The Dogs Bathroom !

Ey up my faithful blogworms, I did say we were doing another Denim ..... Do you know, you hit a colour once every few years where you might aswell take everything else out of your showroom and Denim is rapidly turning into one of those colours.

Mentioning another Denim, the pics below are a Utility room that we've just installed in it, featuring the fantastic deal we are able to run at the moment on a Butler sink and spray head tap combo where you are getting the top quality tap virtually for nothing ?

This is a deal we've put together to satisfy the need in the market at the moment for owners with dogs wanting to have a place away from the main kitchen where you can wash hiking boots, wellies etc and not forgetting ...... wash your dog in comfort when they come back from a good walk blathered in mud !

The intial set up for placing the Butler sink with a washing machine enclosure facing sideways due to a lack of width in the room

Utility storage with somewhere to keep your washing kit and a worktop to put your washing basket on

This gives you a perspective on the constraints of the room shape

Shown here are the sink and worktop set up, the beauty of a Butler sink is that with it's place in the layout and not being under the worktop, you can use a normal laminate worktop to go at either side. Normally with a Belfast sink you need to use granite, quartz or solid timber because it goes under and would destroy worktops if laminate was to be used. Keeps the cost down !

Washing machine turned through 90 degrees makes using it in the small space much, much easier than if it faced the way you would normally expect.

Storage for"stuff" and a spot for a "back up Fridge" for overspill from the mian kitchen.

Altogether, a very useable space that ticks a lot of boxes for our customer, good result !

Having started out as a normal Utility room project, we have it on good authority that the room is now going to be renamed " The Dogs Bathroom" 

Well, there ya go !, are we a nation of barmy people or just a nation of dog lovers ?

You decide but I think both ! ..... in the nicest possible way !

Jules

Who says denim isn't fashionable anymore ?

Ey up my faithful blogworms, DENIM: Where would we be without it ?

This might seem a bit random but stick with it !

1850's: Denim type material first worn by sailors as 'Boot cut' to protect their legs

1870's: The decade that the first pair of rivet reinforced denim trousers were created by Levi Strauss and Company, thus beginning the legendary brand.

1910's: Denim used to make workers trousers for long lasting durability

1930's: Saw denim jeans being worn by cowboys are starting the meteoric rise to popularity

1950's: Denim goes to Hollywood ! In films like "The Wild One" and "Rebel without a cause" starting the biker culture for jeans wearing

1960's: Denim now becoming seriously fashionable with the creation of Bell bottom trousers and Flares ( Ask your parents !! )

1970's: Even car interiors are now getting covered in Denim for the first time ! The Jeans Beetle being the one everyone remembers. Google it !

1980's: Boot cut jeans reappear and the legendary Levi's 501's make the first appearance in the cult TV advert.

Into the 2000's: A stretch fabric content appears in Denim making them even tighter and figure hugging.

2018: The big turning point in our world where even kitchens have started wearing the iconic denim look !

170 years it took our wonderful world of kitchens to finally latch on to this but we got there in the end !!

And we are starting yet another one this coming week ! 

Who says denim isn't fashionable anymore, certainly not us. 

This is turning out to be the superstar of 2018

The big difference is that our denim doesn't "shrink to fit" ( Oblique reference ) 

Think  "Levi's" ..... runs away giggling !

So, when do you want yours ??

Jules

You see, we really do care !!

Ey up my faithful blogworms, out on the Eco trail again this week. It appears that the new "Coastal themed" Eco2 display in the front of our showroom really has captured your collective imagination.

The Eco2 Denim Blue with the Eco Cosentino "White Diamond" worktops does seem to be another of those combinations you only create once in a while that really do very well.

This is the basis for the new creation we are currently working on over in Boston Spa. 

A total Eco project which will be getting it's provenance folder with all the Eco documentation in it, once finished.

Just so you know, these are quite definitely not the finished worktops, just temporary until the quartz is cut and installed !

A temporary sink being hooked up so washing up and dishwashing can happen

This layout has become a true U shape to improve storage and provide a good spot for a dining table on the end. Originally it was an L shape, wasting a lot of space.

The new utility area which is in the passageway between the old dining room and the kitchen, so really needs to match.

This is another of those "works in progress" which we seem to be doing a lot of lately where I'll need to update you once the worktops go on. Due to customer holidays, that might be a couple or 3 weeks before they are fitted.

The reason for the odd worktops is that we promised our customer a working kitchen by this weekend so offered to fit temporary worktop sections to enable them to use the kitchen in the interim period.

It's not necessarily something we do normally but when you've got young kids to feed, clothes to wash and kitchen items scattered about the house, we've tried to enable them to put everything away, use the kitchen and get everything back to as close to normal as possible. 

You see, we really do care !!

Looking after the environment and our customers needs !

Jules.

Where there's a will, there's a way !

Ey up my faithful blogworms, sorry my blogs seem a bit haphazard at the moment but we're working all over the place and sometimes I can't get to manage to keep you all upto date with our goings on.

Anyway, this week I thought a post about refurbishing existing kitchens might be in order to remind you all of what's possible. After all, this is where we started all those years ago and still carry out this sort of work.

It's surprising what can be achieved as you will see in todays photos

We started with a kitchen built many years ago by a joiner using reclaimed timber, so all the sizes were a bit off standard, all the fittings were outdated and it took some getting apart.

Part of the cause of the demise of this area was that some muppet had used a laminate worktop, timber edged around a double Belfast sink .... A big no-no as it just rots with all the water around the sink !! It ruined the worktop and leaked down onto the sink base taking that with it, so new both required here

Sometimes, just sometimes when working with old cabinetry, things just don't go your way ! We were increasing storage space on here by fitting a sequence of top boxes above the old wall cabinets. With the best measuring possible, the new top boxes were an annoying 8mm longer than the old wall cabs, hence the need to make a very skinny filler piece to make up the levels. Can't screw it on so must it be glued resulting in the "clamps nest" that you see here ! Where there's a will, there's a way !

The resulting modifications fitted with all the new cabs and doors builds up the storage space to a new level, and looks very tidy, if I say so myself !

The sink area took nearly as much work. You will notice the dishwasher has gone ( an "on site" eleventh hour decision by our customer ) and we were short of a cabinet to put in it's place ..... Oh poo !
The answer, salvage any usable parts from the old sink base and end panels that enclosed the old dishwasher and create, from scratch, a cabinet that would take the new door we supplied. Once again, where there's a will, there's a way !

We are just waiting for the new quartz worktops to be fabricated to finish the project off and I will, of course, show you photos of it once completed.

This shows you what's possible by refurbishing old kitchens. We do need to look hard at the old kitchen structure initially to make sure this sort of project is possible but when it's still serviceable, then anything is possible.

Those of you who know us also know that "anythings possible" is the guiding principle that we've always worked to. But that decision when working on old kitchen has to be tempered with common sense too.

So, as a reminder of where we began, don't forget that you can consider a refurbishment, it doesn't always need to mean that you rip out the old kitchen, at least we can genuinely offer you that choice.

And it saves waste and saves money, another of our guiding principles !

Jules