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16 • COMMUNITY ADVOCATE • Friday, November 20, 2020 homesHOMES MORE&

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Fireplaces warm home buyers’ hearts By Michelle Gillespie

With winter just around the corner, the fireplace takes on greater importance in the sale of a home. The warm glow of a fire on a cold winter night can be magical.

Michelle Gillespie, REALTOR® MEGA AGENT Direct Line: 508-934-9818 michelle@michellegillespie.com www.michellegillespie.com

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One of the most popular requests from buyers is a fireplace when purchasing a home. People love the ambiance that a blaze provides, while others rely on their fireplaces to keep them warm and cozy during cold winter months. Many homes in New England have fireplaces, but for the ones that do not, more and more homeowners are looking for ways to install them. It is becoming a sought-after amenity and homes boasting this feature see the benefit when selling a home.

Your fireplace is the focal point when people come to see your home and should complement the rest of your home. That is why it is important to make sure that the look of your fireplace has been updated and is working properly. Yearly cleanings are important to maintaining a good fireplace or wood and pellet stove.

During your yearly cleaning, ask the company you hired to check out the exterior chimney. All too often there are some repairs that need to be done, from loose bricks to repointing the chimney. Investing into this yearly maintenance will make a difference when you decide to sell your home.

An older-looking fireplace that looks like an eyesore can be easily updated. You can do a lot to enhance a fireplace before selling your home. Begin by

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looking at the rest of the room and see what statement you want to make with the fireplace.

Let’s talk about transforming your fireplace

Transformative materials that are easy to work with include tile, manufactured stone, granite, marble and wood. Lately, what has become extremely popular is painting over old, red brick which will make a huge improvement on the look of the fireplace. You could also consider resurfacing over the bricks or looking into different painting techniques such as faux painting.

A stone fireplace can set a home apart and significantly improve resale value. Adding a mantel will frame and enhance the fireplace. There are so many styles and designs for mantels from modern and traditional to craftsman. Keeping the mantel clean and uncluttered is also a must. You want the focal point to be the fireplace. It is fine to decorate with a few accessories but try not to distract from the fireplace itself.

Now onto the popular gas fireplace

I have been listing and selling homes for over 16 years. By far one of the most popular requests is a gas fireplace fueled either by natural or propane gas. You see them more in homes and they are a popular request from buyers and easy to use. Plus, they can be installed just about anywhere in the home. There is no need for a chimney, wood or even matches with this type of fireplace and there is no mess to clean up, either. Most recently I listed a home with a gas fireplace. At first, because of the style, I thought it was a wood or pellet stove but was pleasantly surprised it was a gas stove. The heat generated from the stove was great and the stove was a nice added feature for the family room.

Another option to consider is an electric fireplace

An electric fireplace is often the least expensive option, reasonably easy to install and more advanced than earlier models. Technology has made them more beautiful than ever, and many can be operated by remote control. Users can turn on both the flame and heat, or just one. Another benefit is that they can be operated year-round in any climate and are easy to clean and maintain. Finally, regardless of the season, a fireplace should be kept clean and in good working order. You want the buyer to feel great about that room, knowing they can move in and sit in front of that wonderful fireplace. There are very few things as warm and inviting as a fireplace.

Celebrating

Veterans Day

During the month of November we take the time to remember our veterans for their service for our country. Many veterans live within our neighborhoods and communities going about their daily lives without many of us knowing about their service and sacrifice for our country. I am a founding member of Boros Cares for Troops along with Leslie Arsenault, Karen Brewster and Beth Davison. This year we started on a quest to honor our veterans with the Hometown Heroes Program. Our mission is to display banners of veterans who have served both active and inactive, along our Main Streets connecting one community to another. If you would like to donate to this very worthy project, please send your donation to Boros Cares for Troops Hometown Heroes, PO Box 304, Northborough, MA 01532 or visit www.bc4t.org for more information. We truly appreciate your support.

In closing…

The inventory is exceptionally low, and as you know buyers are out there looking for homes to purchase. I am meeting with sellers to list their home. If you want to sell your home this year or early spring, let me help you stage, prepare and sell your home while attracting the most buyers.

If you are thinking of selling your home, please call me, Michelle Gillespie, at 508-934-9818 or email michelle@michellegillespie. com. Visit my website at www. michellegillespie.com for more information.

‘Gift A Nurse’ this holiday season Honoring a patriot in Marlborough

Coleman House Gift Card Recipients

NORTHBOROUGH - Jackie Taylor, owner of Scrubs With Style, invites the community to help relieve the burden on already overworked and stressed healthcare professionals. Scrubs with Style Gift cards enable healthcare workers to purchase new scrubs, work shoes, compression socks and other items. This past spring, SWS contributors “gifted” over $700 worth of gift cards to healthcare workers at Coleman House in Northborough and Whittier in Westborough.

Donors can purchase Scrubs with Style gift cards to be sent to a specific nurse or donate to a General Nurses fund. Gift cards from the General Nurses fund are distributed to local healthcare facilities. Gift cards to a specific nurse can be sent electronically or through the U.S. mail.

Anyone wishing to purchase a Scrubs with Style Gift A Nurse Card can do so at scrubswithstyle.com/gift-card.

Scrubs with Style is located in the Northborough Shopping Center, 247 West Main St., Northborough. For more information call 508-3933058 or email scrubswithstyle@gmail.com.

Peace of mind… is our policy. Due to the escalation of the response around us and with the goal of minimizing the spread of COVID-19, we will be implementing temporary changes that impact our office access and face-to-face availablity with our staff. Effective March 19th, we will serve our customers at our offices via appointment only, and only for critical situations that cannot be handled by electronic means or by telephone. Please call our main number to schedule an appointment. 1-800-443-7007.

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Tim Tonner

PHOTO/CINDY ZOMAR

By Cindy Zomar, Contributing Writer

MARLBOROUGH – On Veterans’ Day, a musket volley was fired by Tim Tonner of the Sudbury Militia and Minute to honor Marlborough’s own American patriot, Robert Eames. Born in 1738, Eames answered the call on April 19, 1775 in response to the alarm raised in Lexington and Concord. He also served in the Continental Army in 1777. Eames passed in 1823.

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18 • COMMUNITY ADVOCATE • Friday, November 20, 2020 COMMUNITY | News Shrewsbury honors veterans

By Melanie Petrucci Senior Community Reporter

SHREWSBURY – Dignitaries gathered at the Beal School to offer their appreciation to local veterans on Nov. 11. Veterans gathered in their vehicles at Town Hall to form a procession on Maple Avenue to the World War I Monument in front of Beal School.

The caravan began at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month and, oddly enough, the parade lasted just about eleven minutes, with about a dozen or so cars, to process from Town Hall to Beal School.

While there was not a traditional speaking ceremony, local Boys Scouts presented the veterans with cards and flags at the beginning of the procession. Several Girl Scouts and dignitaries including the Board of Selectmen and State Representative Hannah Kane (R-Shrewsbury) were waiting for them at Beal School with posters and gratitude.

Veterans in procession at Beal School

PHOTOS/MELANIE PETRUCCI

Left: Shrewsbury Girl Scouts Jessica Minton, Caley Gale, and Sophie Chin, with leader Patricia Minton, thank veterans.

Westborough Rotary to take part in ‘challenge’ to recycle plastics

By Sharad Mehta Contributing Writer

WESTBOROUGH - The Westborough Rotary Club’s Committee of the Environment (COTE) has organized a drive for collecting and recycling bags and film plastics from household waste. Although bags film plastics are ubiquitously in use, the economics of recycling them has been generally unattractive for businesses. These plastics eventually make their way in our fresh-water lakes and oceans destroying habitats and damaging the environment. The objective of this drive is to increase awareness of this serious issue and invite com-

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munity members in the region to become actively involved in addressing it locally.

The Trex Plastics Challenge requires a community to collect about 500 pounds of bag and film plastics for recycling over a period of six months. If successful, Trex rewards the community with a park bench. Community members are being asked to collect waste bags and film plastics in their homes and periodically bring them to one of the collection centers. It is recommended that the collected plastics be saved in clean, regular 13.2-gallon trash bags. Once each bag weighs about 3-4 lbs., bring them to one of the following collection centers: Kohl’s Retail Store (rear entrance) every other Saturday, 9-10 a.m. (most preferred location); Central One Federal Credit Union, 40 South Street, Westborough; or the Borough Y, 4 Valente Drive, Northborough.

The drive is supported by Kohl’s corporate office. The collected plastics are transported by Kohl’s to a remote recycling center and pressed into 1000-pound bales which are then shipped to a Trex manufacturing plant in Virginia.

More information is available at www.facebook.com/ westboroughrotary or email cote@westboroughrotary. com.

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