The kitchen in this home was expanded by removing a bank of cabinets and using square footage that was previously a hallway. A row of upper cabinets suspended over the bar allowed more light in the kitchen upon removal. The dark wood kitchen cabinets are by Northwood Cabinets of Vancouver, WA. The mix of marble, wood, and materials used on the back splash reflect the homeowners love of nature and the raw material it yields.

Finished kitchen remodel. Balanced large appliances with pantry and microwave area. The staggered depth allowed for room in the walkway.
Eat-in kitchen - mid-sized transitional u-shaped medium tone wood floor and brown floor eat-in kitchen idea in Santa Barbara with an undermount sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, solid surface countertops, multicolored backsplash, porcelain backsplash, stainless steel appliances and gray countertops

Julie Banks Design before photo
Example of a classic kitchen design in Santa Barbara

This proposal is for a new two-story home on the vacant heavily wooded lot with an existing 150-foot-long driveway lined by several beautiful oak trees culminating in a behemoth 43-inch oak tree where the driveway meets the main lot. The far end of the driveway terminates in a grove of three 43/40/43-inch redwoods and at the very center of the vacant lot stands a gargantuan V-twin 59-inch redwood tree paired with a “small” 29-inch redwood tree. The owners want to build a beautiful contemporary-styled home for their family that fully enjoys and embraces the mature trees on their cozy 65-foot by 100-foot lot. As with all small, constrained lots, this project’s site design started first with meeting the relatively large parking and car maneuvering requirements. Menlo Park’s Department of Transportation typically requires side-facing garages to have 24-feet of backup space. So that they could give the largest feature redwood tree on site an added four feet (50%) of clearance outside of its critical root zone, the owners agreed to install a vehicle turntable at the end of their driveway to eliminate the extra four feet of space needed to back up and turnaround. This allowed them to pull their garage forward an additional four feet towards the front property line on the panhandle side, drastically reducing the rest of the home’s impact on the gargantuan V-Twin paired redwood tree at the center of the lot. One of the owners has mobility issues, and accordingly, they first sought to design a one-story floor plan that incorporated all their family’s needs including plenty of covered patio and deck space to enjoy our fantastic California weather. But that single-story footprint spread too far into the critical root zones of several of the redwood trees on site, even despite the use of the vehicle turntable. During my interview process with the owners, they made it clear to me that one of their primary concerns is ensuring that the largest trees on site would thrive and become features of their new home after construction is complete. The single-story designs that removed the grove of three huge redwood trees were non-starters, as was the skimpy 5x10 master bath I designed when trying to squeeze the whole house program into an overly compromised single-story design. It was therefore deemed necessary to go with a two-story design despite the owner’s mobility issues. This two-story design has a much more compact ground floor footprint and has no bedrooms downstairs, other than the detached ADU. The owners must give up the floor area and incur the costs to install a residential elevator to access their upstairs master suite. Our ground floor footprint is smaller due to the two-story design decision, and our foundation is pulled away from the trees thanks to the vehicle turntable. Yet, a tiny portion of the home’s ground floor footprint still encroaches into the critical root zones of the largest 59” redwood tree. Therefore, as outlined in the Arborist Report prepared by Aesculus Arboricultural Consulting, the structural engineers are incorporating an array of drilled piers and shallow-grade beams for the main home’s foundation and deck area nearest the redwood’s critical root zone. This drilled piers and grade beam foundation is a type of “bridging” foundation as outlined in Aesculus’ report to preserve the health of these trees that the property was designed around. The rest of the foundation will be constructed as an insulated slab-on-grade foundation to minimize the number of steps and ramps needed for the owners to enjoy their home and patio areas. Despite the owner’s desire to keep as many trees as possible on site, and despite the smaller ground floor footprint and the advantage of the vehicle turntable, the need for a 20x20-foot garage and 20x20/25-foot guest parking space on our panhandle lot requires the removal of two heritage trees in the required driveway, a 16” coast redwood, and a 17” coast redwood. An alternate design, such as swapping the garage and guest parking locations north-to-south, still requires the removal of these two trees for vehicle maneuvering but has the added disadvantage of cutting off the home’s sightlines to the behemoth 43” oak tree just outside the currently proposed front patio space and living room. Jim Redman of Elements Landscape is proposing 13 new trees be planted on site to replace the lost value of these two heritage coast redwood trees. This contemporary architectural design features clean lines, and an abundance of full-height windows and large skylights to best take in the immense trees on site. To blend in with the forest-like setting, the home boasts a mix of rich textures and features a color palette of natural wood tones contrasted with dark blue and black. Once through the new steel gate at the street and down the 150-foot tree-lined driveway, a large covered front patio becomes visible past the neighbor’s detached accessory structure. The covered patio is just across the driveway from the beautiful 43” behemoth coast live oak. The single plane of the covered patio roof is delicately supported by a pair of steel posts in a “V-twin” configuration much like the largest redwood trees that tower over the center of the lot and will still be visible above the new two-story home, even from the front yard. The patio is covered in a dark-colored standing seam roof, with steel C-channel fascias, and tongue-and-groove wood ceiling planks on the underside. Generously sized skylights on the patio roof and inside the living area allow for impressive views of the amazing oak canopy as well as precious natural light. Supporting the sloped covered patio on the other side is the two-car garage with a secondary bedroom suite stacked above the garage. This two-story volume is to be clad in vertical clear-coated redwood siding, to tie in with the grove of three 43-inch redwood trees just beyond. The garage door, and the bank of windows for Bedroom#2 above feature a steel fascia eyebrow header feature to provide shade and overhang protection, as we are not proposing a large overhang at this “redwood trunk”. The garage and bedroom volume are pulled 16 feet away from the side property line, instead of the minimum required setback of 6’-6”, thus leaving plenty of room for the redwood grove and existing mature pear tree to continue to thrive. This existing mature green screen in this 16-foot-wide side yard is a feature worth soaking in, which is why tall windows with low sill heights are proposed for both the stairs and the upstairs hallway. Though it may be infrequent to approve side-facing 2nd floor windows with sill heights as low as what we’re proposing, we are confident that the mature green screen and the over 16-foot-wide side yard are sufficient to provide for the continued privacy of our neighbor’s rear yard space, especially considering theses windows are in walkway zones. The covered patio at the front entry is also bound by the 10-foot-tall living room. The great room is clad in a dark blue brick veneer, which wraps around all three sides of the living room. Upon entering the home from the covered patio, you are immediately greeted with one of the most impressive features of the home’s design: a 10-foot-tall by 24-foot-wide set of sliding glass doors. From the entry, this huge opening gives merely an initial glimpse of the massive trunks of the gargantuan V-twin redwoods sitting at the center of the lot. All three sliding glass panels open directly out into the smaller partially covered deck in the rear. This roof overhang element matches the design of the front patio with a steel C-channel fascia and a large skylight. But the rear deck’s roof element is set flat at a ten-foot ceiling height so that the living room’s ceiling seems to float above and out beyond the expanse of full-height sliding doors, thus creating an indoor-outdoor living space that will feel much larger than the home’s actual footprint. This rear covered deck is smaller than the patio in the front and also has a mix of solid and open-slatted roofing to allow for more solar access for the relatively small amount of open sky available. The downstairs living room is open to the dining and kitchen areas, as well as the stair-and-elevator tower beyond. The stair tower is very open and glassy, and the stairs wind up and around the redwood-clad elevator tower. From certain perspectives in the 16-foot-wide side yard, it will almost seem as if the grove of three redwoods has a fourth tree that the house and the stairs were carefully built around. Other than the 3-foot-wide windows, the exterior walls of the stair tower, downstairs utility spaces, and Bedroom#3 above are finished in cement plaster, painted dark blue and black. The sloped roof over the stair-and-elevator tower continues cleanly over the area of upstairs Bedroom#3. This roof level is set by the side daylight plane and only yields an inside wall height of just under 6 feet in height. The owners are satisfied that the rest of this upstairs room has a nice vaulted ceiling to make up for the one short wall under the daylight plane. The rest of the ground floor adjacent to the stair tower consists of a small utility wing containing a half-bath, laundry, storage area, and an exterior alcove for the electric heat pump HVAC unit. This short wing also gives more accessible access to the rear yard deck, as well as a backdrop for an outdoor kitchen. The bright white stone backsplash for the outdoor kitchen provides contrast to the otherwise consistent use of cement plaster painted dark blue and black for the two-story wing closest to the detached ADU. Though Bedroom#3 is stacked directly above this small wing, it is relatively short to comply with the side daylight plane of this narrow lot. Still, to further help break up the scale of this wall, another steel fascia eyebrow element is set about 8 feet above the rear deck. The master suite sits centered above the ten-foot-tall great room. The master bedroom and its balcony, as well as the master bathtub area, have a commanding view of the central redwood trees and their impressive canopy, though the balcony is mostly recessed and should pose no privacy concerns to the neighbor’s rear yards. The master balcony parapet is clad in the same brick veneer continuing up from the living room below. A dark-painted metal rail makes up the rest of the open guardrail height. The entire length of the master balcony is comprised of 9-foot-tall sliding glass doors, but the area above the doors, as well as the area below the master bathroom windows, is accented with more redwood siding. The remainder of the master suite bathroom and walk-in closet is finished in cement plaster painted dark blue. The master bathroom has one side yard-facing window but will be frosted glass for both the owner’s and the neighbor’s privacy. The 2nd floor is capped under a simple gable roof design with one roof ridge and varying eave and rake overhangs depending on the 2nd-floor layout and solar orientation. Since these roof planes are quite difficult to see in the middle of the heavily wooded panhandle lot, we are proposing a white TPO roofing for these two upper roof planes as a more sustainable choice compared to more dark-colored roofing like the covered patios and detached ADU. The owners also wish to build a detached 292-square-foot Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) as an office and guest suite. For the ADU foundation to be situated outside the central redwood tree’s critical root zone, this relatively tiny structure takes advantage of the narrower 4-foot side and rear setbacks allowed for ADUs smaller than 800 square feet. The small L-shaped detached ADU frames a wonderful quasi-courtyard around the gargantuan V-twin redwoods at the center of the lot. The ADU shares a matching material palette consisting of cement plaster painted blue and black, vertical redwood siding and soffits, and thin brick veneer. The ADU also features large full-height windows. The only difference between the main home and the ADU material palette is that the roofing will be a dark composition shingle roofing since it will be quite visible from the master balcony.

Removing highly flammable, invasive plants is key. When removing Pride of Madera, White sage, Salvia alpiana makes for a great alternative. The California native sage scents the air with an earthy, fresh fragrance, and its edible leaves are a perfect addition to Thanksgiving meals. The lady bug resting on its leaves protects human health by rendering the use of pesticides unnecessary. These delightful creatures are natural pest predators! Photo: Lesly Hall Photography

Julie Banks Design before photo
Inspiration for a timeless kitchen remodel in Santa Barbara

Finished kitchen remodel. Used shallow cabinets to create functional space on dining side of the peninsula.
Inspiration for a mid-sized transitional u-shaped medium tone wood floor and brown floor eat-in kitchen remodel in Santa Barbara with an undermount sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, solid surface countertops, multicolored backsplash, porcelain backsplash, stainless steel appliances and gray countertops

Florida house kitchen renovation after flood damage; all cabinets need to be replaced. We are replacing floor tile throughout the house with Fitch Cloud, 24" squares. Kitchen updates include: Replace appliances with GE cafe; matte white with copper handles & knobs. move refrigerator to current pantry (angled wall); add tall slim pullout (white). straighten kitchen island and possibly move dishwasher to the left of the (copper) sink. Trash/recycle and drawers to right of sink. Faucet: possibly brushed gold or brass. Uppers will all removed and replaced with natural maple shelving. Bulkheads will be removed. Range hood hasn't been decided yet; possibly white wood cover with maple trim, in line with shelves. Lowers: all drawers except sink and trash pullout, spice pullout etc. Considering hidden drawer pullouts in 1-2 banks. Pantry: 3 pullouts in each of 3 lower cabinets. Considering switching the middle cabinet there with a narrower, deeper 2-drawer bank or cabinet with mesh door inserts for root vegetables.

Finished kitchen remodel. Provided easy access to major appliances. Moved some walls to use under stairs space more effectively.
Example of a mid-sized transitional u-shaped medium tone wood floor and brown floor eat-in kitchen design in Santa Barbara with an undermount sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, solid surface countertops, multicolored backsplash, porcelain backsplash, stainless steel appliances and gray countertops

Finished kitchen remodel. Removed soffit, provided safe space for cat eating area, created better peninsula storage and freshened up the space with painted white shaker cabinets.

This proposal is for a new two-story home on the vacant heavily wooded lot with an existing 150-foot-long driveway lined by several beautiful oak trees culminating in a behemoth 43-inch oak tree where the driveway meets the main lot. The far end of the driveway terminates in a grove of three 43/40/43-inch redwoods and at the very center of the vacant lot stands a gargantuan V-twin 59-inch redwood tree paired with a “small” 29-inch redwood tree. The owners want to build a beautiful contemporary-styled home for their family that fully enjoys and embraces the mature trees on their cozy 65-foot by 100-foot lot. As with all small, constrained lots, this project’s site design started first with meeting the relatively large parking and car maneuvering requirements. Menlo Park’s Department of Transportation typically requires side-facing garages to have 24-feet of backup space. So that they could give the largest feature redwood tree on site an added four feet (50%) of clearance outside of its critical root zone, the owners agreed to install a vehicle turntable at the end of their driveway to eliminate the extra four feet of space needed to back up and turnaround. This allowed them to pull their garage forward an additional four feet towards the front property line on the panhandle side, drastically reducing the rest of the home’s impact on the gargantuan V-Twin paired redwood tree at the center of the lot. One of the owners has mobility issues, and accordingly, they first sought to design a one-story floor plan that incorporated all their family’s needs including plenty of covered patio and deck space to enjoy our fantastic California weather. But that single-story footprint spread too far into the critical root zones of several of the redwood trees on site, even despite the use of the vehicle turntable. During my interview process with the owners, they made it clear to me that one of their primary concerns is ensuring that the largest trees on site would thrive and become features of their new home after construction is complete. The single-story designs that removed the grove of three huge redwood trees were non-starters, as was the skimpy 5x10 master bath I designed when trying to squeeze the whole house program into an overly compromised single-story design. It was therefore deemed necessary to go with a two-story design despite the owner’s mobility issues. This two-story design has a much more compact ground floor footprint and has no bedrooms downstairs, other than the detached ADU. The owners must give up the floor area and incur the costs to install a residential elevator to access their upstairs master suite. Our ground floor footprint is smaller due to the two-story design decision, and our foundation is pulled away from the trees thanks to the vehicle turntable. Yet, a tiny portion of the home’s ground floor footprint still encroaches into the critical root zones of the largest 59” redwood tree. Therefore, as outlined in the Arborist Report prepared by Aesculus Arboricultural Consulting, the structural engineers are incorporating an array of drilled piers and shallow-grade beams for the main home’s foundation and deck area nearest the redwood’s critical root zone. This drilled piers and grade beam foundation is a type of “bridging” foundation as outlined in Aesculus’ report to preserve the health of these trees that the property was designed around. The rest of the foundation will be constructed as an insulated slab-on-grade foundation to minimize the number of steps and ramps needed for the owners to enjoy their home and patio areas. Despite the owner’s desire to keep as many trees as possible on site, and despite the smaller ground floor footprint and the advantage of the vehicle turntable, the need for a 20x20-foot garage and 20x20/25-foot guest parking space on our panhandle lot requires the removal of two heritage trees in the required driveway, a 16” coast redwood, and a 17” coast redwood. An alternate design, such as swapping the garage and guest parking locations north-to-south, still requires the removal of these two trees for vehicle maneuvering but has the added disadvantage of cutting off the home’s sightlines to the behemoth 43” oak tree just outside the currently proposed front patio space and living room. Jim Redman of Elements Landscape is proposing 13 new trees be planted on site to replace the lost value of these two heritage coast redwood trees. This contemporary architectural design features clean lines, and an abundance of full-height windows and large skylights to best take in the immense trees on site. To blend in with the forest-like setting, the home boasts a mix of rich textures and features a color palette of natural wood tones contrasted with dark blue and black. Once through the new steel gate at the street and down the 150-foot tree-lined driveway, a large covered front patio becomes visible past the neighbor’s detached accessory structure. The covered patio is just across the driveway from the beautiful 43” behemoth coast live oak. The single plane of the covered patio roof is delicately supported by a pair of steel posts in a “V-twin” configuration much like the largest redwood trees that tower over the center of the lot and will still be visible above the new two-story home, even from the front yard. The patio is covered in a dark-colored standing seam roof, with steel C-channel fascias, and tongue-and-groove wood ceiling planks on the underside. Generously sized skylights on the patio roof and inside the living area allow for impressive views of the amazing oak canopy as well as precious natural light. Supporting the sloped covered patio on the other side is the two-car garage with a secondary bedroom suite stacked above the garage. This two-story volume is to be clad in vertical clear-coated redwood siding, to tie in with the grove of three 43-inch redwood trees just beyond. The garage door, and the bank of windows for Bedroom#2 above feature a steel fascia eyebrow header feature to provide shade and overhang protection, as we are not proposing a large overhang at this “redwood trunk”. The garage and bedroom volume are pulled 16 feet away from the side property line, instead of the minimum required setback of 6’-6”, thus leaving plenty of room for the redwood grove and existing mature pear tree to continue to thrive. This existing mature green screen in this 16-foot-wide side yard is a feature worth soaking in, which is why tall windows with low sill heights are proposed for both the stairs and the upstairs hallway. Though it may be infrequent to approve side-facing 2nd floor windows with sill heights as low as what we’re proposing, we are confident that the mature green screen and the over 16-foot-wide side yard are sufficient to provide for the continued privacy of our neighbor’s rear yard space, especially considering theses windows are in walkway zones. The covered patio at the front entry is also bound by the 10-foot-tall living room. The great room is clad in a dark blue brick veneer, which wraps around all three sides of the living room. Upon entering the home from the covered patio, you are immediately greeted with one of the most impressive features of the home’s design: a 10-foot-tall by 24-foot-wide set of sliding glass doors. From the entry, this huge opening gives merely an initial glimpse of the massive trunks of the gargantuan V-twin redwoods sitting at the center of the lot. All three sliding glass panels open directly out into the smaller partially covered deck in the rear. This roof overhang element matches the design of the front patio with a steel C-channel fascia and a large skylight. But the rear deck’s roof element is set flat at a ten-foot ceiling height so that the living room’s ceiling seems to float above and out beyond the expanse of full-height sliding doors, thus creating an indoor-outdoor living space that will feel much larger than the home’s actual footprint. This rear covered deck is smaller than the patio in the front and also has a mix of solid and open-slatted roofing to allow for more solar access for the relatively small amount of open sky available. The downstairs living room is open to the dining and kitchen areas, as well as the stair-and-elevator tower beyond. The stair tower is very open and glassy, and the stairs wind up and around the redwood-clad elevator tower. From certain perspectives in the 16-foot-wide side yard, it will almost seem as if the grove of three redwoods has a fourth tree that the house and the stairs were carefully built around. Other than the 3-foot-wide windows, the exterior walls of the stair tower, downstairs utility spaces, and Bedroom#3 above are finished in cement plaster, painted dark blue and black. The sloped roof over the stair-and-elevator tower continues cleanly over the area of upstairs Bedroom#3. This roof level is set by the side daylight plane and only yields an inside wall height of just under 6 feet in height. The owners are satisfied that the rest of this upstairs room has a nice vaulted ceiling to make up for the one short wall under the daylight plane. The rest of the ground floor adjacent to the stair tower consists of a small utility wing containing a half-bath, laundry, storage area, and an exterior alcove for the electric heat pump HVAC unit. This short wing also gives more accessible access to the rear yard deck, as well as a backdrop for an outdoor kitchen. The bright white stone backsplash for the outdoor kitchen provides contrast to the otherwise consistent use of cement plaster painted dark blue and black for the two-story wing closest to the detached ADU. Though Bedroom#3 is stacked directly above this small wing, it is relatively short to comply with the side daylight plane of this narrow lot. Still, to further help break up the scale of this wall, another steel fascia eyebrow element is set about 8 feet above the rear deck. The master suite sits centered above the ten-foot-tall great room. The master bedroom and its balcony, as well as the master bathtub area, have a commanding view of the central redwood trees and their impressive canopy, though the balcony is mostly recessed and should pose no privacy concerns to the neighbor’s rear yards. The master balcony parapet is clad in the same brick veneer continuing up from the living room below. A dark-painted metal rail makes up the rest of the open guardrail height. The entire length of the master balcony is comprised of 9-foot-tall sliding glass doors, but the area above the doors, as well as the area below the master bathroom windows, is accented with more redwood siding. The remainder of the master suite bathroom and walk-in closet is finished in cement plaster painted dark blue. The master bathroom has one side yard-facing window but will be frosted glass for both the owner’s and the neighbor’s privacy. The 2nd floor is capped under a simple gable roof design with one roof ridge and varying eave and rake overhangs depending on the 2nd-floor layout and solar orientation. Since these roof planes are quite difficult to see in the middle of the heavily wooded panhandle lot, we are proposing a white TPO roofing for these two upper roof planes as a more sustainable choice compared to more dark-colored roofing like the covered patios and detached ADU. The owners also wish to build a detached 292-square-foot Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) as an office and guest suite. For the ADU foundation to be situated outside the central redwood tree’s critical root zone, this relatively tiny structure takes advantage of the narrower 4-foot side and rear setbacks allowed for ADUs smaller than 800 square feet. The small L-shaped detached ADU frames a wonderful quasi-courtyard around the gargantuan V-twin redwoods at the center of the lot. The ADU shares a matching material palette consisting of cement plaster painted blue and black, vertical redwood siding and soffits, and thin brick veneer. The ADU also features large full-height windows. The only difference between the main home and the ADU material palette is that the roofing will be a dark composition shingle roofing since it will be quite visible from the master balcony.

In one word: Exquisite. A landscape built into the natural banks of Calgary's Elbow river. A stunning slot overflow infinity pool surrounded by an expansive heated stone patio allow the clients to swim year round. The custom stainless steel outdoor kitchen with indirect lighting, copper tile, a bar fridge, grill and smoker ensures guests and family alike will enjoy many long days in this stunning yard with every possible amenity within arms reach. The custom fire pit sourced internationally removes the chill from our cool evenings in the shoulder season. Photo Credit: Jamen Rhodes

Rotten RR ties removed to create a beautiful retaining wall for parking area at Chautauqua Lake vacation property.
Design ideas for a large traditional hillside driveway in New York.

This Black and White Marble tiled hallway floor at a Grade II listed property in the village of Tattenhall has quite a history. The building was constructed in 1865 and at one time it has been the home to the high sheriff of Cheshire, and the family home of Edith Wignall the daughter of Sir Henry Tate the founder of the sugar company Tate and Lyle. In more recent years the property had been used as a council building and even a nursing home for the elderly. After a long history of decline it has now been restored to a lavish family mansion however the marble floor had suffered over the years and still need attention. The current owner had been in touch as they wanted it restoring and basically brought back to life. As it turns out I had already planned to go to Tattenhall the following week to work on another listed building which was formerly the village bank. After discussing the Marble floor over the phone, I agreed a date and time to pop over from the bank and inspect the floor in detail. I can provide a rough quote from photographs, which has been especially useful recently, but it’s far better for all concerned if I’m able to properly survey the floor first. The Marble floor consisted of Black and White Mable tiles laid in a diamond pattern, it wasn’t a very large area perhaps 9 square metres in total. The tiles were well worn as described but also stained and scratched. I would see they would need a deep burnish and polish to bring them back to life and then protected with a fresh sealer. Following on from that visit I was able to provide an accurate quote which was accepted, and a date agreed for my return. The first job was to protect the surrounding heavy wooden panelling with masking film. The floor was very heavily stained yellow with deep scratches, to remove these I would have to grind the marble back until a clean fresh tile was left. To start I used a 200-grit coarse pad fitted to a weighted buffing machine, the abrasive action of the pad was lubricated with water. After inspection I found that the staining and scratches were still there, so I needed to use stronger pads, so I worked my way through a set of very coarse milling pads starting at a 50, 100 and finishing with a 200-grit pad. Again, water was used to lubricate, and the resultant slurry was removed by a powerful wet vacuum and washed down between each pad. The milling pads had the desired effect, and I was then able to bring back the polished appearance of the Marble surface using a set of finer burnishing pads with the same process. The 400 and 800-grit pads helped to clean and remove the fine scratches left by the milling pads and then the next 1500-grit pad started to build the shine back on the marble tile. After finishing with 1500-grit pad I washed the Marble with Tile Doctor Stone Soap and vacuumed up the residue with the wet vacuum. I left an industrial blower in place overnight to dry out the floor ready for the next morning when it would be sealed. The next morning, I used the last of the four burnishing pads which is a very fine 3000-grit to polish the floor further. This last pad is applied dry with just a spray of water to create a high gloss finish. When I was happy, I sealed the floor with two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that soaks into the fine pores of the Marble to protect it from within. This product also improves colour and after application it was left to soak into the tile for five minutes before polishing off and then leaving it to dry. The last step was to I buff the floor with a white pad. The finish was impressive, and the family were very happy with the work we had carried out. For aftercare I recommended they use Stone Soap as its designed for the regular cleaning of sealed and polished stone, as well as cleaning it also helps build the patina. Alastair Robb West Cheshire TIle Doctor

Shower and bathroom mould and soap scum growth are probably the most common, annoying and frustrating tile-related problems. Wet and high humidity areas with poor ventilation provide the perfect breeding ground for mould and stains. Soap residue and body oils also create a food source for soap scum, mould to grow. My customer in Dane Bank had the exact problem with dirty and mouldy grout lines in her shower cubicle. She had tried scrubbing the grout lines herself with a toothbrush and standard supermarket cleaners but never got the result she wanted. Fortunately she was lucky to find Tile Doctor from the internet and I was asked to pop over and take a look to see what could be done. I was confident we could make a big difference so I went through the options with her and give her price for the job. She was happy with the price and we agreed a date for me to return and complete the work. For grout lines cleaning I used Tile Doctor Grout Colorant Pre-Treat Cleaner, which successfully removes dirt, soil, soap scum and hard water deposits from grout joints. The product was sprayed on to the grout and left to dwell and seep into the pores for approximately five minutes to break down the soap scum and dirt before being scrubbed in using a stiff grout brush. The cleaning was successful but there were still few mouldy spots left. On these spots I used Tile Doctor Mould Away Spray that is meant for quick removal of mould from grout and silicone. One again product got sprayed on grout lines and left to dwell for five minutes and then scrubbed with stiff grout brush and then rinsed with clean water. After I had finished cleaning I express dried the tile and grout using high power heat gun. With the area nice and dry, I had to choose the matching colour for the existing grout. There are ten colours to choose from the Tile Doctor range of Grout Colourant and on this occasion we chose Limestone as the best colour to match the tile. The colourant is easily applied directly to the grout and in this case I applied two coats. The product is epoxy based and completely seals and rejuvenates the appearance of the grout, which not only drastically improves appearance it also makes it much easier to clean in the future. After applying the re-colourant I buffed all grout colorant excess off the tiles and the shower cubicle was ready. My customer was very satisfied with the work and left the following comment on the Tile Doctor Feedback system “Really, really happy with the service Tony provided and the recommendations he suggested. The work was carried out in a highly professional manner, to a high standard. I have already recommended him to friends. Thank you” Tony Olmet Greater Manchester Tile Doctor

This was a challenging project for very discerning clients. The home was originally owned by the client’s father, and she inherited it when he passed. Care was taken to preserve the history in the home while upgrading it for the current owners. This home exceeds current energy codes, and all mechanical and electrical systems have been completely replaced. The clients remained in the home for the duration of the reno, so it was completed in two phases. Phase 1 involved gutting the basement, removing all asbestos containing materials (flooring, plaster), and replacing all mechanical and electrical systems, new spray foam insulation, and complete new finishing. The clients lived upstairs while we did the basement, and in the basement while we did the main floor. They left on a vacation while we did the asbestos work. Phase 2 involved a rock retaining wall on the rear of the property that required a lengthy approval process including municipal, fisheries, First Nations, and environmental authorities. The home had a new rear covered deck, garage, new roofline, all new interior and exterior finishing, new mechanical and electrical systems, new insulation and drywall. Phase 2 also involved an extensive asbestos abatement to remove Asbestos-containing materials in the flooring, plaster, insulation, and mastics. Photography by Carsten Arnold Photography.

This was a challenging project for very discerning clients. The home was originally owned by the client’s father, and she inherited it when he passed. Care was taken to preserve the history in the home while upgrading it for the current owners. This home exceeds current energy codes, and all mechanical and electrical systems have been completely replaced. The clients remained in the home for the duration of the reno, so it was completed in two phases. Phase 1 involved gutting the basement, removing all asbestos containing materials (flooring, plaster), and replacing all mechanical and electrical systems, new spray foam insulation, and complete new finishing. The clients lived upstairs while we did the basement, and in the basement while we did the main floor. They left on a vacation while we did the asbestos work. Phase 2 involved a rock retaining wall on the rear of the property that required a lengthy approval process including municipal, fisheries, First Nations, and environmental authorities. The home had a new rear covered deck, garage, new roofline, all new interior and exterior finishing, new mechanical and electrical systems, new insulation and drywall. Phase 2 also involved an extensive asbestos abatement to remove Asbestos-containing materials in the flooring, plaster, insulation, and mastics. Photography by Carsten Arnold Photography.

This was a challenging project for very discerning clients. The home was originally owned by the client’s father, and she inherited it when he passed. Care was taken to preserve the history in the home while upgrading it for the current owners. This home exceeds current energy codes, and all mechanical and electrical systems have been completely replaced. The clients remained in the home for the duration of the reno, so it was completed in two phases. Phase 1 involved gutting the basement, removing all asbestos containing materials (flooring, plaster), and replacing all mechanical and electrical systems, new spray foam insulation, and complete new finishing. The clients lived upstairs while we did the basement, and in the basement while we did the main floor. They left on a vacation while we did the asbestos work. Phase 2 involved a rock retaining wall on the rear of the property that required a lengthy approval process including municipal, fisheries, First Nations, and environmental authorities. The home had a new rear covered deck, garage, new roofline, all new interior and exterior finishing, new mechanical and electrical systems, new insulation and drywall. Phase 2 also involved an extensive asbestos abatement to remove Asbestos-containing materials in the flooring, plaster, insulation, and mastics. Photography by Carsten Arnold Photography.

This was a challenging project for very discerning clients. The home was originally owned by the client’s father, and she inherited it when he passed. Care was taken to preserve the history in the home while upgrading it for the current owners. This home exceeds current energy codes, and all mechanical and electrical systems have been completely replaced. The clients remained in the home for the duration of the reno, so it was completed in two phases. Phase 1 involved gutting the basement, removing all asbestos containing materials (flooring, plaster), and replacing all mechanical and electrical systems, new spray foam insulation, and complete new finishing. The clients lived upstairs while we did the basement, and in the basement while we did the main floor. They left on a vacation while we did the asbestos work. Phase 2 involved a rock retaining wall on the rear of the property that required a lengthy approval process including municipal, fisheries, First Nations, and environmental authorities. The home had a new rear covered deck, garage, new roofline, all new interior and exterior finishing, new mechanical and electrical systems, new insulation and drywall. Phase 2 also involved an extensive asbestos abatement to remove Asbestos-containing materials in the flooring, plaster, insulation, and mastics. Photography by Carsten Arnold Photography.