Are you missing the obvious when you give your home an exterior makeover?

People love to make their house look beautiful on the outside. Most often the way to do that is to add landscaping, shutters or a nice front door color. It can really make their home look cozy and warm. There are a few thing that get overlooked by most people when beautifying their homes exterior. I really like adding a few features to the outside of a house that go a long way towards making it look neat and tidy. Let me reveal a few of my tricks to improve your house's look.

The first thing I recommend is to hide those trash cans! If your neighborhood is like mine, it is populated by those horrible bright blue or green trash cans and recycling bins. You can neatly line them up on the side of your house, but they still stick out like a sore thumb. 

 This is a relatively simple way to hide your garbage bins. It is made of 1x6 tongue and groove pine with the beveled edge out. its nailed to a pressure treated 2x4 frame and stained to match the house. The top has roofing to match the house, and the hinges and hardware are painted to blend in. It's very simple and clean looking, and instead of horrible trash cans, you have a nice feature that adds to the attractiveness of your home.

Something else that effects the look of your house is the electrical meter bolted on the side of your house. Its so common that I bet you don't even notice it on your own home...  Until it's gone, that is. This is a matching enclosure to compliment the trash storage on the other end of the house. The electrical meter is inside, hidden from view as you approach the house, but easily accessible to the electric company or anyone who needs to get at it. It is a much better look than the pipes and metal case of the electrical meter.

 The last feature added to this house doesn't hide anything in particular, But it lets the homeowner add a vertical bit of greenery to a blank wall on the side of the home. Using square lattice instead of the normal diagonal keeps to the traditional New England beach home style. A climbing hydrangea growing up it adds woody vines, a dark green leaf and beautiful flowers to the muted gray of the wall.

The lattice is sandwiched in the rectangular frame keeping to the simple square trim work that is a design feature on the rest of the house. By hanging the lattice right on the house, it prevents it from being moved by weather or the plants themselves and looks clean for years to come.

 These are just a few tricks to make your house look neater and cleaner year round. Attention to detail is important to make your home look its absolute best. You can easily add little features like these to make a huge difference in the way your house looks from the outside. These tricks can be applied to all sorts of the necessary parts of your home that just don't look good. Just look around, I am sure you will find something to hide...  Hmmmm, that air conditioning condenser could use a makeover too. 

My First DIY video, How to replace a shower head. I Install "The Moxie" from Kohler. a Shower head with an integrated speaker.

Well here it is... my first video DIY project. I show you how to replace a shower head with a new Moxie from Kohler. This is an easy project suitable for beginners, and takes about 10-15 minutes to do with minimal tools. simple DIY project that really brings your shower into the 21st century. 

The Moxie shower head (See my review here) is a shower head with an integrated bluetooth speaker that lets you listen to your music while in the shower. It lets you play music from your phone or tablet right from your shower head. I like it a lot, it makes getting ready for work a really nice experience. 

Have fun watching this awful video of me showing how to replace a shower head and demonstrate the cool speaker feature. This is my first video, I will be making many more, and hopefully improving with each and every one. I would love to hear from you, give me your thoughts on the video and what i can do to improve. I would also love comments telling me what I can demonstrate for you. This channel is for you, I want to help you get all those little projects done in your home.

Thanks again for watching TheBuilderFix 

Mike

P.S. Here is a link to The KOHLER Moxie Showerhead and Wireless Speaker only  $98!!! Now that I have used it, I highly recommend it. It makes showering a lot of fun!

Got coffee? A great organizational idea for all those Keurig K-cups.

If you are like me, you like your kitchen to be neat and organized. I love nothing more than to be able to see what pantry items I have available and be able to choose easily. I really dislike drawers with piles of utensils, and shelves packed with boxes and cans jumbled together. My goal is to someday have a kitchen where I don't have to root around for anything, everything is available at the touch of a finger.  I am working on adding new organizational features to my kitchen to make all utensils and kitchen gadgets as well as food organized and visible.

I am planning a series of posts to my blog showing as I retrofit my kitchen to make it more organized. 

I love having coffee in the mornings, its part of my morning rituals and really screws up my day when I miss it. I use a Keurig coffee brewer. It makes great coffee and is very convenient for that morning rush. The problem is the Pods for the coffee. I just don't have a good way to store them out of sight but available near the Keurig brewer. Sure there are racks and displays that take up counter space, but my kitchen is not that big. I hate having things cluttering up my counter. I like this new idea from the Rev-a-Shelf company. I know the prefect drawer to install this in, its right below my Keurig coffee maker and is full of junk, a perfect solution to solve two problems, get rid of a junk drawer, and organize my keurig coffee pods. 

I love being able to see the selections available, and also to be able to tell well in advance when I'm running out of K-Cups. There is nothing worse than thinking that you have another box of K-cups in the pantry hidden away and finding out that you were wrong and you are completely out of coffee!

In the next few days I will be making my version of this drawer rack. I will keep you posted on the finished project and my next kitchen upgrade!

And if you want your very own custom rack, or have an idea for a new organizational gadget, please let me know, I love to make kitchen organizers especially when they make working in my kitchen more enjoyable!

The coolest compact kitchen ever designed!

This is the best designed kitchenette I have ever seen. utilizing the newest in storage and design ideas,   you can have an almost full kitchen in a 8' long wall, minus refrigerator and stove. the amount of storage and usability packed into this wall unit is unreal. This is perfect for an efficiency unit where space is a a premium. 

 With the doors closed, the kitchen is totally hidden away from your guests, allowing full use of the space in front of the cabinets as well as presenting a very neat look in the living space. Once the doors start to open is when this unit shows off its true capacity. 

The central area contains your sink and workspace. with a large amount of counter space for its size. having storage space for everything you need allows the counter to be used for preparing food instead of storing all your kitchen tools. I love the task lighting and accent lighting in the shelf units that makes working  in the space very easy. The well thought out design has a place for everything, even the wine! Dishes and glasses are neatly stored with easy access, and the accessory holders on the backsplash help keep the area clear. I would like working in this compact area. I think it feels much larger than it is.

For the heavier items that you might not be comfortable stretching up high to store, the cabinet above the sink has a great pull down rack that lets you safely store the heavier items and self retracts back into the cabinet to tuck them away. No more climbing on precarious stools to reach the top shelves.

 The bottom unit has just as many surprises in store as the top. there are well lit storage shelves for cleaning supplies, a special compost bin, a large drawer and two trash bins with a special feature! The trash cans as seen to the left of the photo below are open topped so its easy to add trash or recyclables to them. My first question was "who wants stinky trash stored in your cabinet?", well they thought of that too, as the drawer closes the bins are covered by a lid that automatically seals the bins, keeping them airtight and the smells contained. The same goes for the compost drawer below the sink.

The tall pantry closet to the left pulls out allowing three sided access to each self in the cabinet. This allows for tons of accessible storage with nothing getting pushed to the unreachable black hole in the back of the cabinet. Each shelf is completely adjustable in seconds to the desired height with one handed operation, making this cabinet customizable for any storage.

 If you were wondering what the last two inches of this cabinet might contained, you will be happy to   know that it has not been wasted. It contains a pull out table that can seat 2 people easily. It slides out then folds open into a bench seat and table top that is quite sturdy and spacious considering that it appears almost out of nowhere. I was impressed, considering I had looked at this unit 5 minutes before and thought it was just a glorified wet bar. it is very well thought out and designed for actual daily use. 

I was very impressed by the amount of thought and good design that went into this unit. It really seemed to be almost futuristic to me in its use of space. It was very well done. A point not to be missed is that this is a model to demonstrate the new trend in making your kitchen space more usable.  All of these great ideas can be used in your kitchen individually, to improve your existing space. I think many people will like being able to add features to their kitchen without having to completely remodel their home. As I write this I have the master catalog from Rev-A-Shelf sitting on my desk, loaded with hundreds of great ideas to improve kitchens and bathrooms. I can't wait to start using them!! If you are interested in any more ideas for the kitchen, please don't hesitate to contact me, I love to create and install great ideas to make your kitchen amazing! 

Skull and Crossbones, a new designer trend? What do you think?

Las Vegas is known for strange goings on... You can get married by Elvis in any number of ways,  you can't walk 50 yards on the strip without seeing some sort of memorable character and you can find any kind of food under the sun.  Vegas has also been known for its over the top design, evidenced by a number of hotels and casinos on the strip.  This one bathroom sink at the builders show this week really  followed through with that theme. The chrome legs and skull and crossbones motif on the front goes to show that you can find something for everyone in Las Vegas. I think this vanity set is very cool and would make for a spectacular centerpiece in a bathroom. I imagine it would wipe that scowl right off a pirates face. Its the perfect piece to cheer up that Pirate in your life!

The Builders show never disappoints with tubs! This is a small collection of the soaking tubs I saw on display.

The International Builders Show 2015 has the best collection of soaking and jetted tubs on display. From inset tubs to free standing pieces of art. If you are looking to remodel your bath you need to take a look at these. The new style seems to be moving away from those monster tubs that take up half of your bathroom and transitioning to more space conscious designs that don't compromise in look. The new tubs can be still be a centerpiece in your bath, complimenting a built in tile  shower rather than dominating it.

This First tub is from Kohler's Kallista Line of tubs. I love how it tucks right in to the corner of the bathroom and can still be the centerpiece. A really nice feature that I haven't seen before is that the edge of the tub is flush with the tile surround, creating a seamless look between the tile and tub.

This is another of Kohler's Jetted tubs. I love the curving lines on this free-standing tub when combined with the rectangular top edge. It looks super inviting! The rectangular lines of this next tub from Kohler will be sure to fit in great with a more modern style, it is a beautiful  free-standing soaking tub that will hold two easily.

 The tub shown in the bathroom below is from the New American Home. Its a nice freestanding unit that makes a perfect centerpiece to a showplace bathroom. What I really love is the shelf added to it to hold your glass of wine and whatever else you need for your bath. 

Of course if you like to make a little more of an impression, you can always order this high heel shoe style tub. pretty impressive!

If you prefer a free standing tub that looks like a piece of art, the next few tubs might be right up your alley. You can now get sculptured tubs, as well as hand painted designs on free standing tubs.

If you are remodeling your bathroom, don't overlook all the great new options in tubs. Tubs are becoming a way to add a lot of style to your bathroom, from a classic rich look, to a modern fun piece of art in your bathroom. Add one of these cool tubs and your bathroom will become the favorite room in the house!

Wine Anyone?

For those who believe wine is critical to survival, here is the ultimate wine station to put in your home. It's the coolest new innovation in wine storage! It keeps the wine in a perfect state of preservation for up to 60 days, maintaining it at the perfect temperature and ready for use at all times. 

Impress your friends with the ultra modern Discovery WineStation, and never have to throw out unused wine again! 

Of course when your friends start to play with it, you will be going through a whole bunch more wine!