The owner and designers at Style On a Shoestring are proud to announce that they have won the Service Excellence Award given by Angie’s List for the third consecutive year. Less than 5 percent of businesses on Angie’s List qualify for this award. We would like to extend a thank you to all of our customers for making this possible.

We found Style on a Shoestring through Angie’s List. We sought design help from a company with consistently glowing Angie’s List recommendations over several years. Selecting Style on a Shoestring was the wisest choice we could have made! We had no idea into what we were getting ourselves into; but Tracy Lynn and Vanessa made it all happen, involving us to the degree we were comfortable, but firmly running the show. The combination of design expertise plus project management using a group of tried and tested contractors produced excellent results, in a timely manner and within budget. Tracy and Vanessa also strongly urged us to move out during the process – probably the most valuable guidance we received! It meant the work could be done in different parts of the house at the same time to speed up the process. Many of the contractors are also on Angie’s List. In addition to doing good work and following a tight schedule, the contractors’ desire for repeat business from Style on a Shoestring provided significant extra leverage.  We highly recommend Style on a Shoestring for their design expertise, project management skills, and assembly of a team of skilled craftsmen who take pride in their work.

Robert and Andrea Blumberg

Average 2008 Home Improvement Spending to Top $11,000 

   The national downturn in home sales that began in 2007 may cause  an uptick in the home remodeling industry in 2008. The annual  Angie’s List project poll indicates homeowners will spend about $11,250 on home improvement and maintenance projects in 2008, which is up 13 percent over last year.  On average, homeowners answering the poll plan to spend 2.9  percent of their home’s value on repairs and renovations this year. ”More than 60 percent of our respondents tell us they will update their homes this year, and nearly half of them will hire a specialist to complete their project,” said Angie’s List founder Angie Hicks.
“Building experts tell us they’re getting calls for work from homeowners who would otherwise move and put their current home on the market, but are afraid they can’t sell it quickly enough to afford the newer, bigger house.”
Most poll respondents plan to invest in kitchens and baths – areas real estate experts say provides the best return when selling a home. They’re also the rooms people spend the most time when they’re at home. The top 10 projects for 2008 are:
1. Kitchen/bath remodel 
2. Landscaping/yard work
3. General remodeling
4. Flooring
5. Interior painting
6. Doors/windows
7. Deck/porch
8. Roofing

9. Exterior painting

10. Interior decorating

*1,309 Angie’s List members took the 2007 poll. Responses are representative of Angie’s List members but not the general public. Detailed results are available upon request