Angies List Experience

I'm not sure how but, I received some kind of advertising for Angie's List sometime last year. I performed a few searches and found out that the list had quite a few businesses rated in our area. I'm not sure how you go about finding out about businesses and service companies but I usually plug a search into Google, some thing like, "[business name] opinions" or "[business name] ratings" to see what I can find. I often find nothing and, depending on the service, I am often reticent to move forward without some further information.

Well, as I was looking for the shutter that I have so often spoke of, I checked Angie's List and I was hooked. Not only did I find the company that installed my shutter, I found I could sit here all day and search for companies by name or by service sector of keyword, if you will. I really had no idea about all the things I "needed" until I was able to easily access information about providers in my area.

If you dare, try it, Angie's List - Where thousands of consumers share their ratings on the local contractors and service companies they hire. Learn more.

Shutter Complete!

So, last weekend we had out beautiful shutter installed and it is really lovely. This shutter changes the entire look and feel of the space. Here are before and after photos so you can see:

This is the before photo

These are the after photos, first with shutter open, then closed

The installation of this shutter has made a much larger impact that I had anticipated and has gotten me primed to get the remainder of my dining room and living room complete. Next is the fireplace mantel, valances for the windows that flank the fireplace, new base boards, then I am ready for furniture (you can see that we use the space for furniture storage at the moment) to complete the look. Maybe within a year or so the living room and attached dining room will finally be complete.

I Shutter to Think About It...

All right, you are right, that is a bad pun. But I have to say that our shutter is finally on order. Actually we ordered it several months ago but because they were doing a custom color match we had to approve the color. The first sample was too grey, the second sample was too yellow, so we got out our can of paint (Kelly Moore Ice Cream WS 11) and stirred ti up with a paint stick, let it dry and shipped it off. Low and behold the third time was a charm, it matched perfectly! So now that we have the correct color approved, the shutter should be read in about 2 weeks. Then our gigantic, West facing window can be covered to keep the summer heat out and the winter warmth in. I'll post a photo when it's installed but for now I'm just so happy we are almost there and just in time for Indian summer.

Shutter - What's Next?

I am often in the quandary when deciding which design or decorating project to take on next, there are so many I want to tackle but so little time. So after taking a long break from making any changes to our home, an almost seven year break because I made changes up until the time our twins were born then I ran out of energy for a while, I'm back!

This year I decided I am going to tackle our dining room and living room. I have a checklist a mile long, a wandering eye that points out to me so many changes in other parts of the home that I think should be made and one half year left to accomplish my task. So far, in the dining room, I have been successful in adding some paint to one wall (actually full credit goes to my husband for the paint job), rearranging the furniture (my husband moved the furniture, also), and adding tie-backs to the draperies that have been hanging there limply for, you guessed it, seven years. That's the dining room, it still needs a few more tweaks but since it's attached to the living room I'm oscillating between the two.

In the living room I finally ordered a shutter for a large arched window. About the shutter, I looked but could not find exactly what I wanted for a couple of years. I was looking for an interior raised panel shutter (that's means no slats), do you realize how difficult these are to find, and in a custom arch shape to boot? I thought I was going to have to resort to purchasing an exterior shutter and mounting it interiorly (like my new word?). But, eureka! I found this awesome local company when I was perusing Angie's List one day, they were the highest ranked company in my area and they can order exactly what I want. Wow, what a find! (I'll save a discussion of Angie's List for another day.)

So, the owner of the company came to my home and took measurements. Right now we are in the color matching phase. The company that makes the shutter will custom match any color and it provides a nice array of standard colors, to boot. But I chose to match my existing trim color. As soon as we can get a complete color match, my shutter will be delivered and installed. That will be the first new element in my living room in the past seven years.

Then the design and decor can really begin!