2011 was an amazing year at Redbeacon. We expanded into 9 new markets including: New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and experienced huge growth. We also expanded our team significantly and brought on our CEO Anthony Rodio.

As we continue to make strides towards our vision of changing the way consumers find and book home services, we are happy to announce that today Redbeacon has been acquired by The Home Depot. In our opinion, The Home Depot is the perfect place for Redbeacon to achieve our vision even faster. Redbeacon and The Home Depot share many of the same core values around forward thinking, entrepreneurial spirit, excellent customer service, commitment to quality, and empowering pros and homeowners. We could not be happier to become part of The Home Depot family and to grow our team together. We want to assure all of our current users and service providers that our service will continue and will only get better!

We could not be where we are today without our amazing service providers and users, their trust in our service, and constant feedback, so thank you! Also, none of this would have been possible without Yaron, Aaron and Anthony, our stellar board Raj, Brian, Ben, Rajeev & Dev, our lawyer Ted, and most of all, our amazing, hard working and talented team.

We are excited about working with The Home Depot and continuing to improve the way consumers find and book home services together.

How does your house stack up to your neighbors’? Most of us spend our time keeping up with the Joneses, but maybe it’s time to one-up the Joneses once and for all.

Here at Redbeacon, we got to thinking about how to make your home more efficient, more attractive, more up-to-date. With this in mind, we created an infographic that illustrates some ways that you can improve your home and some statistics on what your neighbors might be doing to enhance their homes as well. (You can also check out a portion of our research on Apartment Therapy.)

This year, the Joneses will be keeping up with you.

It’s not the same as pledging to lose weight or to stop chewing your fingernails, but your home has resolutions, too! Here are a few ways to get 2012 off to a productive start:

1) Stay inside. You shouldn’t have to stop improving your home just because it’s cold outside. Because inclement weather can make external improvements difficult, focus your efforts internally. Good projects for the wintertime include electrical work, tiling projects, or appliance replacement. Limit projects that require painting — those frigid temps outside will make it hard to open windows to ventilate fumes.

2) Plan ahead. Major renovations in the favorable-weather months can be plotted and supplies can be purchased off-season when they might be less expensive. Taking your kitchen or bathroom out of commission can be a major disruption to your family’s daily routine, so the more you can get ahead of the inconvenience, the more prepared your household will be.

3) Consider the investment. With the housing market (hopefully) on the upswing, each project you complete on your home can increase its value on the market. An overhaul of your landscaping has the ability to have a 100% return on investment, as it boosts your curb appeal if your house is on the market. If you’re planning on staying in your home, a new roof can be a 25-plus-year commitment to your home’s health.