A report last week claims the federal Heritage Ministry is considering a bailout for Canada’s newspaper industry. While the struggling middle-class in that industry attempts to keep its jobs, our Liberal government might reward the CEOs for their greed and self-preservation on the backs of employees. I hope it’s not so. …
Sometimes I think the rest of my life is going to mainly consist of asking, “that was how long ago?” The passage of time is on fast-forward. It’s already been five years since our friends Laurie and Jeff moved a house to cottage country. …
It appears that I won’t be writing House Proud for Sun Media anymore. My column has been running across the country for about 9 years now, but the marketplace has changed and the newspapers sections are getting smaller. But my terrific friend Erin had a great idea. …
Everyone is familiar with the Man Cave, that secluded spot where the male head of the household can go alone to watch sports, or invite his buddies and maybe enjoy a stinky cigar without fear of reprisal. But what about the female head of the home? If Dad can have a cave, then Mom should have one too. …
House Proud: Mom Cave is an Idea Whose Time has Come – Sept 17, 2014Read More »
Perhaps your furniture taste leans toward Danish modern and you have a thing for bold, graphic area rugs. You can pick out upholstery fabric from 10 metres away and set a table so pretty it would make Martha Stewart weep. But when it comes to choosing a wall colour, you’re stopped cold. You are not alone. …
As warmer weather settles in, most winter-weary Canadians plan at least a few calm evenings outdoors, hosting a barbecue for friends and perhaps enjoying a glass of wine as the sun sets. …
Striking First in the Battle Against Bugs – Sun MediaRead More »
No, not the one I live in. Many months ago, we joined with brother Rob and another partner in a house-flipping adventure. We bought a wreck of a place in Welland, ON and through the magic of money and back-breaking labour, turned it into a home for two families and an income property for someone to buy. …
If you’re lucky, you get to see trends come around a second and possibly even a third time. When platform shoes came back into vogue in the late 1990s, how I wished I’d kept the ones I wore to my Grade 8 grad. …
Over many years and several houses, I’ve painted dozens of rooms and a hundred pieces of furniture. It drove my husband crazy when I wouldn’t properly prepare the space for inevitable splatters and spills. And then there’s cleanup, which is even worse than getting ready. There’s no putting lipstick on this pig. Painting stinks and I have plenty of reader input to show I’m not alone. …
A colleague is taking a night course in beer tasting and he came to work the morning after a recent class with a new understanding of his girlfriend. Having spent the evening trying to distinguish between flavours with the slightest differences, he finally got how she could spend hours poring over paint chips, when to him, they all looked pretty much alike. Beer, like paint, is made with different undertones and finishes. But only one of them looks appropriate on your wall. …
House Proud: Beautiful Blues to Reign as Colour of the YearRead More »
It’s a skin-tight, shimmering gown on the runways of Paris. It’s the ornate, metallic detail on an imposing cabinet. It’s the mirrored finish surrounding a well-stocked bar. Glam is back, baby, and if it’s not kicking minimalist to the curb, it’s entering the room like a showy cousin. …
My work has brought me a lot of cool things from concert tickets, to clothes, to opportunities to meet special people. And last week, my position as columnist for Sun Media brought me a happy box of stuff that could only appeal to someone like me. …
“Those patio lanterns, they were the stars in our sky.” Kim Mitchell …
We seem to have finally reached a point where we no longer have to justify a devotion to our pets. A decade ago it raised eyebrows when people learned I routinely took my back-injured Border Collie to a chiropractor. I recall one colleague asking, “Where do you think you’re living, Hollywood?” She didn’t understand that this dog was a superstar to me. …
House Proud – Pet-Friendly Styles are All the RageRead More »
Six years ago, I wrote in this space about decorating kids’ rooms and recalled my obsession with the colour purple, inspired by Donny Osmond, and lovingly indulged by my Mom and Dad. …
House Proud – Decorating Kids’ Rooms Should be FunRead More »
Photos of the hideous, shared bathrooms tweeted by visitors to the Olympic games in Sochi, Russia got me thinking about a typical Canadian bathroom, and whether there even is such a thing. I’m assuming those tweeted pictures of cramped, stark toilets were atypical in Russia. At least, I hope so. …
House Proud – Cramped Toilets in Sochi Were StartlingRead More »
Flip through photographs of homes of the very wealthy and you won’t see a lot of bare wood. Furniture is either highly glossed or adorned with elaborate finishes that cost thousands. While a cherub-painted ceiling and gold-embossed night-stands might not be to your taste, a few ornate pieces here and there can really bring a home to life. …
House Proud – Create An Opulent Finish That’s AffordableRead More »
We ask a lot of our bathrooms. They have to function well and wash, flush and drain away the day for us. Even more than our bedroom, the bathroom is where we retreat to when we need to shut out the world and find some precious “me” time. They hold and they hide our secrets in the form of lotions and potions and much like Las Vegas, what happens in the bathroom, stays in the bathroom. …
House Proud: Bathrooms are Meant to be Enjoyed – Sun MediaRead More »