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Homes and Home Decor

  • Canadian Architecture and Design: Indigo -- 'Twixt Sea and Sky: A cradle of islands outlines the Caribbean’s eastern rim where it touches the Atlantic; Mustique is among the most beautiful. And in Mustique’s verdant heart lies Indigo.

  • CANADIAN ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN: The House on Sentinel Hill: “Don’t tell me the square footage you want to build,” the award-winning architect responded. “Tell me what your dreams are.”

  • DURHAM TRADE AND COMMERCE: Seaton -- Genesis of a green community: Imagine living in a community where your energy-efficient home converts solar energy into hot water and heat; where your car, if you own one, remains in the garage, because it’s easier to walk, bike or take a bus to your destination.

  • EAST OF THE CITY: Dressed to Sell: Thinking about selling your home? Think about staging. The real estate agent brings buyers to the door but staging brings them to the table.

  • LUXURY HOMES: A Rich Shade of Green: Local legend says the steep slope was Toronto Ski Club’s first ski hill. In the late 1800’s, skiers started uphill at the Eaton cottage and schussed through the formal gardens, right down to High Park’s Wendigo Creek.

  • NORTH OF 89: The Phoenix House -- Rising from the Ashes: From the ashes sprang opportunity -- no longer a renovation but a renaissance.

  • REM: Home Staging -- A win, win situation: “Staging saves me time, the house sells quicker and the client gets more money. I hire a CSP for all of my listings, regardless of price.” ~ Paul T. Cody, Re/Max Twin City Realty

  • REM: Keeping It Neutral: The powder room was painted Drive-By Shooting Red. The living room-dining room was Wedgwood Blue. The kitchen glowed Pepto-Bismol Pink. The colour combinations in her clients’ open-concept home made home staging professional Brenda Bain slightly queasy.

  • REM: The Feast or Famine of Staging Suites: No matter how spacious it is, an over-furnished condo feels like a too-tight suit. Buyers look elsewhere. The trick is to replace these “house-sized” groupings with “condo-scaled” equivalents. The result? A suite that feels bigger. ~ Canadian Staging Professional™ (CSP™) Darren Brand.

  • THE TORONTO SUN: A little staging can go a long way: By the time they leave, your house could be dotted with dozens of red flags. Small or large, each bears a price tag -- and you pay the price. Add it all up and that's the amount they subtract from their offer.

  • THE TORONTO SUN: Anybody Home? The ins and outs of staging vacant houses: "Staging brings out a home's positives and minimizes its negatives. That's especially important when there's no furniture." ~ Darren Brand, home staging professional

  • THE TORONTO SUN: Creating Curb Appeal: Buyers can't see past what is; they can't imagine what could be. And many don't want to do the work -- they overestimate the time and expense involved.

  • THE TORONTO SUN: Giving a choice -- Kingsway Arms at Clarington Centre opens its doors in Bowmanville: “Right next to this project, which has 129 rooms, we’re building 72 condo units, connected by an underground walkway, so people can buy a unit and get access to all the facilities here.” ~ Bill Daniell, president, Kaitlin Group

  • THE TORONTO SUN: Hey kids, we're moving -- Staging children's rooms: "Teenagers are really bad for having tons of posters up on the wall -- not always the nicest ones, either. Usually the posters come down and a fresh coat of paint goes up." ~ Kelly Ralph, home staging professional

  • THE TORONTO SUN: Make your master bedroom a retreat: "Rooms should have a single function. If it's a master bedroom, it should be viewed as a bedroom, not as an exercise room or a home office." ~ Suzanne Ethier, CSP, ASP, of Real Appeal Real Estate Styling Services

  • THE TORONTO SUN: Stage It First! Sell It Faster!: Some items on the action list cost nothing, like cleaning out the linen closet or rearranging furniture to make a room appear more spacious. Others, like a fresh coat of paint, cost very little.

  • THE TORONTO SUN: Staging sizzles in the kitchen: A thorough spring cleaning is good preparation for any room in your home; it's absolutely critical for the kitchen.

  • THE TORONTO SUN: Staging Suites and Smaller Spaces: Two big mistakes condo owners make can interfere with a quick sale, says Darren Brand CSP, of StagedToSell.ca. One is leaving the suite empty; the other is leaving it too full.

  • THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: A symphony of scents : When summer warmth bathes the garden, the heavy blooms of roses and peonies open, providing a joy for the nose as well as the eye.

  • THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Building a Greener Future: Just as a child selects from many shades of green in a box of crayons, the homebuilding industry offers several green brands.

  • TORONTO SUN: A roof with a view: If you buy a condominium in Markham today, one feature you’ll find on your list of amenities or energy-saving features is a green roof. In some buildings, green roofs will open up a private outdoor living space, complete with treed and landscaped terraces. In others, their vegetated surfaces will augment a pretty view.

  • TORONTO SUN: Access Granted -- New homes are breaking down the barriers: “It defies logic to build new homes that block people out when it’s so easy and cheap to build new homes that let people in.” Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky

  • TORONTO SUN: Architects of the city's future : New book sheds light on firm's 'beautiful buildings that work'

  • TORONTO SUN: Big Ideas for Small Spaces: Decorating a condo is a little like doing a jigsaw puzzle. With a little care and planning, you can craft a beautiful setting where everything fits perfectly. Home décor guru Karl Lohnes, considered to the leading word on decorating small spaces, doesn’t do jigsaw puzzles, but he loves to select stylish furnishings and accessories that fit in condos and lofts. He will be sharing his do’s and don’ts of decorating twice a day in an interactive seminar at the upcoming National Home Show.

  • TORONTO SUN: Every watt counts: The Target for this year's Earth Hour is one billion people

  • TORONTO SUN: Getting yourself in hot water: An incredible $40 billion of hot showers, bath water and dishwater flows into the sewers of North America every year. You can stop sending your money down the drain – and take the shiver out of your shower -- by installing a drainwater heat recovery system.

  • TORONTO SUN: Going Solar: The province pays for energy you generate

  • TORONTO SUN: I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas: Light up for Less with LEDs

  • TORONTO SUN: Make it a clean, green sweep: TV host Mike Chalut wields a mean bullhorn

  • TORONTO SUN: Raising the future without razing the past: The face of the Warden Corridor is changing. Old neighbours are moving out, new neighbours are moving in. The old Scarborough artery cleans up well.

  • TORONTO SUN: Scoring a Room with a View: The view from Adnan Virk’s Yonge and Sheppard condo is spectacular. From his box-seat vista on the twentieth-floor, Yonge Street leads straight into the sporting heart of Toronto: to Rogers Centre, home base for the Jays and Argos; the Air Canada Centre, where the Leafs and Raptors play; and the downtown television studios of The Score where the sportscaster works.

  • TORONTO SUN: Seymour Says: To find your own personal style, listen to the artist within, advises author Jane Seymour in Making Yourself at Home. You’ll find great satisfaction from collecting and displaying the things you love.

  • TORONTO SUN: Shades of Green -- EcoEnergy Retrofit: Green is the new buzzword. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the housing industry. LEED, EnergyStar for New Homes, EnerGuide for New Houses, EQuilibrium, R-2000, ecoEnergy Retrofit -- all green brands pouring into the marketplace. The average homebuyer can be excused for feeling confused. It’s all green but what does it mean?

  • TORONTO SUN: Shades of Green -- EnerGuide for New Houses: Green is the new buzzword. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the housing industry. LEED, EnergyStar for New Homes, EnerGuide for New Houses, EQuilibrium, R-2000, EcoEnergy Retrofit -- all green brands pouring into the marketplace. The average homebuyer can be excused for feeling confused. It’s all green but what does it mean?

  • TORONTO SUN: Shades of Green -- Energy Star: Green is the new buzzword. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the housing industry. LEED, Energy Star for New Homes, EnerGuide for New Houses, EQuilibrium, R-2000, EcoEnergy Retrofit -- all green brands pouring into the marketplace. The average homebuyer can be excused for feeling confused. It’s all green but what does it mean?

  • TORONTO SUN: Shades of Green -- EQuilibrium: Green is the new buzzword. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the housing industry. LEED, EnergyStar for New Homes, EnerGuide for New Houses, EQuilibrium, R-2000, EcoEnergy Retrofit -- all green brands pouring into the marketplace. The average homebuyer can be excused for feeling confused. It’s all green but what does it mean?

  • TORONTO SUN: Shades of Green -- LEED: Green is the new buzzword. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the housing industry. LEED, EnergyStar for New Homes, EnerGuide for New Houses, EQuilibrium, R-2000, EcoEnergy Retrofit -- all green brands pouring into the marketplace. The average homebuyer can be excused for feeling confused. It’s all green but what does it mean?

  • TORONTO SUN: Shades of Green -- R-2000: Green is the new buzzword. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the housing industry. LEED, EnergyStar for New Homes, EnerGuide for New Houses, EQuilibrium, R-2000, EcoEnergy Retrofit -- all green brands pouring into the marketplace. The average homebuyer can be excused for feeling confused. It’s all green but what does it mean?

  • TORONTO SUN: The Power to Make a Difference: What do authors Kenneth Oppel, Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson, Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie, chef Jamie Kennedy, horticulturalist Mark Cullen, politician Bob Rae and former Toronto Mayor David Crombie all have in common? They’ve all been “bullfrogpowered”.

  • TORONTO SUN: What's Hiding Inside an Energy Star Home?: Two new homes sit side-by-side. One wears a bright blue logo and bears an Energy Star label; the other doesn’t. The two homes may look identical, but the Energy Star home will save its owners thousands of dollars. So what’s so special about that little blue star?

  • TORONTO SUN: What's sucking energy from your home?: It’s been dubbed leaking electricity, phantom load and wall warts but Dave Walton of Direct Energy prefers to call it vampire electronics. They’re all terms for standby power, the electricity gulped by electronic devices even when they are turned off.

  • TORONTO SUN: Winning Design: When the task is a basement-to-bedroom decorating assignment, where do you start? With the bones, answers Lynda Reeves of House and Home magazine, the host of House and Home Television. The designer diva was invited to decorate the $2.25 million grand prize for this year’s Princess Margaret Hospital Lifestyles Lottery -- a 4,700 sq. ft. fully decorated and furnished show home, complete with a shiny BMW 535i parked in the garage.

  • TORONTO SUN: You had me at 'Hello': Long before a soaring condominium kisses the sky, years before its posh aeries overlook the city lights, even before a shovel breaks the earth, developers and designers ponder how to help potential buyers see, feel and touch the high-rise lifestyle they’ll be purchasing. That first peek at a new GTA condo usually comes in a sales office. So how do some of Toronto’s premiere designers translate their vision from paper to reality?

  • TORONTO SUN:The colour of savings -- Going green at Mattamy's Hawthorne Village: The goal is to build an ecologically-conscious community of Green Initiative Homes, a community where man’s footprint falls less heavily on the earth.

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