Home & Garden

The federal Department of Energy awarded the City of Santa Clarita more than $1.5 million in funding through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program.  The funding will be used to help pay for energy efficient repairs, incentives and upgrades citywide.

You are anticipating a “decent” tax refund this year, and wish to improve your home and surroundings as well as the economic status by investing in home improvements.  Good for you!  Here are some ideas that will let you enjoy your home with a fresh look and perhaps leave a little “change in your pocket.”  These steps are affordable with the average tax refund, depending on what you wish to accomplish.

The City of Santa Clarita will conduct a Right Turn Pocket Circulation and Safety Improvement Project on northbound Whites Canyon Road at Soledad Canyon Road. Lane closures will be in effect during construction, which is expected to continue through March 22. 

While often planted directly in the ground, herbs can be grown in containers, pots, window boxes or hanging baskets.  Growing herbs in pots allows the herb gardener the flexibility of growing herbs year-round and growing the herbs indoors, outdoors, or in a greenhouse.  The proper balance of sunlight, soil and water are essential to all plants.  Herbs grown in pots must be positioned correctly to get enough sun. 

The arrival of the New Year signals the beginning of summer-flowering bulb planting season.  Gladiolus, Dahlias, Lilies, Freesia, Cannas, and many other summer blooming bulbs should be planted now.  A little time spent in the garden this month will ensure a wealth of color all summer long.
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. 

It has been said that these are the three criterions when considering a real estate acquisition.  Sometimes though, the size of the property can be just as important.
With the steady business growth at Rayne over the last two years, we have added several service and delivery trucks to our fleet. 

Some may think that outdoor landscape lighting is as simple as selecting a few lighting fixtures and screwing a few bulbs in to place.  In reality outdoor landscape lighting offers more than basic illumination and delivers many functions including showcasing your landscape.  When lights are placed outdoors, whether in a garden or in a covered area such as a porch, they are most commonly used for function. 

Green, green and more green. The word has really become quite important today in the perspective of increasing danger of global warming.  We need to protect our resources and ensure that a minimum is wasted, and better if the wasted ones are recycled as well.  So the entire focus is on saving the natural resources, be it the construction of your bedroom or renovation of the bathroom. Government and some private organizations like green building association are working towards it and helping residential communities, Realtors, and individuals.

It is a well known fact that life cannot be sustained without water.  It is also widely accepted that water is a universal solvent.  Food crops cannot grow without water.  Water is used for both heating and cooling.  Water based liquids are involved in almost all engine technologies that sustain current standards of living.  Wars have been fought over water issues and in fact are the subject of a current California political battle over how to deliver water to more arid regions of the State.  Development can’t take place without water to support the infrastructure.

Have you ever wanted to start the New Year with a fresh look?  This is the year to make it happen!  Remodel your kitchen and bathroom in as little as four to six weeks, depending on the size of the project.  This is a great opportunity to invest money into the dream kitchen, bathroom, or living space you’ve always wanted to have.

You can count on the reality that your home repair or improvement project is going to go over budget.  On occasion things go remarkably well and a project is actually completed for less than the projected costs.  In most circumstances, however, the project winds up costing more as we typically underestimate the costs.  To accurately figure out how much your project is going to cost, it is wise to proceed cautiously and plan for the worst-case scenarios, as opposed to just planning for the cost of labor and materials.

There are lots of very simple tricks that you can do to add life to your environment.  Here are my favorite ten:
1.  Art.  Have you ever walked into a room that has no art or pictures on the walls whatsoever, and noticed a feeling of emptiness?  Framed posters, prints, photographs and paintings give a room depth and dimension.  They also add color, style and underscore the mood or theme of a room.

Love seats are versatile and warm pieces of furniture, ideal for small spaces because they can fit everywhere and they are both attractive and practical. Today, as increasingly more people live in limited space, love seats for small spaces are becoming quite popular and common; they come in different designs that can work with almost every décor.

Don’t let owning a pet keep you from installing the gorgeous hardwood floor you always wanted. Your pet can live harmoniously with your hardwood floors if you follow some simple steps and take some precautions to keep your hardwood floors looking great. First of all, it is best if the hardwood floor’s finish is a three coat oil-based urethane with a satin sheen to add a safety coating to your floor. This type of finish is less work to keep clean and maintain.

Many tools are essential for gardening properly and achieving great results with plants, trees, fruit trees and vegetable.
Some of the tools that can be use is an efficient rake to pulverize the soil to make a seed bed and to make drills for seed sowing will be a necessity. It should have at least 12 teeth, preferably 14 or 16, to enable the work to be done more quickly.

In recent years, energy efficient products have become more elegantly designed, as homeowners increasingly want to improve efficiency without sacrificing the look they want. Today a plethora of options exist for improving the efficiency of a bathroom, from installing low flow faucets to making those seemingly minor repairs that are often buried low on the priority list.

Preventive maintenance is more than changing filters; it includes checking of the safety components built into each system.  It is about efficiency testing to ensure controls are set properly, thus providing for peak performance.  Proper maintenance is designed to increase efficiency, reduce breakdown, and extend equipment life.

It is getting closer to the time of year in the Santa Clarita Valley (and much of Southern California) that may bring frost.  It is time to become acquainted with how to handle your garden.