House to home

by Sean McCarthy

One of the positives to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic was that a lot of people discovered how much they enjoy spending time at home.

So with the desire to improve their at-home experience, many people are making investments in their domestic surroundings.

Whether you’re looking for more space for your belongings, a cleaner environment, or improvements to your dining experience, there are local independent businesses that can assist with your home improvement wishes. And they can do it in a style that separates them from larger box stores – a benefit for you and the local economy.

If preparing meals is a priority for your family, Gil’s Appliances of Bristol has a wide variety of cooking options for both indoor and outdoor food preparation, as well as the customer service to help you decide what is best for your situation.

In addition to grills of many sizes and styles, Gil’s also offers outdoor options such as griddles and burners for preparing sides such as sweet corn, fried onions, eggs, and BBQ sauce. They also sell sinks and faucets, as well as a selection of refrigeration that includes a beverage center/mini bar and an ice maker. You can cook outdoors from spring through fall with features such as infrared heaters which can be installed by the staff at Gil’s.

If you prefer to cook indoors, you have the options of air frying, steam ovens, and induction ranges among other choices.

“There are a lot of great options,” says Lisa Sienkiewicz of Gil’s. “People are looking for highperformance products to improve their kitchens and we can help them find what they need.”

Storage and style

Area rugs have become more popular over the past two decades thanks to the advent of new flooring approaches such as click flooring – an evolution that requires homes to have their rugs cleaned every year or two. The expertise of Area Rug Expert in New Bedford has a long history of keeping people’s rugs clean with a top-notch process that makes the experience quick and reliable.

“People don’t realize how dirty their rugs can get, but you don’t have to live with a dirty rug,” says Randy Santerre, owner of Area Rug Expert. Santerre has more than 30 years in the industry. “With construction trends of the last 20 years people are installing more hard-surface floors. As a result, there are less wall-towall carpets and people are using a lot more area rugs. With today’s technology we can take out most any stains.”

Open six days a week, Area Rug Expert will pick up, clean, and deliver your rugs, usually within three days. Their scope of business stretches from Jamestown, RI, to Rochester, MA.

“A lot of our clients are pet owners,” Santerre says. “If your dog or cat pees on the rug you can’t vacuum it away, and sooner or later you’re going to smell it. People also don’t realize that dirt is an abrasive, so when fine dirt and sand sink into the bottom of the carpet it rubs together like a saw and it breaks down the carpet fiber. So it’s good for us to flush all of that away.”

But the potential for rug and floor cleaning goes beyond area rugs. Their service also includes on-site cleaning of wall-towall carpets, upholstery cleaning, and tile cleaning.

“It feels good to have a clean surface in your home,” Santerre says. “Most of our customers are repeat customers. We want to take care of every person who does business with us, our customer service separates us from the box stores. We’ll be with our customers from beginning to end.”

The personal touch of a local independent business is also a priority at Custom Closet Geeks of New Bedford.

With a staff of professional employees, this company will work with you from start to finish on your project. While most people envision a closet company to work with just clothing closets, Custom Closet Geeks can help you with much more. They can customize pantries, office systems, mudrooms, and garages just to name a few.

Custom Closet Geeks offers a free in-home consultation. A designer will come to your home and design a space to your needs. They design in-person on a computer that shows you the renderings in 3-D. The company also has a very quick turnaround time. The average project is designed, manufactured, and installed in two to four weeks.