With the kids gone, by early this year, it was time to upgrade the flooring in the house, looking to replace fifteen-year-old carpet and a “faux” wood linoleum that had long served its purpose. A short search using Service Magic brought us to Homer and his staff at Royal Carpet & More in Campbell.

With courteous and knowledgeable staff, our experience with Royal Carpet was positive from the moment we walked in the door of their showroom. For the entryway, living room, and hall, we selected an oak laminate and for the four bedrooms, upgraded carpeting.

Of course, with new carpeting in the bedroom, a new master suite was ordered and RC worked with us to accommodate the installation of this added item.

For both the laminate and carpeting, tear out of existing materials, surface preparation, and installation of the new material went without a hitch.

We were so pleased with Royal Carpet that when it came time to redo the kitchen in August, they were our first and only choice to replace the existing linoleum. With the kitchen stripped bare, RC was in and out in a single day and the results have been stunning.

So, for your flooring needs, two thumbs up to Royal Carpet & More. You can find them at 2280 South Bascom Avenue in Campbell, 408-377-8181.

Mikayla & Lawrence Pratt

We recently completed a basic one-for-one renovation of our kitchen and would like to give two big thumbs up to Sherida, Alan, Harold and the staff of Ivy Kitchen and Bath (408-441-1858). This small but very impressive business is located at 671 East Brokaw Road in San Jose, on the north side of Brokaw and about half a mile west of I-880. Visit their website at www.ivybs.com.

We initially saw their advertisement in the Mercury News and IKB was the best of four places we contacted, coming in at a reasonable mid-range price and setting up a realistic schedule.

Tear out of the old material started on a Wednesday and the job was completed to our complete satisfaction in only eight calendar days. Phenomenal!!

Throughout the process, all the workers were prompt, competent, courteous, and cleaned up after themselves at the end of each working day.

We were on the hook to buy a faucet of our liking and although Home Depot/Expo Design and Lowe’s had a lot of items to choose from, we actually ended up purchasing our faucet from the small (and almost obscure) Plumbing Gallery at 3155A S. Bascom Ave (southwest corner of Bascom and Hillsdale) in Campbell. Very knowledgeable folks, personal service, good prices, and you don’t get lost in a warehouse. If you don’t know anything about plumbing fixtures, this is the place for you.

As part of the kitchen work, we also had a new linoleum floor put in by Royal Carpet & More. They’ve done previous work for us, so please check out the separate positive review for them.

All in all, our experience with Ivy Kitchen and Bath had everything go right and we’d like to give them the strongest positive recommendation.

Mikayla & Lawrence Pratt

A short time ago we were interested in sprucing up our 40-plus year-old home and decided to start by replacing old, drafty single pane windows with double-pane/UV protected upgrades.

Not knowing where to start looking, I “googled” “window replacement san jose” and got a hit on www.servicemagic.com. From their site I made a variety of entries in their multiple screens and received references to four companies. These entries elicited three responses from various companies within an hour and it was all downhill from there. Estimates were made, we did a Better Business search on the companies and made our final (and very satisfactory) decision in less than two weeks.

Two thumbs up for www.servicemagic.com as a fast, efficient way to find a reputable company for home improvement. We were so satisfied with the companies they list that we’re in the process of upgrading our flooring and carpeting.