Update on RKA

As most of you are aware, my wife, Carrie, keeps the blog for the company. She does a fantastic job and I can't thank her enough, but I thought I would hijack this week’s post to share a little bit about the company and what we are doing now and in the future.

Up to this point, the blog has mainly been a forum to share some of the spec homes that we have under construction. These are homes that are built or renovated for the purpose of resale. This however has become a much smaller piece of our work as a company. Our present focus and long term goal is to be the finest custom home builder in Memphis. A lofty goal perhaps, but one that I think is very attainable. We'll continue to share progress on our spec homes, but we'll also be sharing different aspects of our other projects that I think you'll find very interesting.

Many of you have asked about my business partner, Chris Clark, so I think it’s worth sharing who he is and what he means to the company. The execution of our goals start with Chris. He is not only one of the most talented craftsmen in Memphis, but also a truly great person. Chris started his career as a framer in Louisiana and found his way to Memphis as a builder in the 1980's. Here, he compiled a client list of the who’s who in Memphis and built many homes designed by some of the top architects in the area. I got to know Chris from our time at a previous employer, and when I needed someone to manage the field, calling Chris was an easy decision. Talking him into putting up with me full time was a little more difficult, but we have formed a great friendship and business relationship that yields a very good product.

All that being said, over the coming months and years we will continue to refine our business. Spec building will be something we continue to pursue, but will always bat second to our custom clients. We have completed in excess of ten custom projects this year and have three more underway. I feel very blessed with these early successes and we will continue to work hard to deliver a great product for a satisfied client.

Kitchen Before, During & After

I know I just showed you pictures of our kitchen in the last posts, but I feel to really appreciate the kitchen you have to remember what it looked like before...

Here is the very strange sink that stuck out into the middle of the room!

Here is the even stranger double oven tower in the middle of the room. This really divided the kitchen. You couldn't see around it so it made the kitchen seem much smaller then it actually is.


You can also see the the wet bar sink that stuck out on the right and the wall of cabinets on the left. Both of these divided the den and kitchen area.

We left the stove by the door but made it into a range. We left the sink in front of the window but of course moved it to a regular angle.

I didn't just want to show before & after. I feel like with before and after people are like wow that was fast. In reality there is a time when it looks like this. This was right after we obviously gutted the entire thing!! 

Then it looked like this. With the wood floors laid but not finished. The drywall hung but not mudded. This really gives you a better idea of the size of the room

We used carrera marble on the island and black pearl granite on the other cabinets. We used white subway tiles as the backsplash with a dark grout.

We have all Frigidaire Professional appliances, which I am really liking! You can see the microwave hidden below the island.

The knobs and pulls are from Marth Stewart's Home Depot collection. The faucet is from Faucet Direct. It has been so long since we bought these things that I can't remember exactly what the names are. 

The brass candle sticks to match my brass hardware is from my Mom. Thanks Mom!!

The red lantern is from Graham's, here in Memphis. They did not have a red lantern like what I wanted so they went above and beyond in getting this for me. I picked out a lantern that they had in stock. Then I went with our wonderful sales person, Patty Clark, to different places around town trying to find somewhere that could paint it and had the color we were looking for. I really like the way it turned out!!

I also wanted to include a picture of my inspiration kitchen. I pinned this on pinterest a couple of months before we moved and fell in love with it. So, when we were deciding on what to do in here I immediately showed Ryan this picture, (I didn't want the floors, just the cabinet colors and the red lantern!!)

How do you think I did? Does my kitchen look like this???