Arlington Cleaning and Home Services

The nursery at Evans Homes and Gardens has a wide variety of photosynthesizing sentinels in both annual and perennial models. Check out this year's Proven Winners (specialty flowers in four-inch pots, $4.99), or mix and match to your heart's content with a market flat of annuals ($2.50 per market pack, or a full flat of six for $18). Perennials run from $5.99 for the quart size to $19.99 for three gallons, and ninja plants are available in hanging baskets, dangling in mid-air to surprise your friends and delight your enemies ($19.99). Asiatic lilies make wonderful gifts ($12.99), and for $14.99 you can catch clematis. To completely transform your living room into the tropical utopia depicted in the critically acclaimed Bio-Dome, cover the carpet with a yard of topsoil ($32) or hardwood mulch ($27) and ignore the landlord's angry letters.

The cleaning service professionals at MaidPro take extensive measures to ensure their clients receive quality cleaning—including following a rigorous 49-point checklist and offering a 24-hour re-clean guarantee. Each point on the checklist serves a unique purpose, such as taking out trash, removing fingerprints from woodwork, scrubbing showers and baths, cleaning mirrors, dusting picture frames, and hosing down the hyena pit. MaidPro can schedule weekly, biweekly, and monthly sessions, and they trust their clients enough not to require any signed contracts.

The Steam Brigade pulls nasties from carpets with a hot-water extraction method that utilizes a truck-mounted system to uproot dirt and stains, leaving carpets squeaky cleaner than a newly polished saxophone. Alternatively, the steam team can cleanse an area rug in place of a carpeted room to help homeowners hide footprint-shaped knots on their hardwood floors. And for an additional charge, the crew can launder stairs ($3/step) and remove pet stains ($25–$50/spot). Each two-room service concludes with a coat of carpet protectant to shield floor blankets against spots and stains shaped like Abraham Lincoln.

While most cleaning companies are content to leave floors clean enough to eat off of, the team from Maid American Style strives to leave them safe to eat off of as well. These cleaners wipe away dust with microfiber cloths, polish surfaces with Green Seal–certified products, and use HEPA-filter vacuums to clean up after the kids leave a trail of breadcrumbs to remember how to get to the kitchen. They use green cleaning techniques not only during new baby cleaning services, but also during regular house and commercial cleaning sessions. In addition, Maid American Style's staff can clean carpets and straighten up messes after construction projects or parties.

Designer Diana Firth brings an educated eye to matters of home decoration and organization and can give expert advice on changes that will make houses more attractive to potential buyers. Her real-estate-staging consultations cover everything from the color of the paint on the walls to the arrangement of furniture. She can also give advice to buyers considering major renovation projects or simply looking to spruce up their living space with paintings of major renovation projects.

Teressa Grijalva, owner of Closet Prep & Paint, organizes and rebuilds closets from top to bottom. Under her attentive eye, her staff builds her new designs customized for each client’s storage needs, after removing existing rods, shelves, and loitering monsters. They also repair holes and scrapes leftover from the old storage systems and re-paint the walls for a finished look. In addition to closets, the team also paints entire rooms in single hues or with Grijalva’s custom designed murals of green landscapes, bright flowers, or simple polka-dot accents for children’s theme rooms.