Home Improvement Special Section

March 2018

Writer / Ann Craig-Cinnamon

March is here and so is the urge to launch into remodeling projects or long-awaited sprucing up of our homes and yards. To help you get started, we have some ideas from five experts in the field of home improvement.

Sparkle Wash Central Indiana

Has the winter left your home needing a good scrubbing on the outside? Then you should call Sparkle Wash, a national franchise that has been around since 1965. Don Golden and his son Jake own the Central Indiana franchise and are headquartered in Carmel.

Sparkle Wash provides professional cleaning services, such as pressure washing homes, usually to remove mold and mildew from siding. They also wash and seal driveways, sidewalks and decks and clean gutters, patios, fences and pavers. “Just about anything that gets dirty outside, we clean,” says Golden.

They also clean commercial property like commercial buildings, walkways, trash and dumpster areas, monument signs and awnings. Additionally, they wash fleet vehicles, including any size trucks, dump trucks, tow trucks, semi-trucks and commercial vans.

Golden says Sparkle Wash is different than most pressure washing companies because of their custom-built equipment and proprietary, robust cleaning agents. “Over the years, Sparkle Wash has perfected the cleaning process by working directly with chemists to develop the best soaps and detergents. Our mobile pressure washing equipment is so much more than just a pressure washer,” says Golden. “We deliver the ability to use soft water, hot water, multiple cleaning agents and various dilution ratios while being able to adjust water pressure on the fly. Our trucks are truly cleaning machines. We do not rely on pressure to clean. Our proprietary cleaning agents clean the surface, and we use pressure to rinse.”

Sparkle Wash will come out in person to provide a free quote for your home or commercial property. You can reach Sparkle Wash at 317-810-1205 or sparklewash.com/centralindiana.

Tailored Living® featuring PremierGarage®

The area of our home that is often ignored and unorganized is the garage. That’s where Tailored Living® featuring PremierGarage® excels. Owner Jon Elliott and his partner Tom Fleming have been in the business of providing the best in high-quality storage and home organization systems for both homes and businesses for 14 years.

They offer free in-home or onsite consultations, expert measurement, innovative design and professional installation, providing custom-tailored transformation according to your needs and specifications.

If your garage is in dire need of transformation, that’s where their Total Garage Enhancement comes in. “Our designers create garage storage systems and organization solutions that work using a combination of garage cabinets, shelves, Slatwall wall storage systems, overhead racks and custom garage flooring,” says Elliott. “Your garage will be transformed into a masterpiece of utility and beauty, making garage organization a part of everyday life.”

Elliott says custom garage cabinets give a clean, uniform look to your garage. “Cabinets bring order out of chaos by hiding everything behind closed doors. Clutter and piles are eliminated, and there’s a designated place for every item in the garage,” he says. If you have sports equipment and large tools like rakes, shovels and hoses, Elliott suggests you consider open wall storage, so nothing is stacked on the floor, creating a safety hazard.

Elliott maintains, however, that no garage design is truly complete without new garage flooring. “We offer custom garage floor coatings, which add beauty and utility, giving your garage a finished look and making it a more user-friendly space,” he says. Tailored Living® featuring PremierGarage® offers a wide variety of color and finish options, so you can coordinate your floor with garage cabinets, your car or even your favorite team’s logo. And all garage flooring options are designed to withstand the high traffic and heavy use that a garage endures on a daily basis. The low-maintenance floor is easier to care for than concrete, creating the ideal floor for a busy garage. PremierOne® floor coatings are the toughest floor coatings available and are a proprietary blend. Elliott says every floor will retain color and finish integrity for years to come.

You can contact Tailored Living® featuring PremierGarage® at 317-842-4272 and tailoredliving.com/indy.

Nature’s Choice Landscaping

Our yards often take a beating over the winter, and for many people, getting their yard in shape is the first order of business in the spring. Nature’s Choice Landscaping is ready to take care of all your yard and landscaping needs.

In business for 30 years, Nature’s Choice is a full-service landscape maintenance company with a retail garden center. Nature’s Choice provides a long list of services, including bare ground grass and weed control, lawn care applications, landscape recommendations and installations, mulch install and treatment, seeding and aeration, irrigation maintenance, tree and shrub pruning and removal and more.

Owner Steve Cousins says this time of year, his company focuses on softscape installation, such as landscape bed makeovers. “Even well-maintained landscape beds may become very mature and overgrown after 10 or so years and may be in need of a touchup or a complete overhaul,” he says.

He says many newly built homes may not have the type of plantings and design that the owner desires, and sometimes the species of plants selected may not match the area in which they are planted. “This is a great time of year to do a complete renovation or simply replace several items, such as trees, shrubs and perennials. Or simply adding accents, such as boulders, stepping stones, fountains and/or flowering plants, to existing landscapes can greatly enhance your outdoor landscapes. And even a beautiful landscape could use an annual touchup by performing bed edging and adding a fresh layer of mulch,” says Cousins.

He points out that his team of professionals has over 150 years of experience in horticulture, arborist services and softscape design and installation and is fully insured and licensed or certified in pest control and fertilization of turf, trees, shrubs and ponds. Additionally, he says that owning a Garden Center provides his clients with lots of plant and accent materials to choose from.

“A new or fresh landscape will improve the look of your property, help property values, increase curb appeal and just allow you to enjoy your outdoor living space. Also, this type of work can be done over time to match any budget,” says Cousins.

Nature’s Choice Landscaping is located at 3760 N. State Rd. 267, Brownsburg, IN 46112. You can contact them at 317-852-2647 or NaturesChoiceLandscaping.com.

Design by RLB

Perhaps the long winter indoors has caused you to want to totally recreate some part of your home. Design by RLB has the background and creativity to help you design the home of your dreams.

Freelance designer Rick Banter has 25 years of experience as an interior designer, Certified Kitchen Designer (CKD) and furniture/cabinetry designer. “I create innovative interiors for residential clients, specializing in designing functional, aesthetically pleasing kitchens, baths and built-in cabinetry for all rooms,” says Banter. He also fulfills commissions for bespoke furniture and will provide tailor-made services for each client, offering either full design and construction services from demolition to completion of project or working with a client’s remodeler or builder to execute his plans.

In addition, Banter offers a complimentary one-hour consultation to sit down and discuss a project with a client. “The complimentary service would give the client a one-on-one meeting with me, learn about my design philosophy and get a little information and insight as to how I would approach their project without any obligation,” he says.

Banter says the number one thing about him is that he listens to his clients. “I absorb the meaning and significance behind their spoken words and design a ‘personal living space’ based on those words,” he says. “My vision is my own. Self-taught, not influenced by the principles of past design periods. I make it a point to include inspiration from art, the fashion industry and any creative endeavor.” He says he often includes a unique piece, sometimes whimsical or quirky, to incorporate into his designs, which personalizes the client’s living space.

Banter says he’s unique in another way too: “My openness and desire to reach outside the typical room design, especially the kitchen, to create a one-of-a-kind room for all my clients.”

You can contact Design by RLB by calling 224-688-3942, visiting designbyrlb.com or emailing [email protected].

New Leaf Design Studio

Is this the year you are finally going to totally redesign your landscaping and get the yard you always dreamed of? New Leaf Design Studio has 26 years of expertise in the landscape industry. In fact, Cheryl Jacques, New Leaf partner, has a degree in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University and an Undergraduate degree in the same from Purdue. She grew up on one of the largest nurseries in the state of Indiana, Brower’s Gaar Nurseries in Cambridge City. She has also written a book, “The Magnolia Principle,” which is about why someone would want to garden, so she has the experience you need.

Jacques says New Leaf is a landscape design studio that calls into play many craftsmen to achieve their total vision. This includes, but is not limited to, hardscape and patios, pergolas, landscape lighting, water features and site planning. “We are very good at tapping into the unique vision of each client with our background in Landscape Architecture. We love to marry the architecture with the exterior, so there is a seamless transition,” she says. “Our slogan is “The Difference is Design” because well-thought-out design can make any budget look like a million dollars as opposed to money spent on poor design decisions,” she says.

New Leaf will create a total landscape master plan that includes every exterior element a client might want to explore from the oversight to the construction, pools, outdoor pool houses, patios, decks and outdoor kitchens. “Any fine outdoor living environment is our focus. We add so much value to the home in terms of creating a sense of natural privacy and a family getaway right in the backyard every day as well as stellar curb appeal. All of these elements add incredible value to the home financially and in terms of what really makes a home — happiness,” says Jacques.

She says her company is like none other. “There is no one in the industry that has our advanced degrees, time-tested construction knowledge, over 120 years of family horticultural expertise as well as our ability to be very creative interpreting each clients’ vision.”

New Leaf Design Studio is currently updating their website but can be found temporarily through their Facebook page. You can contact Jacques at 317-313-4565, her business partner Scott Stackhouse at 317-508-7053 or their office at 317-462-7557. Or email [email protected] or [email protected].