Dream closets start with good sort...

DIYers often install systems without first measuring their stuff, then try to make their stuff fit. Instead, first size up your contents.

DIYers often install systems without first measuring their stuff, then try to make their stuff fit. Instead, first size up your contents.
Photograph by: Thinkstock, Postmedia News

There's always a trigger, experts say. When someone finally checks into rehab or jumps off a bridge or breaks down and organizes their closets, some event sets it off. For me, it was moving to a house with smaller closets.

While I considered pitching myself off a bridge, I settled on getting smarter about closet organizing. In my new place, closet space isn't just smaller overall, the master closet area is divided into three closets: his, hers and I don't want to go there.

Because I purged when I packed to move, all the clothes I brought to my new digs were staying. Every garment fits, looks good, all the zippers work and nothing bears some sorry hope of coming back in style.

As I set about organizing my new closets, I knew they would have to meet minimum standards -no belt snake pit, no sweater stack that comes with an avalanche warning, no underwear drawers that look like chickens live in them and no hangers so tangled they look like they've been in a barroom brawl.

More than that, what I really wanted was a closet so organized that I could pull together an outfit without taking a step.

I started by sorting. I grouped clothing by colour, then by season. I divided clothes into fat days and skinny days, by short and long, by categories (pants and blouses), and by function (work, casual and dressy).

This got so complicated, I called a professional . Lisa Engel, vice-president of marketing for Closet Maid, knew my pain. "Moving is a major closet-makeover trigger," she said, sympathizing. Other ones are having a baby and getting married.

The recession is also having an effect. "Before, when people got married or had a baby, they often got a bigger place," she said. "Now people are stuck, so they're making the closet space they have work harder."

To help me get the most out of my closets, Engel shared some inside-thecloset scoop. Here, she said, is what most consumers don't know:

. The typical three-metre-wide wall closet with a pole and a shelf holds three metres of hanging clothes and three metres of stacked folded clothes on the shelf.

That same closet with a system can hold just over three metres of hanging space, five metres of shelves for folded items, plus drawers and racks for belts and shoes.

. After a point, additional cost buys strictly looks. For a relatively minimal investment, you can have a wire-closet system that does everything a pricey cherrywood system does: organize and add useful, differentiated space.

. DIYers often install systems without first measuring their stuff, then try to make their stuff fit. Instead, first size up your contents.

Measure how many feet of longhanging items you have. Start your plan there, then add upper-and lower-hanging racks for short-hanging items. Next add a shelf tower, bins and racks for ties, scarves and belts.

. The best hangers curve like shoulders to keep garments in their ideal shape, but contoured hangers can hog space. Next best are flat, thick (halfinch) wood or plastic hangers, which take less room.

. The primary rule of closet organizing is put what you wear most within easy reach, said Engel. Archive items you won't wear until the weather cools.

Consider under-the-bed storage boxes. After that, how you arrange your clothes is personal.

. Don't hang what you should fold, and don't hide what you should see. Fold and stack T-shirts, sweaters and exercise wear, and don't keep shoes or jewelry in boxes, which wastes space and makes you forget what you have hidden.

. Buy systems you can adjust. This way you won't worry if you make a planning mistake. Plus, you can take flexible systems with you when you move, which you may not have to do if you get the closets right.
© Copyright (c) McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

And they're off! Queen leads the way in style stakes as Royals attend day one of Ascot

The Royal Family were out in full force again today as day one of Ascot kicked off.

The Queen, Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, Beatrice and Eugenie arrived together in horse-drawn carriages to celebrate the event's 300th year.

The monarch looked elegant in mint green as she waved to the crowds, accompanied by her husband, Prince Phillip.

The princesses looked elegant in smart attire and wore a more toned-down look than at the Royal Wedding.

Eugenie, 21, wore a teal lace dress by Issa, matching hat and white jacket.

Beatice, 22, looked demure in a nude and black outfit.

Prince Charles and Camilla were also at the event, but there was no sign of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2003369/Royal-Ascot-2011-Queen-leads-way-Royals-attend-day-horse-race.html#ixzz1PHnV2cFZ

Camilla followed in the footsteps of Catherine, who has been pictured in a number of recycled outfits lately, wearing the same blue coat and dress she wore to the Royal Wedding.

Also in attendance was Danielle Lineker, who did her best Posh impression, posing in a nude Victoria Beckham dress.

Also in attendance is Jackie St Claire, a regular at the five-day meeting at the famous Berkshire racecourse, that is set to attract royals, celebrities and horse-racing fans alike.

Jackie wore an elegant grey dress offset by a larger-than-life yellow hat.

A statue of Ascot equine legend Yeats is to be unveiled during the Royal meeting, which runs until Saturday. The four-time Gold Cup winner dominated Royal Ascot from 2006 to 2009.

Set for summer

Toronto interior designer, blogger and TV design expert Michelle Mawby believes Canadian summers are too short not to make the most of them while you can. She has a host of suggestions for blurring the boundary between indoors and out now that the weather is warm.

Bringing the Indoors Out

Outdoor entertaining has moved beyond melamine plates and plastic glasses to become as elegant as dining indoors. Ditch the patio furniture and buy an elegant dining room table (new or tag sale; it’s up to you), and weatherproof it with a coat of transparent epoxy or marine paint. (Ms. Mawby protects her “repurposed” Chippendale-style table with a sturdy cover, and leaves it out all winter.) You can buy quite elegant outdoor serving pieces and linens to set your table, but there’s no reason you can’t use good (or even everyday) china, crystal and napkins for meals in the garden — after all, the Victorians did.

Great lighting helps to create an inviting setting for summer evenings. Install accent lights in trees, and place solar or electric-powered lights along the garden path for a soft glow. For the table, use hurricane lamps or attractive votive candleholders; one company, Kichler, makes outdoor LED table lamps that are as attractive as anything you’d use inside. Or hang classic paper lanterns — Pier One sells plastic ones with built-in LEDs that look like the real thing, but are much less fragile.

Strings of LED lights aren’t just for Christmas. You can get all kinds of novelty (or elegant) shapes, ranging from dragonflies to chili peppers, that provide a nostalgic, summery glow. Or just use regular Christmas-style strings of white or cream lights, festooned along the fence or in your shrubs; or if you have enough, wrap them around the trunks of your garden trees, like restaurants do.

For seating, director’s chairs can be dressed up at relatively low cost by replacing the standard canvas seats and backs with sturdy, summer-patterned outdoor fabrics. There are amazing outdoor fabrics nowadays from high-end houses like Robert Allen, Lee Jofa and Schumacher. (Ms. Mawby is so enamoured of one pattern, by fashion designer Trina Turk, she’s bought it in several colourways and is thinking of using it indoors as well.) Along with florals, awning stripes and other summer staples, opulent alternatives such as paisleys and medallions add a contemporary, elegant look.

Renew tired outdoor furniture with a new coat of paint and new (or reupholstered) cushions. Metal furniture can be painted or sprayed with rust paint in a choice of bright colours; wicker furniture can be spray-painted, or painted with a brush. Other types of wood furniture, such as teak, can be cleaned and rejuvenated with tung oil.
If you are blessed with a back porch, give it a cabana feeling with curtains on three sides, hung on rods attached under the eaves of the porch; have them made to measure by a drapery company, buy ready-mades from a home store, or sew them up yourself out of heavy cotton or linen.

Bringing the Outdoors In

Just as outdoor living is becoming more elegant, make the most of summer living by bringing the outdoor feeling inside. Summer is a time to lighten and brighten, Ms. Mawby says, so look for every way you can to make your rooms look clear, clean and uncluttered.

That might mean starting by going through your home and “editing” accessories and bric-a-brac. “Too much is too much,” she laughs. For example, instead of a piano covered with framed photographs, remove all but one or two, or replace them with a vase of fresh flowers (protect the surface of the piano with an artfully draped shawl or length of summer fabric, if you like). Replace heavy accessories with displays of natural objects such as seashells, coral, pinecones or a beautiful piece of driftwood.

Put away heavy rugs and replace with light, summer-weight ones, or leave your floors bare, if they are beautiful. If you have a combination of heavy draperies and sheers on your windows, take down the outer draperies and leave the sheers in place to let in the sun. Replace woolen pillows and throws with lightweight cotton ones in light or bright colours.

“Scent is a great way to stimulate the senses and add atmosphere,” she says. “I have a lampe-Berger in every room (an air purifier invented in Paris in the 1900s that uses a simple chemical process to scent and clean the air); it’s a lovely old-fashioned remedy that still works.” Alternatively, fill your rooms with fresh-cut flowers or scented candles.

Consider moving your artwork around; you’ll find that even a painting you’ve owned and loved for years takes on a surprising new look when you hang it in a different setting. Simply rearranging your furniture to take advantage of morning sun or afternoon breezes can have the same effect.

Finally, it’s a great time to spruce up the front of your house. Change the arrangements in your urns or planters to summery flowers such as petunias (modern varieties will keep blooming profusely until frost), bright geraniums or thick, healthy-looking ferns. Buy a few hanging planters from the garden or grocery store, to provide a welcome burst of colour, and sometimes fragrance, for visitors. Consider painting your front door a fresh new colour as well; that’s one of those home-improvement jobs that, for about one long summer’s afternoon worth of effort, make a huge difference to the look of your home.

Challenging the acai berry

If you keep even a half-hearted eye on nutrition these days, no doubt you have heard the buzz about acai berries. Pronounced a-sigh-EE, this Brazilian fruit is often touted as one of the so-called superfoods of our time. But, as we learned in last week’s column on goji berries, the hype surrounding these exotic foods doesn’t always match the evidence. So, in the interests of fairness, let’s take a look at the buzz versus the bottom line for this popular berry.

The hype

Acai berries reached the North American market in the mid-2000’s amid a flurry of claims that its juice, as well as extracts made from the berry, were helpful for weight loss, detoxification and overall health. Before long, the berry had made its way to Oprah and Dr. Oz, with abundant claims surrounding its antioxidant capacities. A star, it would seem, had been born.

As a result of the hype, acai products also started showing up in numerous ads, mostly online, purporting that supplements containing acai extract could be used to support dramatic weight loss. So-called “free” trials of acai pills turned sour for many consumers, however, leading the U.S.-based Better Business Bureau to issue a warning regarding online companies selling acai for weight-loss purposes.

The evidence

Much of acai’s claims have surrounded its supposedly high anti-oxidant content. As the theory goes, our daily exposure to pollutants, chemicals, or just plain age, induces oxidative damage to our cells, leaving us older and sicker over time. According to the prevailing wisdom, this oxidative damage can be reversed, or at least held at bay, by consuming foods rich in anti-oxidants. The downstream effects could include cancer protection, cardiovascular health, or anti-aging benefits. While the concept of anti-oxidants has been around for ages, the truth is that we don’t actually know for sure that anti-oxidants help fight disease. While food sources of anti-oxidants seem beneficial to our health — possibly for reasons more complex than just anti-oxidants, the research on anti-oxidant supplements (which includes the likes of vitamin E, vitamin C and selenium) simply has not panned out.

Enter acai, which claims to be antioxidant-rich, as measured using something called the oxygen radical absorbance capacity, or ORAC, score. In theory, ORAC allows one food to be compared directly against another, with the assumption being that the food with the highest ORAC would have the greatest potential to fight disease. In reality, there is little evidence to link ORAC scores with actual health measures or disease risk. Moreover, in a study of various fruit juices published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, UCLA-based researchers found that, when it came various measures of anti-oxidant status, including ORAC, acai juice actually fell somewhere in the middle, ahead of cranberry, orange, and apple juices, but behind pomegranate juice, concord grape juice, and yes — even red wine.

The reality

According a handful of studies — mostly industry-funded — acai juice has shown some potential when it comes to preventing oxidative damage to cholesterol and other lipids, which may have downstream benefits for heart disease risk. Otherwise, the rest of the data is either from rodent studies, or is indirect enough (i.e. anti-oxidant levels in the bloodstream) that it can only be loosely tied to health or disease risk.

The bottom line

What to make of all of the acai believers who claim to have seen their health change for the better after drinking a few hundred dollars worth of the juice per month? It’s likely that you are seeing a combination of a few real health benefits, along with the power of self-healing. Based on what we know for now, acai does have potential health benefits, but we don’t have reason to believe these benefits are any more profound than the numerous other fruits and vegetables on the market — at a fraction of the cost.

Jennifer Sygo is a dietitian in private practice at Cleveland Clinic Canada, which offers executive physicals and personal health care management in Toronto.
© Copyright (c) National Post

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/diet-fitness/Challenging+acai+berry/4758416/story.html#ixzz1P9uN2wzT

School yard bullies are most likely to abuse partners

Boys who are bullies at school are at increased risk of abusing their partner later in life -- a link that U.S. researchers say could hold potential for curbing domestic violence, which affects about a fourth of all U.S. women.

While their study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, can't tease out cause and effect, the link appears to be surprisingly strong and warrants further study, said study leader Jay Silverman, a psychologist.

"We need to do a far better job at recognizing bullying in schools, particularly the harassment of girls by boys," Silverman, at the Harvard School of Public Health, told Reuters Health.

"For adolescents, the school context is very much a practice ground for behaviors as adults."

Based on data from a survey of nearly 1,500 Boston men aged 18 to 35 years, Silverman's team found that 16 per cent of the men -- about one in six -- said they had abused their partner physically or sexually within the past year.

Of those who admitted to recent abuse, 38 per cent said they had bullied their peers frequently in school. That compared to only 12 per cent of the men who hadn't maltreated their partner as adults.

After taking into account other risk factors for domestic violence, such as being abused as a child or witnessing abuse between parents, carrying out frequent bullying as a child was linked to a four-fold increase in a man's risk for partner abuse.

That association was even stronger than things such as being abused as a child.

"It was somewhat surprising that the effect for bullying was so much more powerful than many of the other issues we typically consider," Silverman said.

"The take home message is that bullying should be an important consideration when we're thinking about reducing gender-based violence in adults. We really need to look at bullying also through that lens."

SOURCE: bit.ly/kW3qlw
© Copyright (c) Reuters

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/family-child/Schoolyard+bullies+more+likely+abuse+partners/4905067/story.html#ixzz1P6Iq2RdC

AISLIN CARTOON - JUNE 11TH, 2011

Had to share. Aislin really gets it. I love his mind.
Montreal is crazy with the Grand Prix - no parking anywhere!

Get a kitchen reno you love for less. A new kitchen can cost as little as $5,000

Dream kitchens usually cost a lot of money. But it's possible to achieve an up-todate look without breaking the bank by using Ikea components.

Susan Evans's new kitchen is proof that a major kitchen renovation can be done for less than $10,000 - without cutting corners.

The Oak Bay home she bought recently desperately needed a kitchen makeover. But a custom kitchen renovation, which typically starts at $30,000, was beyond her budget after the home purchase.

So she turned to the idea of redoing her whole kitchen with Ikea components to stretch her dollar.

"When I was in Vancouver I saw a lot of houses with Ikea kitchens," says Evans, who recently moved to Victoria from Vancouver. "They all looked good and, more importantly, they were within my budget."

It cost her about $5,000 for new cabinets for her kitchen, which is about 3.3 metres square (11 feet by 11 feet). Other costs include labour for installation and the services of an interior designer to refine her idea.

The interior designers who helped Evans with her design didn't need to be swayed. Both of them have Ikea kitchens themselves.

"I don't live in a high-end house, so I just couldn't justify the cost of a high-end kitchen," says Heather Draper, principal designer of Bespoke Designs. "I got way more value redoing my kitchen with cabinets from Ikea."

She says a kitchen can be done beautifully without having to spend a lot of money.

"Its may be more challenging, but in the end more rewarding, to make an inexpensive kitchen look fabulous," she says. "It's like doing a dream home on a budget."

The interior architectural designer at Bespoke Designs agrees.

"It takes more time to try to fit the same amount of amenities in a small kitchen," says Alexis Solomon, who has been with the design firm for three years. "But one has to be careful with overall esthetics, not just function."

She says although it may be easy to work with Ikea components, they have limited sizes to work with compared to conventional local kitchen cabinet manufacturers. A local manufacturer can offer cabinets in 7.6-centimetre (three-inch) increments, while Ikea offers only four pre-set (albeit the most popular) sizes to choose from.

This means the designers have to come up with some creative alternatives if a room doesn't precisely match the cabinets available.

"We sometimes take a cabinet and lay it on its side as a solution," says Solomon, a native Victorian. "We have to think outside the box, in a manner of speaking."

People are sometimes embarrassed to admit that they have budget kitchens. But the designers have a solution: They paint them and dress them up with different pulls or mouldings - everything possible to disguise their roots.

But people need not be embarrassed, says Draper.

"I have equipped penthouses with Ikea components. They may be inexpensive but the quality is very good. Take the door hinges and drawer slides. These are parts that usually break down and give people headaches," she says. "But Ikea has some of the best working parts. This is what sets their kitchens apart from the rest."

The cabinets themselves are simple enough to assemble but the installation part can be tricky and time-consuming.

"It can be overwhelming for some people," says Anthony Stubbs, co-owner of IKAN Installations, who exclusively installs Ikea kitchens. "We have the tools and, more importantly, we have perfected the technique to get the job done right."

He says the advantage of Ikea kitchens is the fact that the Vancouver store usually has most of the components in stock. That means he can go over at any time to pick up the kitchen cabinet pieces.

Installation can be completed in as little as a week after he receives a deposit on the project, he says. Typically he buys the units, transports them over to the Island, assembles them offsite and then installs them in the client's house.

His company used to do renovations, but the demand for kitchens has meant the company does only Ikea installations fulltime. His services include kitchen design, a 3-D rendering of the completed design, shipping, assembly of the cabinets, the demolition the existing kitchen, if needed, and installation of the new one.

Evans is so happy with her kitchen renovation that she is redoing her bathroom - with Ikea components of course.

parrais@timescolonist.com
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

CONDOS - Volumizing your small space

In the early ’80s, people who worked with designers lived in a world of Champagne wishes and caviar dreams. It was the late great design legend Mark Hampton who said that it wasn’t until the ’80s that a decorator entered through the front door and not the trade entrance. But these days, it seems like everyone is working with a designer.

In fact, I can’t remember a week passing without someone asking, “Can you give me the name of a good designer?”

The answer: Yes. As a design editor at Style at Home magazine, I have worked with hundreds of the best and brightest as well as rising stars.

From mansions where you can park 10 cars in the entrance, to teeny nests where you’d barely have room to store a bicycle, I’m always awestruck by the way designers can manipulate space. A professional can make a sprawling space feel cozy and a small space feel, well, spacious.

You may be thinking, “There isn’t much a designer can do with my 500-square-foot condo.” Or, a small space is easy to furnish because you need a lot less. Au contraire. Tiny spaces can be the toughest to design, but somehow designers have a knack for making them feel larger. On one of the first photo shoots I assisted at, designer David Overholt divided a 400-sq.-ft. bachelor pad to give it a wall of storage including bar, office, bedroom, living area-cum-TV-watching spot, plus dining table. If you’ve ever lived in a bachelor pad, you know that’s a lot of function in a very small space.

I understand if you may not have the budget to go all Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, but there are so many capacities in which you can work with a designer, from consults to full-service design. There are even online services popping up all over the Web.

Croma Design, a full-service company owned by Amy Kent and Ryan Martin, recently opened a subsidiary company, Croma Express. Instead of driving all over the city, you go to their downtown Toronto studio, where you can view different Ikea cabinet doors alongside other hardware and finishes. With the help of one of their designers, you pull together the kitchen of your dreams. “Designing a kitchen can be overwhelming; we help people make the right choices and upgrades to make it look like a million bucks,” Mr. Martin says. Croma Express focuses primarily on kitchens. “But we also open our design library of wallpaper, paint, fabric and other samples for those working on other rooms,” he says. Shopping all over the city is time-consuming. “Having everything under one roof with a designer to guide you in the right direction saves multiple trips and hassle.”

The right fit: Find someone whose style is simpatico with your own. If you like ultra-white spaces, you may want to rethink working with someone whose portfolio is filled with red floral sofas and bouillon fringe. Plus, there are designers who shift from mod to trad with ease, but be sure to see examples of their work.

Go online, extract names from decorating magazines, watch the daytime TV shows that feature designers’ work, and, of course, ask your friends. If a designer you love is too busy to take on your project, ask them to recommend someone.

One-time consultation: Next, determine the level of service you need. One-time two-hour consults can cost $500 and are for people who have done their research and have images of furniture, paint chips and fabric swatches. If you know what you like, but have specific decorating questions or you’re worried you’ll make a mistake, a consult will give you the affirmation you need. (Tip: If you can’t remember what colour underwear you’re wearing, then take notes. Two hours of decorating talk is a lot to take in.)

Many designers don’t give consults because it’s difficult to download in two hours everything that one needs to do to a space. Moreover, one thing that’s guaranteed in the land of design is that something will go wrong. The chandelier will be too small for the dining table or the floors will have been stained the wrong colour.

Every time something goes wrong or changes, 10 other things have to change, too. It’s the domino effect.

And two hours of consultation will not really equip you for a soup-to-nuts makeover.

Designer floor plan: This is ideal for anyone confident in his or her style and colour choices, but who wants a furniture roadmap. Explain your needs to a good designer and he or she can give you a floor plan that tells you where your furniture should go and what the maximum sizes should be. This will prevent you from buying a sectional that will block both entrances of your living room (ahem, not that I know anyone who did that a long time ago).

For those who like to do the legwork, a designer Web package will give you a paint-by-numbers design plan. Online packages range from floor plans to complete room designs. You are required to fill out a questionnaire about your decorating and lifestyle, as well as submit a photograph, and you’ll need to measure your space and send inspirations shots. Prices range from $350 to $2,500.

Full-service design works just like the full-service gas station. A designer will take care of everything, you just have to sign off. “It alleviates stress for people who don’t have the time or expertise to pull their space together,” says designer Kimberley Seldon of Kimberley Seldon Design Group, who offers many different levels of design. Like anything that makes your life easier, good design costs money. Hourly rates start at $125 per hour for a junior designer. A senior designer with a well-known reputation can command $325 per hour.

“Busy working couples understand the value of having something taken care of properly,” Ms. Seldon says. Indeed, a designer will pay attention to every detail, help you make purchases that last, save you from costly mistakes, and project-manage (ever try to arrange a plumber, cabinet maker, electrician and painter in that order?).

Off to tour great gardens of France

Today, I am in Paris to lead a 14-day tour of some of the great gardens of France, including Versailles, Villandry, Vaux le Viscount and Monet’s garden at Giverny.

Most of the people on the tour flew with me out of Vancouver yesterday afternoon and arrived here early this morning.

You can follow our exploits on my In the Garden blog at www.vancouversun.com. I will try to file photos and updates every day.

I will also be tweeting whenever the opportunity presents itself. Internet access is sometimes a hit and miss affair in Europe.

We started today by pausing on our way to the hotel near the Champs Elysees to see one of the loveliest rose gardens in Paris – Parc de Bagatelle, which has more than 10,000 roses, as well as a spectacular landscape laid out for a small fortune in breakneck speed back in the 1700s.

This garden is also home to France’s national collection of clematis, but at this time of year it has particularly terrific displays of peonies, irises and masses of spring-flowering bulbs.

I thought it would be the perfect place to have a spectacular garden welcome to Paris in May.

Tomorrow, we start the tour proper with a visit to the famous gardens at Château Vaux le Viscount.

This will be a wonderful introduction to the formal 17th-century landscape style of Andre Le Notre, one of France’s most brilliant garden designers. (He was also responsible for Versailles and Tuileries gardens, among other iconic landmark sites.)

One of the things I’ll be pointing out at Viscount is the superb way that Le Notre created stunning visual effects through the dramatic placement of cascades and fountains and his clever, artistic use of hidden distortions in perspective.

From Viscount, we go to Château Courances to see the 500-year-old “garden of mirrors” on the west side of the Fontainebleau forest.

Viscount is a massive landscape, covering 90 hectares, with a 16th-century castle at its centre. It gets its nickname from the fact that the garden has many pools and ponds that mirror the sky and bring the movement of white clouds to the ground.

My tour is designed so that we have a minimum number of hotel moves; we dip in and out of Paris for the first few days and then skip down to Tours.

The international Jardins, Jardin festival, featuring all the latest and best in European garden design ideas and products, will be on in the Tuileries while we are there. It’s kind of like an informal Chelsea. A bonus.

In Paris, we’ll take time to visit Parc Floral de Vincennes, a favourite with Parisians and a perfect example of what a beautiful public garden should be.

We’ll also being going to Jardin des Plantes, France’s most prestigious botanical garden and Parc Andre Citroen, an ultra-modern, chic garden, brilliantly designed by a team of landscape architects on the site of the Citroen factory in the 1990s.

From Paris, we will head down to the Loire valley to the Tours area, pausing on the way to visit Chartres with its magnificent cathedral.

We’ll start the next day at the world-famous garden of Villandry with its exquisite geometric exactitude and clipped boxwood parterres planted in almost hypnotic patterns.

For a change of pace, we’ll also take in the gardens at La Chatonniere. This series of 12 interconnecting gardens has been described as “a jewelled necklace adorning a pretty woman’s neck”.

Each garden has its own distinct theme: Abundance, Intelligence, Science, Romance, Fragrance, Silence, Delights, Elegance, Senses, Dance, Luxuriance, and the Essence of France.

I am expecting time spent here to have as big an impact on the group as Versailles, Villandry or Giverny.

The owners of Chatonniere say the gardens have the ability to “awaken the senses, evoking feelings of wonder, charm and contemplation.”

At Château Chaumont, we have the lucky timing to take in a special annual international garden event.

Every year, this fairy tale château hosts a display of between 20 and 30 top themed gardens. More than 300 submissions are received from various countries, particularly England, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Japan, but only about 30 are ever accepted.

The theme this year is: Gardens of the Future; the Art of Happy Biodiversity.

I picked this stop partly because I had heard that it is such a great place to see new, creative ways of using plants, as well as all sorts of innovative, even spectacularly avant-garde, landscape design.

We, of course, will taste local wines, such as Sancerre, and there is no better place to do this than while visiting a garden, so we will be dropping into Jardin de Marie in the beautiful village of Neuilly-en-Sancerre.

This will be the opposite experience to the grandeur of Viscount and Villandry – an intimate, small (three-hectare) garden full of enchanting components, including an orchard garden, typical French kitchen garden and graceful pond and white garden.

Iris on Laurier - a one stop for elegance

I LOVE RUE LAURIER!


MONTREAL - Boutiques are the saving grace for many a Quebec designer, and Iris Setlakwe’s new namesake store is graceful indeed.

Marking the 10th anniversary of her collection, Setlakwe has opened a retail shop on the western edge of Laurier Ave., stocking her well-edited womenswear in an airy salon setting with black velvet French antique chairs, black chandelier and polished cement floors, designed by Line Thibault.

“For the first time, people can see the full collection,’’ she said. “It’s to make wardrobing easy for women. Everything goes together.”

The clothes are meant for the businesswoman, age 30 and up, she said, and can meet all of her needs, from professional to casual to chic.

Hanging on the racks are lined jersey sack dresses in black, pale grey and salmon ($245); an easy boyfriend jacket in the palest blush ($325); a flirty silk chiffon top in black or white ($185); and a linen sailor stripe dress ($375).

Dresses are her biggest sellers, and Setlakwe herself was wearing a tulip-skirted black dress with three-quarter sleeves that flatters the figure well.

“I always talk about elegance,’’ she said when asked to define her line’s signature look.

“There are so many trends on the market,” she added, saying women sometimes get lost and dress in clothes that are too young and inappropriate.

Setlakwe will spend Thursdays from 2 to 8 p.m. in the store. “The idea is to listen to the women and dress her according to her lifestyle,’’ she said.

Fabrics come mainly from Italy, and everything is made in Montreal. So if there’s a need to restock a popular style, Setlakwe said, she can do so in three weeks.

Iris Setlakwe boutique is at 1127 Laurier Ave. W.
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Iris+Laurier+stop+shop+elegance/4805359/story.html#ixzz1OXvjHlLS

AISLIN CARTOON - JUNE 4TH, 2011

Don't you love Aislin? He just gets everything right.... our roads and highways are such a mess in this province. The roads in Hudson (in particular - since I work there) are terrible - roads are probably in better shape in Bosnia! HA! LOL!

House profile: Craggy Meets Contemporary

A two-sided fireplace divides the kitchen area and the living room.


A two-sided fireplace divides the kitchen area and the living room.
Photograph by: Allen McInnis, Montreal Gazette

Never judge a book by its cover or a home by the face it presents to the street.

At first glance, the residence at 64 Ballantine Ave. N., in the heart of Montreal West, is a striking but relatively modest example of the craggy 19th-century architectural effect known as Scottish baronial (think of a Lilliputian Royal Victoria Hospital).

On closer inspection, however — preferably at night, under the pretext of walking the family dog — a large, lit window at ground level reveals an intriguing space that might serve as a guy's clubhouse or after-hours bar. What is going on with this place?

Gain access, and all is revealed. The result of seven years' labour by architectural designer Glenn Harrison and his firm, Bildhaus, as both the Harrison family home and "an experiment for my business to play around with stuff," 64 Ballantine has one foot lovingly in its craftsman heritage, and the other firmly in the 21st century.

"The house built itself. It dictated what it was going to be," said the fiercely articulate, borderline obsessive Harrison during a walkabout of the five-level home he and his talented team of workers have re-imagined, reconfigured and renovated from the studs up, beginning in 2004 and still stressing the fine details through this past winter.

Indeed, so unrecognizable is the house, its original owner did not know whether to go up or down during a recent visit. We're going down, into that intriguing space that can be glimpsed from the street.

It's a kitchen, if kitchen remains the word to use for a site defined by an enormous work area, and a raised, double-sided fireplace that straddles kitchen and the dining room-living room beyond.

The vast granite counter is used to cook at a professional grade, an earlier Harrison occupation before choosing a hammer and computer.

"It's a big, open space," he admits, "but everything you want is within two steps."

He and his family, the long-suffering lawyer and construction cohort Mary Jeanne Phelan and their two young sons, gravitate toward the kitchen, where as many as 15 friends have pitched in cooking without killing each other.

Tools of their trade include a Liebherr refrigerator hidden behind oak doors, Bosch wall oven and Miele dishwasher. All occupy the very highest end of the appliance market and are included in the asking price.

Participants in the food prep ritual find plenty of room to consume what they've created, either at the capacious dining room table or in a family kitchen nook.

Heating here and in virtually every room, is via hotwater radiant floors, and they're mighty cosy in woolsocked feet on a cold day. Materials that conceal it are, variously, quartersawn oak with a tight grain and tiger stripe, ceramic, travertine and tile.

Swing open French doors from the dining area, and you're on a new 16-by-32foot cedar deck invisible from street level. During appropriate months, you can use the outdoor food preparation counter with two stainless-steel sinks and a natural gas BBQ outlet. Also on the ground floor is a laundry room with a second dishwasher — that was dinner dishes for 15, after all — a larch-lined wine cellar and a powder room.

This conviviality is all very well, but what about a place to sleep? Look up. Look way up. The second floor contains a den with piano Harrison calls his music room and an airy master bedroom with six windows, ensuite bathroom with two-person shower, and walk-in with teak-fitted cabinetry. There's also a second bedroom.

Move up a short flight, and the third floor holds the three remaining bedrooms, all with built-in cupboards and bookcases.

OK, so there's plenty of room to crash, but what about making a living? That would involve a descent: past the den, past the new solid-oak front door, past the mud room with built-in cubbies, past the cooking-living-dining area, past the lead-covered original door to the indoor garage, and down to a 400-square-foot area that multi-functions as family room, entertainment centre and home office.

It was the last room finished and is up to code for this century and ones to come. "Bombproof," is how Harrison describes it. Tech wonks will be happy to know its features include recessed lighting, low-voltage wiring for a home-theatre projector or wall-mount television, and HDMI wiring for 3-D and Surround Sound. For those of a less digital bent, it's a room to call home.

All of this has come at a price. When Harrison and Phelan first moved in, they camped out in the attic while the rest of the place was gutted. That lasted a year. As mentioned earlier, work on his dream project was ongoing until recently, and may still be ongoing in Harrison's busy mind.

His is a brain so engaged in the conception and creation of historically sympathetic but completely contemporary domestic living spaces, he wants to do it all over again. But this time, he's going to do it in the Eastern Townships.

johngriffin@bell.net
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette