Grout cleaning & resealing

Countertop Restoration

PaintTouch Up Tips

It's about that time to start sprucing up the house for holiday visitors. Throughout the year, do your walls get a few dings and bumps that leave an unpainted surface? Here are a few tips you should know before you break out the paint can and start touching up.

1. Surface temperature can make a difference in the appearance of the touch up area. Touch-up work should be done under the same temperature conditions as the initial painting. So make sure your basement isn't too cold or you've got the heater cranked way up. Always apply the paint when the ambient air and surface temperatures are well above 50.

2.  Time can affect how well a touch-up mark blends into the original painted surface. Different types of paints have different final finish times. For example, alkyd based paints can sometimes take several weeks to reach their final appearance, while latexes get to that point pretty quickly. The best practice is to wait and judge your touch-up success after about a two week period.

3.  Your paint application method can result in a different outcome. If you initially painted the wall with a roller, using a brush to do your touch-up will cause a noticeable difference. Be sure to use the same type tools when you touch-up your paint and you should get a nice looking surface.

Number 2 in the Pie World

"While pumpkin pie was not present at the first Thanksgiving, it was by the time of the American Revolution. The predecessor to the modern American pie was made by colonists that cut the tops off pumpkins, removed the seeds, added milk, honey and spices to the interior of the pumpkin, and roasted it over a fire. It was not until 1796 that the first written version of a recipe for a pumpkin pie similar to today's version was recorded. Since that time, pumpkin pie has evolved and become easier to make with the introduction of canned pumpkin in the early twentieth century."

(from http://www.ehow.com/about pumpkin pie)

Pumpkin pie is now the 2nd most popular pie, ranking close behind apple. This time of year brings that delicious smell of pumpkin spice baked in a pie, a roll or even cookies. It's the smell that makes you think of family and food and parades and football and .....

Take this time to reflect and be thankful for all that you DO have. There are many folks out there without family or friends to share that yummy pumpkin pie with. We are very thankful for all our amazing staff, our hard-working installers and our loyal customers.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday!

Great Success!

Our Let's Decorate event was a huge success! All of our presenters came armed with color trends and new color matching applications. Tyger and Bryan did a fabulous job with our DIY countertop transformation kits. I think a few husbands might be a bit annoyed that they now have a "Hunny Do" project!

We collected donations to the BRHC Cancer Fund and will continue with this until Thanksgiving. We will make a 5% donation of all sales from our Let's Decorate attendees from now til November 25th.Our sales associates are busy with measures and consults so we're hoping to make a sizable donation in December.

Thanks to everyone that attended our event. We hope to make this an annual event and grow our attendance.

Let's Decorate and donate for a cure!

Thursday, October 27th 5:30 to 8:00

Dugan's will be hosting a "Let's Decorate" event, partnering with Bothwell Regional Health Center Foundation and receiving donations to benefit local cancer patients.

We will have Hunter Douglas giving a presentation on window coverings; a designer from Kansas City will help you get started decorating with that favorite pillow or picture as your inspiration; Dugan's will have a demonstration of our new countertop technique that will transform your room; Color, Color, Color!!!  we will discuss how Dugan' can match any color Exactly.

The evening will start off with light appetizers and a short presentation from the BRHC Foundation about the new Cannon Cancer Center and the Women's Cancer Care charity. We'll progress with decorating ideas and then move right into the Dessert Buffet...yum! We'll be giving away prizes and one lucky attendee and a friend will get a FREE designer consulation from Karolyn Spagnolo of Spagnolo Designs! Giving a $5 donation will get you a $10 Dugan's certificate toward your next purchase. We will also have several opportunities to generate donations for the Women's Cancer Care.

Should be a fun night. Wear PINK and receive a special gift!

My weekend was saved!

As my college-bound kids packed and  moved out, I was left with a room needing some attention. After hauling what appeared to be junk out to the garbage, I began my quest to freshen up the space. I was on a mission to get this project done DURING the weekend and not have it drag out for weeks. So how do I get it painted and things moved back into it in just two days?

Using the right paint and right tools!  What exactly does that mean, you ask. Spending a bit more money and getting quality paint AND quality tools. I needed paint that had great coverage and low odor but I also needed the tools to reduce my time involved. I'm tellin' you....being conservative (cheap skate, tightwad, whatever you want to call it) with paint brushes and rollers only causes more work and frustration.

I decided to use PPG Pittsburgh Paints Manor Hall (spent a little over $35) because it had good coverage, low odor and the color palette I was looking for. Now, normally I would have spent $35 on the entire project, paint and tools both, but I only wanted to deal with this for two days. Time to shop for quality tools.

You can buy roller covers for about $2 all day long, but as you roll, you get those funky "hairs" on the wall that you have to scrape off with your fingernail. By the end of your project, you've got paint under ALL your nails, on the end of your shirt and down your leg from wiping those pesky "hairs" off. I had no interest in that so I spent $4 and got the Purdy White Dove roller with woven dralon fabric. Dralon is a derivative of nylon, which enables the paint to flow freely and makes for easy rolling. That type of fiber can also carry alot of paint at one time, reducing your paint time. Sounded like a deal to me! TIP: lightly wet your roller cover before you start and it will pick up paint from your tray more evenly the first time.

Trimming out the room....ugh! My least favortie job that takes time and patience. I only wanted to drag the ladder around the room one time so I stepped it up and bought a quality brush. The Wooster Chinex 2" angled brush was around $20....could've bought a case of the "cheapies" for that, huh? Nonetheless, I was determined to do this the right way. This brush has some added stiffness and a softer tip, which increased the paint release and reduced drag. It actually helped push the paint farther and I had much cleaner edges. My only question was "will it clean up easily?" and man, did it ever.

My weekend was saved! I started my quest at 8:00 Saturday morning and had the room back together by 7:30 pm. I made one trip around the room with the trim brush and two trips with the roller. My nails were free of roller hairs, my shirt was free of paint splatters and my evening guests had no idea I'd just painted the room. PLUS, I had all day Sunday to relax! I spent a little more on my renovation, but it was money well spent. The painting and clean up were so much easier with good, quality tools; I'm looking forward to doing it again.