Attention Apple Valley Area Residents!

There will be a Home and Garden show on Saturday, April 6th! This event will feature over 100 vendors from the area, representing many different companies and proffessions. Also, there will be animals from the MN Zoo, plenty of activities for the kids, free ice cream, and free seminars! Come to this Home and Garden show for free, no addmission charge! For more information about this event click here.

My DIY Project- Creating a Playroom

My husband and I are converting a little used room in our home to a playroom for our daughter.  At 15 months old, our very active little girl's "stuff" has taken over every corner of our home.  She has learned to put away her things with some prompting so the time may be right to give her an organized space to contain some of her fun. 

Due to our crazy schedules, we had one day last weekend to get started and now this upcoming weekend to finish.  The room is a carpeted 11 x 12 room with no closet or overhead lighting.  It has two windows and French doors opening up to the hallway. 

First, we (I am using the term we loosely, as my husband did all of this part of the project) emptied the room and pulled up the carpet and the baseboard trim.  We sealed the subfloor to take care of any residual effects from our pets.  Below is a picture of the room right now. 

After a couple of days of shopping around, we purchased new flooring.  Just three or four arguments later, we decided to go with a wood laminate flooring. This is an inexpensive option that is should be easy to clean up spills.  For under $300 for the materials, we would be fine upgrading in the future as our needs for the room change.   

I'll let you know how it goes this weekend with pictures of the finished room.

Casting for Sweat Equity on the DIY Network

The show Sweat Equity on DIY Network is casting for homeowners in Minneapolis/St Paul area for their new season. I love this show! The host, Amy Matthews, is a Minnesota native and she really knows renovation. I enjoy seeing the homeowners on the show go through the renovation process and see how much value they add to their home by doing as much of the work as possible themselves.

Here are the details if you want to apply and get help on your next renovation. If you haven't watched the show, check out full episodes on-line.

-Jacqueline Knauf, RE/MAX Results