Defining ones place in a healthy industry is a challenge. Destin Palms handled it seamlessly and that was no accident. With veteran Realtors, managers and carpenters under one roof, it was apparent that this team had a clear picture of what the Emerald Coast real estate, vacation rental and property preservation market needed. It could be summed up in three words: One stop shopping.

Todays busy consumer finds Destin Palms a simple solution for all of their property needs.

Creating a profitable real estate division was one of the first objectives of 2014. A healthy combination of seasoned agents, up and comers and talent from out of state, gave the company a solid team with new ideas. The video production division provided a unique marketing tool that is unparalleled in the current marketplace.

Its a very competitive business and we have managed to take our personnel, both new and experienced, and put our company name on the radar of todays buyers and sellers, says Paul Couch, senior partner in the company.

Another division of the company that saw tremendous growth was the vacation rental and management department that is headed up by partner Jessica Forrester.

We set modest goals for 2014, she laughs. We quickly learned that good customer service, delivering on your promise and being honest with expectations, resulted in a doubling of the units we manage.

Of course being able to respond expeditiously to a problem or concern is a big reason customers speak highly of Destin Palms. Chris and Jeanne Hartmann came on the Destin Palms program in 2014. Chris says, We have been with Destin Palms for 10 months and our revenue is already ahead of last year's totals. We have had fewer renters, but more revenue. Destin Palms knows the market and knows how to maximize revenue for owners while also minimizing wear n tear on our unit.

The home improvement division grew by leaps and bounds in 2014. Kitchen remodels topped the list, followed by new flooring and bathroom renovations. And of course, at the core of all renovations is a fresh coat of paint. The painting crew of the renovation team was busy every day of the week.

We are fortunate to have a team of painters that are not only reliable, they are talented, neat and conscientious about their work, says remodeling director, and partner, Glenn Forrester. Its a respect our division has for the properties we service. We treat your home as if it were our own.

Being local is another asset of Destin Palms. The company is located in Miramar Beach. It is not based in Texas or Louisiana with a subcontractor holding down the fort locally. This is the community that Destin Palms lives in, supports and relies on. And as a contributing member of the community, Destin Palms believes in giving back. From the annual beach clean up to contributing to Toys for Tots, Destin Palms and its employees have provided support to Children in Crisis, Childrens Volunteer Network, Goodwill Industries, Cure for Cancer, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Stand Up For Cancer, and The Salvation Army all among the recipients of time, money and awareness by the staff.

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2014: A year of new frontiers, 2015: A year of growth and expansion

Please note: this page contains reviews and opinions sent in by Berkeley Parents Network subscribers. Your own experience may be different. Please always check references first!

We're interested in remodeling our kitchen, but not in a $100k solution! Anyone have any recent recommendations for design-build contractors that are happy to work with Ikea cabinets (or similar)? hoping to come in well under 40k

I've been wanting to update my kitchen for years. Our house is a modest post-WWII wood house with a galley-type (rectangle) kitchen, so this will not be a high end project. I'm looking for materials that are durable, serviceable, easy-to-keep-clean, aesthetically pleasing, eco-friendly (at least low or no VOCs) and affordable. Clean lines, nothing visually overbearing or too busy.

Have you bought cabinets from Home Depot? They have a partnership with a third party that seems to use eco-friendly wood. Did you use Home Depot installers or hire your own contractor?

If you didn't use Home Depot, where did you source your cabinets? I don't want to get mine from the shops that import from China because I'm concerned that they use VOC-based finishes, and the ones I've looked at don't make a broom closet in the size I need.

I'd like to hire one person to install the cabinets, counter tops and new sink because it will make my coordinating/oversight job easier. Have you worked with someone who is skilled, reliable and responsible, good communicator, kind and charges a fair price? The person could be a great handy person who has done these jobs effectively, or a small contractor. I prefer not to deal with a firm or large company. Thank you for your input! Barbara

We are contemplating a long overdue kitchen remodel and would love to receive recommendations for a reliable, competent contractor or a crew. Ours is a very small kitchen, so this will be a relatively modest-budget project. Ideally, we would like to have this done at the end of June or the beginning of July and need someone who can complete this as quickly as possible (without compromising the quality of the work), as this is our only kitchen and we prefer to avoid eating take-outs for weeks. anon

Lowell has done work for us a dozen times over 20 years, ranging from built-in furniture to turning a basement into a fine apartment. Often in dealing with contractors (or handymen), out of (1) skill, (2) reliability and (3) good price, you get to choose any two. With Lowell, it is all three, every time. He's smart and clever (member of Mensa), as politically correct as can be: he typically donates most or even all of his profits to a children's medical center in Honduras or a nunnery in Tibet.

My wife and I recommend him highly, and you really are welcome to come look at what he did; we're near Shattuck and Rose. He's at (510) 612-9988, or fcleffer@yahoo.com. John

My partner and I have a 1940's craftsman and the original kitchen cabinets we like, but would like some thoughts on how to improve the workings of the drawers and shelves without replacing the cabinets. We are also thinking of adding crown moulding, but don't have any idea what type or how to install. Any recommendations? Craftsman Owner Seeking Craftsman

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Berkeley Parents Network: Kitchen Remodel

Updating your kitchen can dramatically improve the look and feel of your home. With top brands and a skilled installation crew, Sears delivers custom, high-quality kitchens in any style and any size.

Whether your project is small cabinet refacing or counter top replacement, -- or large -- remodeling the entire kitchen, -- it will be handled with the professionalism and care home improvement customers have come to expect from Sears. We also offer flexible financing plans to help you stay within budget.

To make sure your project meets your unique vision, well give you a virtual estimate, which is a digital image of your kitchen after installation of your selected products. Youll know exactly what your kitchen will look like before the work even begins.

Click on any of the carousel images to see a larger view.

Your Sears custom kitchen project includes:

Homeowners trust Sears to deliver reliable service and great results. And our work speaks for itself. Call today for your FREE in-home design consultation, and find out what the home improvement experts at Sears can do for you.

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Kitchen Experts at Sears Home Services & HomeProImprovement

A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation. In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a microwave oven, a dishwasher and other electric appliances. The main function of a kitchen is cooking or preparing food but it may also be used for dining, food storage, entertaining, dishwashing, laundry.

The evolution of the kitchen is linked to the invention of the cooking range or stove and the development of water infrastructure capable of supplying water to private homes. Until the 18th century, food was cooked over an open fire. Technical advances in heating food in the 18th and 19th centuries, changed the architecture of the kitchen. Before the advent of modern pipes, water was brought from an outdoor source such as wells, pumps or springs.

The houses in Ancient Greece were commonly of the atrium-type: the rooms were arranged around a central courtyard for women. In many such homes, a covered but otherwise open patio served as the kitchen. Homes of the wealthy had the kitchen as a separate room, usually next to a bathroom (so that both rooms could be heated by the kitchen fire), both rooms being accessible from the court. In such houses, there was often a separate small storage room in the back of the kitchen used for storing food and kitchen utensils.

In the Roman Empire, common folk in cities often had no kitchen of their own; they did their cooking in large public kitchens. Some had small mobile bronze stoves, on which a fire could be lit for cooking. Wealthy Romans had relatively well-equipped kitchens. In a Roman villa, the kitchen was typically integrated into the main building as a separate room, set apart for practical reasons of smoke and sociological reasons of the kitchen being operated by slaves. The fireplace was typically on the floor, placed at a wallsometimes raised a little bitsuch that one had to kneel to cook. There were no chimneys.

Early medieval European longhouses had an open fire under the highest point of the building. The "kitchen area" was between the entrance and the fireplace. In wealthy homes there was typically more than one kitchen. In some homes there were upwards of three kitchens. The kitchens were divided based on the types of food prepared in them.[1] In place of a chimney, these early buildings had a hole in the roof through which some of the smoke could escape. Besides cooking, the fire also served as a source of heat and light to the single-room building. A similar design can be found in the Iroquois longhouses of North America.

In the larger homesteads of European nobles, the kitchen was sometimes in a separate sunken floor building to keep the main building, which served social and official purposes, free from indoor smoke.

The first known stoves in Japan date from about the same time. The earliest findings are from the Kofun period (3rd to 6th century). These stoves, called kamado, were typically made of clay and mortar; they were fired with wood or charcoal through a hole in the front and had a hole in the top, into which a pot could be hanged by its rim. This type of stove remained in use for centuries to come, with only minor modifications. Like in Europe, the wealthier homes had a separate building which served for cooking. A kind of open fire pit fired with charcoal, called irori, remained in use as the secondary stove in most homes until the Edo period (17th to 19th century). A kamado was used to cook the staple food, for instance rice, while irori served both to cook side dishes and as a heat source.

The kitchen remained largely unaffected by architectural advances throughout the Middle Ages; open fire remained the only method of heating food. European medieval kitchens were dark, smoky, and sooty places, whence their name "smoke kitchen". In European medieval cities around the 10th to 12th centuries, the kitchen still used an open fire hearth in the middle of the room. In wealthy homes, the ground floor was often used as a stable while the kitchen was located on the floor above, like the bedroom and the hall. In castles and monasteries, the living and working areas were separated; the kitchen was sometimes moved to a separate building, and thus could not serve anymore to heat the living rooms. In some castles the kitchen was retained in the same structure, but servants were strictly separated from nobles, by constructing separate spiral stone staircases for use of servants to bring food to upper levels. An extant example of such a medieval kitchen with servants' staircase is at Muchalls Castle in Scotland. In Japanese homes, the kitchen started to become a separate room within the main building at that time.

With the advent of the chimney, the hearth moved from the center of the room to one wall, and the first brick-and-mortar hearths were built. The fire was lit on top of the construction; a vault underneath served to store wood. Pots made of iron, bronze, or copper started to replace the pottery used earlier. The temperature was controlled by hanging the pot higher or lower over the fire, or placing it on a trivet or directly on the hot ashes. Using open fire for cooking (and heating) was risky; fires devastating whole cities occurred frequently.

Leonardo da Vinci invented an automated system for a rotating spit for spit-roasting: a propeller in the chimney made the spit turn all by itself. This kind of system was widely used in wealthier homes. Beginning in the late Middle Ages, kitchens in Europe lost their home-heating function even more and were increasingly moved from the living area into a separate room. The living room was now heated by tiled stoves, operated from the kitchen, which offered the huge advantage of not filling the room with smoke.

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Kitchen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We have gone a little over a year without any additional projects in the kitchen. After staying in a vacation home that had a high-end built-in coffee maker, we decided to add one more.

We really liked the Miele coffee & espressp maker, but at $2400 or more, it's pretty much a budget-buster...

After doing some searching online, the cheapest built-in unit we could find was $1800. Free-standing units with the same features run $700 to $1500, so we decided to go with that option, hoping to spend less than $1000. My DW doesn't want it to sit on the kitchen counter, so we will build an in-wall coffee center. This will hold the machine, canisters for beans and cups, and it will pull out for easy access.

The only place available in the kitchen is on the wall outside the pantry as shown below. It can sit between the pantry door and the fridge, and push back into the pantry shelves.

Here is the concept picture...

I will need to move the display shelf up 4 to 6 inches and frame out a box. At present, I think the cabinet will be 18" high, sitting 36" off the ground. This will take up about one and a half of the pantry shelves on that wall, which really isn't that much. I hope to build and install this over the Christmas to New Years holiday. If any of you readers have had a good or bad experience with automatic coffee & espresso makers, I would appreciate you leaving a comment. I am currently considering one made by Bosch...

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10k Kitchen Remodel

A shelter for homeless women and children in Rapid City has six months to prove its residents won't be a bother to their soon-to-be new neighbors.

An exact date isn't set, but the Cornerstone Rescue Mission will be moving its women and children's home from the current Columbus Street location just southwest of downtown Rapid City to a larger building at 301 Fox Run Drive along Fifth Street on the south side of town.

The home serves as transitional housing for homeless mothers some of whom are court-ordered to live there and offers safe but temporary shelter as they work, find jobs or study new career paths and ultimately establish permanent homes elsewhere.

"These are folks who are just trying to move on with their life," Cornerstone Rescue Foundation President Jim Castleberry said.

Relocating the home, however, has not gone unnoticed by its new neighbors, with 133 residents living near the new location having signed a petition against the facility's operating in the midst of their neighborhood. The Rapid City Council recently approved the move with a unanimous vote.

Given the protest, however, the council's vote also imposed a six-month trial period for the new location among other stipulations meant to make the facility less intrusive on the surrounding community.

After six months, the city's Planning Commission on May 7, 2015, is expected to review the home's operations and whether neighborhood concerns have persisted.

Since a move-in date hasn't been established, a second trial period may also be granted to give the home a full six months of operations, according to the city's Community Planning and Development Services Department.

Meanwhile, Cornerstone Rescue Mission will wait for Regional Health, the current tenant at 301 Fox Run Drive, to relocate its medical-supply facility, Castleberry said.

Once the building is vacant, he said, the organization will begin remodeling it to fit its needs. "So, it will be a while yet," Castleberry said.

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Women, children's home has six months at new location

EPS Foam Insulation | Madrona Passive House
http://www.hammerandhand.com Lead carpenter Eli Semke details the installation EPS foam insulation at the Madrona Passive House in Seattle, WA. --------------- Hammer Hand is a Portland...

By: Hammer Hand

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EPS Foam Insulation | Madrona Passive House - Video

LEHIGH ACRES, FL -

The Salazar family of Lehigh Acres is home for the holidays, but they're coming home to a house much different than the one they left a week ago. An organization called Builders Care, along with Lennar Homes, chose the family for a remodel after hearing their story.

Jack Turner, Director of Construction at Lennar said: Last Tuesday afternoon, we were tearing out flooring and carpet and this afternoon we were cleaning and presenting the home.

Hugo and Maite Salazar were expecting a few changes here and there, but when they walked through their front door they barely recognized their own home.

The couple moved into the house nine years ago as newlyweds. They had two children Daniel and Daniella, but soon Daniella's health took a turn for the worse. The five-year-old is blind and uses a wheelchair. She also suffers from severe seizures and brain damage.

Just to wake up in the morning or to go to the store, everything is a challenge, explained Maite Salazar.

Their home had limited accessibility for Daniella, but now it has brand new wood floors and ramps. Builders Care also remodeled the home's kitchen, added landscaping, new furniture, fixed up the pool in the backyard, and even created a Batman themed room for Daniel.

It took more than 150 people a week to make it all happen. In the process, they changed the Salazar family's lives for the better and made this Christmas one they'll never forget.

Hugo Salazar said, Complete strangers come in and just bless your lives with their talents. It is an amazing, amazing feeling.

This Builders Care project marks $3 million spent in construction services since 2005.

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Builder's Care project remodels Lehigh family's home

Schwarzbier and sauerkraut fans will soon have a spot to raise their steins and bellow "prost!" in downtown Boise. Prost German Pubs, which owns four German-themed concepts in Seattle and two in Portland, Ore., plans to open a seventh location, Prost Boise, on Eighth Street adjacent to Red Feather Lounge. Part-owners Missy and T.J. Sayles recently relocated to the Treasure Valley to run the German pub, which has a projected opening date of March 1, 2015.

"I worked for the owner of Prost for six years in Seattle before I moved to California with my husband," said Missy. "My husband has done several of the remodels, as well as one of the original build-outs in Portland. We just had a baby and we were wanting to move to a new place where there were more recreational opportunities."

Prost Boise will only serve imported German beers, including iconic brands like Bitburger, Hofbrau and Paulaner, along with rotating rare and seasonal selections.

"We'll have some wheat beers, lagers, ales, pilsnersall classic styles," said Missy. "Obviously we don't do any IPAs or anything like that; they'll all be German handles."

Prost plans to serve its German beers in the traditional glassware.

"We have the proper glassware for the actual drink, so for instance, if you order a Kostritzer lagerwhich is like a Schwarzbier, one of the dark onesit will come in the proper Kostritzer glass. But you can get either a 0.3-liter, a 0.5-liter (which will be somewhat comparable to an American pint) or you can get 1 liter."

In addition to 11 or 12 tap handles pouring imported German beer, Prost Boise will offer an array of German bar food. Since the space has a small kitchen with no hood, Missy and T.J. also plan to utilize the pub's Eighth Street-facing patio to grill up sausages.

"We'll have bratwurst, bratwurst sandwiches, liverwurst pate, a Brotzeittellerwhich is an assortment of meats and cheeses with rye breadwe'll have beet salads, potato salad," said Missy. "It's pretty standard German fare. ... We're wanting to step it up a little bit, too, with making some specials once a week with local produce that has a German flair."

T.J. will be doing the build-out on the space, which will include wooden flourishes and shared community tables.

"It's dark wood, warm and cozy and just feels like an awesome neighborhood bar," said Missy.

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Prost Boise Brings German Fare to Eighth Street

Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage is eyeing a new location in Boulder.

Developer Equity Ventures Commercial Development and the Lakewood-based grocer submitted a site plan to build a 16,600-square-foot store in place of the former Olive Garden restaurant at 2685 Pearl St., according to documents filed with Boulder's Planning Department.

The proposed organic grocery would be almost twice as big as Natural Grocers' existing location at 2355 30th St., where the grocer has operated for 16 years. The site plan documents do not indicate whether the proposed store would be a relocation for the 30th Street site, a homey market that sits a couple hundred feet from Whole Foods' comparably gigantic 79,000-square-foot store.

The proposed store is about 0.4 miles west of Natural Grocers' existing location, which is owned by Realty Income Corp., according to Boulder County property records.

Officials for Natural Grocers declined to comment Tuesday, and officials for Equity Ventures Commercial Development and Realty Income Corp. could not be reached.

As she loaded bags of groceries in front of Natural Grocers' sole Boulder store on Tuesday, Boulder resident and loyal customer Heather Baines said she would welcome a larger location.

"This store is cozy," she said. "If we get to spread out a little bit more, then I'm all for that."

Baines, 40, said her family moved to Boulder three years ago from Evergreen, where Natural Grocers operated a newer location.

"This one is due for an update," she said.

As part of the proposal submitted to the city, the existing 9,300-square-foot former Olive Garden would be razed and replaced by a 16,600-square-foot building that would sit closer to Pearl Street. The new building would have a first floor totaling 15,500 square feet and a 1,100-square-foot mezzanine for office space.

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Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage plans new Boulder store at Olive Garden site