A Day in the Life: James from Flash Exterminating

In Brooklyn, these days, it’s not hard to find what you need. There are shops that cater specifically to the art of meatballs and outlets designated merely for rock climbing, and this isn’t even discussing the gourmet dog treat stores and the organic liquor outpost. Still, when you hear about a winery being built on the outer terrain of Williamsburg, an eyebrow is bound to cock. But, as it turns out, that’s exactly what’s happening at The Noble Experiment, a new winery being built not all that far from borough institution Brooklyn Brewery. One of our providers, James of Flash Exterminating, is handling infestation detection, elimination and prevention in the space and was nice enough to let us tag along recently and explain what he was doing for The Noble Experiment.

James was quick to emphasize Flash’s use of eco-friendly pesticides and traps. Amongst them are EcoExempt, a mixture that includes rosemary and mint oil, amongst other facets, that is used to prevent spider infestations. For rodent prevention, he explained his three-step process of sealing off rodent access points and using tracking powder to get rid of any chance of infestation in the space, which has a beautiful backyard space. Both the wooden cabinet areas and the vats were treated with a broad eco-friendly spray, meant to target everything from millipedes to cockroaches, cutting off the chances of any bug issues in the area.

James did a great job but he stressed how extermination and infestation prevention is never a one-shot deal. He has already set-up two return visits, one two weeks from now and another a little over a month from now. We’ll be checking in with more of our providers in the future, seeing what they’re working on in Manhattan and the outer boroughs, and we look forward to seeing how awesome the Noble Experiment at its planned opening later this year. 

Before & After: Serving It Up in St. Albans

For those who don’t know, St. Albans, Queens was a bit of an epicenter for the jazz movement and, in general, of African American music. James Brown, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald and Fats Waller all called it home for substantial parts of their lives, and it was the birthplace of A Tribe Called Quest, arguably the best hip-hop group to ever exist.

We weren’t doing anything nearly as important out in St. Albans this past week, remodeling a kitchen and installing windows, but to the family we were working with and for, I imagine it meant quite a lot. Brand new cabinets were installed, along with those lovely granite countertops. We replaced the near-ancient oven with a brand new stovetop oven, and we added new pendant light fixtures that I'm particularly proud of. There was some major wall work and a little tiling work and we replaced all the light switches in the kitchen. The customer decided to keep her old fridge but we made a nice recessed space for it to help with the décor. Unlike most of the pictures I post, these were taken after the customer had settled into the new space. Nice, homey kitchen, don’t you agree?

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Before and After: BK Bathroom

I’ve been a bit of a slacker with uploading pictures – a common sin for those who are chronically busy. I had a free moment earlier today, however, and got to put up these photos of a bathroom we are almost finished with. New tile work both on the floor and walls, plus a new backsplash, tub and shower. We also installed brand new vessel sinks, light fixtures, vanity mirrors and toilet. Very nice design overall, heavy on tans, blacks and dark and light browns. We’re doing some very minor finishing touches on the shower today but this is the essential look of the place. What does everyone think? 

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Click and Improve at the Macaroni Kid Family Travel Expo

Last weekend, our boys were in midtown for the Macaroni Kid Family Travel Expo to spread the word about Click and Improve. It was a great time and we met a lot of parents who were excited by and engaged with our hassle-free approach to home improvement. The kids had fun too: we gave out pet goldfish and helped them put on Click and Improve fake tattoos. A lot of fun was had and we’re looking forward to more events in the coming weeks, including Mommapalooza next weekend. Our friends at Macaroni Kid were nice enough to send over some photos of our booth and the droves of moms and kids that stopped by. Enjoy! 

Home Visit: Bringin' It to Brooklyn

I’ve been waiting for these pictures to be uploaded and just finally got some time this morning to get them up and sort through them. We finished 98% of the work on this Brooklyn home earlier this year but have been working on some exterior wiring problems the last few weeks. Regardless, the interior work is completely finished and here’s a look at what we’ve been up to in BK.

Our major areas of focus were the kitchen, the dining room and the basement. The for the basement, we ripped up the floors and laid down new tiles, fixed up the walls and gave it a whole new paint job. There was also extensive cleaning and clearing of old debris before we were able to do all this work, but the result speaks for itself. We also installed a new washer/dryer and ran new lines for them, as well as new wiring and lighting fixtures. 

The kitchen was a complete overhaul. Those are brand new wood cabinets, granite countertops, and tiled floors as well. We helped the customer pick out new appliances, including the stainless steel stove. We did some fixing up on the walls, and then put in a nice tiled backsplash. We also put in some new wiring and lighting fixtures in here. The dishwasher and fridge are new as well, and both are Energy Star certified. Very happy with this.

The dining room has yet to be fully designed, but we put in new cupboard doors, laid down new tile flooring, and fixed-up and repainted the walls. That’s it for now but we’ll be posting some finished jobs next week, one of which is a follow-up from the “before” pictures I posted a few weeks ago.  

Home Visit: Victory Lap in Baldwin, Long Island

Back in late February, I posted some shots of a house out in Nassau that we were finishing up. Well, the job is done and here is the finished project. Just as a reminder, this was a huge renovation of a dining room, kitchen and bathroom, including installation of new electrical and plumbing fixtures in all three rooms. And, for the record, the family we were working for were ecstatic with the results. I'm particularly proud of the creamsicle-orange paint job in the dining room and the tile work in the bathroom. More important is what you readers think.

Those, obviously, are photos from the new kitchen with brand-new-spankin' cabinets and beautiful new granite countertops. Below, you'll see the completed tile work and bowl sink that we installed in the bathroom. I'm also particularly fond of the shower head we installed and the light fixture above the mirror. We have since moved onto the project I posted about last week, which will likely be finished next week.

Room for Ideas: Jasmine's Seuss-inspired Bedroom

Our office manager, Jasmine, has been redoing her 18-month-old son's bedroom and been giving us weekly updates on the project. Earlier this week, she was nice enough to show us the remarkable job she did, decorating the walls with characters and creations from the works of Dr. Seuss, including The Cat in the Hat, The Grinch and Green Eggs & Ham. We liked the end product so much that we decided to share the pictures here as well, giving out a little creative inspiration before Easter weekend. Isn't Shel Silverstein overdue for some wall space somewhere?