It's Mohawk Anniversary Month

One of our biggest sales of the year is now in progress----Mohawk Anniversary Month.  Almost every Mohawk carpet, hardwood, laminate and tile floor is on sale, plus 24 month Interest Free financing is available.  And there are rebates up to $500 on Mohawk ArmorMax hardwood floors and SmartStrand Silk carpets.  If you want new floors before the holidays, now is the time to buy!

And to make it easier for you to decide exactly what Mohawk product is best for your budget, we thought it was time for one of our most popular features:

How Much Does It Cost?

 ~A kitchen in Atlanta now has brand new Mohawk porcelain tile in the popular 20" x 20" size, installed on the diagonal, with stain resistant grout, all for only $1400. 

~~These Mohawk oak hardwood floors in the color "Cherry" were installed in the family room, living room, dining room, office, hall, bath, and foyer (848 sq ft) of a Smyrna home for $5700.  Nothing updates and upgrades your home like new hardwood floors.

  

~A medium quality Mohawk "cut and loop" carpet with the upgraded SmartCushion padding was installed in a large (1150 sq ft) basement area of a North Cobb home for $4200.

  

~Thinking about updating your bathroom? We recently tore out the old shower in a Roswell home and replaced it with a new larger shower surround of Mohawk tile with an accent border and a large niche for $3900.

~Need new carpet for your family room?  A Mohawk SmartStrand carpet was recently installed with premium SmartCushion pad for a little over $1000.  SmartStrand carpets are durable and stain resistant----perfect for a heavily used room like the family room.

~A client in Woodstock selected a Mohawk tile for three bathrooms.  The old "builders grade" vinyl was removed and this classic tile installed in all three bathrooms for $2700.

~This midgrade Mohawk plush carpet was chosen for 4 bedrooms and 2 staircases. Binding was included on one of the staircases and our client upgraded to a "pet proof" pad with a liner, and this was fully installed for $3000.

  

~We just installed easy-to-care-for Mohawk laminate flooring in a bonus room and hallway (583 sq ft) for $3700.

~Another client selected a top quality Mohawk "pindot" carpet for the family room, living room, hall and stairs.  The staircase included binding and these large areas (713 sq ft) were fully installed for $2900.  You may be wondering exactly what binding is.  This is a special way of finishing the edge of the carpet on a staircase with a fabric edge.  This is a more formal look, one that really dresses up the look of your staircase.

 ~The mudroom and laundry room of an East Cobb home had Mohawk luxury vinyl tile fully installed for $1200.  Luxury vinyl is perfect for wet areas---totally moisture resistant but not as cold and hard as ceramic tile.

~A client in East Cobb selected a Mohawk Silk textured carpet for her family room, dining room, living room, and 2 staircases. The turnkey price was $3500 for 972 sq ft.

~QuickStep laminates are also included in the Mohawk Anniversary Sale, because QuickStep is part of the Mohawk family of brands.  A tile-look QuickStep laminate was selected for the large kitchen, breakfast area, and hall (388 sq ft) of an East Cobb home.  Because our client has back problems, we removed the existing ceramic tile and added upgraded padding under the laminate to give her a more comfortable floor.  This was not an inexpensive project, about $4400, but her legs and back are already feeling better!

~Rectified porcelain tile was chosen for the bathroom of a Kennesaw home. Stain resistant grout and new baseboards were included in the $1100 price. (What is rectified tile?  This is a tile that has been mechanically cut to be very square and true so that a minimal grout joint can be used.)

~A patterned Mohawk Silk Berber carpet was installed with an upgraded pad with liner in 4 bedrooms of a North Cobb home. Almost 1000 sq ft for $4900.  This super-soft Silk carpet is perfect for bare feet and bedrooms. 

  

The great thing is that all of these floors are on sale!  And don't forget that 24 month (2 full years!) zero interest financing is also available on all of these beautiful Mohawk products now during our big Mohawk Anniversary Month sale. 

Projects To Avoid

If you plan putting your home on the market in the next few years, there are some home improvement choices that will probably hinder the sales potential.  Robby Monk with Exovations writes that when it comes to home improvement, every homeowner wants their home to look good, function well and add value.  If just one of the three listed isn't accomplished, then you could be left with a home improvement project that fails to live up to the intended result.  Below are five home improvement projects you may want to reconsider.

~~Turning your garage into a family room. We have all seen it.  A buyer walks into a beautiful home and everything inside the home meets their specific need - except for not having a garage.  One of the biggest mistakes homeowners make is turning their garage into a family room.  Garages are often expected.  If you remove the garage, then your pool of buyers drops significantly.  Even if you aren't looking to sell anytime soon, the time will come and you will be left with a great deal of regret from having made this costly decision.

~~Excessive landscaping. Curb appeal is important.  A well landscaped yard can often lead to greater interest in a home that is on the market than a similar home with no landscaping.  However it is important to remember that "less is often times, more".  Excessive landscaping to potential buyers can look like too much maintenance. Although landscaping is important, it just as important to know when to stop and maintain what you have.

~~Converting a bedroom. Unlike landscaping, when it comes to bedrooms, "more is more".  Understandably there are times when a bedroom can be turned into either a home office or even a closet, but when a homeowner is looking to sell, the best thing they can do is turn the bedroom back into its intended use - a bedroom.  Buyers don't want to envision too much.  They want to see a home for what it was intended for.  Be aware that the bedroom must have a closet for it to be considered a bedroom by the appraiser.

~~Adding a swimming pool. Swimming pools can be fun.  They can also require a ton of cost and maintenance.  Swimming pools are considered more of a liability than an asset for buyers.

~~Being too personal. Extreme design tastes, although pleasing for certain individuals, don't always translate to buyers.  It is perfectly acceptable to turn your home into a theme of your choice, but know that when your home is on the market and prospective buyers are looking, they don't want to necessarily see your infatuation with Morocco and the marble tile you have put down throughout the home.  Instead, invest in making your home more neutral.  Prospective buyers don't like surprises and want to visualize how their furniture will fit into the home.  If they can't get past your extreme design flair, then they buyer may be thinking about the next home before they even leave yours.

Is Thanksgiving Dinner At Your House This Year!
If you have decided that this is the year you will finally remodel your kitchen, and you want it done before the holidays, you need to be well into the planning and estimating process.  Most kitchen remodels take about three months to complete from the time the cabinets are ordered.  You should be making your final decisions and getting your installation scheduled now to have any certainty of having a brand new kitchen in time for the holidays.



Are You On Facebook

Enhance Floors & More is.  We have recently added a lot of pictures to our Albums.  Please check them out next time you are on Facebook.

10 Tips For Choosing The Right Paint Color

We found these tips on a great blog, Myra Hope's MyBlessedLife.net.  Knowing how to choose the right paint color is so much easier on your budget, your neck, your marriage, etc., when you get it right the first time! Myra Hope advises:

1. For the love of all things beautiful, DO NOT go straight to your local home improvement store, choose a color under those horrific lights, buy two gallons and tote it home. Please.  Your walls thank you in advance. Trust me.

2. What looks good in my house might look awful in yours. And vice versa. This actually happened to me a few months ago. I loved the look of Sherwin William's Comfort Gray in several rooms that I had seen online. Without doing much research I painted my dining room and it was wayyy too blue. Not what I was going for at all. I should have followed my own advice and gotten a few sample pots.

3. Find your inspiration piece. Your inspiration may be something you already have - a piece of fabric, a chair, a pillow, a piece of art. Go old school and look through magazines or use Pinterest. Either way, decide what colors you are drawn to.

4. Take advantage of paint sample strips.Again, trust me. If you can get your hands on a paint deck (shows all colors) that would be even better. If you don't have a paint deck and you don't know anyone who does, you can usually get them on loan from your local paint store. If these aren't options, then take home lots of individual paint samples so you can go on to the next step.

5. Look for color undertones and compare samples. It is very helpful to compare paint samples to white. It is the easiest way to determine what undertone a color has. Each paint sample strip has an undertone - green, blue, red, yellow.

6. Tape the paint samples to the wall and look at them during different times of day.It is very important that you look at the paint samples in different light {both natural and manmade}. Give the samples a good stare  - morning, noon and night - and you'll be well on your way to step #7.

7. Use process of elimination. Also...squint.As you look at the paint samples color undertones and see them in different lighting, you will begin to determine which ones you love and which ones you don't.  This is the beautiful process of elimination. It rocks. If a color makes you hesitate, scratch it. You might think that squinting sounds funny, but if you squint your eyes, often colors are easier to figure out.

8. Get sample pots of a few paint samples that you like best. Please do not skip this step. Especially if you are painting a large area. Get sample pots of 2-3 and paint them on the wall in a few different places. I like using el cheapo foam brushes that I can just throw away when I'm done. This is the final step in the paint sample elimination process. Either you love a color or you don't.

9. It will end up darker than you think. I realize that when looking at a paint strip of colors from light to dark, it's very tempting to be all dramatic and go super dark. Once a color is on all four walls, it's going to be more dramatic {dark or need-your-sunglasses-bright} than it looks on that innocent little paint strip.

10. Less saturation is more. I just touched on this point, but a slightly grayed paint color is going to be more subtle and classic than a color that requires sunglasses. My recommendation is to go for less saturation rather than more. I can't tell you how many times a client has tried to find that perfect yellow color and unfortunately it looks like "The Man With The Yellow Hat" came for a visit. A soft, buttery yellow is much more pleasing, even though it looks more pale on a paint strip.

Keep The Rain From Damaging Your Home

It is quite possible that we will set a new record for the amount of rainfall in Atlanta this year. And with all the rain comes moisture problems. This is a quick checklist of things to monitor to protect your home:

~~Check the weather stripping and seals around all of your exterior doors. Make sure water is not getting on or under your floors.

~~Look at your landscaping immediately after it has rained. Is water puddling near your foundation? Your yard needs to be sloped so that water drains away from your home.

~~If you have a crawl space, please check it after every rain. There should not be any water in your crawl space and the humidity should be under control (50% or less humidity) or serious damage can occur to your home.

~~Clear your gutters of leaves and debris. Clogged gutters cause rainwater to pool, and if you've got an older roof, that rain will find its way into your house. Check the down pipes as well. Make sure the output has somewhere to go, to avoid pools near your foundation.

~~Get your roof inspected. Granules or roof debris in the gutters are not a good sign.

~~Keep large trees around your home trimmed and inspect for dead and dying branches that could come down in a storm.

~~Caulk cracks around windows and doors to prevent water from seeping inside. Check old caulk every year for chips and cracks, which indicates the caulk has dried out and needs replacement.  ~~If water damage occurs, get help right away. It only takes a few hours for bacteria growth, mold, and mildew to start.

~~entire bathroom walls covered in tile

Tile Style

Tile is one of the oldest flooring options; in fact it has been used for centuries.  You might think for this reason tile is not very fashionable.  We find that tile can be just as trendy as skirt lengths!  Some of the fashion forward tile designs we are seeing, and loving, include:
~~tile backsplashes going all the way to the ceiling

~~rectangular tile installed horizontally

~~texture, especially in wall tile

~~large format tile size (we used to think 20" x 20" was big!)

~~tiles that emulate other material, such as wood, stone, concrete, even leather (for the look without the maintenance and upkeep)

  

How to Take Care of Your Hardwood Floors
Many of us have beautiful hardwood floors in our homes, and unfortunately some of us do not know how to properly take care of our hardwoods. Here are care and maintenance "Do's and Don'ts"

DO's

·Do vacuum and sweep your floor frequently, especially in high-traffic areas. ·Do keep pets' nails trimmed and their paws free of dirt, gravel, grease, oil, and stains.

·Do use protective window coverings to block fade-causing UV rays and excessive heat from direct sunlight, and rearrange rugs and furniture periodically to help your floor age evenly.

·Do remove shoes with spiked or damaged heels before walking on floor.

·Do use a humidifier during heating seasons to help reduce wood shrinkage and a dehumidifier during the wet and high humidity times of the year to maintain proper relative humidity (between 35% - 55%)

DON'Ts

·Do not wet-mop, damp-mop, or clean your floor with water or other liquids. ·Do not use hardwood floor-cleaning or buffing machines or steam cleaners.

·Do not use oil soaps, liquid or paste wax or other household products containing oil (such as citrus, lemon or tung oil), silicon or ammonia to clean floor.
·Do not use harsh cleaning aids such as steel wool pads, any scouring pads containing metal or scouring powders.
·Do not use 2-in-1 cleaners with polish that may contain acrylics or urethane polish to restore gloss.

Not to single out a particular manufacturer, but this is an example of a product that we do NOT recommend for use on hardwood floors. Notice it does more than clean--it shines! protects! revitalizes! These words tell you that there is some sort of wax or finish in the product. You do not want to put a do-it-yourself finish on your floors. Many times it will not adhere to your floor, or it is very splotchy or streaky. Please, just use cleaners on your floors. Google "XXXX product ruined my hardwood floors" and you will quickly see how many people are very sorry they tried these miracle products-----

Plus a few general tips:

A Clean Routine

Vacuum or sweep with a soft-bristle broom regularly, especially before using floor cleaners, to prevent gritty dirt and particle buildup that can scratch the wood's surface. Don't use vacuums with a beater bar or power rotary brush head. Wipe up spills and spots immediately with a wood floor cleaner (made by a flooring or polyurethane manufacturer) applied directly to a clean white cloth. Use ice to harden tough substances such as candle wax or chewing gum and then gently scrape with a plastic scraper, such as a credit card. Be careful not to scratch the flooring surface. Wipe area clean with a soft, slightly damp cloth.

Floor Mats Protect Your Floor

High-quality floor mats at entrances and exits are key to reducing wear. They collect and trap all the corrosive substances that can be tracked in from outdoors, including dirt, sand, grit, oil, asphalt, or even driveway sealer. Also use mats in areas of constant pressure, such as in front of vanities, kitchen sinks and stoves.

Protective Pads On Furniture -- A Good Idea

Attach felt or similar protective pads to all furniture legs, particularly heavy pieces. When you're moving furniture, appliances or other heavy objects, use a dolly; never slide or roll anything across the floor. If furniture has hard plastic or metal casters/wheels, use protective mats underneath or replace them with soft rubber casters.

Did You Know

The average consumer spends 137 days (almost 5 months!) gathering information before making a flooring purchase? So if you have just now started to think about a brand new floor for your home, we'll see you in December to install it for you! Seriously, if you are thinking about having major projects completed before the holidays, now is the time to begin the selection process. Thanksgiving is less than four months away. Enhance Floors & More is open seven days a week and is here to assist you in making your dream home a reality.

How To Measure A Room

Many of our clients bring in measurements so that our Design Consultants can give them some rough pricing prior to the in-home estimate. Some floor plans that we see are very impressive, while others just aren't detailed enough to be of much assistance. We have compiled some tips on measuring your space for new flooring. (NOTE: The ballparks that we give you in the store or on the phone are just that----ballparks. We always need to see the job to assess all installation details and to take our measurements to ensure that you purchase the correct amount. As professionals, we know how to include hallways and closets, match patterns, plan seam placement, work with room irregularities, and account for rooms with widths greater than 12 feet.)

Floor Area = Length of room x Width of room
Wall Area = Height of wall x Length of wall

The foundation of a solid redecorating plan includes accurate dimensions of your living space. To start, we suggest creating an accurate Floor Plan. Here is what you will need to get started.

Recommended Tools

· 25-foot metal tape measure. Look for one that locks and retracts. · Graph paper: The grid makes it much easier to sketch an accurate plan. · Drafting tools: A ruler, pencils with erasers, a clipboard.

Basic Measuring Instructions

· Before measuring, make a rough sketch of the basic floor plan, including walls, windows, hallways, closets and door placements. Don't worry too much about it being proportional at this point. · With your rough sketch in hand, start measuring. Measure in running dimensions as much as possible. Fix the tape measure at one corner and run the tape along the side of the room, taking note of the measurement each time on your rough sketch. Record the dimensions in feet and inches, for example 13' 6" NOT 162". · Make additional measurements and notes on the drawing as you see fit. These might include the ceiling height, trim width, flooring or wall materials, etc. · With your new measurements and a new sheet of graph paper, redraw your floor plan to accurately represent your room's proportions. · Make photocopies of the finished drawing. You can use the copies anytime you need to talk to a retailer about new flooring or window accents, or even when rearranging furniture.

SOURCE: www.bobvila.com
                 "The Dean of Home renovation and Repair Advice"

Prefinished Vs. Unfinished Wood Flooring

I’ve looked at flooring from both sides now… and it’s the horrors of applying polyurethane I recall.

Apologies to Joni Mitchell for that, but when it comes to installing solid or engineered wood flooring, prefinished is my choice. Some pros disagree, but these are my reasons:

You can walk on your new floor immediately.
With flooring that is finished on-site using oil-based polyurethane, the homeowner must wait days, sometimes even weeks, before moving furniture back into the room. Even though the floor may be dry to the touch, it will be vulnerable to scraping until the waiting time has elapsed and the finish has fully cured. I once had to shuffle around in socks and remain furniture-less for four weeks after applying three coats of poly to a floor. (Waterborne polyurethane finishes dry to touch quickly but can have varying cure times—some quite long.)

No issues with VOCs and your family’s health.
For days after applying an oil-based polyurethane, you will smell and breathe in vapors from polyurethane resins and solvents. VOCs have been shown to be carcinogenic, and some waterborne polyurethanes produce them too. Why not buy prefinished so that the curing takes place in a factory, not in your living room?

No worries about dust.
Dust and errant hairs are the enemy of on-site floor finishing, but these annoyances won’t have any effect on your new prefinished flooring. You will, however, need to take measures to protect prefinished floors if you have contractors tromping around with tools and equipment en route to other jobs around the house.

Installation in one session.
There’s no necessity of staying home to complete the various stages of an on-site finishing job—sanding, sealing, staining, applying polyurethane and so on. A crew of two had our 300-square-foot solid wood floor installed, with underlayment, in only about two hours.

A better finish than what homeowners or contractors can apply on-site.
Factory-applied finishes are incredibly durable and often come with a lifetime warranty. For example, a Mullican red oak flooring, will stay new-looking for longer. It came with a PPG UV-cured resin and nanoparticle coating that is highly scratch- and abrasion-resistant. I can’t even scratch it with my fingernails.

Lower cost.
Prefinished solid wood floors initially cost more than unfinished wood flooring—starting at about $3 per square foot for the product. But once you factor in finishing costs, prefinished ends up being less expensive.

Okay, you’ve heard my arguments. But some homeowners and many contractors disagree with me and prefer site-finishing wood floors. Here’s why:

New construction or large renovations.
Many contractors prefer to wait until the end of the job to finish the floor. That way, a dropped tool or a mortar pebble under a work boot can’t mar the finished floor—and ruin customer relations.

Greater choice of finishes.
There is no question that the site-finished route opens up a greater variety of choices with respect to color and shade. Prefinished products, however, come in more species and stains than ever before.

No bevels.
Prefinished floorboards usually have micro-bevels on all edges. These bevels hide slight discrepancies between board depths and widths. Inevitably, some homeowners will prefer the flush look of site-sanded floors, as they feature no such grooves and can be finished to a mirror-like surface.

What’s your preference? Perhaps the hassles of site-finishing will be worth it to you—for one or all of the reasons above. But for homeowners like me, prefinished floors are the future

Kitchen and Bath Remodel Budgets

Many of our recent clients coming into the Design Center are interested in kitchen and bathroom updates.  Realtors will tell you that these are the glamour rooms of your home.  These are also some of the most used areas and rooms----and function is just as important as beauty. 

If you are thinking about a bathroom or kitchen remodel, you probably don't know how at start and have no idea how much to budget.  This week we will share with you average kitchen and bathroom costss

Kitchens

The average cost for a major kitchen remodel is roughly $60,000, a minor one under $20,000, but you can spend a lot more---or less.

Per John Bredemeyer, spokesperson for the Appraisal Institute, a standards-setting organization, you should spend 10 to 15 percent of your property value and expect about 75 cents back on the dollar at resale on a kitchen remodel.

The National Kitchen and Bath Association says for a "gut" remodel, plan to spend approximately 30 to 50 percent of the budget on cabinets (including installation), 5 to 20 percent on countertops, 10 to 20 percent for appliances, 5 to 11 percent for flooring, 2 to 5 percent for lighting and other electrical work, 1 to 2 percent for a tile backsplash, 3 to 6 percent for plumbing and fixtures, and 10 to 20 percent on fundamentals like windows and wallboard.

Using these guidelines, let's say your home is valued at $250,000. Your budget for the kitchen remodel should be $35,000.

By category you should budget:

Cabinets $17,500

Countertops $4,500

Appliances $3,000

Flooring $2,500

Lighting/electrical $1,000

Backsplash $1,000

Plumbing/fixtures $1,750

Misc. $3,750

You should also set aside a minimum of 10% of the budget as a contingency fund (in case of unforeseen structural problems, for example.)

Bathrooms

You may think that because your bathroom is a fraction of the size of your kitchen that is would be easier, right?   Sorry, but you are sure to find that updating your bathroom is as overwhelming as a kitchen makeover!  There are just as many choices as well as huge price ranges to consider.  For example, a toilet can cost $100 or over $5,000, tub prices range between $125 to over $10,000, and even something "simple" like shower heads vary from $5 to $10,000.  Really. 

In 2012 a major bathroom remodel cost an average of $26,052.  An industry average price per square foot for a professionally done bathroom remodel ranges $175 to $225 per square foot on the low end and over $600 per square foot for a luxury bathroom. For a 5 x 8 bathroom (40 square feet) that is a range of $7,000 to $24,000. 

The NKBA breaks down bathroom remodeling costs like this:

·  Design fees: 4%

·  Installation: 20%

·  Fixtures: 15%

·  Cabinetry and hardware: 16%

·  Countertops: 7%

·  Lighting and ventilation: 5%

·  Flooring: 9%

·  Doors and windows: 4%

·  Walls and ceilings: 5%

·  Faucets and plumbing: 14%

·  Other: 1%

These figures are guidelines, not rules, and each project is different. Using these percentages and a bathroom remodel budget of $20,000  you will spend by category:

Installation (labor) $4000

Cabinetry and hardware $3200

Fixtures $3000

Faucets and plumbing $2800

Flooring $1800

Countertops $1400

Lighting and ventilation $1000

Walls and ceilings $1000

All other $1800

Also set aside a minimum of 10% of the budget as a contingency fund (in case of unforeseen structural problems, for example.)

New Carpet?  If You Want The Very Best . . . . .

You will want to consider the new "Bliss Indulgence" line of premium soft carpets from Beaulieu of America, the third largest carpet producer in the nation.  Indulgence is constructed with the company's patented 100% PermaSoft solution-dyed nylon fiber that is colorfast and stain resistant. Bliss Indulgence is elegant, incredibly soft and durable, and is available in 5 textured plush styles and 2 fashion forward patterns.

What is different about this nylon carpet is that it is solution dyed.  That means the color is integral to the fiber and not added later, so stains have nowhere to attach.  In fact, you can spot-clean Bliss Indulgence with a 50% solution of household bleach and water. Indulgence comes with a Lifetime No-Exclusion Stain Removal Warranty and Beaulieu's Magic Fresh treatment that reduces household odors.  Indulge yourself today with the softest carpet with the ultimate in performance.

BONUS OFFER:  Purchase at least 360 square feet of Bliss Indulgence by September 30, 2013 and receive a $100 rebate from Beaulieu!

Write A Review, Win $500

More Home Improvement Projects That (Almost) Pay For Themselves

We have been reviewing Remodeling Magazine's annual survey list of home improvement projects. These are the next group of projects in order of Return On Investment and a few additional comments from the experts at HGTV. It's hard to decide which project to undertake first, isn't it?

#11 Family Room Addition
Average return at resale: 83 percent
•The average family room addition costs $54,464 and adds $45,458 at resale, a recoup rate of 83 percent.

•A sunroom counts in the home's square footage only when the room is heated and cooled for year-round use.

•A sunroom adds value only in upscale neighborhoods. It won't bring in higher bids in lower-end neighborhoods.

•An addition shouldn't be obvious. Make sure it has an open transition. A wider interior doorway and more substantial steps (if on a different level) visually connect the addition to the rest of the house

#12 Bonus Room Updates

Average return at resale: 72.8 percent

• Finishing a 12x12 bonus room costs on average $13,143 and brings in $9,569 at closing.

◦If you're selling, know your target market and decorate to please them. Families use bonus rooms differently than empty-nesters and singles. Bonus rooms can be used as additional bedrooms, home offices, media rooms, and family rooms. (NOTE: if you want the room to "count" as a bedroom, it needs to have a closet.)

#13 Living Room Updates - Decor

Average return at resale: 66 percent

• Spending about $1,350 on staging and updating living room decor will get you new light switches, outlet covers, floor registers, crown molding, chair rails and drapes, plus fresh, live flowers and accessories.•Details add dollars. Crown molding gives a room a crisp, clean finish that buyers love. Make sure you choose molding that complements window trim and floor boards. Prices start at around $1.40 per linear foot.

•Add square footage with a simple trick. Shift furniture away from the walls to make living rooms feel larger and more contemporary. Create a seating area around a feature you want buyers to notice - like a dramatic fireplace. •If you're staging your home to sell, don't move excess furniture and clutter into the garage. Rent a storage unit for about $1 per square foot per month.

•New window treatments are a cost-conscious way to add a punch of designer color. For low ceilings, suggest the illusion of height by positioning drapes and valances higher on the wall.

#14 Bedroom Updates

Average return at resale: 52 percent

• Cost for new lighting will vary from $100 - $500.•For a romantic design touch, swap the old light fixture for a small chandelier. The formula for sizing a chandelier: Room width + Room length in feet = chandelier diameter in inches.
•Scale your window treatments to your room size.

•New bedding and window treatments: $300.

•Hardwood floors are hotter than ever. If you live in an older (pre 1970s) home, you may have hardwood floors under the carpet. If so you can pull up the worn carpeting and refinish the old floors to let the wood shine. Sanding hardwoods is physically demanding and if you do it wrong, you ruin the floor. Hire a pro!

#15 Living Room Updates-Walls and Floors

Average return at resale: 40 percent

• For only $25, freshen the living room walls with a coat of paint in a light, neutral color. And don't overlook the trim - brighten it with a high-gloss white paint and caulk any open seams between the molding and ceiling and baseboard and wall.•On average, quality hardwood flooring ranges from $6--$8 per square foot installed. For a 200 square foot area, expect to spend about $1,600 for new hardwood floors.

• If you have carpet in the living room, either have it professionally

cleaned ($100-$150) or replaced if it's torn, stained or has an unrelenting odor. A 200 square foot living room ranges $500 to $1000 fully installed with new carpet and pad.

•Always test popcorn ceilings for asbestos before you start (find an accredited lab at http://ts.nist.gov). Asbestos was used in textured paints manufactured before 1977.

•Buy a new wood or stone mantel for as little as $500

Did You Know?

Reviews are important. Many of our clients tell us that they "checked us out online" before deciding to call us or come in. The BrightLocal 2013 Local Consumer Review Survey found that 85% of consumers say that they read online reviews for local businesses (up from 76% in 2012.) Only 12% of consumers said they take no notice of online reviews (down from 17% in 2012.)We are very proud to have great clients that have taken the time to write a review about their experience with Enhance Floors & More.

There are many places that consumer reviews are published: Kudzu.com, Yelp, Google, and Angie's List, to name a few. One of the best known in Atlanta is Kudzu.com. Did you know that each month Kudzu.com has a random drawing of everyone that has written a review on their website that month, and that lucky person wins $500? We encourage you to write a review, about Enhance Floors & More, or your vet, or the electrician you just used, whatever business you want to review. This not only helps other consumers determine if they can trust and should use that business, but it can also win you $500 Good luck!

Only Whisper Around The Kids

It is almost back to school time. If you are wondering when the first day of school is:

Cherokee County Monday August 5

Cobb County Wednesday August 7

Fulton County Monday August 12