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Brandon and Area

Choosing the Right Wood fl oor

Keeping Your Pet Calm during yourHoliday Celebrations

FireplaceEffi ciency

Is your Home Safe while your on Vacation?

Winter 2012Free F I R S T E D I T I O N

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Brandon and Area

Design Your Home magazine is a Brandon, MB based company created to promote and feature all the great trades in our local area. With the limited amount of media in the Brandon and area, this magazine will assist you and your company with great exposure.

Design Your Home magazine will help local companies feature their business and the special work they do.

Design Your Home magazine will focus on the home and property. Each issue will have ar ticles on Home and Building, Real Estate, Design and Decorating, Gardening, and a special featured Home and Business.

Why feature in Design Your Home:• The only Local Home Magazine.

• Over 15,000 magazines published

• 3 readers per issue, equals to 45,000 points of exposure.

• Timeless, often kept and referred to again and again.

• Published 4x per year: August, November, February & May

• Located in very high traffic areas. Delivered to a target audience.

• We have articles that feature tips and advice from Home owners and experts.

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Welcome to the First issue of Design Your Home! A Brandon, Manitoba based magazine, serving Brandon and area. My name is Stewart Dyck, I reside in Brandon, Manitoba and found a need for a local

Design and Style magazine. After moving back to Brandon and into our new home, I

found it diffi cult at times to fi nd the right people and products for my home. My wife

and I ended up doing extensive research and talking to others to fi nd what we were

looking for, and sometimes, not fi nding it!

I have brought together a team of local individuals and businesses to bring you this

magazine. Jaime-Lynn Dyck, Marketing and Sales Manager, Scott Kasprick of Reaxion

Graphics, Leech Printing and many other local freelance writers and photographers.

My goal is to use local talent to bring our readers this FREE publication in order to

help them with their home, cottage, apar tment or condo needs.

Each issue will bring with it articles about home, cottage, apartment or condo living from

the interior to the exterior. We also hope it will help you fi nd local ideas, products and

companies that will help you make your living space your home!

- Stewart Dyck

Letter from the Editor

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Brighten Your Home For Sales ProspectsOne way to shine in a competitive

housing market is to create a good

first impression.

A ccording to home-selling

experts, some quick tips for

speeding up this process

include burning candles during open

houses, filling the home with the

aroma of fresh-baked cookies and

hanging a wreath on the front door.

Home-improvement experts say

that investing several thousand

dollars in new kitchen counter tops

or a bathroom remodel will give the

home a whole new look and that you

will most likely recoup your entire

investment, if not more.

A quick fix can make a significant

difference but you don’t have to

spend a for tune, say experts. An

inexpensive yet effective way to

increase a home’s curb appeal while

adding value for its next owner : Add

dimmers in key rooms of the home.

Priced from just $10, dimmers can

completely change the look and

feel of a room while adding ambiance

and creating moods, not to mention

saving energy and increasing the life of

your light bulbs. Plus, your listing can

include a mention of your dimmers,

to differentiate it from the rest.

Dimmers can improve the mood in

large and small homes. Cramped for

space? A dimmer turns a family room

into a home theater, a homework

station and a workout room, while an

eat-in kitchen can be transformed into

a romantic dinner-for-two paradise,

just by adjusting the lights.

Want to really be a standout in your

market? Add a wireless, whole-home

lighting control system that lets you

turn lights on and off from the car,

your bed, the patio or any room of the

home. This type of system significantly

increases home value while providing

added safety benefits, such as tying in

with a security system.

Adding dimmers is truly a quick

fix, requiring less than 15 minutes

for installation time. If you run into

trouble, call your local electrician.

Dimmers are available nationwide

at home improvement centers and

lighting showrooms. DYH

“A quick fix can make a significant

difference but you don’t have

to spend a for tune...”

Robertson Real EstateCall: Jane Smith (204) 555-1234

Contact today!

- Space For Sale -

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installed at the top of the chimney. The top sealing damper has a seal that acts like a storm door keeping the expensive conditioned air inside the house and the outside air – outside. This principle works year round, whether you’re heating or cooling your house. This product can be purchased online and is easily installed by either a homeowner or a handyman.

2. A fireback is a cast iron plate that is placed at the back of your fireplace. Its purpose is to protect the back wall from fire damage and it usually

features a design that adds to the homes decor. The fireback improves the fireplaces efficiency by absorbing the heat from the fire and radiating the heat back into the room.

3. A Fireplace Heater pulls fresh air from the room, circulates it through a chamber that is heated by the fire and then blows the heated air back into the room. These heaters are closed systems so no smoke from the fireplace is invading the home. Depending on which kind you

Fireplace Effi ciencyReduce your energy costs by transforming your ine� cient � replace into an energy saver.

T he fireplace has long been the favorite spot to gather in the Canadian home. A

place for warmth, the fireplace adds ambience, sparking memories that are to be treasured.

With soaring energy costs, the chief negative of having a fireplace has to be its inefficiency. When there is a fire burning, the fireplace does indeed radiate warmth in its general vicinity, but it also creates a convection current that can actually pull conditioned air out of the room and up the chimney causing your furnace to work over time. When the fire is not burning, the fireplace has a damper which is supposed to block inside air from escaping and outside air from invading. The problem is that the damper is usually made of metal (this type of damper technology hasn’t changed in over 100 years!) and has no seal, which means that the damper is incredibly inefficient.

Your home has a dir ty little secret – the fireplace that is designed to warm your house is actually doing the opposite and costing you hundreds of dollars in energy costs. Don’t fret – with a little investment of time and money, you can turn that inefficient fireplace into a powerhouse heater that will reduce your energy bills and add even more charm to your existing fireplace.

The following is a list of 4 things that you can do yourself to drastically reduce the heating costs associated with the inefficiency of your fireplace.

1. Top Sealing Dampers replace the fireplace throat damper and are

purchase, these heaters can make a significant difference in your homes temperature, even heating a full room on its own. Specific fireplace heaters can be installed with fireplace glass doors which will kick your cost savings up another notch.

4. Fireplace Glass Doors will likely carry the largest investment, but you can reduce some of that cost by doing some of the work yourself. There are a number of fireplace doors that can be purchased online and come with easy to install instructions. The fireplace glass door creates a barrier between the living space and the chimney, thus reducing the area that your furnace will have to heat. This alone is a good reason to install these doors, but it’s not the only reason. Fireplace glass doors offer another level of safety for the home by protecting children and pets from the fire. If you have a wood burning fireplace you will want to purchase the screen mesh that is designed to go with the fireplace glass doors. This will allow you to have the doors open while the fire is burning and still have your home protected from sparks and embers. Fireplace glass doors are now being manufactured with modern designs and really add beauty and charm to the fireplace.

If you’re handy, all of these suggestions are easy to accomplish, but call your local heating or fireplace representative. If you’re concerned about high energy costs but you want to keep your fireplace, then it’s time to plug up the holes in your monthly energy budget by plugging up the holes in your fireplace. DYH

Located on 1st & Main - 204 555-1234

Inferno’s Fireplace

Contact today!

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Keeping Your Home Secure While On VacationImagine returning from your holiday to � nd your windows broken, your cars and possessions stolen or even your pets gone. Your space has been violated.

Relax, because with the

proper preparation you can

discourage intruders and

have a carefree vacation.

Depending on how long you will be

gone, there are a few common sense

things you can do for your home, pets

and possessions.

Discourage thieves by getting a house

sitter. This is the best way to ward off

trouble. If you know someone who

will regularly stop by your house -

water your plants and turn on the

lights you are lucky. If you have animals

you might want to think about hiring

a house sitter for while you are away.

This way your pets are properly cared

for and your home is safer. Peace of

mind is worth some extra money. If

you are going to hire a house sitter

- make sure you use reliable and

trustworthy service. Ask around and

get references.

If you can’t get a house sitter, the goal

is to make your house look lived in. It’s

a good idea to have a trusted neighbor

to look after your home. Someone

who can keep an eye on your property

and who has a contact number for you

should anything go wrong.

Use light timers to make it seem like

there are people in your house. Light

timers and radio timers can be very

effective in deterring criminals and are

easy to install.

Think about the state of your lawn

before you leave. Overgrown grass

is a loud signal that there is nobody

home. If a neighbour or someone

you know can’t maintain your yard

(cutting your grass or shoveling snow),

consider hiring a local company that

specializing in this.

If you are going to be gone long

enough for your mail to pile up, make

an arrangement with a neighbor to

pick it up - a pile of unopened mail

is an obvious signal to criminals that

nobody is home or have your mail

held at the post office.

Even if you aren’t going away for a

long time there are some things that

you need to do every time you leave

the house.

- Always lock your door and leave a

key with someone to check on your

home while you are gone.

- Turn on the radio/TV and leave

some lights on

- Do not leave your spare key under the doormat or in any of the equally obvious hiding places. Rather give a copy to someone else and don’t have a spare key anywhere in your garden while you are home. If you MUST hide your key on the property be creative!

Develop a reciprocal relationship with your neighbors. Watch their houses when they are away; keep your eyes and ears open for strange happenings and ask them to do the same for you. Group together and form a neighborhood watch of some sort.

If you follow these tips you can be sure your chances are good that you will return to a secure house. DYN

Double Force

ALARMSCall Today!

Brandon

555-1234

Contact today!

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(204) 555-5555www.website.com

Address1235 9th Street

Brandon, MB

(204) 555-5555www.website.com

Address1235 9th Street

Brandon, MB

(204) 555-5555www.website.com

Address1235 9th Street

Brandon, MB

(204) 555-5555www.website.com

Address1235 9th Street

Brandon, MB

(204) 555-5555www.website.com

Address1235 9th Street

Brandon, MB

(204) 555-5555www.website.com

Address1235 9th Street

Brandon, MB

Contact today!

- Space For Sale -

Business Emporium

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Cover Premiums Outside Back $ 3,360

Inside Front $ 3,150

Inside Back $ 3,120

Rate - Colour Single issue 2 Issues (-7%) 3 Issues (-12%) 4 Issues (-16%)

Full Page $2,500 $2,325 $2,200 $2,100

2/3 page $1,800 $1,674 $1,584 $1,512

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ADVERTISING RATES

To advertise with us today, please call Stewart Dyck at

204-573-3790

 Rate  -­‐  Color         Single issue 2 issues (-7%) 3 issues (-12%) 4 issues (-16%)

Full Page $2,500 $2,325 $2,200 $2,100

2/3 page $1,800 $1,674 $1,584 $1,512

1/2 page $1,500 $1,395 $1,320 $1,260

1/3 page $1,000 $930 $880 $840

1/4 page $825 $767 $726 $693

1/8 page $550 $512 $484 $462

 

 Cover  Premiums  Outside  Back   $ 3,360

Inside  Front   $ 3,150

Inside  Back   $ 3,120

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We  are  giving  you,  our  readers,  articles  about  house,  cottage,  apartment  or  condo  living  from  the  interior  to    the  exterior.    We  also  hope  it  will  help  you  find  local      ideas,  products  and  companies  that  will  help  you  make  your  living  space  your  home!  

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