all things HOME • October 2012

AllThingsHomeOnline.com 3

Glass/MirrorsAnderson Glass 3 Bullseye Glass 10

Grout Staining/SealingGrout Works of Central Texas 19

Home Builders Kevin Bearden Custom Homes, LLC 12Weld House Homes 11

Home Theatre Custom Intergrators 10

House PlansGreat House Plans 14

HVAC ContractorsComfort Air 7Lochridge Priest 6Oasis Heating and Cooling 18

InsulationDEK Insulation 3

Insurance AgencyTerry Strickland State Farm 16

Index October 2012

Featured ArticlesThe Best Way to Complete a Bathroom or Kitchen Remodel Project 8

Best Location for Water Heaters 13

Is Natural Stone “Green”? 20

Featured BusinessesBlinds and ShuttersThe Blind & Shutter Gallery 18

Building MaterialsRedwood Inc. 7

CountertopsGary Beam Formica Countertops 7Goldstone 19Red’s Quality Marble 17Unique Kitchen & Bath 18

ElectricianMr. Electric 19Zawadzki Electric 10

FlooringCustom Stain and Scoring 17

PUBLISHERAll Things Home™

ART DIRECTION & DESIGNJose Gonzales

TO ADVERTISE PLEASE CALL254.709.6045

IrrigationStein Lawn and Landscape 3

Metal Roof SuppliesPioneer Steel and Pipe 17

Paint/SuppliesWigley’s Paint Inc. 17

Plumbing FixturesWaco Winnelson 18

RealtorsLoni Jones 2

RemodelingKevin Bearden Custom Homes, LLC 16

RoofingArtisan 15

Septic SystemsBlount’s Septic 10

If you have been searching for a custom home builder, remodeler, service provider, or just a tradesman to complete a small home project, then All Things Home is the only guide you will need. Inside you will also find helpful tips and suggestions for various home projects. Thanks for showing an interest in All Things Home.

Welcome to All Things Home

© 2012 All Things Home™. Reproduction without permission of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited.

To advertise in the next issue of All Things Home, please contact

254.709.6045 or email us at: [email protected]

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and let people know about your services?


The first step to remodeling your home is to determine which rooms in your home that you want to remodel. You need to determine if you simply want to change the décor in each room of your home or if you want to completely remodel the room. Do you want to take out walls? Do you want to replace appliances? Consider each room that you want to remodel and begin making notes of those changes.

Once you have these ideas in mind, create a budget for your remodeling project. You should have this idea in mind before you purchase anything for

your project. Once your budget is set you will need to decide if you want to execute your remodeling project on your own or if you want to hire a professional to complete and plan out every element of your remodeling.

If you have limited design experience, or are unable to complete all the remodeling tasks that you have in mind, you will most likely want to hire a pro-fessional. To do this you should research interior designers and like companies in your general area that you can turn to for such services. During this part of the process you

Remodeling any room in your home doesn’t have to be a difficult task. This information will help you get your bathroom remodeling or kitchen remodeling project off the ground with limited effort.

need to ensure that you are only choosing to employ the very best service pro-vider available to you.

Focus not only on the cost of the interior designer that you choose, but also focus on their level of experience. Be certain to view a portfolio so that you can see examples of their work. This will allow you to be certain that you have selected a professional interior designer for your kitchen or bathroom remodeling project.

If you are going to implement your interior design project on your own you may want to choose to work with a design firm that operates an interior design store. That way you can get their advice

when shopping in their store without having to pay for these services. These types of design stores will also generally provide you with decreased rates on their projects.

Before doing any type of major remodeling in your home, make an action plan. If you are uncertain how to complete a specific task, you need to research these sections online so that you can gain the knowledge that you need before you get started.

It’s A Girl Thing Magazine 10


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But aside from all the little advice you’ve received that involves sometimes dangerous and often times urban legend tinkering, you heard about the sig-nificance of appliance location when it comes to optimal function and benefits of use. So you looked around your house to consider the best location for the appliance.

Well, there are lots of tips out there regarding the best place to put one’s heating tank for the most safe and efficient use of your device in any size home. The most prevalent tip, however, regards whether it should be placed upstairs or downstairs in your home.

It makes sense to consider its placement, when you start to think about how the water flows and how far it has to travel to reach your kitchen, bathroom(s) and other heating devices throughout. Placing any water heat-ers downstairs in your basement or utilities room in a two or more level home is the norm, but is it the best configuration for how the water has to travel? It has to heat within the unit then travel over to the kitchen or up to the bathrooms one or two floors up.

On one hand, the plus side of keeping it in the base-

ment or utility room on the first floor is that it has its own designated space. This makes repairs easier and it makes any leaks easier to handle on the ce-ment, linoleum, or tile floors.

On the other hand, the plus side of having the tank up-stairs is three fold. First, you will have easy access for any upstairs plumbing

issues. Second, due to the reduced travel, the water pressure can

be greatly improved. Third, you are less likely to run out of hot water if the device doesn’t have to work as hard to generate it and transport it to rooms on different floors.

The only downside is that it may have to share space with your upstairs laundry or any leaks may dampen and damage any upstairs carpeting or hardwood flooring that you’ve had installed. But, the location of your water heaters, for this home or your next, is up to your house size and household hot water needs.

If every home you’ve ever lived in was run on hot water heaters then you’ve probably had a question or two about their efficiency and how to improve them other than maintenance or replacement. So you asked your friends and family members who also own homes and tank water heaters about their woes and the adjustments they’ve had to makeover the many years of ownership and compromise.







Increasing the efficiency of resources could be achieved in many ways. Modern technology has made it possible to develop machinery that reduces the use of water or electricity with the same or increased production. Another example would be producing products that yield less waste.

The other necessary factor is reducing the impact on the environ-ment during construction, use, and demolition. According to the Marble Institute of America, natural stone is “Mother Nature’s original green building material”. Natural stone is durable and outlasts most other

There has been a debate for years about whether or not natural stone slabs are “green”. To understand the answer we must look at what it means for a product to be considered green. A sustainable or green product is manufactured by increasing the efficiency of natural resources such as energy, water, and material usage while reducing the impact on the environment during its life cycle.

building materials. This is evident when looking at historical structures as far back as the Roman, Greek, and even Egyptian eras.

Today, natural stone slabs such as granite and marble are used for a vast array of building materials. Some of the most common types are counter tops, shower surrounds, flooring, exterior

cladding, and interior wall tile. Natural stone slabs are solid rocks extracted directly from the earth in manageable sizes. There is little manufacturing involved in quarrying stone slabs. They are available in multiple types of stone including granite, marble, limestone, travertine, onyx, sandstone, and soapstone.

Each stone type has countless color options determined by the region of the world where they are found. Unlike man-made surfaces, natural stone slabs have no bonding agents such as a polymer resin. In addition, they do not emit VOCs and are recommended to be cleaned with pH-neutral cleaners; not only improving the air quality, but reducing chemicals in our sewer and soil. Materials that can be utilized in their natural state such as granite and marble greatly reduce the impact on the environment.

Granite and marble slabs are ex-tremely durable with the longevity to last longer than the life of the building. Since it is one of the hardest natural stones, granite is able to be salvaged, re-cut, and reused - closing the life cycle. All natural stone slabs are 100% recyclable with endless ways to re-purpose the material. New ways

to recycle stone are being developed every day. A few examples are resizing the slabs into pavers and tiles, grinding it into chips to be bonded in engineered counter top surfaces, and even crushing it into rocks for landscaping. The benefit of using granite and marble in these recycled products is that the stone is durable in any form.

Natural stone quarries are located all over the world, making it convenient to find a regional source within several hundred miles of most projects. Selecting a local stone isanother way to reduce the impact on the environment by minimizing transportation effects. The final factor that determines if natural stone is sustainable is the decisions made by the end user. Selecting a regional stone, cleaning it with earth-friendly products and being responsible about the demolition ensure the best possible outcome.








IndexOctober 2012

Featured BusinessesAntiques & Collectibles Treasure On The Tracks 4

Clothing & Accessories Chesney’s Boutique 7Sassy Britches 6

Entertainment/Fun Painting With a Twist 8 Love Potions Adult Boutique & Bakery 4

FabricFrankly Fabric 8 Tomorrow’s Quilts 2

Home/InteriorsThe Mix 10

Jewelry Design House 4For.Me.La 6Gholson Originals 5

Make-UpKimberly Cutler 9

MonogrammingIt’s Personal Gift Boutique 2

Spa TreatmentAvanti Salon 6Heaven’s Gifted Hands of Message Therapy 2Love Your Face Facial Spa 4N Spa 3

PUBLISHERAll Things Home™

ART DIRECTION & DESIGNJose Gonzales

TO ADVERTISE PLEASE CALL254.709.6045

© 2012 All Things Home™. Reproduction without permission of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited.

To advertise in the next issue of It’s A Girl Thing, please contact

254.709.6045 or email us at: [email protected]

Wouldn’t you like to be a part of It’s A Girl Thing

and let people know about your business?

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all things HOME • October 2012