Home & Garden
Antiques Make the Decor
Denny McConell of 23rd Street Antiques has some tips about incorporating antiques into any home decor setting – for adornment and usefulness in the places you least think of.
The Baby’s Room:
An antique “Hoosier” cabinet with a pull-out porcelain work surface and storage above serves as a great changing table for your baby. Pull the shelf out and have all the baby supplies at your fingertips. Stash additional supplies below the shelf. After baby grows up, the cabinet serves equally well in the kitchen, dining room, entry or bathroom.
A four-stack lawyer’s bookcase, sans doors, makes a sturdy, attractive toy shelf with items within the baby’s reach. As your baby grows up and begins to read, move it back to its original function – a bookcase.
Outdoors:
Antiques and collectibles enjoy endless uses in an outdoor setting. An antique cast-iron gate covered with vines gives your outdoor living space a unique Old World feel. It can also be used to hide unsightly objects such as gas meters.
Antiques of all kinds make terrific decorative pieces and art. Not only are many pieces rare and one-of-a-kind, they add beauty and character to a room that newer furnishings can’t match.
On July 4, 23rd Street Antiques celebrates its twentieth anniversary with a celebration from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Enjoy home-baked treats, door prize drawings every hour and sales throughout the mall.
For more information about 23rd St. Antiques, call 405-947-3800, visit www.antiques23.com or drop by the store at 3023 N.W. 23rd Street in Oklahoma City.
Brighten Up The House
James Lighting believes in choices. Owner Bea James offers a wide array of lighting fixtures, fans, mirrors and home decoration accessories. The wide selection makes it easier to find great items for new interior decorating – or match existing home styles.
For some, the selection can be overwhelming. That’s why James Lighting offers unparalleled customer service. Explain your needs to the experts. Let them do what they do best – find you the right items for the right jobs.
Says James, “One of our specialties is putting together lighting and fan packages that create a consistent design flow from one room to the next.”
James Lighting carries fans in sizes appropriate for every room, from 70” fans for larger rooms and 29” fans fit for smaller rooms such as bathrooms. Unique blades are even available to match furniture finishes – from hand-carved to hand-scraped and distressed finishes.
“We stand behind the quality of every fan and fixture we carry. Our fans are guaranteed to be quiet and balanced,” says James.
While many people visit James Lighting to shop for fans, James is quick to note that the store also carries decorative mirrors and other accessories that put the finishing touches on any room in the house.
For more information about James Lighting – and their offerings – call 405-947-6663.
Take Back Your Yard
Getting eaten alive by mosquitoes every time you try to enjoy the great outdoors? The recent deluge of rain in Edmond is a windfall for mosquitoes. Edmond’s Mosquito Control Services specializes in “Fighting the Bite.”
Owner Rick Guy explains, “Scheduled treatments applied to ornamental shrubs and thick vegetation around the perimeter of the home form a barrier to insects by denying them a place to rest during the hot parts of the day.”
Mosquito-chasing torches and candles. Smearing the kids with messy chemical repellents. They don’t work. You and your family still can’t enjoy your own backyard.
Mosquito Control uses a unique “3E” system to wipe out mosquitoes in your outdoor spaces: evaluation, education and the homeowner’s favorite – elimination.
First comes an evaluation where Guy inspects outdoor living areas and identifies breeding and resting
places of mosquitoes.
Second, Guy educates homeowners about ways to make their outdoor living spaces less hospitable to mosquitoes.
Third, Guy eliminates the flying offenders with a water-based residual insecticide sprayed on mosquitoes’ favorite resting and breeding places.
Says Guy, “The chemical solution, applied as a fine mist, coats the habitat and kills mosquitoes upon contact. Applications are made approximately every 21 days.”
According to Guy, Mosquito Control Services’ focus is stopping the mosquitoes’ breeding cycle. Killing one female at the beginning of the season can result in the prevention of 25,000 additional mosquitoes being born.
Some homeowners avoid enjoying their yards because the mosquitoes have taken over. If they can only enjoy their yards through glass windows, it’s time to take action.
To take back your yard, call 405-341-7017 or visit www.wekillmosquitoes.com.
Stepping Out
No job is too small or too big for Paul Kregger. Kregger’s Floors installed the flooring for some of the largest buildings in Oklahoma City – including Will Rogers World Airport. If you live in Oklahoma City, you’ve walked on one of Kregger’s floors.
Kregger’s enjoys smaller jobs just as much as the larger ones. The family-owned business can beautify your home with quality flooring that lasts for years. With great workmanship and truly personal service, Kregger’s leaves a gorgeous, indelible mark of taste in homes around Edmond.
Says Paul, “I opened my business with the goal of helping customers save money by sparing them the cost of high overhead.”
Paul has advice for homeowners looking for new flooring.
First, remember that experience matters. When a large home improvement store runs sales on flooring, those higher sales mean the store has to hire more sub-contractors – which easily could result in sub-par installation.
Second, as a rule, all stores offer similar flooring options. In the end, it’s all about the installation and experience. Kregger’s employs in-house installers with tons of flooring know-how.
Third, sub-contractors consider your flooring to be just another project. When they’re done, you’re done. Kregger’s follows up after sales and installations. And if there’s an issue, a homeowner can walk right into the store and resolve their issue on the spot.
For more information about Kregger’s, call 405-348-6777 or stop by the store at 2702 S. Broadway.
Cooling Off
When summer’s on the way, Edmondites turn their attention to their air-conditioning. It’s the time of year that finds Stacy and Mike Fore, owners of Edmond’s HVAC Solutions, gearing up for another hot, humid Oklahoma summer.
“Oklahoma springs are back and forth with temperatures and people get confused. They’re not sure if they should wait until it’s hot and they need their air-conditioning units regularly to get them checked. Waiting usually costs them more. It’s one of the reasons we stress preventative maintenance,”says Stacy.
Mike and Stacy have a few tips for extending the life of an air-conditioning unit. Changing filters, giving the unit a thorough inspection and cleaning the condenser regularly keeps the air-conditioner running smoothly and staves off expensive maintenance costs. They recommend taking these steps in the spring instead of waiting for the summer heat to hit.
“We work hard to educate our customers about the myths and truths about air-conditioning systems, energy efficiency and the proper temperatures to keep their units at. This maximizes comfort and keeps utility bills down. We take the time to train our customers to use their thermostats properly. When a new system is installed, we’re also happy to point out installation points for air vents and thermostats so the house cools and heats evenly,” says Mike.
HVAC Solutions maintains existing systems and installs new ones. For more information, call HVAC Solutions at 405-474-6723 or visit www.hvacsolutions-ok.com.
Keeping the Family Safe
When the big F5 tornado tore through Oklahoma on May 3, 1999, Richard Crow and his family had no place to go. Shortly after that terrifying experience they started Ground Zero Storm Shelters. This family-operated business quickly expanded to 11 states.
Ground Zero handles everything clients need to be safe from Oklahoma’s violent twisters, including the design, the fabrication, the warranty work and installation.
This company offers two types of the most innovative shelters available: in-garage units and safe rooms. Both exceed FEMA’s exacting standards.
Ground Zero’s membership with the National Storm Shelter Association enables them to register clients’ shelters in a national database. In the event that a shelter is hit by a storm, GPS coordinates ensure that families are quickly located.
In addition to installing shelters, Ground Zero offers the following tornado safety tips:
Pick a place for family members to gather when a tornado heads your way.
Assemble a disaster supply kit containing a first aid kit, canned food, a battery-powered radio, flashlights, extra batteries, at least three gallons of water, protective clothing, sleeping bags or blankets and written instructions on how to turn off electricity, gas, and water if authorities advise you to do so.
Conduct periodic tornado drills so everyone remembers what to do when a tornado
is approaching.
Close to 1,000 tornados are reported every year in the United States. Oklahoma City has been hit by more tornados than any other city in the United States. Don’t take a chance with your family. Call Ground Zero Storm Shelters at 405-880-1351 or visit their website at www.groundzeroshelters.com.
