Author Archives: THblog
A Little Ditty on Food, the Ultimate High
I was born Timothy James Holick over 57 years ago. With the love affair that I have with food, I should have it changed legally to Food A Holick. I’m sure you all have heard someone say, “I’m on a seafood diet. I see food and I eat it.” Well, that is me right down to the last ingredients. I struggle with All You Can Eat buffets every time I am in the presence of one. I’m like a big dog: I almost eat myself to death before I stop. Laugh all you want, but food is the ultimate high in my life….
Transitional Style; The New Traditional Look?
Transitional style is a marriage of traditional and contemporary furniture, finishes, materials, and fabrics equating to a classic, timeless design. Furniture lines are simple yet sophisticated, featuring either straight lines or rounded profiles. I find that the busier we all become in our lives, the more we long for things being simple and less cluttered in our homes. A clean-lined transitional look helps us feel good about our space, and I find it absorbs some of the stress that we relinquish after our work day. I find that even more true as we age. The “less is more” concept becomes our…
What’s Your Price for Happiness?
As I get older, I realize that habit is so hard to change in our lives. We are brought up by our parents’ paradigm to make sure we save money, and we see through those same glasses for the rest of our living days. We all love a good deal until it digs deep into our happiness. I’m amazed at the construction industry and how little the process of sales has evolved over the years. It’s no wonder why the consumer starts off their construction or remodeling projects with a lot of fear in the trust department. Hence the term: What’s your price…
Solid Surface vs Quartz
It doesn’t surprise me that a majority of people are re-doing their counter tops in their kitchen and baths. The recession not only beat people but it also made us antsy to do some projects around the house. I know that has been my focus for a few years now with changing colors of my walls and adding some built-ins. My office built-ins have been my latest project after waiting to do it for 14 years. There seems to be a gratifying feeling with accomplishing something that you have been dreaming about for so long. It’s not like I am in the…
Transitional Ocean Retreat
When our clients decided to build their retirement ocean home, the kitchen had to have a sense of community. Kids, grandchildren, friends and family gather a lot at their home. A small cottage home was torn down and turned into a dream retreat. We had lots of fun working with them and coming up with some good ideas to house their family during summer and holiday get-togethers. The kitchen was drawn on the plans as a u-shape and island. There would have been plenty of cabinets in the kitchen but no egress to the outside deck unless you went through…
Christmas in the Kitchen
I don’t know about you but there is something warm and magical about Christmas time in my kitchen. Just the thought of my childhood years with my mother working busily around the kitchen as she cooked and baked the week before, brings a warm smile to my face this many years later. Food brings us all together in life and what and how we choose to cook in our kitchen is what memories are made of. I’m sure with all the ethnic backgrounds of everyone in the world, different kinds of foods are whipped up in each of our kitchens….
Butcher Block in Your Kitchen
I love when I hear people talk about butcher block as a bad thing in the kitchen. So many feel that wood is not a sanitary material for the kitchen and how bacteria will grow if you cut on them. I’m here to tell you that butcher block and wood are not as porous as you might think. Why is it that all of the meat butchers over the years used butcher block as their cutting surface? The reason they have is because it’s the best material to cut on and keep their knives sharp. When Corian entered the market…
New Home in the Pine Hills
When one of our clients made the decision to build her home on one of the cottage home streets at the Pine Hills in Plymouth brought her to Tim to help with the design of her kitchen and baths. Her taste is mostly transitional, blending simple traditional and Tuscan together. With help from Susan Fiore of Susan Thomas Design, Tim helped them bring their taste to life with the right selection of cabinetry. She likes the look of real wood that has a “chunky” look to it. After many visits to the showroom, she fell in love with the Churchill…
Understanding the Kitchen Remodel Process, Part II
So, you have gone through the first stages of the kitchen remodeling process. It’s time to move on towards getting the final decisions and ordering going. Making sure that you decide on what is right for you is a very important step in the process. As I say in my book Dream First, the decisions that you make at this stage are so important to your happiness over the many years ahead living in your space. Too many people make bad decisions here because of costs so they end up going with less quality products and or options that they…
Transitional Farmhouse
When their beautiful Victorian style home needed an addition to accommodate the needs of the entire family, they called on Jim Kenneway and JK Construction to complete the renovations. The new addition included relocating pantries and staircases to create more kitchen space. In the kitchen, the client was looking for a simplistic, transitional farmhouse look to accommodate their family and cooking needs. The results blend old with new and give them the ultimate space for cooking, entertaining and everyday living. Homecrest cabinetry in the Dover style and Opaque Alpine White create a clean look. The Onyx, Soapstone and Butcher Block…