Ed. Note: The following content was provided by Surfaces USA, who is a client of KHTS AM-1220.

A Santa Clarita interior designer is encouraging SCV homeowners thinking about replacing their kitchen or bathroom countertops before the holidays to start the process early and avoid stress later.

November is usually the busiest month of the year for the Santa Clarita design center Surfaces USA, but homeowners can help reduce their pre-holiday stress by updating their countertops long before they have to start worrying about Thanksgiving.

“Everybody wants everything done by Thanksgiving,” said Jen Brown, interior designer and owner of Surfaces USA. “The holidays are stressful enough for people, especially if you’re hosting a huge dinner. The last thing you want to worry about is having your sink re-connected the day after your granite goes in, and your granite is going in Wednesday and Thanksgiving is Thursday.”

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While some people do come in to the showroom to start browsing the wide variety of natural stone and marble slabs toward the end of summer, many don’t actually “tag” their slab right away, which Brown said can be tricky later.

“If we know this is something we’re doing by Thanksgiving, that’s our goal, sooner rather than later get in there and start looking for your stone,” Brown said. “Because once you find it, if you don’t tag it that day it’s probably going to be gone by the time you come back.”

Because popular surfaces like quartz and granite are made of natural stone no two pieces will be the same, and “once that’s gone, it’s gone.”

“We actually have the physical slabs on our lot– we don’t just have samples,”  Brown said. “I don’t carry samples because every single piece of granite is going to be different. The samples I bring in now will have nothing to do with the slabs I bring in in the next year.”

For those who aren’t ready to begin the installation process yet, the Surfaces USA staff allows deposits to be placed on “tagged” materials. If the homeowner later changes their style or their mind, the deposit can then be used toward something else, according to Brown.

Another advantage to getting started long before Thanksgiving is a shorter turnaround time, which is usually anywhere from four to seven days longer during the month of November.

“Our general turnaround time is pretty quick,” Brown said. “We’re usually about seven to 10 days from the time we come out and measure to the time we install. That backs up to two weeks come November.”

To get the process started, Brown recommends bringing a cabinet drawer or door to the showroom in Castaic so the knowledgeable team of interior designers can help match colors.

“It always helps to bring (cabinet doors or drawers) with you and we can help coordinate that, especially if we need to do a backsplash,” she said. “We can help coordinate the whole thing and get the look that you’re looking for.”

Surfaces USA

30629 The Old Road

Castaic, CA 91384

661-775-9404