Home & Garden

With so many different new home options to choose from, Valencia is making it easier than ever to find the just-right residence for every family.  The revolutionary New Home Showplace from Lennar Homes is now open, providing buyers with a one-stop shop for new homes in coveted Valencia!

Get Clean Services LLC has been the name you can trust when it comes to all your cleaning and janitorial needs. Get Clean Services offers exceptional service at competitive rates while maintaining the highest standards of quality for their customer’s homes and businesses.

Who says the ultimate space for outdoor living has to be large?  A small backyard is actually a perfect canvas for an outdoor room as the boundaries of the room are already in place.  Did you know - constructing an outdoor room dramatically increases the usable square footage of your home?
Great outdoor living spaces are as carefully considered and planned as any other area of the home. 

Selecting a theme will make it easier to design your home’s landscape, plants and elements and will make your landscape unified.  Your planning should start with creating goals for yourself.  Why are you landscaping?  Privacy?  Entertaining?  Recreation?  To modify the environment – too hot, too windy?  Reduce water usage?  Veggie garden?  Attract wildlife?

Announcing our “Paint It Pink” campaign to help fight breast cancer here locally in the SCV.  We want to financially help those who have been diagnosed with this disease through our local Circle of Hope foundation.  More to come on this in next month’s issue in the community section.

Tarrie Lane created Just SCV’s Best, because she recognized a need for a group of qualified reliable and dedicated home improvement professionals, companies that the Santa Clarita Community could trust working on their homes.
It’s said, that the best companies will survive an economic challenge, rise above adversity and prosper. 

If love is free, why are we shelling out money to over-priced and over-crowded restaurants on Valentine’s Day?  If you’re trying to spend a romantic evening with your sweetheart, it’s difficult to make a connection when 50 other couples are talking over you.  Why not re-create a suave restaurant right in your own home.  No reservations, no crowds, no over-priced menus and no waiter to tip. 

The doorbell rings and flower delivery waits at your door, with a beautiful bouquet of red roses (or orchids, if you prefer).  You can’t believe what’s happening to you, you feel overwhelmed by the surprise and you can’t wait to call the person who sent it to you.  So you throw the flowers quickly in a vase and go on with you phone call. 

M & M Sheet Metal and Rain Gutter, Inc. does rain gutters - proudly and with integrity.  Remember, that’s M & M - like the candy.
We do every type of gutter work, including custom fabrication, repairs, screens, rain chains and cleaning.  We specialize in aluminum, galvanized, copper and stainless steel.  Keep an eye out for our trucks - they ‘re hard to miss.

By adding one of the floor fountains to a room creates an ambience and a calming effect while improving the overall look of the room. Floor fountains have been around for a long time and there are many different versions that are suitable for either the home or the garden. If you have never come across them before then they have a number of effects of which bring a new dimension to your home or garden.

Every year, about this time as the weather begins to creep up the thermometer, the phones start to ring with every pool builder’s favorite question, “How soon can you build a pool?” As the temperature settles in the 90s and aims toward the 100 degree mark, desperation sets in on the other end of the phone line as it becomes apparent that another blazing summer is upon us. 

Natural light is one of our most valuable resources, however is frequently under utilized in the home, especially in the sun drenched Southern states. The sun’s natural rays are an important tool for bringing a home interior to life, and just as importantly, it doesn’t cost a dime.  A generously lit room will elevate your mood and is much more beneficial to work, study or simply unwinding with a book. 

Want to cut your clutter and cut your taxes for 2009 at the same time?  According to tax experts, non-cash charitable donations are often overlooked.  If you donate items you clean out of your stuffed closets and garage to a qualified charity, you can maximize the amount of this deduction.  You can deduct the fair market value of the item at the time of the donation.

The winter nights are drawing in with days becoming shorter and many of us travelling to and from work in the dark. Winter nights mean colder nights and keeping the heat in will be very important as it is every year. One way to do so is by having double-glazing around the house, which will allow the heat to be kept in.

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.