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TODAY'S CONSUMERS KNOW VALUE AND EXPECT QUALITY
Whether you are redecorating, remodeling or simply adding new appliances or furniture to your home, you want to be sure that you get your money's worth. Every major purchase is an investment, and the more you know about a product, the smarter your investment will be.
To assist you in your buying decisions, The Powder Coating Institute (PCI) has created this useful Consumer Buying Guide. You'll find helpful tips and innovative ideas for your home and garden from leading consumer experts, as well as beautiful photos of some of today's newest products and home furnishings.
Many consumers do not realize that the finish on a product can affect its value by increasing its durability and lifespan. One type of popular finish is powder coating, and it is found on thousands of products you use every day. Powder coating is tough, scratch-resistant and attractive, helping to increase the life of a product and retain its brand new look for a long, long time.
We hope you will find this Guide informative, useful and chock-full of creative ideas.
Cheap Tricks for Cool Kitchens: Trend Toward Bite-Sized Upgrades Changes Look and Saves Money
By Tom Kraeutler
If home is where the heart is, kitchens are clearly one of the vital organs that convert a house to a home. Not surprisingly, kitchens are also among the most popular home remodeling projects tackled each year.
But home improvements can be complicated, and major kitchen makeovers can turn your life upside down. To avoid these home improvement hassles, lots of would-be major remodelers are breaking down the project into "modules" which can be completed
independently of one another.
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Here's how to separate the wheat flour from the chaff and cook up a kitchen of your dreams:
Pop the Top - Kitchen countertops create bold decorating statements and become the feature point of
the room. Changing just the top is a fairly simple project that can be completed in a short time frame with little impact on family life.
Keep the Cabinets - Cabinet replacement is one of the most expensive parts of a remodeling project. But in many cases, you can create an entirely new look to the room by redecorating everything else but the cabinets. For example, in the 1970s, dark wood cabinets and dark countertops were typical. To update this look, repaint the walls bright white and add a wallpaper border with small touches of the darker cabinets' color. Next, replace the cabinets' door and drawer pulls with lighter colors to match the walls. These simple improvements will update the space and bring the room together visually at a fraction of the cost of a major remodel.
Mechanical Makeovers - The "dated" look of kitchens can often be traced to the appliances. Just like cars, appliances reflect the style of the day and changing or repainting them can make a kitchen appear 20 years younger, especially if you repaint the walls to match the new colors. More than 2,000 paint color options are available. Paint chips are available to help you find the perfect color for your renovated kitchen.
Faucet Fix-Ups - New faucets can also make a nice feature in an otherwise dreary looking space. Faucet
replacements are also fairly simple plumbing projects.
Flush the Floors - New flooring alone can really change the look of a kitchen and can be installed with little impact on family life.
Tom Kraeutler, a popular home improvement and remodeling expert, appears regularly on MSNBC's Home Page television show and co-hosts The Money Pit, a nationally syndicated home improvement radio show.
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