Townhouse renovation in Brooklyn: We redesigned the rear end of the house as an expanded family kitchen with a back door to the deck. We also added a new connection from the entrance hall to the kitchen and fit a small powder room under the stairs. The old windows and doors were replaced with new, larger ones, and the entire kitchen was gutted and refitted with new cabinetry and a banquette dining area. The space was designed to take advantage of the bright southern exposure, with lots of white materials, grounded by the dark base cabinets. Photos by Maletz Design

Andrew McKinney Photography Not every kitchen on houzz is enormous! Here's a 10' x 10' kitchen. It seems that painted white kitchens never go out of favor. While the cabinets, faucets and hardware lean toward a more traditional look, that look is tempered by the modern lines of grey glass tile and the chimney hood. And instead of carrara marble counter tops, the client opted for quartz for a similar look (Cambria's "Torquay").

Remodeling Concepts
Inspiration for a mid-sized timeless home design remodel in Philadelphia

Slate is a popular choice for tiled kitchen floors and when properly maintained looks fantastic, however like all natural stone products without an effective cleaning plan dirt will become ingrained in the stone and will start to lose its appearance. This was the case with this fantastic Slate tiled kitchen floor in Twickenham which had the potential to look really nice, but hadn’t received the proper maintenance for a long while, leaving it looking very tired. It now needed what was left of its old surface sealer stripped off, followed by a deep cleaning of the tile and grout before having a fresh seal applied. To begin the restoration, I mixed a 50:50 solution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go and Tile Doctor Pro Clean. This was applied to the floor and allowed to dwell. Remove and Go functions as a stripper that breaks down the old sealer, while Pro Clean is a versatile, high alkaline cleaner that is safe to use on all types of natural stone flooring. To use it to full effect, I machine scrubbed this solution into the floor to completely remove all dirt, stains, and old sealer. I also ran a stiff brush along the grout lines to remove the particularly stubborn dirt ingrained in the grout. The resulting cleaning slurry was then rinsed with water and extracted using a wet vacuum and the floor checked for stubborn marks which were retreated using the same process. The floor was left to dry overnight and I came back the next day to apply a new seal. It’s important to leave a tiled floor to dry completely before sealing and at this time of year 24 hours is usually enough. This is necessary to ensures there is no excess moisture in the tile as this has the potential to cloud the sealer and affect its effectiveness. The customer required a low sheen finish and a floor that was easy to maintain. I opted to use Seal & Go, which provides exactly that. It is a water-based with a high sheen blend of acrylic polymers that offers a both a stain resistant surface seal and a durable low sheen finish, also being water based it doesn’t leave a smell as it dries. Seal and Go is also a breathable sealer that will allow moisture to rise up through the tile and allow the floor to breathe. As you can see from the pictures, the lustre has been completely restored to the Slate tiles and the sealer will allow for easy maintenance for the customer in the future. Jonathan Oldham South Middlesex Tile Doctor

Here’s an interesting job I completed recently in the town of Lymington which is a lovely costal town within the New Forest and on the west side of the Solent. This Terracotta tiled floor was installed in the kitchen and was suffering from an efflorescence issue due to an ongoing leak which resulted in the salts in the water becoming deposited on the surface of the tiles as the water evaporated leaving a white bloom on the surface. This process is more commonly known as efflorescence and is particularly common in old properties which have no damp proof membrane under the floor and white staining by the cupboards is especially visible in the below photograph. My client was eager to have the problem fixed, and so enlisted Tile Doctor to get the job done. To remove the efflorescence, the Terracotta tiled floor was acid washed using a mild dilution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up which is primarily sold to remove grout smears but is equally effective at removing mineral deposits such as the white salts left behind by efflorescence. The solution was scrubbed into the tiles using a stiff scrubbing brush and was successful at removing the white staining. Naturally it’s not advised to leave acid too long on any surface so the floor was treated in sections and then rinsed off with water and the residue removed using a wet-vacuum. Following this, the floor was power-scrubbed in combination with a diluted solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. Pro-Clean is a versatile cleaner that also contains stripping properties, allowing it to break down and remove old sealers, it also does a nice job getting the grout clean. With the efflorescence treated and the floor now clean I was now happy with the condition of the tiles and give them a final rinse under pressure to ensure the floor was neutralised and any trace of products removed. The Terracotta tiled floor was then left to dry overnight and I came back to seal the floor the next day. To seal the tiles I used three coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go Extra, which provides a robust surface seal, and is recommended for internal floors with the damp issues. Hopefully this quick report has offered some useful advice on how to treat efflorescence which is quite a common problem; naturally if you have further questions Tile Doctor does offer a free advice service so do get in touch. Charles Okwechime Hampshire Tile Doctor

Hunter Douglas Custom Honeycomb shades - Window Quilt Muskoka
Sunroom - traditional sunroom idea in Toronto

Make a statement in your garage with beautiful sleek garage flooring and wooden cabinets.
Garage workshop - small garage workshop idea in Orange County

Kids' room - large coastal gender-neutral light wood floor kids' room idea in Other with white walls

This inner-city garden was designed to meet the needs of a young family who like to entertain but still required solutions for storage and off street parking. Key to the design was connecting the two different areas of the lower courtyard with the upper carstand area. A solution was obtained through constructing an intermediate landing with built in seating and a new gas BBQ. An open style steel balustrade allows for safety between the two areas and visually takes full advantage of the depth of the property. All-weather protection provided by retractable awnings to both upper and lower areas ensures year round enjoyment. Sliding doors in the garage help the generous storage recede into the design. Spotted gum hardwood timber decking extends the internal areas outside and the wrap around steps further connect the spaces by providing an inviting entry to the BBQ area. A large floating timber bench seat is both practical and breaks up the large retaining wall to the upper carport. A grey and white colour palette provides a sophisticated look whilst highlighting punctuations of playful colour and contemporary styling to link the children’s play areas with the home.

Inspiration for a kitchen remodel in Minneapolis

Custom Surface Solutions (www.css-tile.com) - Owner Craig Thompson (512) 430-1215. This project shows a new construction guest bathroom with 12" x 24" Valentino gray tile using offset subway layout pattern for the tub surround and vanity wall from floor to ceiling (9 ft.). Floor tile is 3" x 9" Valentino gray tile using herring bone / chevron layout pattern. Floor also includes tile base. All exposed edges including windows, shower walls, and floor base are custom bull-nose profiled.

Home bar - large modern brown floor home bar idea in New York

Garage workshop - mid-sized transitional attached two-car garage workshop idea in Orange County

This was an unusual request to clean a modern piece of contemporary artwork by New York City artist Mel Kendrick on display in one of the gardens of the Wormsley Estate. I’m no art expert but having done some research on the internet it appears to be part of a collection known as “Markers” that were on display at the Madison Square Park in 2009. The work is made from concrete cast into different coloured sections and fitted together to form a rather larger piece of art which having been exposed to the UK elements was now starting to discolour and go orange in part. Cleaning Modern Concrete Artwork Being such a prestigious work of art i had to be careful not to damage the stone in anyway so after careful consideration I worked out a process using an alkaline cleaning product Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. To get the statue clean I used a warm water dilution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean working it into small areas at a time spraying the solution on and scrubbing with a brush, then rinsing it off with clean water. This process took some time but certainly did the trick. Sealing a Concrete Artwork With this project being outdoors and with it taking a couple of days I had to pick a good weather window and fortunately the weather held out long enough so I could continue and seal the concrete in order to protect it going forward. Again careful consideration had to be given to the choice of sealer and in the end I went with Tile Doctor Ultra Seal which is an impregnating sealer that soaks into the pores protecting from within and most importantly it’s a natural look sealer that does not change or enhance the colours. If you’re a lover a modern art then you should appreciate the difference and will agree with me that the statue now looks new again.

Bathroom - coastal bathroom idea in Chicago

This is a new item to the Fleurco line - nice use of space/storage inside the base and a high end frameless door system to make an alcove space really shine!

Whitewater Photography
Inspiration for a mid-sized traditional partial sun backyard mulch landscaping in New York.

Inspiration for a mid-sized modern vinyl floor and brown floor kitchen remodel in Other with an undermount sink, flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, quartz countertops, white backsplash, subway tile backsplash, white appliances, an island and white countertops

Sources: Floating shelves: Custom design (Rethink Design Studio x AWD of Savannah) Table lamp: Caravan Pacific Credenza: Schoolhouse Electric Co. Woven baskets: Target Turkish towels: bathstyle (Etsy) Glass decanters: Vintage Wall color: BM Silver Song 1557 Vanity color: BM Arctic Shadows 1559 Vanity mirror: Custom teak mirror (Rethink Design Studio x AWD of Savannah) Vanity hardware: Anthropologie Flooring: Heart of Pine Richard Leo Johnson