any power tools and wasn't going to take as much time as caulking and spackling and sanding and priming and painting. (That idea is just exhausting! Especially on the ceiling.) I had initially thought old book pages would work, but then I came across our bin of old newspapers ready to be recycled. With the help of my bff and a few hours we created an eclectic and unique focal wall. #recycle

us the opportunity to start with a clean slate and remove all grass from the backyard.

Since they both love their birds, several goals of the project were to further incorporate the wildlife activity in their garden. The focal point remained the main set of feeders, and we worked to enhance the setting around it. We also knew that when they go to sell the house, it needed to stand alone without the feeders.

We enhanced the area by creating elevations in the yard with informal dry stack fieldstone walls. We also created a sitting area with a small pondless water feature, mainly to serve as a water source for the birds. We designed and installed the stream to create slower moving sections of water that birds will be able to bathe and drink from. By being a pondless feature, the overall maintenance is reduced for the homeowners. We used a larger slab of natural stone to bridge the stream to turn the sitting area into a destination area, even though it is only a few steps from the main path. The stream and bridge allow it to be feel set apart from the rest of the garden area.

The homeowners are thrilled, and as the husband said to describe their new garden, "For you bird lovers, eat your heart out."

home was in move-in condition except for one thing. They hated the out dated laminated kitchen cabinets, butcher block, and Corian counter tops. What they wanted was the warmth of wood cabinets complemented by solid surface granite counter tops.

After buying the home, all new kitchen and dining area cabinets were not going to fit into their budget. Our solution was to reuse the majority of the existing cabinets by refacing the cabinets with new doors and drawer fronts. We renewed the mechanics of the cabinets and drawers with new drawer glides and hinges. We also added a built in trash cabinet to hide the trash can and sliding shelves in the pantry for accessibility.

What do you think about our budget kitchen remodel?