Rare Construction

Overland Park – Whole House Remodel

February 3, 2012

Alli @ 3:47 pm

There has been an incredible amount of progress at the whole house remodel in Overland Park! We are quickly wrapping up the project with final touches and making sure the details are just perfect for the homeowners to move in!

The walls have all been painted, the tile floors in both bathrooms have been laid, as well as the fireplace and kitchen back splash. The wood floors have been re-finished, the cabinets have been set and the counter tops have been installed. The lighting fixtures have all been hung.

We are putting the final touches on the house, so hopefully the homeowners can move in in about 2 weeks or so! RARE is so excited with the outcome of this whole house remodel and we hope the homeowners like it as much as we do!!

Filed under: Current Projects,Projects,Whole House Remodel — Tags: Bath Remodel, Cabinets, fireplace, hexagon floor tile, kansas City, kitchen, Kitchen Remodeling, Laundry Room, living room, Master Bathroom, Onyx, Paint, RARE Construction, remodeling KC, whole house remodel

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Expand your space without a room addition!

January 24, 2012

Rose @ 10:22 am

During the last several years we have been expanding our client’s homes with room additions. We found that many room additions were done to accommodate either a new, larger kitchen or to build a larger master suite. New homes were larger and had more open floor plans. Often, the only way to accomplish that look in a smaller home was to add on.

Now, years later and in the present economic times we are designing many projects within the existing foot print of the home. People are down sizing or deciding to stay where they are. Rearranging the current space to better suit the family’s needs is what we do today. We have also used “bump outs” 2 feet deep or so to enlarge the space “Just Enough” to accomplish the design. A great reference book we use is called Creating the Not So big House from Sarah Susanka. Her approach is to design the house and each room in it to suit the needs of the individual clients who live in the home. Her concepts will work in any size house – the idea is to design or remodel the space so it suits your particular needs. Have fun on her web site- it might just change how you think about where you live.

Filed under: Design Time,Room Addition,Whole House Remodel — Tags: bath, kitchen, living space, remodeling, room addition

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Sustainability

January 23, 2012

Alli @ 9:52 am

Comfortex SilverScreen Roman & Roller Shades

Comfortex has come up with a great solution for sustainable roman and roller shades for the home! They have combined the contemporary style with visual comfort. Comfortex uses SilverScreen fabrics which have been designed to reduce eye-straining glare while also maintaining view-through so that your view from inside is not limited. “SilverScreen fabrics are made of vinyl-coated fiberglass with a vapor-deposited aluminum coating that reflects 76% of solar radiation, dramatically increasing solar energy performance and allowing for improved temperature and draft control.” These shades are truly energy saving in that they keep sunlight out during the summertime–reducing air conditioning needs, and they also reflect heat back in the room during winter–reducing heating needs.

The Comfortex shades are manufactured and fabricated through Comfortex’s on-demand technology, a process that uses fewer natural resources and generates almost no waste. The Comfortex shades are available to you in Roller or Roman Styles, and they meet the standards for indoor air quality and are also formaldehyde-free.

The install for these shades is extremely easy! The shade brackets are installed into the wall or window frame with screws and the shade snaps into the brackets.

This is a really good solution for any home with several windows and/or windows that bring in an enormous amount of sunlight. These shades not only are sustainable but are money savers too!

Filed under: Go Green — Tags: kansas City, RARE Construction, remodeling KC

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Sustainability

January 18, 2012

Alli @ 9:50 am

RARE Construction is taking a huge leap forward and is making an effort to educate Kansas City on sustainability! As many of you know there is a massive green movement happening out there and we at RARE are very excited about sharing with you many sustainable products and solutions for your home without breaking the bank! While there is an abundance of information out there on sustainability and being “green,” we are going to try and break it all down and only provide you with the good stuff!

Endurawood produces sustainable wood products for residential and commercial green buildings. They custom design and fabricate all of their products at their warehouse and studio in Portland, Oregon. Endurawood has been in operation for more than 15 years and has served well over 2,500 customers.

Endurawood offers in-house fabrication of custom sustainable wood products such as counter tops, furniture, mill-work, tabletops and more. So if your in the market for a FSC certified, reclaimed, rapidly renewable resource for a sustainable wood product, then Endurawood is the resource for you! All of their wood products meet the guidelines for FSC which is the Forest Stewardship Council. FSC certified wood products must be harvested from forests that meet strict standards of sustainability, ecological diversity, and socioeconomic responsibility.

“Endurawood believes that sustainable forestry is the best way to meet both our current and future building needs.”

We at RARE Construction are quite impressed with their advocacy for the environment and commitment towards sustainability. Their product selections aren’t too bad either! We hope to have the opportunity arise where we can say we have used Endurawood in one of our clients homes and were thrilled with the outcome!

Filed under: Go Green —

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Overland Park – Whole House Remodel

Alli @ 9:46 am

A tremendous amount of progress has been made at the whole house remodel in Overland Park this past week!! The project is moving very quickly at this point and the house is truly looking more and more like a home every day!

The kitchen cabinets which are Merillat Classic – Portrait Oak Medium, were installed this week and are looking pretty nice! The countertop fabricators came out to template the kitchen countertops on Monday. The homeowners have chosen a Corian – Medea for their countertop. Also, they have decided on a hard maple butcher block top on either side of the range at the pennisula, as this will become the designated prep area. The bathroom vanities were also set this week and are Merillat Classic – Potrait Oak Medium as well.

They guys have laid the tile floors in both the master bathroom and guest bathroom, as well as the fireplace and hearth. In the master bathroom, the homeowners chose a 6×6 Crystal River – Archeonlogy – Glazed Porcelain for the floor. In the guest bathroom they decided on a very clean and simple 2″ white hex tile with a natural grey grout. The fireplace and hearth were kept very contemporary and simple in design with the 13×13 Ragno cathedral Stone Piere glazed porcelain tiles.

The walls have been painted! Along with all of the trim which will be finished up today! All of the walls in the house except for the bathrooms are Benjamin Moore’s – Sag Harbor Gray. The ceilings are Sherwin Williams – Natural choice, while the trim, base, doors and frames are all Sherwin Williams – Creamy. The Bathroom walls are Benjamin Moore – Smoky Taupe.

Today the sanding begins on the hardwood floors, both existing and new. This process should take about 3 days. And then the floors will be ready for staining and 2 coats of finish!

More updates and pictures to come!!

Also please look for us at the Remodeling Show at the American Royal on February 10-12!!!

Filed under: Current Projects,General,Projects,Whole House Remodel — Tags: Cabinets, fireplace, hexagon floor tile, kansas City, kitchen, living room, Master Bathroom, Onyx, Paint, RARE Construction, remodeling KC, tile, whole house remodel

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RARE Construction at 2012 Remodeling Show

January 10, 2012

Melanie @ 10:47 am

Rare Construction is getting “geared up” for the 2012 Remodeling Show at the American Royal on February 10th-12th. Our Rare Remodeling team rallies together to custom build our show booth. Hours of time are invested to create a sample bath remodel (designed by Rose Middleton and Allison Zurowski) complete with a warm floor by Warmly Yours. Visitors can “feel” the warmth in contrast to the cold concrete industrial floor below.

Under the direction of our Superintendent, Paul Bond, our Rare Remodeling crew leaders – Joe, Phil and Brad feel a sense of pride in hand building our show booth. Anyone can expand out a velvet curtain and hang pictures; however, Rare invests “sweat equity” in everything we do – down to the last hand driven nail.

To satisfy my motherly side, I enjoy handcrafting cookies to hand out to our visitors. Our fearless leader – Rae Person, located a cookie cutter in the shape of a house. Our logo now comes to life in a sweet cookie treat, complete with sprinkles! We will bake the cookies in Rose’s KitchenAid convection oven, which comes with three baking racks! Consider this for your upcoming kitchen remodel!

We enjoy it when our past customers stop by; the remodeling show turns into a happy homecoming! We really are family; we consider our customers “Clients for life.” Come and see us at the 2012 Remodeling Show! We can talk with you about bath remodels, kitchen remodels, room additions, custom built homes, or even simple updates. We have a solution to fit everyone’s budget! See you there!!!!!! Check out this YouTube link: It goes with the concept…. “Our House in the middle of the street”…….

Filed under: Bath Remodel,Custom Homes,General,Kitchen Remodel,New Products —

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Whole House Remodel – Overland Park

January 5, 2012

Alli @ 4:11 pm

RARE is very excited about all of the progress happening on the whole house remodel in Overland Park! The house has been busy with activity as many of our sub-contractors have been steadily working. The sheet-rockers are finishing up their part this afternoon, which allows our guys to begin tiling the bathroom floors within the next day or so. The new Onyx shower bases and walls have been installed in each of the bathrooms. In the master bathroom, the homeowners choose the color Tranquil for the Onyx walls and shower base. And in the guest bathroom the homeowners decided on Snowswirl. The guys have finished the tile around the fireplace in the living room as you can see in the pictures below. The house is definitely looking more and more like a beautiful home and we know the homeowners are very excited with all of the progress!!

Filed under: Current Projects,General,Whole House Remodel — Tags: Bath Remodel, bathroom remodel, dining room, kansas City, kitchen, Kitchen Remodel, Kitchen Remodeling, Master Bathroom, Onyx, RARE Construction, remodeling KC, whole house remodel

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CHRISTMAS AT 8024 BELINDER

January 3, 2012

Rose @ 11:57 am

Recently Rae and I went to visit the clients from the new custom home we built last year in Leawood. It was Christmas time when we were doing trim design and one of the custom features we built into the new home was a custom fireplace mantel. Our client has a Christmas Village that is quite extensive. In her old house it took the mantel and a table to exhibit all of the pieces.. At Christmas time I went over to see her, and measured her collection. The photo below shows how the Village looks now – with all of it displayed on her big mantel.

This is just one example of the design/ build process that makes these custom homes, as well as our custom room additions, kitchens, bathrooms and lower level projects so successful here in Kansas City. Look for us at the remodeling show in February!

Filed under: General — Tags: bathroom, custom home, kansas City, kitchen, Leawood, lower level, remodeliong show, room addition

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12 years Remodeling

December 21, 2011

Rose @ 1:23 pm

Here at Rare Construction, our company has been in remodeling for 12 years. When we started out in 1999, we limited our work to just kitchen remodeling and bath remodeling. About five years into the business, we added room additions. We found that many room additions were done to expand either a kitchen or a Master Suite. New homes were larger and had more open floor plans. The only way to accomplish that look in a smaller home was to add on.

Now, years later and in the economic times we are in, we are back to staying within the foot print of the home. Many people are down sizing or deciding to stay where they are. Rearranging the space to better suit the family’s needs is what we are doing today. A great reference book we use is from Sarah Susanka and called The Not So big House. Here is a link to her web site. http://www.notsobighouse.com/ Her approach will work in any size house – the idea is to design or remodel the space so it suits your particular needs. Have fun on her web site- it might just change how you think about where you live.

Filed under: Room Addition — Tags: Bath Remodel, bathroom remodel, kansas City, kitchen, RARE Construction

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NW Crooked Road Residence – Master Bathroom

December 20, 2011

Alli @ 2:44 pm

We at RARE Construction have finally wrapped up the master bathroom remodel at the residence on NW Crooked Road! And just in time for the holidays!! RARE thinks it came out beautiful and so do the homeowners! Everything from the Giallo Ornamental Granite countertops, to the oak cabinetry, to the deep wine colored walls all ties in to make a very warm and luxurious bathroom! RARE truly has enjoyed working on all of the many projects with these homeowners, we couldn’t be more excited for them and we sincerely hope they enjoy their new master bathroom!

The final pictures of the new bathroom below show the new paint job in the master bathroom as well as the master bedroom. The homeowners chose Sherwin Williams Fiery Brown – SW 6055 as the accent wall color in the bathroom and the main color for the master bedroom and the main color in the bathroom is Sherwin Williams Utterly Beige – SW 6080.

Filed under: General —

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