OUR BLOG
OUR BLOG
Check out what’s happening with Myers Constructs as well as the latest news and trends in home renovation.
Planning the Ideal Kitchen Renovation
The kitchen. Everyone has their personal take on what this space means to them. For some, it serves mainly as a source of food and comfort, a gathering space for family and friends, or a central place to begin and end each day. For others, kitchens are show places, aspirational spaces, power rooms! Whatever the case may be, it’s not an exaggeration to say that the kitchen is easily the most important room in any house — and it's our job to help our clients achieve their goals for this vital room in their homes. We appreciate kitchens that are efficient, well planned, and designed with consideration to serve specific purposes. We have cooked in very small boat galleys, on camp stoves, in fireplaces, on wood stoves, and in lots of commercial and residential kitchens of many vintages and price levels; and we find that all of them can be[...]
Of Kitchens and Memory-Making
What makes a great kitchen? It's a question we answer often in our line of work. To me, kitchens are work places, first and foremost. That goes back to my second job, when I was 17 and working in a commercial kitchen at a surf and turf restaurant in South Jersey. It was there that I came to view kitchens as efficient workspaces where the important business of cooking truly good food gets done. I took many commercial kitchen jobs from then on throughout college at some pretty good restaurants. I typically worked the line, usually as a second or a first line cook. Later, I also did early morning baking on the weekends, which left time for me to go to school and work in an art studio during the week. But kitchens are also places where families do a lot of living and making memories, too. My favorite[...]
Myers Constructs Q&A: Planning the Perfect Custom Bathroom
This week, Tamara offers her thoughts on planning a bathroom renovation that fits the very personalized needs of every home. Q: What are the most important considerations for homeowners planning a custom bathroom renovation? A: "Bathrooms are one of the most personal spaces in any home, and they should be designed as such. Starting at our first meeting, we work with clients to get an understanding of what the visual and aesthetic goals are for the project. We often say that we like to create a blend of what the house says, our clients’ personal taste — which may differ from the style of the house — and our team’s experience and resources." "A house typically already speaks a particular design language, and we need to have a conversation about whether to keep the same palette or introduce a new style. Sometimes, if the home is newer, it may have[...]
Operation Organization — Everything in Its Place
Fall is the perfect season to think about nesting, de-cluttering, and organizing your home to make sure all of the odds and ends you accumulate throughout the year have a proper home. To that end, we’re offering a roundup of some the special customized cabinetry insert options that are available in the Myers Made™ cabinetry line to help you. See the slideshow below for some of our most popular solutions, along with details about how they can assist with your needs. How can you choose which options are right for you? You’ll need to clearly define your goals and wishes in order to create a beautiful and well-organized space that matches your home and taste. Of course, we can work with you to cover all of the basics you'll need — whether it’s a kitchen, bath, library, or entertainment/media room — and add value with these and many other internal[...]
In the Works: Center City Trinity Gets Underway
This week, we are in the framing and rough-in phases for our Center City trinity project. Because of this home's small, tight spaces, we are approaching the renovations a bit differently than we normally do. Typically, we like to fully complete framing before asking our subcontractors to come in to work in a particular order. However, because of the complexity of the spaces being fitted on this project, the carpenter will do some of the framing, then the plumber and electrician must fit some elements, and then the carpenter has to do more framing before the other two come back through to do yet more rough-in work. The same process will go for the HVAC work. The image shown here illustrates some of the original character-filled waves, sags, and bumps of this historic house. Some of these will remain, while others have to be squared up and made flat, mostly[...]
Center City Trinity: Small Space Expert Design Solutions
With the advent of the tiny house and sustainability movements, and the popularity of books like Marie Kondo’s "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing" and Sarah Susanka's Not So Big series, many folks are looking to reduce their footprint and renovate smaller spaces. Here in Philadelphia, we have lots of modestly sized older homes and among them is no greater example than the original "trinity" — a small townhouse built in the 1700s or early 1800s with one room on each of three floors, typically configured with a first-floor kitchen/family room, a second-floor bedroom/bath, and a small third-floor living space. Sometimes referred to as a "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost house," these modest but charming homes usually feature a fireplace with a pocket staircase tucked behind the chimney and overall square footage of well under 1,000 sq ft. Many of the city's original[...]
Finished Images of Our Center City Pied-A-Terre Kitchen
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New Homeowners: Thinking About Renovating? Don’t Miss These 6 Vital Tips
As design-build general contractors, we get a lot of calls from folks who are either house shopping or have recently closed on a "new-to-them" older home that needs renovating. Most of them are new to the process and do not know the order of things that will happen during the home-buying/renovation process. Below is the ideal sequence of events, from our perspective after many decades in the business. Before You Buy... Practice Patience — Try to stay clear-eyed during the home shopping process. Most people are very excited about finding the "home of their dreams” or they want to tackle all of the renovations the old house needs at once, especially the "eye candy." The truth is, most of the time, it's better to wait, live with the new space, and see what really needs changing in order to live well in it. Schedule Home Inspections — Be sure you[...]
Sneak Peek: Center City Pied-à-Terre Project in Pictures
Here, we share just a few images of the exciting progress being made on our Lombard Street project. The
Smaller Spaces
As a design to build remodeling company, our job is to transform our clients' space to improve their life — and that transformation can go in a variety of different directions. Some clients have moved into larger space as their family grows, while others stay in their current home with a plan to expand or upgrade. More and more, we are seeing folks moving into smaller spaces to simplify their lives. With goals like reducing upkeep responsibilities and minimizing carbon footprint, downsizing can be very appealing. That’s exciting for us because it is an area in which we have lots of experience and love to work. Less Can Be More: Designing for Downsizing The shift to a smaller space requires us to create balance through understanding the homeowners' primary needs and weaving in some specialness. We’ve had a chance to work on a number of recent downsizing projects in which[...]
