GUIDE
Meet two local, niche experts in exterior and interior design
2023 HOME EDITION
HOME IMPROVEMENT AND MAINTENANCE
and it’s been documented that when people plant trees, especially in urban areas, you see crime rates go down; you see anxiety levels go down; they see heart disease go down. On top of that, if you shade in the right locations of your house for sundown, when there are breezes, you can drop your air conditioning bill. Then you can also work with heating and windbreak as well during the winter time. WHAT WOULD YOU TELL SOMEONE WHO IS STARTING TO GET INTERESTED IN TREE LANDSCAPING? The most important thing is you need to look at your landscaping. You want to look at your space; you want to look at what’s overhead—do you have electric lines, power lines; do you have anything that your tree could grow into, which is going to cause a problem down the road? You need to decide if you want to have something that’s evergreen. Do you want it to ower; do you want it to lose its leaves, one that goes dormant in the fall and winter? Take some pictures, and go into a tree center, and let them help you design what trees would be best.
neighbor’s yards and things like that. WHAT KIND OF MAINTENANCE DO TREES REQUIRE? Trees are a lot like babies—their rst year they need a lot of care. Once a tree is planted, it takes about a year for it to get established because you’re retransplanting it into the ground, and so there’s some watering that has to be done. We encourage deep soak watering so that all of the root ball gets the water, and it gets all the way down into the very nest roots as well. We recommend using fertilizer a couple of times a year, once in April and once in August, to help the roots continue growing in the dormant season. We recommend some vitamins and nutrients for the ground because our ground here in Texas is just not very good here in North Texas. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS TO ADDING TREE COVER IN A FRONT YARD? There’s lots of things that trees are known to do. There’s been lots of research. Of course, No. 1, they’re oxygen. That’s how we get our oxygen source. That’s the most important thing,
ASK AN INTERIOR DESIGNER
Manish Patel is Co ee in the Closet’s vice president of sales. Co ee in the Closet o ers homeowners closet redesign and organization, which can provide peace of mind or increase sales prices, Patel said. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. WHY CAN CLOSET REMODELING BE IMPORTANT? HOW CAN CLOSET REDESIGN HELP SOMEONE STAY ORGANIZED?
and walk in closets. WHY CAN IT BE IMPORTANT TO HAVE A VISUALLY APPEALING CLOSET? It’s the rst thing you enter, last thing you exit for when you’re getting ready for the day or when you are getting ready to go to sleep. If you have an organized space, you start your day correct. WHAT STEPS ARE INVOLVED IN REDESIGNING A CLOSET? Once the deposit is done, we get the laminate that they selected. We order that; we order the hardware, and we cut it according to the custom design ... we have our team go in for demolition, demolish the rods, shelves, which are existing from the builder. Then we texture it, let it dry. Next we go in [and] paint it, and the third day we’ll go in with our saw crew and install it. Typically it’s a three-day job if it’s a standard closet.
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to make it aesthetically pleasing. HOW COULD CLOSET REDESIGN POTENTIALLY INCREASE HOME VALUE? Having a [redesigned] closet [in a] house that already has closets done, especially master closets, is the big, big attraction for any homebuyer. They don’t have to go out and one, redo the closet, and second, they’ll be organized. They’ll know they’re already walking into a readymade closet so they’re able to organize the clothes correctly, how they need to, and everything is really neat and tidy. Having a closet is not something that will push any buyers away. It will only attract the buyers, like, for example, if you have a pool. If some people are not wanting a pool they will not buy the house [if the house does not have a pool] where having a closet redone is not only neutral but a more positive add on to a selling point. Realtor[s] can push that as one of the highlights of the house. WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON PROJECTS YOU ARE HIRED TO DO? I have only focused on a master closets. That’s all I have done—master closets
ASK A LANDSCAPER
With redesign, you’re able to hang more clothes. The way we design it, they’re able to see every piece of the clothes that’s there. There’s nothing hidden. Nothing in a box—all the shoes, all the shorts, pants, everything is typically visible. There’s a concept of if you don’t see something, you won’t use it in the closet. Our goal is to maximize the usability of the space as well as accessibility of the space. Clients tend to nd mental clarity and peace of mind rst thing in the morning because [they’re] walking into an organized space. WHAT SHOULD A CLIENT KNOW BEFORE CONTACTING YOU? There’s de nitely a price point di erence versus buying from IKEA or buying it from a custom manufacturer. There’s typically about 50% price di erence buying ... from IKEA to a custom install job. There’s a massive value add because the clients are not designing closets every day. When you have an expert come in, we’re able to take space, and we’re able to utilize it with the best of intention and best of usability, and also
One of the biggest pain points for a homeowner is, especially with a family, that builders are not building the closet in detail. They’re trying to nish the house, and they’re trying to mainly put e ort into the kitchen and bathroom—mainly the kitchen. Closets are something that is left on a back burner. A lot of the time it is not very user friendly at all because it’s just simple rods and some shelves, so we go in and we really believe in maximizing the space, and we want to make it beautiful. We want to make it so that it’s welcoming. ... The name Co ee in the Closet [means] we make the closet so good that people want to have an actual co ee in the closet. WHAT KIND OF CLIENTS DO YOU TYPICALLY SEE? It’s a pretty niche market. The typical client is just a homeowner that doesn’t even know about closet remodeling. Some people have done it already, and they just moved into a new house and want to redo their closets in the new house.
Clair Skinner is the Fannin Tree Farm’s business and human resources manager. Fannin Tree Farm o ers property owners trees for yards or storefronts as well as tree care, Skinner said. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
U.S. government has garden zones, and garden zones are set up for trees just as well as any other plants that you’re going to plant based on temperature highs and lows and rainfall. If you’re planting something that works in our garden zone or is native to Texas, then you have a better chance of those making it, lasting through our summers, lasting through any wonders that we have. I always recommend native or native-tolerant trees to our area. WHAT IS THE MOST POPULAR PROJECT THAT PEOPLE ASK FOR? One of the biggest things we do is privacy screening. With all the ways the houses are built nowadays, and everything’s so close to each other, they’re using a lot of metal fences and things like that. People want some privacy in their backyards, and they’ll look to us to help them come up with a screen that goes across so that they don’t have to see into their
WHAT ARE SOME REASONS PEOPLE REQUEST ADDITIONAL TREES FOR THEIR YARDS? It depends on your space. If you’ve got a big enough space to put more trees in, you’re going to get shade faster. If you have a smaller space, even just adding one tree [helps], but if your backyard will accommodate for window coverage or shade, you can put more trees in to help shade the house sooner. I always say, “decorating, landscaping in threes.” A lot of times three trees look really nice together when you get them in angles and shapes, and it can form a really pretty visual for your backyard. I’ve seen lots of people do re pits, and they do evergreen, eastern red cedars and junipers. IS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE TEXAS NATIVE TREES? From a horticulture standpoint, yes. The
Manish Patel Vice president of sales Co ee in the Closet By appointment 972-863-2161 www.co eeinthe closet.com
Clair Skinner Business and human resources manager Fannin Tree Farm 15700 SH 121, Frisco 972-747-9233 www.fannintreefarm.com
LEBANON RD.
121
KATHRYN LN.
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LITTLE ELM 27100 Hwy 380 (972) 347-9630
LOWRY CROSSING 4100 E US 380 (972) 540-2500 THE COLONY 4901 Hwy 121 (214) 469-2113
ALLEN 1839 N Central Expressway (972) 908-3488
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