Top Interior Design Websites

Coming up with ideas as to what you would like your freshly renovated kitchen or bathroom to look like can be stressful and overwhelming. Here at Coordinated Kitchen & Bath in North Vancouver we have created a list of some of our favorite interior design websites to help you work through what colours, materials, and designs you would like to incorporate into your space.

a.) Houzz.com – Houzz boasts the largest number of interior design and decorating ideas on the Internet. One of the best resources available to see what is being done in kitchens and bathrooms across the world. Invariably everyone’s niche aesthetic will be satisfied.

b.) Roomenvy.co.uk – More selective than Houzz in that only a few very strong ideas are presented at a time. Focused primarily on the interior of homes Roomenvy showcases some of the most creative design work on the web.

c.) Designshuffle.com – Typically showcase full houses. Some very unique approaches to design and architecture are to be found throughout the site. An excellent resource if you are looking to renovate your entire home or are simply trying to integrate your kitchen and bathroom into the overall aesthetic of your house.

d.) Emmas.blogg.se – If you enjoy contemporary Scandinavian design then welcome to paradise.A picture filled blog by Emma Fexeus with a fantastic layout.

To see a sample of Coordinated Kitchen & Bath’s design and renovation work you can head over to our website through the following link:

www.coordinatedkitchens.com/

Countertop Companies

Here at Coordinated Kitchen & Bath in North Vancouver we have access to, and use numerous counter-top brands to achieve the ideal look in your space. Each brand offers its own unique products in a wide variety of colours and finishes. The different brands we use are:

Artisan Stone Collection: Granite and marble countertop's available in a variety of unique colours.

Atlas Stone Products: Provide customers with a wide-selection of kitchen and bathroom countertop options.

Cambria: Family owned business that produces natural quartz surfaces.

Caesarstone: Craft a wide-range of durable and beautiful quartz surfaces in a plethora of colours and finishes.

DuPont: Corian is a solid surface material engineered to be both visually stunning and long-lasting.

EOS Solid Surface: Bridge the gap between seamless solid surfaces and high-end laminate. Offer unique surfaces that blend recycled glass.

LG Hausys: Offer high performance quartz and acrylic surfaces.

Margranite: Produce high quality granite slabs and tiles.

Quartzform: Design and produce quartz surfaces ideal for countertop's and interior design.

Silestone: One of the world’s leading producers of quartz surfaces, designed for high-quality kitchens and bathrooms.

Vetrazzo: Convert recycled glass into exquisite countertop's.

Vicostone: Transform natural beauty into well crafted quartz surfaces.

Zodiac: High quality quartz surfaces manufactured and designed by DuPont.

Bathroom Ventilation Fans

We here at Coordinated Kitchen & Bath have created a rough outline as to what you should look for in a bathroom ventilation fan.

The hot showers you so enjoy could be hurting your house by concentrating humidity and moisture in your bathroom. This is a breeding ground for mildew and mold, which can damage the integrity of the structural materials in your bathroom.

The bathroom ventilation fan is important to help remove excess moisture from the space, thereby preventing the build-up of mildew and mold. Bathroom fans are small and unobtrusive devices that help to protect the integrity of your house. New technologies have helped to make them quieter and more efficient.

Recommendations: 

In some cases bathroom ventilation fans are set up to release air between ceiling joists. However this merely traps the air in the middle levels of the housing, which have a tendency to be dark and closed spaces. The trapped humidity and moisture condenses on cold surfaces and can cause the spread of mold on joists, walls, and ceiling materials.

It is recommended that your bathroom exhaust fans are channeled to the outside of your home, thereby reducing the possibility of mildew and mold build-up.

Bathroom ventilation units have different air flow capacities, they are measured in cupid feet per minute (cfm). It is recommended that you have 1 cfm for every square foot of floor space in your bathroom.

Bathroom Lighting

The lighting in your bathroom is a key aspect of the overall look and feel of the space. Here at Coordinated Kitchen & Bath we have highlighted five useful tips to ensure the lighting in your bathroom looks fantastic.

Decorative: Decorative lights are often used in conjunction with other task lights to help create a mood or feel in the bathroom. To ensure coordination within the space, match finishes, materials, and accents.

Recessed: Creates a clean and open feel. The lights unobtrusively blend into the structure of the bathroom. Make sure the lights are close enough to the mirror that they won’t create annoying shadows when you use the space.

Besides the mirror: Putting lighting besides the bathroom mirror will often result in even open lighting, thereby reducing shadows and glare. Place the light at face level on either side of the mirror. This will allow you to easily do tasks in front of your mirror as the lights will accentuate contrast and colour, while contributing a nice accent to the rest of the space.

On the mirror: Ensure that both sides of the light are finished as the mirror will reflect the back of the light. If you want a sleek and modern look for your bathroom this may be the option for you, as the light can seamlessly blend into its environment.

Are lower rates making home ownership more accessible for consumers?

Interest rates continue stay low or fall in Canada and in most established OECD economies, but is this making home ownership more accessible for consumers?

In theory lower rates should result in a corresponding rise in the value of fixed assets such as houses, as more consumers have access to larger amounts of leveraged funds; however, in Canada this is probably no longer the case as incomes remain flat and debt high, making these posted mortgages very difficult to qualify for.

Given many consumers cannot qualify for these new posted rates, or simply do not want to be put through the stress of layers of credit assessments, they either cannot upgrade to a new home, or cannot find prospective buyers to sell their home to.

The result of this new reality is that sellers in the market place should consider the possibility of staying in their current home for a longer period of time than potentially anticipated, perhaps many years into the future. It seems that Canadians are tuning into this reality and have been turning to the renovation market as an alternative to selling or house flipping. (1)

At Coordinated Kitchen and Bath, we believe that performing quality renovations continue to be the best way to get the most out of a home. Quality renovations ensure that not only will your home be great for you for many years to come, it will also be ready to sell when the right market conditions return - now or many years in the future.






(1) http://business.financialpost.com/2014/04/16/canada-housing-market-renovations/