Blog posts in Home & Family.

Make the most wonderful time of the year even more memorable with a few Christmas DIY décor projects. There are plenty of crafts suitable for all age groups, so gather your elves, deck those halls and bring a little more joy to the world.

Count it Down: A DIY paper cup advent calendar is fun for every age group – and a great way to help younger kids with learning numbers and counting. We like this adorable reindeer calendar. Pop a chocolate for each kiddo inside every cup and let the countdown begin!

Ghosts, ghouls and goblins (and lets face it - Anna, Elsa and Olaf characters) will soon roam Alberta’s streets in the quest for candy. So the question we have is - is your house Halloween ready for the BIG BOO?

Many of us quiver at the thought of blow-up spiders and fluorescent window vinyl witches upstaging our perfectly landscaped lawns and beautiful new homes. Not to mention trying to stay ‘green’ on this hallowed day of orange and black. Well no need to fear dear homeowners, for we’ve found a few spooky DIY décor ideas that won’t frighten Martha Stewart or David Suzuki.

Summer is a perfect time for reorganizing your garage! Garages are often the place where everyone in the family dumps anything they can’t find a home for. So wouldn’t it make sense to create a garage space where you’re able to find what you’re looking for quickly and easily, without all the frustration?

We know that buying a new home can be a stressful process, but when you add children into the mix it can get even more complicated! One of the first things a parent thinks about is “Where will my children go to school?”. Did you know, 7% of the schools in Calgary are over 4 years old and are simply too crowded, so here are some helpful things to consider when deciding where you want to buy your next home:

Now that the snow is starting to melt and the sun is shining, let us fling right into Spring! Here are three of the most fun and original DIY home ideas to get right into the season.

Make your home a calm and healing environment with aromatherapy. We often think that aromatherapy is just a way to make our homes smell fresh, but when used in a medicinal fashion, there are amazing healing benefits. You would be surprised how often we unknowingly experience aromatherapy benefits in our daily lives. We are exposed to so many different scents throughout the day; some trigger positive emotions while others create the opposite response.

Excel Homes is committed to building energy-efficient and environmentally friendly homes. Here is an easy tip to benefit your pocket book (and the planet)!

Did you know that most appliances continue using electricity even when they are turned off? This inadvertent use of energy is referred to as Vampire Energy. It happens when an electrical device has an external power supply. This can be avoided by simply unplugging your appliances or using an energy saving Smart Power strip. Smart Power strips work to reduce your power usage by shutting down power to products that go into standby mode.