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11 Must Read Articles > Scrapbooking Your Home Remodel
By JR Girskis

Scrapbooking your home remodeling project is a fun and easy way to preserve your memories of the process in both photos and words. Whether you’re redoing your kitchen or knocking down entire walls, scrapbooking can provide you with before-and-after pictures you can show off to your friends, family, and coworkers. You’ll also have a physical document of the process you can keep for the rest of your life. Below are some tips and tricks for creating a home remodeling scrapbook that’ll be as amazing as your actual remodeling project.

1.Buy your scrapbook before you start your home remodeling project.

Take a trip to your local crafts or art supply store and browse through the available scrapbooks. In recent years, scrapbooking has become so popular that there are now thousands of scrapbooks and scrapbooking materials on the market. Choose a scrapbook that reflects your personality and the feel you want for your remodel. For instance, if you’d like your home remodel to have a classic but stylish feel, you may want to choose a scrapbook with a dark leather cover. If you prefer a more contemporary feel for your home, you might purchase a scrapbook with a bold pattern or stripes. Your choice should reflect how you envision your home to look after its remodel.

2.Use your scrapbook to generate ideas for your home remodel.

By keeping a visual reference of the colors and styles you’re drawn to, you’ll be able to generate many creative ideas for your home remodeling project. Browse through magazines and websites for images of home interiors you love. What does your dream bathroom look like? Does it include a clawfoot tub? Classic molding and built-ins? Even if you know you can’t afford what you see in magazines, go ahead and clip out the images and paste them into your scrapbook in your “Ideas” section. You’ll be surprised at the affordable options that are available for your remodel. Remember, just because it looks expensive doesn’t mean there isn’t a cheaper way to do it and still retain quality and durability.

3.Use your scrapbook to display paint samples, carpet and flooring samples, and wallpaper and fabric swatches.

Scrapbooks aren’t just for photos and text—you can use your scrapbook to preserve and display a wide variety of items. Think of your scrapbook as your own “mini museum.” What would you like to remember most about your home remodeling project? While you’re in the beginning stages of your remodel, use your scrapbook to compare and contrast various elements, such as paint samples and fabric swatches. After you’ve decided on these elements, you can create another section in the scrapbook that displays the products you eventually choose for your remodel.

4.Keep a journal during your home remodel.

Keeping a journal is an easy way to preserve your memories of your remodeling project while also personalizing the experience. You don’t have to write ten pages a day (unless you want to!)—your entries can be brief and to the point, or you can include humorous anecdotes about your experiences, especially if you or your family members are helping out with the remodel. If your scrapbook is organized chronologically, you can add your journal entries as your remodel is being completed. If you choose to organize your scrapbook differently—perhaps dedicating a section to each room that is being remodeled—you may want to focus on one room at a time in your journal, such as “Living Room:Day 1” or “Kitchen: Week 2.” After each day or week of the remodel, you can paste your handwritten journal entries into your scrapbook, or you can type them up and print them out and then paste them into your scrapbook. Your scrapbook will feel much more personal with your own retelling of your home remodeling story.

5.Take photos before, during, and after the process.

Use a Polaroid camera or a digital camera to take photos of your home remodel. If you use a traditional camera, you’ll have to wait for the photos to be processed, and the best, most efficient way to scrapbook your home remodel is by doing it as the remodel progresses. This way, your photos and journal entries won’t pile up and turn into an unwieldy project. The idea is for your scrapbooking to be fun, not a duty you feel like putting off because it seems like too much work. Remember not to just snap photos of your home: take photos of everyone involved in the project. If you like, you can create smaller scrapbooks to give as gifts to the people who worked on your home remodeling project. It’s a nice way to say thank you, and the people who contributed with have their own “mini museum” displaying the great work they’ve done on your home.

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Iowa Illinois Home Improvement Contractors Disclaimer: The replacement vinyl window, roofing contractor and vinyl and steel siding installation information presented within this website is for informational purposes only. Please contact us or see our huge showroom to discuss your particular vinyl window, sunroom or siding needs. Specialists of quality replacement windows, siding, sunrooms, roofing, gutter cap, heater cap, entry doors, storm doors and estimates are always free. Who is Suburban Construction? Brian Girskis launched Suburban Construction in 1985 and the family-owned and operated company is growing strong some 25 years and two generations later. His son, J.R. Girskis, is the company president and the third generation was born a few months ago. The Davenport-based company supplies and installs windows, siding and doors for the residential market. In 25 years, Suburban has completed more than 24,000 jobs. “We are always focused on the customer,” said general manager Darin Wilson. “Without the customer, we don’t have a business.” The company was honored as a 2007 Dealer of the Year by Associated Materials Inc., or AMI. “Suburban Construction is a company that definitely goes over and above servicing their customers,” Wayne Fredrick, executive vice president of AMI Sales, said. Working with a large customer base allows Suburban to purchase and buy goods for substantially less then its competitors, Wilson said. “We’re one of the only companies in the nation that offers a lifetime warranty on the product after we install it,” he said. The company doesn’t make money if things go wrong after the installation so crews make sure the job is done properly, he said. With energy conservation such a huge concern, products offered have the Energy Star rating so homeowners see savings on their energy bills. “With today’s home market being so inconsistent, it’s easier to have someone come in and give you a new home on top of your current home rather than having to pack up all your stuff,” he said. For example, by installing new insulated siding, Wilson added, an older home can essentially be turned into a new residence. Founder Brian Girskis still keeps a hand in the business. He was in the manufacturing and wholesale end of the industry in the 1970s and 1980s and distributed material to companies similar to Suburban. “I saw they weren’t generating any repeat business. I learned what not to do from those other people,” Girskis said. “Most of our business is referral business and that’s what we want to keep.” The office and showroom originally were based in downtown Bettendorf. Girskis relocated the company to Davenport in 1995. His decision to specialize in windows, siding and doors was based on two factors: getting better buying power that is passed onto the consumer and building something of value, Girskis said. “We try to do a Cadillac for the price of a Chevy. I’m very satisfied but we’re always looking to do better,” he said. Products Suburban Construction specializes in: Replacement Windows from AMI – Suburban Construction and quality windows by Associated Materials Incorporated, set the standard by which other replacement windows are measured. Innovation has resulted in a collection of windows that are designed and engineered to provide beauty, performance, ease of operation, virtually no maintenance, and increased energy-efficiency. You want a fair price. Don’t be misled by others offering replacement windows for a cheap price. Often times, this is a low-end window you might use for a garage, not your home. Usually, this cheap price doesn’t include measuring charges, custom sizing, replacing rotten wood, insulating inside weight cavities and around perimeters, or covering the outside window trim with maintenance-free aluminum and sealant. At Suburban, you always get a complete installation without any hidden costs. Gutter Cap is a must for the bitter midwest winters! Ice and snow build up in gutters, causing gutter seams to break! In addition, the weight of heavy snow causes gutters to loosen while the back up of ice behind gutters causes moisture damage to fascia. · The Gutter Cap combines surface tension with “capillary action!” This patented design allows rainwater to adhere to the dome of the cap while leaves and debris blow OFF the roof. · Your existing gutter is a free flowing drainage system with Gutter Cap. · Gutter Cap saves you the time, hassle & DANGER of cleaning Gutters…plus saves you upwards of thousands of dollars in damage each year! 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A fiberglass door simply outperforms wood and steel doors. It won't crack, swell, rot, dent, ding or rust - so it's virtually maintenance free. And only Therma-Tru fiberglass entryways offer full door systems designed, built and tested to the industry's highest standards. You may consider the addition of storm doors to be an unnecessary expense, and may even believe that adding storm doors will decrease the beauty of your home or bring down its market value. Many realtors agree, however, that the addition of storm doors can actually improve your home’s market value, as storm doors will help, in general, to improve your home’s energy efficiency. Energy zoning with triple pane freedom maxx 10 windows can help save you great money. Sun Clean Glass® is a new self cleaning glass technology created by PPG industries. It uses a durable transparent coating that is fused to the surface of the glass with high temperatures during the production of the glass. This glass is available in almost all Suburban Construction replacement windows with one goal in mind, that you spend less time cleaning your windows and more time doing the things you love.

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