Renovation Articles | Kevin Gilday

Modern kitchen layout has developed alongside modern kitchen design — which today emphasizes an open plan concept. While many older homes in the metro DC area were built in the ...

Like many young couples who work and live downtown, Amy Feagles and Geoff Dietz looked to the inner ring suburbs when it was time to start a family. They purchased a house in ...

As you scroll through pictures on Instagram, Pinterest, and Houzz to imagine your kitchen renovation, did you ever wonder why you’re drawn to certain images? Chances are that the ...

Downsizing to a smaller home doesn’t have to be complicated, but it’s never as simple as you imagine. And while it took some doing to get to the final goal, Marie Duellman and ...

Home Remodeling Surprises - What’s Behind the Walls? Living in an older home can be great. The architectural details you just can’t get in a newer home, the sense of history, the ...

Every time Lisa Kristiansen and Steve Robinson looked out their french doors to nowhere, they knew they had work to do. Those doors were supposed to lead to a deck - or something ...

When a Cleveland Park family needed a kitchen redesign, they chose a company that offered a design-build remodeling approach. With an architect, interior designer, and lead ...

Maybe you’ve heard that design-build is a good way to go for home remodeling, that it is smoother and more cost-effective. That’s true. Or maybe you are just starting to ...

When young men returned from military service after WW2, homes couldn’t be built fast enough around Washington, DC and around the country. More and more families were looking for ...

Suppose your home was built during the post-WWII era. In that case, you might be living in a layout that was better suited to a time when one rotary phone was state-of-the-art ...

You've been spending a LOT more time in your kitchen since the early spring of this year. It's been great having time as a family preparing and eating meals, so that's been a real ...

You are thinking about a home renovation, maybe updating the kitchen and dramatically improving the flow and sightlines throughout your downstairs. You’ve been watching HGTV  well ...

You’ve found a great property in the perfect location—maybe you are living there right now—but it definitely needs some work. The challenge now is to imagine the possibilities. ...

When it comes to adding livable space to your home, the most logical places to turn are the basement and the attic. In the two previous posts, we looked at the return on the ...

When adding new livable space in a home, the first place many people turn to is the basement. A basement can be a great choice because it does not involve adding additional ...

When is it a good idea to follow through with those renovation projects you’ve been thinking about? Let’s take a look at why it might be a good idea to finish off some of those ...

Kitchens and baths are prime spaces when it comes to renovation projects. Sometimes the need is obvious. You purchase a home with an outdated kitchen that will never meet your ...

When you look at your kitchen, there’s nothing exactly wrong with it. It’s functional and has served your family well. Nothing’s broken, so why fix it? Well, if you are ...

It’s time for an addition to your home, but there are a lot of factors to weigh. Two big considerations: how long will you be there to enjoy this home addition, and how will it ...

How will you find the right firm to handle your condo renovation?

If you grew up in a 1940’s-era colonial, you might remember Mom and Dad’s tiny but efficient bathroom. It likely had a single pedestal sink, a toilet, and a small but usable tiled ...

You’ve had your eye on a condominium community in an iconic DC neighborhood--maybe West End, Woodley Park, or Georgetown. You’ve done some research on that perfect building. The ...

The lure of new construction is easy to understand. Everything new, bright, and shiny. That’s why there are so many new condo developments cropping up right now all over DC. A new ...

The condo market in metro DC is as vibrant as the city itself. Several trends I am seeing are these: first, empty nesters are no longer staying in their "forever homes” after the ...

Choosing a condominium in Washington might look easy. It seems that there is a lot to choose from after all. But getting the right fit at the right price point, with the amenities ...

The condo market in the metro DC region is multi-faceted, to say the least. Here is another in our series on experts in residential real estate, and especially the condominium ...

Condo living is an increasingly popular option for homebuyers here in the DC metro area. Having lived and worked here for 40 plus years, I’ve found that the way to assist people ...

The time is right for that master bathroom remodel you’ve been thinking about. You’ve even gone out and gotten some quotes. But it’s not really clear what you will be getting for ...

Your master bath is functional, but just barely. It is showing definite signs of wear that are getting harder to ignore; mildew stains that no amount of scrubbing will eliminate, ...

A home renovation in a condominium (or co-op) property is not like renovating a single family home. And there is more to it than simply the difference between interior only and ...

You’ve been in your condo for a few years now. Or maybe you just moved in. Yet some of the compromises you made - the not quite perfect kitchen, maybe an owner’s bedroom layout ...

It’s an empty nest! The house is finally all yours again. Your youngest child got the hint when they found you measuring the dimensions of what had, up to this point, clearly been ...

There is an undeniable sense of place, a charm, and specificity that you often feel in a well-maintained older home. On the other hand, older homes often were built for different ...

Is your first-floor layout everything you want it to be? Maybe that long, narrow entryway is really starting to bother you. And you love having a first-floor laundry room, but ...

The decision has been made. You are selling your home and purchasing a new one here in the metropolitan Washington DC area. The whole family is excited about the new chapter that ...

If you live in the Cleveland Park DC neighborhood and are considering a major home renovation project, you may have the opportunity to transform the way it feels to move through ...

Cost Per Square Foot: Home Addition vs New Home Sometimes a prospective client will ask "what's the cost per square foot for building a home addition."  Our standard answer is: ...

Thinking about renovating your kitchen, converting an attic for a home office, or in need of a home addition for a master suite or family room? If so, we have some advice about ...

It is not uncommon for owners of older homes in places like Arlington and NW Washington to crave more space especially with a kitchen addition. Utilitarian brick houses were built ...

A remodeling project is the perfect way to create your ideal kitchen, tailored to your family’s specific requirements. But a full kitchen renovation can take 10 to 12 weeks to ...

If you live in Washington, DC, or its close-in suburbs in Maryland and Virginia, your house is probably old. And if you’re looking to buy? You’ll be looking at old houses. ...

A Bigger Home Addition Is Almost Never Better Ideally, the size of a home addition is driven by its planned use within limits of the property size. Families with young children ...

The Cost of Home Additions vs Buying New Homes Sometimes a prospective client will ask, “What’s the cost per square foot for home additions?” We can give you a reasonable idea of ...

Updated by: Kevin Gilday Home Addition Plans: Exploring the Most Practical Options You’ve got problems with your home. The kitchen isn’t big enough. Your clothes and shoes won’t ...

Why Kitchen Remodeling Takes Time The home remodeling programs on HGTV are fun to watch. Magic happens in minutes. Presto!  Old and outdated becomes new and modern. This is the ...

If your Kensington Maryland home was built during the post WWII era, there’s a good chance that its fundamental layout is still the way it was when televisions only had 3 channels ...

If building an addition is not an option because of budget constraints or space limitations, don’t give up on the idea of remodeling your kitchen. Kitchen designers know how to ...

A kitchen designer should always be in charge of your kitchen renovation - even if it is part of a larger architect-designed project. The kitchen designer brings valuable insights ...

Beautiful + Practical: The Art of Kitchen Remodeling Inundated by decades of dazzlingprogramming on HGTV and The Food Channel, America’s passion for kitchen perfection shows no ...

You’ve suspected it for a while, but now you’re sure of it: Your kitchen isn’t working. Whether it’s too small, laid out improperly, or just plain outdated, a poorly-functioning ...

  As you flip through pictures on Pinterest, Houzz, and Instagram to imagine your kitchen renovation, did you ever wonder why you’re drawn to certain images?  Chances are that the ...

Smart Homes, the Internet of Things, Home Automation—all of these terms are the new vernacular for the place you call home.  Smart home technology is no longer a futuristic ...

You know what we are all very good at?  Making do.  We put up with all sorts of minor annoyances every single day.  Unwanted sights, sounds and smells interrupt our flow--and yet ...

Returning from the KBIS (Kitchen & Bath Industry Show), our kitchen and bath designers were “vertically” flowing with excitement!  Two main themes emerged from their 3-day ...

Susan Liss wasn’t thinking about future resale when she hired Gilday Renovations to design and build a two-story addition to her home in Chevy Chase after husband passed away. She ...

According to the most recent housing profile by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census in 2013, the median age of homes in this region is 34 years. ...

What is it about interior designers that enable them to work wonders on the environments where we live? How can they choose colors and pair patterns that we amateurs would never ...

In this second installment of our quest to find out what makes an interior designer tick, we’ve approached the top winners for residential interior design in this year’s awards ...

You know what we are all very good at?  Making do.  We put up with all sorts of minor annoyances every single day.  Unwanted sights, sounds, and smells interrupt our flow, and yet ...

Porches provide transition space from indoors to outdoors.  Protected from sun, rain and insects but open to fresh air, a porch is an outdoor room where you can escape your ...

According to one of the homeowners, the old kitchen was ugly! A previous home remodeling at this Chevy Chase residence had made room for a breakfast area and powder room.  But ...

Are you looking to add curb appeal to your home? You probably love the idea of expanding your living space or providing more room for entertaining, and stretching out on a fully ...

Sometimes it is a luxury you bestow upon yourself.  Sometimes it is an imperative.  Always, it results in something special just for you: remodeling your bathroom. When is it time ...

Exploring the Most Practical Options for Home Additions The Tudor style of this two story home addition in Chevy Chase mimics the architectural style of the main house.   The ...

The home remodeling programs on HGTV are fun to watch. Magic happens in minutes. Presto!  Old and outdated becomes new and modern.

Considering Porch Design -or- How the Greeks Invented Outdoor Living Are you looking to add curb appeal to your home? You'll probably like the idea of expanding your living space ...

Home renovations can drive you insane. There’s no denying it. It’s often a painfully chaotic process.

Face Your Fear of Home Remodeling You Live in Bethesda, Maryland and you’ve just begun to think about remodeling your home. Then the dark thoughts come. People dread the thought ...

Love It Or Level It? Sometimes the answer is obvious. Other times, you struggle. You love a house. You say it deserves to stand, though it looks one gust away from falling down. ...

Fix It Up or Tear It Down? This ambitious Chevy Chase, Maryland home remodeling project provides a great answer to the fundamental question many homeowners face.  The renovation ...

When talking about the design build approach to Washington DC home remodeling, we usually focus on benefits to the homeowner. Interior designer Leslie Roosevelt sees a benefit to ...

A home addition involves major structural changes to the home. How do you find the right design build firm to plan your home addition?     The photo (left) shows progress on a ...

The End of Granite Countertops in Kitchen Remodeling Are we sick of the slab yet?  Starting about eight years ago there were remodeling industry predictions of an end to the great ...

Home Additions Are Still Good A Investment In Washington DC, home remodeling has evolved into a sophisticated and highly professionalized art--particularly for home additions.  ...

Choose the Right Contractor for Your Home Remodeling Project--Or Else Sometimes we get calls from customers who haven't identified the correct type of home remodeling company to ...

Make Your Kitchen Feel Bigger & Function Better: Interior Renovation & Reconfiguration This happens a lot in metropolitan Washington, DC.  We encounter older homes with ...

  A kitchen designer is familiar with the latest features available in cabinetry, appliances and other products for the kitchen. Who better to answer the question "why you need a ...

Do you or don't you need tow work with a kitchen designer for your kitchen remodeling project? It is possible that you may regret it if you don't use a designer. The kitchen ...

Avoid the Pain: Work With a Kitchen Designer Kitchen remodeling? Please, don't do it yourself! If you hire a smart, seasoned kitchen designer you won't have to worry about ...

Interior Renovation: When Better Space (Not More) Is the Solution The first thing you need to know about interior renovation is that it is usually more cost-effective than ...

A successful design build approach requires impeccable planning and project management.   If you live in Rockville Maryland or another first ring suburb of Washington DC, your ...

This week we had a coffee-talk with our favorite kitchen & bath designers.  We grilled them about the value of their services for a homeowner planning to remodel a kitchen.

If you live in Chevy Chase and you are planning to build an addition to your home, you will also have to plan a "home" for all the rainwater that the new addition is going to ...

Home remodeling, can be a bit of an emotional roller coaster even when all goes according to plan.  We get that. The design process is exciting and gets the creative juices ...

Kitchen Work Centers We have talked about the kitchen work triangle and how it effectively makes or breaks a kitchen design.  If the geometry is off, the kitchen -no matter how ...

The Washington DC area is home to a big, busy interior design community.  It makes sense that residential design and renovation are big business here because the DC market itself ...

Applying a painted glass overlay is now an established alternative to tile backsplash as an accent in the modern kitchen color palette.  We are seeing more of this type of finish ...

Our integrated design build approach to home remodeling works because the design group, the build group and the project management group are all full-time Gilday employees.  They ...

The modern kitchen layout has developed along side modern kitchen design---which emphasizes an open plan concept.  Instead of the kitchen being a small, isolated room in the back ...

Modern Kitchen Design Floor Plans Modern kitchen design layouts are referenced by the shape they make when viewed on a floor plan.  The most popular kitchen design configurations ...

Small Bathroom - Smart Remodel The integrated design build approach to bathroom remodeling promotes lively collaboration. That results in a win/win experience for all involved.  ...

Design Build = Collaboration Continuing from the previous post ("Why Integrated Design Build Works") we explore further how an integrated design build approach to kitchen ...

Here is a perfect example of the high quality of collaboration that occurs daily in a truly integrated design build remodeling firm.  Kitchen designer Ellen Gilday Witts and ...

A Classy Cleveland Park Victorian In the previous post (The Architect In Design Build Part One) we took a peek at design build architect Dan Morales' process as he prepared to ...

Just as an actor studies all aspects of a character in preparation for the role, an architect studies the architectural character of a home he is about to renovate. This is one of ...

Kitchen Remodeling Means Thinking Inside the Box In condo kitchen remodeling, size does not matter.  The design process is the same. The kitchen designer has to make an assessment ...

The Great Outdoors -or- The Great After-Thought Gilday Renovations completed a two-story home addition to a Washington DC residence several years ago.   We squeezed the budget in ...

Choosing Countertops for the Modern Kitchen There are now many more types of kitchen countertop materials to choose from. And yet, most of our clients still choose natural stone. ...

We do that.  When you are the client in a Gilday Renovations design build remodeling project, we stand by you.  Why its that?  Because our work and our client relationships are ...

The Finishing Touch Choosing your paint colors--that truly puts the finishing touch on a home remodeling project.  Do not under estimate the importance of this choice.

Something Is Missing Curb appeal. You  know it when you see it because you feel it. But, what is it exactly? 

Balancing Act The color palette for modern kitchens is drawn from dominant and recessive tones. Kitchen & bath designer Leslie Roosevelt says she tries to balance the overall ...

Design Is the Heartbeat For Gilday Renovations, residential design build (in the Washington DC metro area) is about seamless integration of all resources, people and processes ...

Modern Kitchen Lighting The previous blog post (Lighting Our Kitchens) talked about the overall benefits of LED over other available types of lighting for our kitchen and bath ...

Halogen Is Dead That's the word from Ronna Cohen at Annapolis Lighting.  In a conversation about trends in kitchen lighting, Ronna said that as of this year they are selling ...

One More Year That's all we've got.  By government mandate, we may not use incandescent light bulbs (100w or 75w) past 2013.  The incandescent is out (thanks but no thanks Mr. ...

You might expect that the electrician would be in charge of lighting the kitchen.  In fact, lighting design is an integral part of the kitchen plan and the designer's ...

The "transitional" style kitchen by any other name would be what?  A mash up traditional and contemporary?  A haphazard collision of styles?  Could be.  But in the hands of a ...

NKBA's Top Kitchen Design Trends The National Kitchen & Bath Association just published its top ten kitchen and bath design trends based on data culled from the membership. ...

Not As Bad As It Looks Only homeowners who have lived through an extensive home remodeling project know what it feels like to see the place where they live completely torn up. ...

Bathroom Remodeling: Can You Live With That? We often find ourselves correcting mistakes left behind by other remodeling companies--especially in a bathroom remodeling project. ...

Integrated Design Build We at Gilday Renovations have coined a term that describes our approach to design build remodeling.  We call it integrated design build.  That's because ...

Smaller and Bigger When working in an older condominium home during a condo renovation we encounter many of the same problems we find when remodeling an older single family ...

Our client, Michelle, spent a number of years living in the Netherlands before coming home to Chevy Chase Maryland with her family.  It is not surprising that she developed a ...

A previous owner of this Chevy Chase Maryland home had put on a very, very small breakfast room addition.  It was the right idea but didn't go far enough.  This stingy little ...

What Makes A Designer Kitchen? The designer does.  A smart kitchen designer makes a thorough assessment of the limitations and possibilities of a space.  She puts that factual ...

Humble Beginnings New additions all look pretty much the same to me at the beginning--as do new people.  It takes time and good genes (or in this case, a sound design build ...

A Design Build Approach to Kitchen Remodeling The Gilday Renovations design build approach to kitchen design and remodeling is all about details.  Details, details, details run ...

Yesterday we pitched the notion of a kitchen design "style triangle" formed by cabinets, countertops and backsplash selections.  These three elements of kitchen decor set the ...

Work Triangle You've heard of the work triangle.  This basic concept of functionality  is decades old in the art of modern kitchen design.  The term describes the movement pattern ...

McLean Whole House Renovation Our custom design build practice thrives in the Washington DC metropolitan area because there are so many generations of older homes here.  As these ...

We recently remodeled a half bath (a.k.a. powder room) in Chevy Chase Maryland that included something old, something new and something borrowed.  It is not uncommon when ...

The half bath -or "powder room" as we like to call it here in Washington DC- is probably the smallest room in the house, not much larger than a good-sized coat closet.  Just like ...

What's the Big Deal About Design Build Communication.  That's what.  In a complex renovation project, particularly when room additions are involved, stuff happens.  When stuff ...

They absolutely do not make kitchen cabinets like they used to.  And that's a good thing.   High quality kitchen cabinets can be designed in any style you like.  And with clever ...

It is standard advice that you should go through stacks of home design magazines, rip out your favorite photos and save them in a binder until you are ready to begin that long ...

"Bath Tub Drops Through Ceiling--Lands On Kitchen Counter" This is not the headline you want neighbors to be reading about you while you are laid up in a body cast.  In fact, this ...

We encounter this frequently in certain Northwest Washington DC neighborhoods: the mini master bathroom.  It's just big enough to do what you need to do -one at a time- and no ...

This Washington DC home remodeling  project is a great example of how carefully selected design elements can transform an interior.  The program here is to renovate the interior ...

When we talk about the fine points of home additions we tend to make it all about the designers.  In fact, a design plan is just the beginning.  An enormous amount of thought and ...

To celebrate her heritage, one of our clients asked us to develop a rustic kitchen design aesthetic that expressed Tuscan style. Tuscan style favors a brawny, earthy look--the ...

Home Addition Adds New Space and Revives the Old This drawing shows the before and after second floor plans for a typical brick colonial in Bethesda, Maryland that received a two ...

It was around the 5th century, I believe, when the Greeks (who invented Greek Tragedy) introduced the expression:  "Aieeeeeee!"  The exclamation is wailed out by the the proud ...

Should you move or should you stay? Should you invest in a home renovation or move to new house?  This question comes up frequently when we discuss major renovations and additions ...

This kitchen project in progress is a perfect example of how kitchen design styles change over time.  As designers and remodelers learn more and as clever materials, techniques ...

How Much Is Too Much That's easy.  It's the same as the answer to the question (women will get this) how much make up is too much'.  Bobbi Brown's answer when asked by Oprah was, ...

First of all it isn't "only" a porch.  In custom renovation there is no "only" anything.  It is all about details--studiously conceived and finely crafted details.  All those ...

Interior Renovation = Better Space Planning Sometimes people think they don't have enough room in their house. They need a larger kitchen.  They want a real master bath--and a lot ...

Granite Counter Tops Granite didn't used to be all the rage.  It used to be dress code for banks and public buildings that represented a strength and immortality we could ...

"We Don't Want To Price Ourselves Out of the Neighborhood" We hear this a lot from prospective clients. They are trying to weigh the cost/value of investing in a home renovation ...

Give a Young Guy a Hammer   Give him a pry bar, set him loose in an empty house--and you better believe some stuff is going to get wrecked up.  

The Zombie Kitchen Surely it was someone's "dream kitchen" once upon a time in Bethesda, Maryland--but no more. This kitchen has been dead for a long time.  It’s just that nobody ...

Prospective clients will often say “we want an addition that doesn’t look like an addition.”  People want home additions to respect the architectural character of their house. We ...

Home additions come in all sizes--some you might not even think of as additions because they are so modest in scale.  Here is a design solution that draws on the big benefits ...

In an earlier post (The New Family Room Addition Is a Porch) we talked about how the luxury porch is gaining popularity in the category of home additions.  The example here is a ...

So?  Get small.    Here's an example  of how home additions (this one in Bethesda Maryland) can solve a space problems beautifully without taking up a lot of backyard space.

Additions Come In All Sizes When we speak of residential additions in Washington DC, we most often ooh and ah over the wonderfully spacious family rooms and light filled kitchens. ...

A new generation of porches is bringing indoor aesthetics and comfort to the great outdoors.  The screen porch has been steadily gaining the sort of popularity that the family ...

What's Wrong with This Kitchen? Nothing really....  This Cleveland Park, DC kitchen had been remodeled about 10 or 15 years earlier. It's fine. Stone countertops, adequate ...

If your home renovation dream calls for  an addition or significant alterations to existing interiors, you need to hire a specialty firm, one that is capable of  the planning and ...

Here is a great example of how Gilday Renovations can reconfigure interior space to address functional needs in a kitchen design without getting into the cost of a room addition.  ...

At Gilday Renovations, we frequently encounter homes built in the days before kitchens were capable of being so beautiful to look at.  And, until recent advances in kitchen design ...

In the field of home remodeling, design build is a specialty.  It is both a business model and a specific methodology. As a method, design build offers an ideal way to navigate ...

Some times bad things happen to good houses--in the best of neighborhoods! This otherwise gracious Chevy Chase Maryland residence suffered what we call a "band-aid" remodeling job ...

In 2009 Gilday Renovations made the switch and became a 100% wind powered remodeling company. Perhaps you have seen banners flying at Maryland retail businesses -particularly ...

  One + One = One Better This Arlington Virginia kitchen remodeling project began with a tiny galley kitchen and a tiny breakfast room.  Neither of them worked satisfactorily for ...

Bathroom designs usually don't involve a great deal of square footage.  Baths tend to be the smallest rooms in the house--even the master bathroom sometimes.  So there is little ...

Not only do they produce great works, Gilday Renovations carpenters look great doing it! In the photo: Taking a break from making magic in Washington DC: David Wilson, Jon ...