Tag Archives: home

Getting Set Up in A New City

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Moving to a new city is simultaneously exciting, nerve-racking, and tedious.

Exploring the new streets, shops, cafes, and sights that your new home has to offer is sure to take up most of your free time after the move, but you can’t forget about the behind the scenes necessities amidst your new metropolitan affair.

What necessities you may ask?  Well, we are sorry to break it to you, but getting set up in a new city will require more than just unpacking a few (dozen) boxes.

First Things First

There are a number of things you will have to do when you arrive to your new home, but two of the most important things you will have to take care of are getting your finances changed over, and ensuring your mailing address is properly updated.

Managing Your Finances

Ah yes, the most tedious business of them all: managing your money.

Managing your money is important all of the time, but even more so when going through a big move.

You may or may not need to change your accounts over to a new bank or other financial institution, depending on where you currently bank and what is available in your new area. Although online banking is continuously growing in popularity, it is still a safer bet to have a local branch that you can visit if necessary.

You may also need to consider finding a new accountant. It’s something most people only think about once a year (oh, tax time), but if you wait until the last minute, many local accountants may be too busy to accommodate a new client, or you may not be able to find an accountant suitable to your needs.

This is something you should research before your move. That way you have ample time to find an accountant you are comfortable with and can have your files transferred over from your current accountants office in time for the upcoming tax season.

Changing Your Mailing Address

You never truly realize how many subscriptions, accounts, bills (ugh), or contacts that you have until it’s time to change your mailing address.

Your first step should be heading to the post office and arranging mail forwarding – this means that anything being sent to your old address past your specified moving date will be redirected to your new address.

And then comes the fun part – you’ll have to go into, call, or go online and change your address for anything you’ve had to use an address for. This checklist is the best way to ensure you don’t miss anything, because there are a lot more things you will need to change than you expect.

And Finally

Once you’ve successfully settled in your new home, you can finally start to allocate your time and energy into really enjoying your new city – join some classes, start volunteering in the local communities, or just get lost wondering your new “backyard”.

Keeping Your Home Safe In The Winter

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It is that time of year again, the Canadian winter we all know and love. Amidst prepping their cars and their closets for the upcoming season, there is one thing that most people forget to consider: their homes.

Your home, aside from being your largest investment, is first and foremost the shelter that keeps you and your family warm throughout the winter. What a lot of people don’t realize is that along with winter come a variety of different problems and hazards that can present themselves within your home.

Below, we’ve outlined some of these potential problems and hazards, and possible solutions, to help in keeping your home safe in the winter.

Potential Problems

  • Frozen Pipes

Frozen pipes are quite common once the temperature drops below zero, and not only are they an inconvenience, but can also caused burst pipes, which are a lot more troublesome and a lot harder to repair. Try these tricks to help keep your homes pipes from freezing.

  • Fireplace Issues

It is important to ensure your chimney has been inspected and is in good working order for the upcoming winter season, as moisture from snow from last winter may have caused a variety of problems for your chimney.

Any home that has a fireplace should also be properly equipped with working smoke detectors and an up-to-date fire extinguisher. While we hope neither of these ever need to be used, they are important to have in the event of any fire related emergency.

  • Heat Related Hazards

Winter is a time of space heaters, electric blankets, and everything else designed to keep us warm. While these products certainly do us a service on the colder days, it is important to remember that they can also come with certain risks.

When using products like this always make sure to take caution. Keep space heaters away from anything sensitive to heat or flammable; the best place is the center of a room. With products like heated blankets or sheets, always ensure to turn them off when you are not using them, and especially when you are leaving the house.

Solution

Aside from prevention techniques, the best assurance is insurance. Whether it is your primary residence you are concerned about, or perhaps a rental property, having a proper insurance policy is the best way to protect yourself and your home. Insurance policies cover a variety of situations and are easily tailored to each individuals situation, meaning that you can find the perfect policy to suit you and your property.

Here Comes The Sun: Benefits of Enlarging Basement Windows

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Are you building a new house? Renovating your current one? Or maybe you flip houses for a living?

Whichever one of these you said yes to, there is one thing you all have in common: deciding what to do with the basement.

In the past, basements were typically used for storage, mechanical equipment, or the laundry room, and were often left unfinished. Nowadays, however, basements are being used for anything and everything, from bedrooms, family rooms, game rooms, and even full on suites for guests or renters.

With basements now being used as everyday living space, you’ll want to eliminate the image of dark, damp and unwelcome that the word basement typically equates to. One great way to do this is by letting in as much natural light as possible. Do this by adding more windows or enlarging the ones that are already there.

Aside from creating a comfortable, inviting space, and refreshing the look of your basement, there are a few other benefits of enlarging basement windows that you may not realize.

Safety, Safety, Safety

The most significant benefit of having larger basement windows is the safety factor. In the event of an emergency, such as a fire, having larger windows create an accessible and easy exit.

New building codes often consider larger windows, known as egress windows, a requirement if the basement is going to be used as a living space.

$$$

Enlarging the windows in your basement can significantly increase the property value of your home. Firstly, by bringing any basement rooms you have up to legal code, you can then include them in the calculation of your homes square footage. Secondly, adding safety features as well as more appealing design and more inviting space to your home will attract the attention of buyers.

Both of these factors will help raise your assessed property value, thereby increasing your equity or your potential selling price.

Looks Matter Too

Lastly, adding these larger windows and exterior window wells to your basement can give you a new canvas for adding to the design style of your home.

The type of windows you choose and how you build the well can add personality to the outside of your home. You can use different types of stone, bricks, or wood to design a beautiful window well to enhance your homes curb appeal.

Size Does Matter After All

As you can see, enlarging the windows in your basement offers a variety of benefits, ranging from safety code features to your own personal design touch.

Whether you are remodeling an investment property for resale or are working on renovating or building your own home, adding larger windows to your basement should be at the top of your to-do list.

 

 

Stoneworks Granite & Quartz Inc.

Edmonton Kitchen Trends In 2017

Interior design changes at the drop of a hat. Some features remain timeless, while others are swept out with the waves. If you are yearning to remodel your home in Edmonton in 2017, you’ll need to know what is currently moving the market. Here are some stellar designs to keep in mind:

Changing kitchen trends in 2017

Knobs are gone

Have you ever noticed while you are watching television, or flipping through a magazine, that nobody uses knobs anymore? Simply put, they are awkward and should be nothing more than a memory of your grandmother’s furniture. Fortunately, nobody else seems to miss them, either. Everything in the kitchen is being equipped with wide and stylish handles. It’s an updated look, which very well could become a timeless change in modern-day interior design.

Distressed is over with

Did anyone else hop on the bandwagon for the “distressed” look? I didn’t think so. With the sudden urge to replicate a “country farm” style home, many people opted for the distressed and weathered appearance. Thankfully, this also seems to be out of the running now that most people prefer even-toned, solid-painted cabinets in every corner of their kitchen. Whether you choose modern or rustic, there’s a definite plus to this switch in trends, and it works for every project.

Quartz instead of granite?

Quartz is a fantastic material for durable countertops and is quickly becoming a trend over the long-time reigning champion that is granite. Manufacturers are creating color-engineered quartz countertops to make them more appealing to the mass market; we can certainly appreciate that. They go extremely well alongside wooden cabinetry.

LED Lighting

Recess lighting has always been a fantastic and stylish addition to any kitchen, only now, they’re coming mostly in LED. There is just something in particular that these LED lights do that illuminate and display your kitchen area instead of making it feel like it’s in a shop window; it’s inviting, tying the space together perfectly.

Cabinet Style Range Hoods

This is possibly one of the smartest innovations in recent times. Whatever your cabinet material and design is planned to be, can also be incorporated into a cover that goes over your range hood to tie the space together. It still juts out farther from your cabinets but looks like it was built-in and meant to be there, instead of awkwardly sticking out. It’s a game-changer. Even if you’re used to, and love the slender stainless steel stove ranges, you’ll have to give this concept a try.

Multi-Level Islands

It is unlikely that kitchen islands will ever be obsolete in design as their functionality secures them that spot. More often, a kitchen island will double as a breakfast nook with one side being raised, giving you the feeling that you’re sitting on a pub stool. It’s something we expect to see in a lot more homes as this year goes on.

Conclusion

As they become increasingly sleek, stylish and uniform in design, the thought of a kitchen renovation doesn’t seem so scary anymore. Not when you can see what is there to create and how blending these ideas are a surefire way to craft a beautiful and elegant kitchen in 2017.

About Stoneworks Granite

Stoneworks Granite & Quartz Inc. is a locally founded company, specializing in the sale, manufacture, and installation of granite, marble and quartz surfaces. We offer a beautiful showroom, complete with finished rooms and individual accent pieces to inspire. Come visit us now to explore all the options for your home!