Victoria

Spring is here and along with a lot of rain, we’ve gotten a fair bit of sun. That means people are more active then ever.

But it also means the sun has been beaming into my home for the last few weeks. I just started working from home and the room where my computer desk is in faces the sun from the early afternoon until dusk. It’s a pain the butt to try and see my computer though.

I’m not complaining that sun is here. Trust me, vitamin D is great.

It’s the fact that the sun glares into my home affecting the work I need to do.

I tried a few different things like drapes and blinds. But I still wanted to be able to see outside and not totally be blocked out.

A few months back I remember hearing about glare resistant motorized blinds in Victoria. I thought that might be a nice option. You’ve probably seen them at restaurants like the Brentwood Bay lodge. Places like that need those blinds as they face the sun and it can get hard to see when the sun is shining all day.

I contacted the folks at the Brentwood Bay lodge and asked who sold and installed their blinds. They said it was Rodco Interiors.

Within a few days I had heard back from the people at Rodco and started talking about options for my home and keeping the sun out. Although they had plenty of window treatments,  I ended up buying then glare resistant blinds I liked.

So far they are working great. Now I can see my laptop screen during the day and watch tv without having the sun glare of either.

So if you have the same issue, contact Roger and Field at Rodco Interiors.

Last year my best friends went through a massive renovation. They live in Saanich so the house was from the last 60’s. I lived there for a while back in 2006. It needed a reno back then bad.

But they only would have had the money to do about 35% of what they wanted. Instead they waited until last year when the time was right financially.

It was smart move. Their home looks like a million dollar dream home inside.

New hardwood floors, mouldings, and a brand new kitchen are some of the highlights. Especially the kitchen and the granite countertops they bought from Abstract Stone.

Abstract offers marble, quartz and granite. My friends choose a really nice black granite. They weren’t sure about this decision in the beginning because of how blemishes might show if they don’t care for them. But Brendan Carson the owner was very helpful and educated them on how to properly care and get the most out of their countertops.

I was just over there last weekend for a get together. I always marvel at what a fantastic job Brendan did cutting and fabricating their countertops. My friends are tough to please and they’re happy with how they turned out as they had some custom cuts and fabrication requirements.

But their needs were exceeded.

So if you’re looking for countertops in Victoria, check out Brendan at Abstract Stone on Glanford.

A few years back I was helping a friend trying to sell his home. He had bought back in 2002 and his home in Langford almost tripled on price.

He was well ahead of the curve buying out in Langford. I for one never saw that place grow like it did. I lived out there in 2000 and thought it was too dead. Boy was I wrong!

But my friend knew what he was doing. He saw that if the Greater Victoria area was going to grow, it could only grow north. Central Saanich has little in the way development and thus it’s not a very busy place.

The Westshore on the other hand was starting to grow and had plenty of land to be developed. Combine that with lots of big box retailers and the Westhore is booming.

Can you tell I’m bitter I didn’t buy at the time he did?

None the less he felt it was time to get out and that housing prices weren’t going to rise much of the next few years. So he’s going to buy land in the Mill Bay area in hopes of making a really large profit in 20 years.

However he was stuck in choosing a Victoria realtor. He’s lived in Victoria his whole life so he knows over 20 realtors. But he felt like finding someone he didn’t know.

So he asked for my help. I have the same issue. I know plenty of realtors. But we wanted  to look for someone new.

I suggested an old golfing friend of mine from back in my days as an assistant golf professional and Victoria Golf Club. Todd has always been great with people and even though he came from the golf world, he knows a lot about real estate.

My friend met with Todd once and was sold right away. He enjoyed how comforting, well connected and knowledgeable Todd was. This helped as him home sold in a matter of weeks. Mostly thanks to his large connection.

So if you’re looking for a realtor in Victoria, give Todd Mahovlich a call.

If you’re like me, you hate walking into a closet with clothes scattered everywhere. It really bothers me. Especially when I can’t find a certain clothing piece or pair of shoes. Either because they’re misplaced or simply in a different closet because your bedroom one is so small.

Wouldn’t be nice to have all of your clothes nicely organized in one closet? Of course it would!

But no matter how long you spend on Pinterest or Google Images looking for ideas, there still comes the problem of actually creating that organized closet you desire. Do it yourselfer or not, sometimes it’s best to leave things to a closet organizing company.

I personally hire a professional whenever I can because I don’t like putting things together. I’d rather spend the money and not get stressed about putting something together.

So if you’re like me then you should give Mirage Closets a call. They specialize in custom designs for not only closets but pantries, offices and garages. They also know the home improvement industry as they are a division of Mirage Homes.