Home & Garden

Don’t spend beautiful, fall evenings inside just because it has cooled off a bit – heat things up outside!  There are many types of patio heaters to choose from to make outdoor living more comfortable.  Outdoor, infrared patio heaters are designed and crafted to bring warmth, comfort, and enjoyment to your “alfresco” dining and entertainment events.  The clean, efficient, and draft-free infrared radiant heat feels just like the sun, warming people and objects, while not wasting valuable energy trying to heat air.  One example of this type of heater is the Patio Comfort Heater.  It uses a standard five-gallon propane cylinder with an approved over-fill protection device.  All Patio Comfort heaters are easy to move with their standard portable wheel kits.

Santa Clarita’s Premier Design Center is your one stop shop for all your remodeling needs.  Everything from your kitchen and bath designs to windows, doors, countertops, cabinets, case moulding, appliqués, cabinet doors and hardware, as well as interior decorating.  We have licensed and insured contractors and we use skilled trades people.  Serving all of Santa Clarita and beyond, we excel in our customer service and take each client’s needs into account. With six companies all under one roof, you’re sure to get just what you need, taking the hassle out of remodeling and leaving it to the experts.

Fall is here vacations are a distant memory.  Now is the time to fix all those nicks and repairs you have been putting off all this time.  The holidays will be here in no time and now is the time to get the house ready for the holiday guests.  Now that you have made the decision to fix up the home it is time to get the help to made your vision come to fruition… it is time to find the perfect business that will suit all of your needs.

If you have a home remodeling or construction project in mind, want experienced professionals and great service, choose the professionals at Randal G. Winter Construction, Inc.  They will provide you with quality service, completing your project on time and on budget!
The professionals at Randal G. Winter Construction take pride in providing high quality workmanship with up to date technology, superior products and highly skilled and trained experts to meet your remodeling needs.  A full service, remodeling company, Randal G. Winter is dedicated to serving you, providing you with a beautiful home, on the inside and out. 

Come join with us as our biggest event of the year celebrates Green Thumb’s 40th anniversary!  Our elves have been working overtime in our Winter Wonderland to bring you a glorious 40th anniversary Christmas display.
Our showcase trees are filled with all styles and colors of ornaments, from glass and crystal, to country lodge, traditional, whimsical garden, dogs and cats, wild animals and more.

If you’re planning to entertain over the holidays, you’re undoubtedly going to be cleaning your home from top to bottom.  So why not give yourself a home makeover that will impress your guests and give you a warm - fuzzy feeling.  With the holiday season just around the corner it’s not too soon to start a home improvement project to make sure it’s done on time.
Start with home improvement plans that can be reasonably completed by the time your guests arrive!  If you wait until the last minute to take on a project - it will destroy the good feelings that come with improving your home not to mention the goodness of the holidays.  Instead of feeling good, you’ll have added stress and madness.  A time that should be filled with positive feelings will quickly turn to a time of pain and trepidation.

Have you ever seen lacquered walls?  They can be quite stunning.  This is a creative specialty finish that can be applied in a high-gloss or eggshell finish.
Lately we have been hired to paint many New York-style apartments in some of these exclusive Los Angeles high-rise buildings.  This style is what attracted my client to this building, which is very different from their prior home.  I always like to explore our clients’ reason for moving as well as their vision for their new surroundings. 

The advantages of using a shop that knows installation and the materials used makes the process of transforming and upgrading your space a lot easier.  For example stone mosaic tiles transform walls into artistic masterpieces.  With intricate patterns and sparkling textures, mosaic tiles boldly impact many different spaces with style while using your color palate to complete what you already have or transform your space into something new. 

There are many options to keep your pool a safe place for your children.  There are many pool safety alarms including ones such as the Safety Turtle where a child wears the alarm on their wrist and if the child falls or ventures into the water an alarm will sound.  This device can also be used on your pet as a collar.  There are also underwater wave detectors and an eye alarm that warns when an object comes near the pool.

Do you know you are literally throwing money out the window if you don’t protect your home from summer heat and winter drafts transferred through your windows?
Manufacturers refer to the “R-value of a building material to describe its resistance to transferring heat between two environments of differing temperature.  The higher the R-value, the better the insulation material.  Fiberglass for example has an R-value as high as 40.  Windows on the other hand have the lowest R-values, ranging from .9 to three. 

Hi, I’m Hal Monheim.  Twenty-three years ago I moved to Santa Clarita and purchased Palmdale Glass.  In those days, bathrooms were white tiled and the shower enclosure’s job was functional… to keep water off the floor.  The mirror was a slab on the wall.  No style and certainly no visual interest… not anymore!
Today, bathrooms have taken on a whole new look.  Upgraded countertops, bold faucets and fixture designs are part of the look.  The most popular shower doors of today are all glass with little or no frame.  Quite different from the old days!  Today, Oil Rubbed Bronze and Brushed Nickel dominate instead of the chrome and brass finishes of yesterday. 

If you are like most people and have decided to stay in your current home, then why not make it the most beautiful and efficient home you can.  Maybe you would like your kitchen opened to the rest of your home, increasing the sense of space and making it easier for entertaining and family togetherness.  Or if you have a small kitchen you can increase the space with the many new storage options now available making your life more organized.  For many people the kitchen is the heart of the home and remodeling this often multi-purpose space makes it the most economical decision.

A synthetic pesticide is a poisonous chemical or mixture of chemicals that is intended to prevent, repel, or kill any pest.  In agriculture, pesticides are used to kill insects, weeds, or fungi.  However, synthetic pesticides present hazardous impacts far beyond their intended targets.  Synthetic pesticides evolved from the chemicals like mustard gas and nerve poison developed for chemical warfare in World Wars I and II.  Seeking an outlet for their toxic chemicals after the war, manufacturers touted them as a way to control insects, fungi, bacteria, plants and other undesirable creatures (i.e., “pests”). 

The arrival of autumn signals the beginning of flower bulb planting season.  Tulips, daffodils, narcissus, freesias, hyacinths, and many other spring blooming bulbs should be planted now.  A little time spent in the garden this month will ensure a wealth of color in the spring.
Few plants are easier to care for than bulbs.  To get bulbs established, dig a small hole, sprinkle some bulb food or bone meal in the hole, drop in the bulb, and cover with rich soil.  It is not necessary to do much else. 

Goodbye summer and hello fall!  There are few things more symbolic of summer than standing by the grill with charcoal and tongs, and the wonderful smell as those hamburgers (or veggie burgers if you prefer) and corn on the cob are cooked to perfection.  Sitting out on your backyard patio with an ice cold beverage is the perfect way to spend a summer day.  As we become a busier society, our backyards and our BBQs are slowly forgotten.  But let’s rethink what it takes to make us happy and why not re-discover the backyard kitchen?

League of California Cities Awards Extreme Neighborhood Makeover Program. The City of Santa Clarita was the recipient of the League of California Cities prestigious Helen Putnam award of excellence for its Extreme Neighborhood Makeover program. The winners of the 2010 Helen Putnam Award for Excellence were presented at the League of California Cities’ Annual Conference, September 15 to 17 in San Diego.

As each year goes by it seems that the retail stores start bringing out the holiday decorations earlier and earlier.  So the team at Santa Clarita Valley’s premier design center thought we would do the same.  Why not start now with that holiday make over?  We are going to give you some easy, simple and, most of all, affordable ways to give your home a new look for this holiday season.

Is your e-mail intimidating?  Do you dread opening your inbox?  Is your system constantly filled to capacity with messages from people you don’t know?  In this era of text messaging and web based communication, e-mail remains a mainstay for most individuals and businesses alike.  
Cheap worldwide instantaneous communication has opened up countless opportunities.  It eliminates “phone tag,” helps maintain a “paper” trail and allows us to communicate on our own schedule.