Colour is a powerful emotional engine. It can uplift us when we’re feeling down, it can soothe and relax, it can inflame passions, and it can chase us out of a room entirely. Depending on who we are and our emotional backgrounds, different people react to colours differently. A colour that can energize one person will make another feel agitated; what relaxes one person might bore another. We are looking to colour to help balance things out for us, it [...]
One of the problems we were trying to solve as part of this project was a ridiculously wavy ceiling. We had removed all of the ceiling drywall, installed the wiring for the lights, but now we had some levelling to do. Justin knew that the cause of the ripples was that the floor joists were not level with each other. Some were slightly higher, some lower, so that when the drywall was fastened to them the ripples were produced. There [...]
Designing a lighting scheme can be a delightful challenge, but every dream requires solid planning if it is to become a reality. Any light needs a power source, and that means connecting it to the electrical system of your house. How much power will each light draw? How many lights can you have without violating electrical code? How will the wires connect lights to switches, and the switches to the circuit panel? A wiring plan is a complex thing. Before [...]
From March 22nd to the 25th, the new CE Centre on Uplands drive hosted the Ottawa Home and Garden show. With lots of room inside, the CE centre allows for a much more unified show than Landsdowne Park. Aside from venue, the main difference between this show and the Ottawa Home and Design show is that the latter has more interior design, and this one has a lot of temporary indoor gardens and smells way better! There are couple of [...]
Many homeowners are terrified of opening walls and ceilings, and I can definitely sympathize. The old cliché “you always find problems when you open things up” turned out to be very true in our case. In the end, however, I am glad we took the drywall off the ceiling, because the problem we found could have worsened over the years. “Well, at least we know what was causing that bump in the ceiling,” Justin noted after the dust has settled [...]
If you have a “dead” space in your house that’s more often used for dumping things than for activities, that’s a sure sign that you need to do some design work to make the space more useful. My partner Justin and I have been working on our living room ceiling for over a year, and now that we can see the finish line, it’s time to start telling the story of our biggest renovation adventure. The problem was that the [...]
Like many people I have a kitchen that is much smaller than I would like, and there is very little available counter space. I have always tried to increase the feeling of space by not storing too many things on the counter, with some success. But one major contributor to countertop mess that I have not been able to vanquish was the need to store dishwashing tools and sponges on the counters. These are tools that need to be kept [...]
DIY renovations are a financial necessity for many of us, especially in this tough economic climate. Doing your own repairs and home improvements not only saves money but also adds to the value of a home. I have come to realize, however, that there are many ways in which DIY can make you a better person. Here’s how: Increased Strength and Stamina While it would be ridiculous to claim that renovations work is kind to the body, it does bestow [...]
There are many worlds within the earth below your garden: it is the stage of many complex chemical processes and interactions between processes. Soil is a mixture of tiny mineral particles of many kinds, organic matter in various states of decomposition, and water. Living things like fungi, bacteria, earthworms and insects live their lives there, contributing to soil aeration, its organic matter content, and sometimes playing a vital role in chemical cycles like the carbon, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorous cycles. [...]
Architect Mies Van der Rohe famously said “less is more”. When your home is a small house or apartment, this phrase can become a lifeline – especially if your taste in décor is contemporary. It can be very difficult to change from a hard-boiled packrat to minimalista, but the rewards are many. Over time I have developed a need for a certain amount of negative space in my interiors. As a girl I covered every conceivable inch of wall space [...]