Happy New Year
Hey guys! I hope everyone had great holidays, I know I did. It was great to have family come from New York City and Miami Florida. It's always fun having lots of kids around the house - and I mean "lots"! We had around 15 kids at one point running around, others paying video games, others just chilling. I miss that age.
I wish everyone the best for this new year 2014, which by the way, can you believe the first week of January is gone? jeez!!
Back to business. New Year, new goals, new inspirations, new things to learn. All in the name of love for the art and industry of Home Improvements! This year I feel like the number of kitchen renovations being considered, planned and executed by home owners will keep growing. I am not an economist by any means, but - from what I understand and see - the economy is getting better. This of course is great news for us in the industry of home improvements and construction.
Slow Months
As many of you know, January and February are the slowest months of any year for home improvement projects like kitchen remodeling, granite countertop replacements, bathroom renovations or even home additions or basements. This happens I believe because people get financially drained with all the holiday shopping, gifts, parties and other expenses linked to enjoying the year-end holidays. Nevertheless some people plan ahead and want to have their projects ready to enjoy for spring and summer. With a standard kitchen remodeling job taking anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks, planning ahead of time is essential.
This is a great time (while you're a little slow) to put together some great tips and articles that can help your potential customers plan ahead. Tip - Doing a little online marketing around this time a year can never hurt your business. Just by looking at my Google Analytics, I can see that in January people are already starting to prepare (thus plan ahead) for spring projects. People are searching for project ideas, inspiration, trends, etc. If you have something that you would like to share with us, please send it over and we would love to post it on our blog or even our website. You can just leave me a message or comment here.
Kitchen Trends for 2014
Some things never get old or go out of style. Some things do go out of style, but eventually come back around in a matter of years or in some cases decades.
Granite countertops or other types of natural stone surfaces don't seem to be going anywhere for a while. These are the number one improvement project that home owners will continue to make for decades. The price for having "natural stone" sitting in your very own kitchen is phenomenally affordable nowadays.
A look further ahead
Don't worry, there is plenty of granite to go around! By the time we start running out of these natural stones like granite, marble, travertine, among others, we will already have the technology and resources to be fabricating countertops from lunar stone or maybe even other types of natural stones found in Mars. Imagine that. If we think about this, it's completely possible. I just hope we get to see it in our lifetime.
In my opinion, one of the classic look for kitchens are black granite counters. These are elegant, luxurious, never get old, natural of course, plus you can combine them with almost any color cabinets, floors or wall paint. They look extraordinarily sophisticated with the right combination of light fixtures and appliances. I know I mentioned this before, but granite countertops are very affordable.
If you are into the green movement, there will be many more options for green surfaces like GEOS, which is made from recycled glass materials. Take a look at some green recycled colors, they are gorgeous.
Cabinets? Of course. More designers are matching those black counters with glass door kitchen cabinets. This is especially true in smaller kitchens. The glass allows the space to become more open. Kitchen islands are also a growing trend it seems. I see more and more people requesting an island be considered into the kitchen design process. Islands do a great job at allowing additional (much needed in most cases) storage space and working surface for cooking, baking or even an overhang to sit a couple of people for breakfast or lunch.
Much more to come
I know, but I have to go now. I promise to keep bringing you more inspirational articles and other fun materials. Again, if you have something you want to share with us or the world, let me know, I love working and learning from other people. If there is anything I can help with, I'm here to help.
Have a great week!
