think in all and we work with all type of clients. Once you upgrade your kitchen we can redesign your spaces making more optimal and handful as your wish. These are some examples of an Atrium converted into a pantry.

[See image gallery at wp.talaveracustom.com]

Keep dreaming! We’ll Help You! with this ‘major’ task, we will listen to your ideas and discuss your budget, then we will create the perfect design for your room. We are a team and we are together in this and we will guide you step by step through the selection process.

Keep in mind these tips when remodeling:

• Be inspired with designs that suit your taste
• Set goals for your kitchen remodel
• Personalize the space to suit your lifestyle
• Budget and space plan
• Contact us to help you go through it!

Don’t forget to leave us a tip or idea. We will appreciate it!

Along with our custom cabinet design build options, we now are an authorized dealer for Sollid Cabinetry. This is an amazing opportunity to bring many more customer options for materials and price points to help meeting everyone’s future cabinet needs.

Any idea or requirement on cabinets that comes to your mind, please, let us know! We will provide you with a quote and extremely professional results to your satisfaction.

From Sollid Cabinetry website:

PAMPER YOUR KITCHEN WITH OUR COLLECTION OF FINE STYLES AND FINISHES.

Enjoy beautiful, high-quality cabinets priced to maximize any budget.

Take a look!

Shelves:

We all need storage space! Right? Think out of the box! Show your photos and memories with a touch of design.

Source: ApartmentTherapy

Bookshelves:

For avid readers out there, we can create these gorgeous bookshelves for you! Aren’t they amazing?

Source: Cuded.com

Why not step into the custom furniture world? Let us help you create uniqueness in your home. Contact us now!

Build a Pergola.

We are in Phoenix, AZ, and the sun can sometimes be too bright and too hot, even in spring months. You should use every shade available to avoid UV rays. Of course there are many ways to accomplish this but why not with a gorgeous pergola? We found an easy way to do it in this article. Here are the highlights:

1. Measure, design and choose your lumber
2. Dig a hole and install the bases
3. Assemble the frame, and start drilling
4. You can make it fancy with lights or cloth

Place a  Walkway

Give your patio some unique style! It is very easy to accomplish. Slate, pavers, tile, bricks, you name it! there are infinite options that will apply a touch of beauty to your yard. We found this information on how to do it.  You can use:

• Flagstone
• Pavers
• Mulch
• Slate
• Gravel
• Brick
• Concrete

Get creative!

Repurpose old pieces: Pallet to table

Instead of buying a table why not build it? We recommend repurposing a Pallet, specially because today is Earth day. Take a look at this simple yet beautiful project you can do yourself!

For all these projects, Talavera Custom can help you! We can give you ideas to make your yard unique so it matches your lifestyle. Contact us!

Here’s a showcase of what we’ve been working on:

Walk-in closet wardrobe. 12 foot high. Custom dresser and hutch:

Bathroom remodeling:

We describe details of our work in this YouTube video:

New custom clear alder door, made in our own shop. Compare the quality! the door on the left is our creation. The door on the right, as you can see, is very poor quality and poorly finished.

Look at this gorgeous custom dresser we built for a client’s closet:

We built furniture according our customer’s desires and we are very careful to measure every area of your home to fit our final product and blend the design with your decorative style. We are proud of the quality of our custom made furniture and we’re a phone call away to serve all your remodel / customization needs. Contact us! You will be amazed at what we can do for you and your home.

2930 West Clarendon Ave.
Phoenix AZ 85017

  info@talaveracustom.com

  (480) 393-6224

Lebakken house remodel

Talavera just finished a FLOOR to CEILING home remodel. We did a major overhaul on every single area of the house, designed and built custom cabinets for this client. We want to share the results with you!

Take a look:

New Tile.

All new kitchen, with Talavera’s custom cabinets.

Beautiful granite counters

Extensive Drywall work.

Added modern lighting fixtures.

Painted the whole house.

• Custom made furniture. We made a bar cabinet for the Lebakken family. Isn’t it gorgeous?

One of the most beautiful features of this project is the custom, hand made,  Mexican tile recessed around the fireplace front. Pay attention to the detail of the colored concrete to make it more appealing. Raised Hearth and distressed white oak mantle. This piece gives a focal point to the decoration of the house, making it absolutely unique.

[See image gallery at wp.talaveracustom.com]

Commercial project: The beginning

We started the demolition on a Comercial site. Talavera will need to open the space in a few areas and install a supporting beam in to achieve the goal.

[See image gallery at wp.talaveracustom.com]

Do you want to remodel your home? your office? your restaurant? Or do you want custom cabinets for your space? Contact us! We can be your center of experience and make your project a reality in a very short time and within budget. We’re the experts always available to help you.