Do you need to replace your floor or carpet in your Raleigh home? Thad’s Carpet One is my choice locally because they are the best value. It’s as simple as that. There are other places I would consider for higher end materials. But if you know you will have to replace the flooring again or have a lot of wear and tear, then Thad’s Carpet One is a good one.

If you’re looking for a good painter in the Raleigh or Triangle area, Southern Boys Painting could be your solution. They do residential home painting services including interior and exterior painting, and deck staining. Daniel Zuniga is the owner and he does very good work. We also found him dependable.

We hired him to stain our deck and paint a bathroom for us. He explained to us the process beforehand and gave us some reasonable estimates. We were very impressed with his testimonials and clients. His native language isn’t English but it’s good enough to communicate.

We asked him to do some additional painting work a year or so after our first job, but on the day he arrived he brought his brothers to perform the painting work. He said they actually taught him how to paint. So I agreed and we had them do some interior painting for us. Initially, Daniel told us it would be $25 an hour but never wrote it down anywhere. I thought that was reasonable and said okay as they’re brothers afterall and they were ready to work. No paperwork to review in advance which was a bit troubling.

Zuniga Brothers and Southern Boys Painting

Today, I’m inspired.  Pottery Barn paints by Benjamin Moore are on my mind.  ‘Cause spring is in the air! It’s hard to believe that a week ago I was walking my dog in the snow with my pink snow boots on. AND today is a beautiful 80 degrees in the Triangle! Over the weekend, I went outdoor biking for the first time in a year. That first winter change from cold to warm, sunny weather just puts me in a GREAT mood! Kinda the same way that ABBA songs can. It’s just a great time to start thinking about gardening for the season, spring cleaning, and looking around your house for any projects you want to attack. …like a room painting project.

Need a Triangle area appliance repair? Call DK Appliance at 821-7104. No, they are not friends of mine. But they are NOW new appliance repair friends of mine! I called them in an repair emergency after being fed up with GE.

Do you have an Oreck vacuum cleaner? You might’ve seen their infomercial or ad in the Sunday’s “Parade” section of the paper.

I’ve owned an Oreck vacuum for several years. After owning a few Hoover vacuums, I got tired of them. They just weren’t all that great. And one day, I’m convinced I lost my prized college ring in my then apartment. I always wondered what happened to it. I’m not sure if my cats at the time played soccer with it one day while I was at work. Or if the ring fell on the floor and I accidentally vacuumed it up. Either case, I went on a mission to search for the ring in the Hoover vacuum bag. Don’t ever do this! I swear my eyes were swollen for days from all the clouds of dust smoke in the air. Couldn’t have been too good for the lungs either. I’m glad I didn’t need a ventilator after that experience.

Who else wants to get their house cleaned, green?

Green cleaning is good for health reasons, and it helps the environment. Thinking about it takes me back…in April 1990 I was down on the National Mall. Me, and tens of thousands of others were witnessing the birth of Earth Day where the green movement officially started. Tom Cruise spoke about the cause. And 10,000 Maniacs performed… that’s the name of the rock group…not the description of us people there. And white recycle bins were laid out everywhere. But that was almost two decades ago.