Brooklin Blinds

Click image to visit Brooklin Blinds

Brooklin Blinds has been in business for just over a year, and has had the privilege of working in many beautiful homes in Oshawa, Whitby, and Clarington (Durham region). We offer a variety of custom window coverings from both Elite Window Fashions and Eclipse Shutters.

From Elite, we can offer window shades (solar shading), horizontal blinds, honeycomb cellular and pleated shades, vertical blinds, Roman style shades and California shutters. These window coverings offer a classic look engineered with ultra light components. The California shutters resist temperature fluctuations, extreme humidity and intense light.

From Eclipse, we can offer California shutters installed with custom frames and moldings. These California shutters are energy efficient, waterproof, washable, UV protected, lightweight and virtually indestructible. There are multiple design options and application choices to suit any window.

Picking the right plants for your yard

Have you ever fallen victim to the ever popular yet sometimes costly practice of visiting a nursery or garden center, and falling in love with a plant without ever considering how much sun or shade it will get throughout various times of the year?  I thought so.  

For anyone with a home facing east or west, it’s very important to consider the trajectory of the daily flight of the sun at different times throughout the year.  Why is that?  For the simple reason that the sun has a predictable tendency to make its daily path across the southerly sky during the winter, as opposed to a more overhead arc during the peak of summer.   How that affects the amount of sunlight your yard gets on each side of your home is something that everyone should be aware of before picking out and spending what could be a costly amount of money on trees, plants, and shrubs, only to see them wither from not enough light, or too much.

It’s not enough to only consider the growing zone you reside in for the purposes of picking the right plants.  Neither is it enough of an excuse to stock up at the local nursery because the spring planting season has arrived.  If you’ve lived in your home long enough, you’ve most likely become greatly accustomed to the amount of sunlight each area of your yard receives.  Well, have heart new homeowners; because keeping a few key things in mind will help keep you from making costly plant purchases as well.

First and foremost, you need to always read the information tag that accompanies, or should accompany every plant you see for sale.  If you can’t find one, make a point to ask one of the nursery employees what the plant is and what they know about its water needs, growth habit, soil needs, and of course, its sunlight needs.  If there is any doubt or hesitancy in their response, you probably should move on to a tagged plant, or even a new nursery if you’re finding  a common lack of help or information to rely on, and research more about the plant you like, if it’s important to you.

The next thing to consider, is what locations in your yard would be good candidates for your new plant.  Think of how the new plant will compliment, contrast, or simply fit in with the theme of your garden.    Then, take mental notes on whether or not the new plant’s needs for water, soil, and growth as you’ve read on the tag will be met in those locations.

Finally, consider the amount of sunlight your new plant will receive throughout various times of the year.  Not just the time of the year you happen to be purchasing the plant.  If you have an east facing home, always remember that the north side of your home during the winter will receive very little if any direct sunlight due to the southerly arc of the sun, while its south side soaks up all the rays.  So, if you’ve fallen in love with Rosemary, Geraniums, or any other plants that need full sun year round, you should forget about planting or placing them on the north side of your home.  At the same time, you’ll want to avoid buying shade loving plants for the winter shaded north side of your home,  because they will soon enough discover the hot wrath of the summer sun come June and July.

Keep in mind however, there are a lot of determining factors on whether or not a plant grows well in a designated location in your yard, such as soil quality, excessive wind that can dry out a plant, and insects just to name a few.  To sum it up for the purposes of sunlight though, get to know how much sun your home gets on all sides, north, south, east, and west, to help you in picking out the right plants for your yard.

About the Author: Linda Johnson is a degreed and experienced crafter and interior/exterior decorating specialist, with years of experience helping friends, family, and clients solve their decorating and craft needs. Linda and her contributing writers invite you to submit your own great ideas for free, and also find tons more craft ideas and landscape decorating projects like this with photos to try yourself.

Sell your home and save thousands

NEW COMPANY IN DURHAM SAYS “YOU CAN SELL YOUR OWN HOME AND SAVE THOUSANDS”

From constantly-adjusting global markets to staggering technological advances, our daily lives are changing quickly. We now have Internet Access in virtually every home, web enabled cell phones, and email replacing traditional mail.

The Real Estate market is also changing, as the ability to promote and market homes is more and more technology driven. A new Real Estate Marketing firm in Durham is anxious to promote these technologies.

“The process of selling your home is nothing like it was in the past,” says Debby Varty of I.M. For Sale By Owner. “Today’s consumer has more tools at his or her disposal: being able to view a wider range of properties, see their special features, and research areas where they would like to live. All this information and much more is available on the web. The file cabinets of the past are now freely available to anyone with an internet browser”.

This also gives you options when selling your home. “It just doesn’t make any sense to spend over $10,000 to sell your home in today’s world”. That would be the cost to sell a home worth $200,000 using a traditional agent. On a $300,000 home, we can save you over 90 percent. Who wouldn’t be interested in a 90 percent saving?”

While there are several “sell it yourself” companies now on the market, Debby believes the I.M. For Sale By Owner system with its innovative features best takes advantage of today’s ‘techno-marketplace’.

“Take the Talking House for example. We can put a small transmitter in your home, and broadcast a never-ending commercial promoting the features of your home 24 hours a day”. A lawn sign invites drivers to tune in to a clearly labeled station on their car radio. They will hear your pre-recorded message from in front of your home. “It’s like having a salesman at the curb stopping every car that goes by.”

If potential buyers have a web-enabled cell phone, they can access a direct link to your home, and view correctly adjusted photos of the inside of your home and of your backyard on their cell phone. Again, right from your curb. A potential buyer can simply drive by your home and get not only a professional audio presentation of all its features, but images as well. “To have that kind of information at their fingertips in our busy lives is a huge time-saver for homebuyers”. They can then go home and log in to the website and see high colour images with audio voice-over, 360 degree panoramas, maps to the property and more. “We can offer everything an agent can offer. We promote your home on multiple websites and provide printable feature sheets, comparables in your area, and open house assistance. All this at a fraction of the cost, and it’s 100% guaranteed”.

That’s why we like to say, “Selling your home? Let your home sell itself. You have absolutely nothing to lose, and possibly tens of thousands of dollars to gain”.

About the article author: Debby Varty is with I.M. For Sale By Owner, a company based in Durham Region that helps people sell their homes effectively. For more information visit: www.thetalkinghouse.ca

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