Archives for May 2014

Clever Kids’ Rooms: 9 Inventive Ideas for Bunk Beds

Screen Shot 2014-05-05 at 7.55.03 AMCreate functional and fun living spaces with these imaginative, clever custom-built designs

When a family grows, space can get a bit thin on the ground and crowd-control measures may be necessary. Instead of stressing over blown-out budgets and inconvenient home extensions to accommodate your little additions (and their masses of stuff), consider the cheaper way of going up. Dodgy bunks in holiday shacks of years past are unrelated to the real possibilities bunk beds offer to create havens where childhood memories are made. These inspiring rooms will show you the way.

Budget Bathroom Beautifiers

Screen Shot 2014-04-21 at 7.32.46 AMSpruce up your loo without heading to the loan office, by focusing on little details that make a difference

The bathroom is perhaps one of the most important rooms in the house, but it never seems to get the respect it deserves. We spatter it with mud after rainstorms and leave heaps of wet towels on its forgiving floor.

It’s time we give the bathroom a little TLC. Yet, with a fixed vanity and all the complications of plumbing, it can be hard to figure out how to spruce up your loo on a budget. With that in mind, here are four easy DIYs to make your bathroom sparkle.

Canada’s Golden Boys

golden-boys

Music Review: Sarah McLachlan – Shine On

SM Chine OnI sang with Sarah McLachlan! Yup, this past March at B.C. Place, I sang “O Canada” with Sarah and 54,000 other hockey fans.

Her latest album is mostly inspired by personal tragedy, with subject matter that one might expect from album filled with misery. Well, Shine On is not that – Sarah writes and sings about hope in the midst of pain. Shine On is her eighth studio album, I have the other 7. This CD is dedicated to her father, who passed away in 2010, it includes a few songs dealing directly with his death, and much of the music helps us understand how to cope with pain and loss.

Shine On starts with its most upbeat and optimistic songs. On In Your Shoes, accompanied by spiccato strings, McLachlan sings about moving on and carving her own path. Not known for humor, Sarah delivers a great punch line on one of the album’s best songs, Monsters. While itemizing numerous types of monstrous creatures —from two-faced boyfriends to unscrupulous business associates – she ironically states “Think what your life would be missing if you didn’t have him to sing about.”

Of course Sarah is at her best when singing the forlorn ballad, her voice personifying heartache. It’s what made her famous and the go-to for all sad moments in TV soundtracks. “You were the star by which I light my way/ so how do I find my way now?”she mourns on Surrender and Certainty. Led by guitar picking rather than from the piano bench, Song for my Father, Sarah honors her late father’s “constant unwavering heart”and sings of how he always helped her through difficult times, being “the place that I could always rest my head.” The call-and-response between Sarah and the trumpet echoesthe musical voice of her father.

 Love Beside Me offers balance from the melancholy. Playing a funky electric piano in lieu of her characteristicgrand piano, her energetic grooves breakthrough the haze, McLachlan’s voice is inspired as she sings about learning from past mistakes. Brink of Destructionis another ballad, sung in 6/8time, keeps the melody moving forward. Though the title might suggest despair, I found it uplifting in its honesty. Beautiful Girl is the most stripped down tune of the collection. Instrumentation gets out of the way of Sarah’s lilting voice with her doubling on background vocals, as well. Shine On ends with its warmest track, The Sound That Love Makes. After more than a few songs contemplating death, shattered relationships and anguished comes a blatant happy love song. Reminiscent of Colbie Caillat, a cheery ukulele replaces somber piano chords. Love is the one emotion powerful enough to break through the grieving process and shines its light of hope. “I’m seeing the sun in all the greyest skies,”Sarah sings at her most optimistic self.

I waited a long time to add this disc to my collection, and it didn’t disappoint me at all. In fact, there are a couple of tunes that will hit the radio this summer I’m sure.

10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Going Open Plan

Emmanuel FonteDon’t start knocking down walls just yet … follow this checklist to make sure you’ve thought of everything

Creating an open-plan space that combines your living, kitchen and dining areas can not only turn your home into a welcoming and social place for family and friends, it can also add value when it comes time to sell.

Exactly how you open up these spaces will depend on several different factors – consider these questions before taking the leap. 

Rebels With a Cause: 18 Bathrooms That Break the Rules

Emmanuel FonteFind inspiration from these show-stopping bathroom designs that ignored the rules to make their splash

With a complete bathroom overhaul becoming one of the most popular projects for homeowners, designers are rising in arms against traditional designs and looking for more ways to create a wet space to suit every need – whether that’s installing a toilet in the shower, adding an unconventional bathtub or flipping the whole concept of the ‘bath room’ on its head.

Take a look at these 18 rule-bending bathrooms.

The Top 5 Benefits of Buying and Holding Residential Investment property

buying-and-holding-residential-investment-property

Spring Cleaning Your Way To Energy Savings

spring-clean-your-way-to-energy-savings--tips-from-an-electrician

Bookcase + Staircase = Functional Storage Area

bookcase-staircase

Aesthetically and functionally, bookcases and staircases are really in the same family. This bookcase in a Tuscany, Italy home renovated by Sundaymorning and Massimo Fiorido Associati puts them even closer together by making the staircase an actual physical extension of the bookcase.

italian-house-in-the-pines-staircase-bookcase stairs-extending-from-bookcase

Each stair is simply an elongated shelf that extends far into the room’s open space. This allows for access to the skylight at the top of the staircase and also provides a spectacularly clever form of storage. Books, keepsakes, decorative items, and household items can easily be stored on the bookshelf part of the built-in.

wall-length-bookcase-extending-stairs

Larger items can be stored in the elongated stair segments. Seen as one large piece of furniture, the bookcase/staircase is an impressive specimen. It takes up an entire wall of the home but is more whimsical than imposing.