Carlson Projects INC.

09/08/2026

And we didn't change any square footage.

We're wrapped up at our 1926 kitchen. Older kitchen that did not work. It functions now, and it feels bigger, on the same footprint.

Ceiling was a foot lower. We raised it a foot. Bay window in, countertop runs all the way through instead of bumping up on a wood sill. Pantry on what used to be blank wall, so the whole wall feels built in. Range swapped to this side.

Small kitchen. Super usable. Most people would stuff an island in here. There isn't room, and you can get to everything in a step or two without one.

Let us know what you think.

09/07/2026

Here's how you make a vanity feel like it's built in and always been there.

Handmade tile is not flat. If you tile first and then try to scribe a quartz top to that wall, you get a weird joint.

We template the countertop to the wall, set the quartz all the way in, then tile around it. You may walk in and think that looks ridiculous. It looks ridiculous now. When we're done it looks like the vanity was always there.

09/06/2026

We're back at our 1984 project. A lot has happened in here.

Wet bar has a tile drink spot so spills hit tile instead of carpet. The fridge is not tight to the wall on purpose. French doors need swing, so the filler is wider and it reads built-in.

This wall used to sit almost a foot closer. Pinch point. We bumped it back, elongated the bath, and picked up storage out here instead of stuffing it in the bathroom.

Tile order in the bath: wall first, then countertop, then tile the rest of the way around. Linear drain in the shower. Rubber floor just went in the gym. Glass door still coming.

09/04/2026

Spend the money where it makes sense for your budget.

Kitchenette over here can be more stock. Fridge, sink base, drawer base, uppers. Pantry cabinets too. They do not need to be fully custom to store things well.

The vanity does. And the under-stair nook does. You cannot buy that from a standard manufacturer. Most people throw a door on it and fill it with paint cans. They already have a storage room. This one gets drawers and doors so it is actually usable.

Full custom everywhere is fine if you want it. It makes more sense where you actually have to do it.

09/03/2026

Don't have collateral damage. Aka, damaging a wall while bringing a cabinet to a basement.

Delivery day is when the details start. Three or four people to get everything down here without taking out a corner.

These are a mid line. Different door styles and colors, a stopgap between entry-level and fully custom, which is why they work in a basement. One piece on this job still has to be custom. You cannot get that from a stock manufacturer.

Bring them in. Inspect them. Make sure they fit the space before a single box gets set.

09/02/2026

A bedroom's on the other side of this, and a gym's on the other side of this.

Mechanical rooms get a fridge, a furnace, all the stuff that hums. Stopping that bleed is pretty easy. Dense rockwool in the walls. It will not be perfect. It cuts about 90 percent of that overall hum.

Couple hundred bucks in insulation. Worth it when someone is sleeping or working out on the other side of the door.

09/02/2026

09/01/2026

You can literally take a bucket of water and dump it on it and it sheds it off like a duck's back.

This house is 1984. The pink stuff against the foundation is fiberglass. What we like is rockwool, mineral wool. Rocks, basically, packed dense.

Fiberglass holds moisture. Rockwool sheds it. On a dividing wall, especially a plumbing wall, that density also cuts sound transfer.

About 90 percent of houses today still get fiberglass. Fine if it never gets wet. In a basement remodel I would rather have the one that sheds water.

08/31/2026

I would say 90 percent we order all up front. But one of the things we don't is cabinets.

Once you expose a 1900 house, walls get reframed. Smaller, bigger, moved. Cabinet drawings go on the wall. The layout goes on the floor. You walk the room and feel it with everything demoed.

If you skip that and order cabinets off the first drawing, you miss a lot.

Plan when this pass happens so the cabinet order still lands when you actually need them.

08/30/2026

There used to be the tiniest, weirdest little bathroom right off the stairs.

That is getting reconfigured into an actual bathroom. Tub on one side, toilet on the other, this wall moves back, vanity along that wall.

Where you're standing becomes the primary suite bath later. That's phase two. For now it is the same four walls, just moved around so the layout makes sense.