Summer 1997 Remodeling Tips   Select an Issue Spring 2002 Winter 2002 Fall 2001 Summer 2001 Spring 2001 Winter 2001 Fall 2000 Summer 2000 Spring 2000 Winter 2000 Fall 1999 Summer 1999 Spring 1999 Winter 1999 Fall 1998 Summer 1998 Spring 1998 Winter 1998 Fall 1997 Summer 1997 Spring 1997 Winter 1997 Coastal Updates Internet Website Our Customers Write... Jeff Smith, TV's "Frugal Gourmet", Describes His Dream Kitchen Herbs Color By Design Coastal Updates Internet Website Coastal Builders has recently published a new site on the World Wide Web. The site features several “pages” including a Profile of the company and some of the Management at Coastal, along with articles about remodeling and letters from our customers. There is a “ Links” page to help you surf to other informative sites dealing with remodeling. We have begun adding photographs and profiles of some of our Projects , comments from our customers, our References , and new articles about remodeling. This month we are adding profiles of some of our Lead Carpenters . We invite you to check out the site at: coastal.html. Please send us an E-Mail and let us know what you think of our site. (rcampbell@coastalbuilders.com, or hit the link on the web site) You can also contact us by E-Mail if you would like to talk to us about a project. John M. Watts   To Top Our Customers Write... The quality of the workmanship in our new bathroom is superb, thanks to Lee Grubb . He sets a high personal standard which translates into a superlative product. Additionally, he took time to point out problems we might need to attend to, as well as ways to finish off the room. He was frugal with our money, seeking to reuse what he could and recommending cost saving measures when appropriate. He was terrific! Laura Barnes, Ellicott City Let me begin by expressing our overall satisfaction with the work your company recently completed on the sunroom addition and remodeling of our kitchen and family room. I thought your company demonstrated an attitude of cooperation and thoroughness that provided an overall quality result and met all of our expectations. Bruce Nelson , our Lead Carpenter, was nothing short of excellent. Our thanks for a job well done and an enjoyable renovation result to our home. Ed and Janet Mellott, Sykesville The work was excellent and the workmen were courteous and cooperative. Richard Campbell was a Godsend after all of the problems we encountered with the previous builders. He gave us excellent advice. Lee Grubb is the very best craftsmen we could have hoped for. He is respectful, responsive and non-intrusive. Oliver & Dorothy Harris, Columbia The bathroom looks great - 2 down 1 to go! A+ -- the man ( Lee Grubb ) is an artist. Dennis Grube, Dunloggin (Mr. Grube is a repeat client) We are very pleased with the project. The Coastal team was very knowledgeable, courteous and patient with us during the remodeling of our kitchen. I would especially like to point out the workmanship of Jeff Miller. Jeff’s attitude (positive) and professionalism really sold us on Coastal. You should be proud to have someone like him represent your company. Thanks again. Next project = Coastal. Robert Saunders, Elkridge There are absolutely no problems with the workmanship. An impressive feat for a job this size. The overall design is superb. Ron Logsdon was wonderful. He is a craftsman and a gentleman. (Not a bad combo!) I was especially pleased with the clean up to keep dust to a minimum. The most important thing is that Coastal wanted a “flawless” job as much as I did. We both had the same goal. Thanks to Rich and Ron for a job well done! Howard E. Rones, Valley Meade Jeff Miller did a great job incorporating our ideas into a wonderful finished basement. He kept the disruption to a minimum, stuck to the schedule, and updated us daily on progress and issues. We really appreciate his and your company’s professionalism. Brian Hubbard, Brampton Hills The workmanship and reliability of the Lead Carpenter ( Bruce Nelson ) was excellent. Mary L. Ray, Elkridge The final project, our sunroom, is beautiful. The architectural detail added by the muted lighting shelf that Jeff Miller built has received many compliments, as has the entire addition from friends and neighbors. Jeff did an outstanding job practically building the room all by himself. He is a very skilled perfectionist! Martha & Paul Guillet, Font Hill You delivered a high standard of quality. Ron Logsdon is great! It was so easy to have him in the house while I was also at home. Quality of work and the ability to know what I expected - finishing details, etc., were outstanding. The end result is superior. Kim M. Klinefelter, Columbia   To Top Jeff Smith, TV's "Frugal Gourmet", Describes His Dream Kitchen The following design is a very expensive dream, a dream of a kitchen that even I do not own.... The concept offered here is based on a revised galley plan for the kitchen rather than one large kitchen that assumes a sole person is operating the cooking space. The galley idea of long aisles is much more suited to the nature of the contemporary family, a family in which several people cook at once and therefore several stations are needed. Or it is suited for the single person or couple who enjoys entertaining with their guests helping in the kitchen. The room is set up in such a way that family members, whether they be blood or friendly imports, can all participate, each at a different work station. This old restaurant concept surely will work for the household. There are several places where cutting boards can be placed, a sink by the main gas range, another sink by the dishwasher, and a third small bar sink for the salad maker. The center island has an electric stovetop for sauces, etc., and it has burner dials placed in such a way that one can operate the stovetop from either side of the island. An exhaust hood is not needed for this spot since the heavy cooking will be done on the large gas range. The center island also features a wood-topped rolling cabinet, which can be used as a butcher block. When in place it completes the island, but when moved to another spot in the kitchen (it will fit in any of the aisles if you wish to chop beside a stove or counter), the island is opened up for easy passage from one side of the room to the other. The kitchen partially opens through a large pass-through located above the sinks and dishwasher. On the other side is the breakfast nook, which has ample open shelving for the storage and display of those cooking pieces that are used only occasionally. The kitchen features a full restaurant-style hood and exhaust system above the gas range and the Chinese wok. There is light, light, light, all over the place. I need as many windows as possible and ceiling windows would be ideal. I have two refrigerator/freezers, and they are placed close enough to the center island to allow for easy unloading. Or you can bring the center-island traveling butcher block to the refrigerators for those big jobs. A large marble board is placed on top of the counter for the sake of making pasta and pastry. The stainless draining board next to the gas range functions in conjunction with the pot sink and also acts as a safety area for the person who removes a hot pot from the stove and finds no place to immediately place the pot. This kitchen was displayed in the Design Idea Center at the 1992 convention of the National Kitchen and Bath Association. Excerpted from The Frugal Gourmet Whole Family Cookbook, Wm. Morrow & Co., 1992. Reprinted with permission.   To Top Herbs Herbs are fun to grow and require little space. A 4’ by 4’ bed is sufficient for you to grow all the culinary herbs you need and leaves some room for other kinds of herbs: ornamental, medicine-making, and dyeing. Of the thousands of herbs, eight are quite basic to the cook: Basil, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Thyme, Mint and Lemon Verbena. Growing and using these will give variety to your cooking and will lead you to experiment with other herbs. Bud and Debbie Caywood, two professionals, each with typically hectic schedules, still continue to find time each year to tend their herb garden. They say, “Herbs are the perfect plants for the busy gardener. They are undemanding and tolerant, they require only well drained soil, sunlight, sufficient water, and little food. They will reward you with flavor, fragrance, and variety in texture, color, and leaf form.” In addition to their small backyard herb garden, the Caywoods use half their vegetable gardening space to grow basil. One of their summertime delights is pasta covered with a tomato sauce mixed with olive oil, garlic, and, of course, basil.   To Top Color By Design The world we live in is filled with color, not arbitrary color, but color by design. The colors with which we surround ourselves all have faces behind them. One such face is that of Barbara Schirmeister, ASID. Barbara is one of eleven members of the Interiors and Environment Committee of the Color Association of the United States. As a member of this committee, Barbara’s job is to recommend colors for manufacturers as they develop new products. If you are renovating a bathroom, for example, and have seen American Standard’s fixtures, you may have encountered the colors “Linen,” “Day Dream,” and “Spring,” which Barbara created as a result of her color forecasting work. She says, “The growing tendency is clean, clear hues that are gentle, ‘lifted’ and softened. Homeowners are moving away from the harsh and trendy colors of recent years. With today’s hectic pace, consumers are creating comfortable, soft environments to return home to.” What does Barbara see as the color trends for the next few years? This year the committee agreed an evolution of color is occurring, rather than a revolution. Nature and environmental influences remain strong, but the need to simplify our lives continues to be the most dominant factor. As we all seek respite from the hectic pace of our daily lifestyles, color simplicity becomes most desirable--gentle, pleasant mid-tones are chosen to soothe rather than shock. There is a new balance between cools and warms, with the warm side of the palette--sun-touched yellows, reds and oranges--still dominating. These hues range from pale cream to deep saffron, blush pink to cherry red. Reds will influence blues, which show the biggest escalation, and are overtaking greens in popularity. Toward the other side of the palette, silver tints and yellowed blues and greens have an iridescent glow. Naturals will remain strong, becoming more colored and mingling with burnished metallic hues. The most popular neutrals will be colored beiges--pale to very saturated--as well as creamy tones and celadon to sage. Gray, a color that reached obsolescence a few years ago, is now recycled in new tints; colored grays are on the horizon as neutrals. © 2003 Coastal Builders, Inc.