OUR BLOG
OUR BLOG
Check out what’s happening with Myers Constructs as well as the latest news and trends in home renovation.
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[...]
Water Damage Woes & A Pro Tip On How to Avoid Them
I got a call this week from a man whose home was flooded by a pipe that burst while he was away on a family trip. The water totally destroyed the first-floor finished flooring, as well as the walls in the kitchen, paneling in the halls, and all of the partition walls and ceilings in the basement. I have a feeling we may also have to add HVAC and electrical damage to the list. Once water gets into electrical fixtures, they need to be replaced. The culprit in this case was the water line to a first-floor powder room toilet. That's only a 3/8-inch pipe, but it caused hundreds of gallons of water to pump through the first floor into the basement and probably out the basement walls as the system continually kept flowing to refill itself. This is the second call like this I have taken recently. In the[...]
Adaptive Reuse and the Legacy of Zaha Hadid
It was with great sadness that we learned last week of the passing of Dame Zaha Hadid, the Iraqi-born British architect and the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize, the Nobel of the architectural community. Her elegant work and uncompromising spirit inspired so many in the art, design, architecture, engineering, and creative spheres, and she served as a fine example of overcoming the glass ceiling for women in architecture and design. The underlining parabolic curved design that Hadid came to be known for was innovative and groundbreaking, and her legacy includes new approaches to the world of the built environment. Hadid's groundbreaking work was introduced to many outside of the architectural community with her curvilinear Aquatic Centre built for the recent London Olympics. While visiting London in 2013, I had the chance to visit one of the smaller but important projects that her firm did — the renovation and[...]
One Great Project Ends; Another Begins
Over the next couple of weeks, we will be winding down an extended multi-phase whole-house renovation in a historic twin home in Philadelphia's Fairmount neighborhood. While the last of the subcontractors are scheduling their trim outs, the painters just finished up inside. We expect the exterior paint, gutters, and roof details to happen soon now that the temperature has warmed up. The deck is complete (see Facebook for photos ) and ready for the homeowners to put plants in the beautiful custom planters. We have our punch list items to complete and are ticking off our list. Meanwhile, the homeowners have scheduled their cleaners and movers and are thrilled to be able to move into their newly renovated historic home. As that project comes to a close, a new whole-home renovation at a pied-à-terre across town is picking up steam! Before the demolition phase, we applied for and were granted[...]
New Projects Spring Into Action: Center City Pied-à-Terre
This week, we began an exciting new whole-house makeover for a lovely pied-à-terre in Center City Philadelphia. This charming 2-story, 2-BR, 2-BA house was recently purchased by a couple who is downsizing from their prior home on the Main Line, where we did renovations with a large addition over 10 years ago. The home was previously renovated sometime in the 1990s by its owner-occupant, an architect, who did a lot to enhance its good bones. Now, our clients want to really bring out the charm and style of this small house and make it one they can enjoy for decades to come. The project involves adding a half-bath just off the new kitchen space on the first floor, so the homeowners' aging parents can visit without having to climb stairs. We'll also renovate the existing bathroom on the second floor, reconfigure the bedroom with a walk-in closet, and transform the[...]
Basement Theater Remodel Wins NARI Award!
Most of you will remember the Mt. Airy basement renovation we recently completed for clients who wanted to transform a previously underutilized space into a beautiful theater and entertainment room. We're thrilled to announce that this project just won a NARI 2016 Regional Contractor of the Year (CotY) Award in the category of Basement $50,000 to $100,000 — Region 1/Northeast! In this national competition, regional awards are presented first, with national winners announced in April at the National Business Meeting of NARI in Austin, TX. We're really proud to be honored in this way by The National Association of the Remodeling Industry, which sets the standards for quality and professionalism in our industry. Project recap: Previously an unfinished basement, this space now has lots of different areas to relax, think, be entertained, and play music and games with family and friends — including a library with reading nook and a[...]
Adaptive Reuse: A Space Fit for a Diva
Part II in a Series on Adaptive Reuse, the basis of an upcoming presentation by Tamara Myers at the 2016 Las Vegas NKBA Kitchen and Bath Industry Show and NAHB International Builders' Show. In moving towards a more sustainable future, we already have a head start with claiming some adaptive reuse successes. Already integrated into our everyday thinking about what type of building can be turned into a home: the loft and the barn. Indeed, some of these transformations are so woven into our current vocabulary of building stock that ironically you will see elements of the form affecting new home design, including "barn-like" great rooms with exposed trusses, and new "loft" apartments with large windows and polished concrete floors. Like all buildings that were originally built for another purpose, barns and lofts often come with some missing elements that need to be remedied for a successful transformation. Of course,[...]
