Best of Boulder East County 2021—Home & Garden

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Jordan Davis of Lafayette Florist displays the flower crown she created for this year's cover photo.

CARPET/FLOORING
Lafayette Flooring

207 N Carr Ave., Lafayette, 303-926-6801
Longmont Winner: Carpet Masters
Your floor is the one part of your home that you’re almost always in contact with. And there are few home improvements that can change the look and feel of a room, as completely as upgrading it with some clean and comfortable new carpet, sleek wood floors or some stylish tile. In East Boulder County, if you’re in the market for some flooring work, Lafayette Flooring is the business to call. They know what a financial and emotional investment it is, to install new floors in a home—which is why Lafayette Flooring is dedicated to helping their customers find the right floor to fit their lifestyle, their budget and their vision for their home.

ELECTRICIAN
An Electrician
Boulder County, 303-434-6231
Longmont Winner: M&M Heating and Cooling
East Boulder Winner: City Electric Supply
If you need to call an electrician, call An Electrician. You won’t find a website or physical address for their business, but our readers assure us that they do in fact exist—and that they do a really great job. Whether you’re dealing with dead outlets, flickering lights, frequently flipping breakers, or something more complex, An Electrician has got your electrical repair maintenance needs covered in east Boulder County.

FLORIST
Lafayette Florist

600 S Public Rd., Lafayette, 303-665-5552
Longmont Winner: Longmont Florist
Louisville Winner: Nina’s Flowers
Niwot Winner: Juniper & Twine
Walking into a good florist shop is a uniquely soothing experience. You’re immediately struck with the humid fragrance of flowers, plants and earth; the ambient trickle of water; people chatting about succulents and ficus plants. It’s the perfect cathartic excuse to go shopping for that new money tree for the office, or for a bouquet of bright carnations for that special someone. There are a lot of exceptional florists in East Boulder County, but according to our readers, none stand up to the Lafayette Florist. Step inside and wander their shop and greenhouse and you’ll see why.

FURNITURE
Woodley’s Fine Furniture
1400 South Main St., Longmont, 303-651-1015
East Boulder Winner: No Place Like Home
Lafayette Winner: TRI Vintage & Wares
There’s something deeply authentic in wood furniture that can be passed down through generations. That kind fo furniture becomes more than a household amenity—it becomes an heirloom, adorned with stories and memories. That’s the idea that Woodley’s Fine Furniture in Longmont was founded on. The Woodly family wanted to offer the people of the Front Range a higher quality of home furnishings, that not only last longer than others, but that better fit their customer’s lifestyles as well. Which is exactly what they’ve been doing since 1979, and why Boulder Weekly’s readers chose them as their favorite place to find new home furniture. 

HOME BUILDER/CONTRACTOR
Boulder Creek Neighborhoods

Multiple locations, 303-544-5857
East Boulder Winner: Cottonwood Custom Builders
Louisville Winner: Steel Ranch by Ryland Homes
Lafayette Winner: Cornerstone Homes
Building a home anywhere in Boulder County can be insanely expensive, stressful, time consuming and logistically nightmarish. But it doesn’t have to be. Boulder Creek Neighborhoods makes it easy for prospective homeowners to build the perfect home to fit their lifestyle. And the homes offered by Boulder Creek are designed to be low maintenance from the get-go: all of them are created with a neighborhood lifestyle association, that takes care of all the pesky home-maintenance chores—like mowing the lawn, edging, aerating, fertilizing, and even shoveling snow. Sounds like a dream, right? It is, and that’s why our readers say Boulder Creek Neighborhood is their favorite home builder in East Boulder County.

HOME FURNISHINGS
Fabulous Finds Upscale Consignments

600 S Airport Road, Longmont, 720-340-4152
Lafayette Winner: TRI Vintage & Wares
East Boulder Winner: No Place Like Home
Walking into Fabulous Finds Upscale Consignment store is like walking into a treasure-trove of home furnishings. With over 15,000 consignors they get to pick out the coolest, quirkiest, most fashionably savvy items: from classy dressers and desks, to stylish coffee tables, chairs, couches, lamps, kitchen sets, art, and so much more. It’s the place to go if you’re looking to furnish your home with style, without blowing your budget and without buying new stuff. You’re getting bang for your buck, and it’s all guilt-free recycled  retail. And since Fabulous Finds’ inventory is changing every single day, you’ll never know what to expect when you walk through their doors.

HOME IMPROVEMENT
Budget Home Supply

780 Boston Ave., Longmont, 303-678-8800
Lafayette Winner: BlueBird Windows
East Boulder Winner: Slade Glass Co.
Building or doing home improvement projects has rarely been more expensive than it is right now. With all of the supply chain backups and soft-wood lumber shortages people are being faced with, building on a budget has never been harder—or more important. Luckily, Budget Home Supply has been serving Longmont and surrounding areas the same quality budget home supplies since 1984. They pride themselves on offering the highest quality construction and home improvement materials at the best price you’ll find anywhere in East County. 

HVAC
M And M Heating, Cooling, Plumbing And Electrical

110 S Bowen Cir., Longmont, 720-366-1512
Louisville Winner: Welzig
Erie Winner: Carbon Valley Heating
Write-In Winner: Cooper Heating & Cooling
Things are heating up in Colorado with climate change: summers are getting hotter, drier, and longer; and wildfires are erupting throughout the season, filling the air (and your home) with smoke and particulates. Having a company that knows how to address Colorado-specific air quality issues, and keeping your home cool and filled with fresh clean air, is a matter of personal health. And when our readers need to call on an HVaC company, they call M and M Heating, Cooling, Plumbing and Electrical. They’re family owned and operated, they’re punctual, knowledgeable, honest, and efficient.

HYDROPONIC STORE
Way To Grow
6395 Gunpark Dr., Boulder, 303-473-4769
Longmont Winner: Greenhouse Hydro
East Boulder Winner: Green Piece Pipe & Hydro
There’s a lot more to Way to Grow than just hydroponics. When you walk into Corey Inness’ shop in Gunbarrel, the staff is incredibly knowledgeable, informed and familiar with the highest tech, most cutting edge LED lighting, irrigation, aeroponics, and hydroponic gardening products. They also offer educational resources for customers who want to learn more about the science and technology of growing indoors. They’ve got everything their customers need to get started from scratch whether they’ve got no experience gardening inside or decades of it. All you need is the vision—they’ll help you find the way to grow it.

KITCHEN SUPPLY STORE
The Singing Cook
728 Main St., Louisville, 720-484-6825
Longmont Winner: Cheese Importers
Lafayette Winner: Jax Ranch & Home
There’s an allure to good kitchen shops that makes them hard to walk past. And while The Singing Cook in Louisville is small, it’s full of some of the most useful culinary gadgets, tools, accessories, quirky ingredients, and machines you’ll find anywhere. Walking past it is almost impossible. The owner, Jenny Hlawatsch, goes out of her way to make sure her store has what you need; and if she doesn’t have it, she’ll get it for you. She’s a Louisville native, turned local business-owner and she takes great pride in the Singing Cook. And yes—the cook does sing. Just have your favorite musical in mind at check-out if you’re going to ask Hlawatsch for a performance. 

LANDSCAPER
Creation Landscaping
Greater East Boulder area, 303-499-8831
Longmont Winner: Green Guys
Louisville Winner: Wild Heritage Gardens & Design
Landscaping can be a DIY project, but that doesn’t mean it should be. Especially when there are experts who understand the finer points of growing and maintaining a yard or garden in Colorado (and especially if the project is a big one), experts who know what will grow in Colorado, what won’t, and how to plant them to maximize garden efficiency. When our readers need such an expert, they turn to Creation Landscaping—hire them and they’ll remove river rocks, weed-barriers, unwanted shrubs, and small trees; before installing new edging, amended topsoil, boulders, flowering perennials, interesting shrubs, and compact evergreens to increase water efficiency (and aesthetic value) in your yard.

MATTRESS STORE
Denver Mattress
48 Ken Pratt Blvd., #100, Longmont, 303-774-1150
Superior Winner: Mattress Firm
Longmont Winner: Hello! Furniture & Mattress
A good mattress can change your life—better comfort means a higher quality of sleep which means you get more out of your day, you feel better and you have more energy. But finding a good mattress can be a daunting task: exploring different options and testing different firmnesses, trying to balance a budget with your needs. Luckily, according to our readers, Denver Mattress in Longmont makes it blissfully easy to find the mattress that checks all of your boxes.

NURSERY/GARDEN CENTER
Flower Bin
1805 Nelson Rd., Longmont, 303-772-3454
Lafayette Winner: Lafayette Florist
Louisville Winner: Urban Garden
In a community that’s as into gardening as Boulder is, it takes something special to be the best nursery in East County. You’ve got to have all the latest and greatest varieties and cultivars of plants, employees who really know the nitty-gritty of horticulture, and a surplus of every soil, tool, and random gardening supply in the book. Which is exactly what you’ll find at the Flower Bin in Longmont. It’s why they’ve been successfully serving their community for 50 years—they’re the best. And that’s why our readers chose them as such.

PAINTER
Karen’s Company
210 S. Public Rd., Suite B, Lafayette, 303-664-0607
Longmont Winner: Longmont Paint Pals
A fresh coat of paint on a house or in a room can feel a lot like a fresh haircut—it’s exciting, revivifying, rejuvenating. It can transform a space or a place into something new. But it’s also one of those to-do items that can seem both formidable and time consuming. But not to the folks at Karen’s Company; Karen and her team take pride in helping homeowners revamp their style—it’s something they say, never gets old to them. This business was born out of a love for painting and making people happy. Which happens to be exactly why our readers call them, whenever they need an interior or exterior paint job.

PEST CONTROL
Bugs And Beyond
Serving Boulder County, 303-746-1129
Longmont Winner: EnviroPest
Thornton Winner: Bee Smart
A pest problem is a problem no one wants to deal with—especially not on their own. If you’ve ever had a pest infestation, you understand that’s an important reasopn to have a pest control service on dial-up, who you can trust to do the job right the first time. For East Boulder County, Bugs and Beyond are the pest controllers to go to. They’ve been serving the community, battling wasps, termites, mice, spiders, roaches and more since 2006. In the almost 16 years since, they’ve earned our readers’ trust, and business.

PLUMBER
Around The Clog Plumbing & Drain Services

P.O. Box 976, Lafayette, 720-940-3661
Gunbarrel Winner: Precision Plumbing
Longmont Winner: M and M Heating, Cooling, Plumbing and Electrical
Write-In Winner: Planet Plumbing
Few things can bum a homeowner out worse than a clogged sewer line—a clogged tub or garbage disposal or plunger-resistant toilet blockage aren’t much better, either. But when help is needed to make a drain flow properly, our East County readers turn to Around the Clog for reliable help at reasonable prices. This family-owned business goes beyond clog emergencies, too—if you have a broken pipe, need a faucet or water heater repaired, or even a sewer line inspection, Around the Clog’s got you covered for a fair price without sacrificing quality.

ROOFING CONTRACTOR
Bulldog Roofing
1225 Ken Pratt Blvd., Suite 121, Longmont, 303-827-3726
Lafayette Winner: Scott’s Roofing
Louisville Winner: Arapahoe Roofing
Write-In Winner: Red Canyon Roofing
Here’s a truism about buildings: The roof will need repaired, and eventually replaced. Here’s another truism: You don’t want to do this yourself. After the hail storms hit, or when drips inside accompany a bout of rain, our readers in East County rely on Bulldog Roofing. The partners who founded the company in 2015 were frustrated by the way other companies failed their customers, and vowed to be better. After a storm hits, they’ll work with your insurance company to submit a claim while you relax knowing the repair job is in capable hands. And that’s just one reason Bulldog Roofing is a repeat winner in this category.