With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming really soon, are you already planning for out-of-town friends and family members? Perhaps you have decided to have parties and other get-togethers during the holidays. If that's the case, you are more than likely wanting to get your house ready for the upcoming holidays. If so, from minor cleaning to major things like stone repair, here are some ideas that might help you to make your house look great.

The Small Jobs: Consider going through your house to see what needs to be done. For example, it might be that your living area already looks pretty nice. However, maybe you have used the guest room as a catchall and you need to clear it of things that would be in the way of your house guests. The guest bathroom might have gotten dusty, and even though the bathtub and sink haven't been used in a while, you might need to at least rinse them out and dry them with a lint-free towel. It might be that all of your knickknacks look ok, but they might need to be hand washed to give them a nicer look. Do you have silver pieces, maybe a silver tea set or silver candlesticks? If so, do they need polishing? Think of making a list of the small jobs that need to be done, and then do them a little bit at a time over the next few weeks.

The Big Jobs: As you made your assessment of things that needed attention, besides the little jobs that have to be done, you might have written down that your stone fireplace and hearth need attention. Perhaps there has been so much use over the years that the stone looks drab, and there might even be broken pieces that need to be repaired. If that's the case, consider hiring a company like Marble Tec Systems that does stone repair and stone restoration. Stone repair might take care of things like broken corners of the fireplace while stone restoration could give the entire fireplace and hearth the beautiful look it once had. The workers who do the job for you will have had training to use the right equipment and the right cleansers that won't damage your stone. In addition, they'll have the experience to do the job thoroughly. Once your stone fireplace area has been made beautiful again, consider buying new fireplace tools, maybe beautiful brass ones.