Measures set to ease traffic congestion during Mercier Bridge closings

MONTREAL - Montreal’s summer traffic woes just got a lot worse.

But authorities are taking measures to mitigate congestion caused by the sudden partial closing of the Mercier Bridge.

Lane directions are being changed and more South Shore commuter trains and buses are on the way. They’re also considering opening to car traffic the ice bridge next to the Champlain Bridge.

Here are the measures:

Mercier lane changes

The part of the bridge that normally takes motorists to Montreal remains open, but lanes on it will switch directions at various points:

- From midnight to noon, both its lanes will be used for Montreal-bound traffic only.

- From noon to midnight, both its lanes will be used for traffic to the South Shore.

- On weekends, it will be used as a two-way road, one lane in each direction.

There will be short periods during configuration changes when the entire span will be closed.

Commuter trains

The Agence métropolitaine de transport will add six weekday departures on its weekday-only Candiac commuter train line as of Thursday morning, thanks to the cooperation of Canadian Pacific, which owns the tracks and bridge used by the line.

New departures from Candiac will leave at 6:35 a.m., 8:25 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. From Lucien L’Allier station, new departures will leave at 9:35 a.m., 3:55 p.m. and 5:55 p.m.

These are in addition to the 12 daily weekday trains on the Candiac line.

The AMT is also adding a total of 380 additional parking spots at its Candiac, St. Constant and Ste. Catherine train stations.

Buses

The AMT said regional transit authorities on the South Shore will add buses to and from Montreal. Details have not been worked out yet.


Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Measures+ease+traffic+congestion+during+Mercier+Bridge+closings/4952466/story.html#ixzz1PXRgyRhO

Martha Stewart moves outside

Check out my twitter account.
https://twitter.com.DianeLaflamme

Martha Stewart is working hard so you can have a nice backyard.

No, the reigning queen of domesticity is not hunched over, feverishly weeding your lawn as you read this. But her goal to make all things beautiful has given the masses access to chic and affordable outdoor furniture and accessories.

The business magnate talks about what’s important in outdoor furniture in a conversation with the Citizen’s Paula McCooey.

To stay in touch with her Canadian partners at Home Depot, the American business magnate and media personality was in Toronto Monday doing what she does best — multi-tasking.

In classic Martha Stewart fashion she was zipping around the city, conducting an interview on Canada AM at the crack of dawn, meeting with Home Depot employees about her new line of products, lunching at trendy O&B, checking out Toronto’s high-end home furnishing stores Elte and Gingers, and visiting Jo-Ann and Michaels stores, where she carries her crafts line that includes her popular “glitter kits”. Oh, and then she whipped off an inspiring speech at Roy Thomson Hall for the Unique Lives & Experiences tour, an annual lecture series that also included comedienne Joan Rivers and Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert.

And in between all of that she squeezed in some time for the Citizen to discuss Home Depot and a partnership that began in January 2010.

“This has been a phenomenal partnership so far, and I expect it to continue to be very, very successful,” says Stewart, the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, a publishing giant that includes magazines, books, television and radio shows, along with merchandise.

Stewart says she works closely with six people on her design team to put her personal stamp on hundreds of different products, including her 15 styles of outdoor furniture that boasts everything from swivel rockers and conversation sets to party bars and umbrellas.

Stewart, who has homes in New York and Maine, understands the need to invest in stylish, yet lightweight outdoor furniture. The 69-year-old has seen a dramatic shift from the days, as recent as 10 or 20 years ago, when an outdoor chair could be as heavy as a concrete planter.

“It used to be cast iron furniture, remember? They started in the 19th century and then they were made by Fiske and other such foundries. And it was all cast iron, maybe wooden seats, but very uncomfortable and very heavy, year-round outdoor stuff. But now there are chaises, there are fixed cushions, a variety of water-resistant fabrics, and it’s a very different kind of thing. It’s outdoor living.”

She says people are trying very hard to spend more time outdoors, given the growing trend of screened-in rooms, and better furniture choices makes the prospect more exciting.

“People are realizing that they can enjoy outdoors as well as indoors, and the furniture is reflecting the more comfortable (choices).”

Stewart stressed that the goal at her company is to offer the best value, with comfort, stylish design and good construction — and keeping pieces lightweight.

“It is sturdy without being too heavy,” she says.

For those of us who are not, well, Martha Stewart, she and her team have produced indoor paint, furniture and decor that is colour co-ordinated with tags of colour icons to make mixing and matching simple and ensuring colours do not clash.

“We have a whole colour co-ordination scheme that is very, very useful for the homemaker,” says Stewart. “It enables people who think they are (design) challenged as interior designers to co-ordinate colour ... one of our paints, for example, (will match the) colouring of specific rugs, matched to a specific curtain, matched to a specific paint that we are using for kitchen cabinets.

The colour co-ordination extends to the outdoors “to a degree,” she says, and will continue to grow.

Does does Martha Stewart herself use her own products?

Absolutely.

She is now building a guest house on her sprawling property in Maine, where she is using her own furniture line and an array of blush-colour tones (in her low-VOC paint, of course) to create a welcoming atmosphere.

“I am creating a large tool workshop where I am using the entire Martha Stewart Living Craft Furniture line designed for the Home Decorators catalogue owned by The Home Depot. I use my paints exclusively for all painting projects. And I, of course, am building the interiors of a guest house using several items from the Martha Stewart Living Kitchens line.”

Stewart says there are some people who will walk into Home Depot and buy whole collections, however, she acknowledges many will want to refresh their decor in smaller steps.

“Many people have older pieces that they carry over from year to year. You can buy the table with two chairs, or you can buy a couch with two chairs and a coffee table. But many people do buy the whole set, and we try to keep a design at least for two seasons so that you can add to it.”

She says a great way to freshen an outdoor look on the cheap is to buy new cushions for older furniture if you’re not ready to make the leap to a new set. And her design advice for mixing and matching old and new? Pay attention to common tones.

“You can look for similar materials so you don’t have a clashing colour scheme,” she says. “And then you can get replacement cushions to refresh your older patio with some of the new things. And all of that is absolutely doable, so you don’t have to feel like you have to discard a whole set.”

Now that is a good thing.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

The times are a changing.....

OH WELL!

Sugar and spice in little girl's room

In the bedrooms they've created for their little girls, the interior-design team of Nicola Marc and Beth Gold have kept one decorating idea front and centre — these are spaces where older furnishings can take on a new life, where memorabilia is treasured and where favourite things are always on display.

The cradle is gone, and so is the changing table, but these rooms are easy to grow into, the designers say. Each room keeps sentimental touches from their infant days, but because some of the furniture could have been used in an adult space, the transition is smooth.

"As designers, we like to create an aesthetic and work with existing pieces," says Marc, who recently joined Gold in MarcGold Interiors.

In the sunny bedroom of Gold's three-year-old daughter Chloe, drapey white and blue linen curtains fit in with the white-framed prints made by Chloe's grandma. On her bed, a family piece from the 1950s, the white ruffled bedspread is covered with pillows and a quilt that was once Gold's.

"I'm using lots of pillows because Chloe uses it as a seating area," Gold says. "Not all bedrooms have room for seating."

The floral motif in the room is repeated in a vintage framed album cover, on the pillows, the area rug and the wallpaper that backs Chloe's pinboard on the wall just above her desk.

The pale colours in the room reflect the rest of the house, Gold says, where dashes of strong colour add playfulness — like the raspberry desk in Chloe's room. And the straw baskets filled with toys can easily be used for other functions in the rest of the house.

"We think about how we can make a fairly easy transition from one stage to another," Marc says. "It reflects our general approach to design."

"We want to give things new life by recovering and reframing," Gold says. "I'm soon going to reframe my husband's baby sampler for Chloe's room."

It's important, they say, to keep things fresh and to honour a child's history in their room — rather than reflecting the latest fad or cartoon character, their children's' room are designed to reflect the child.

The room, they believe, should fit into the overall design of the house, and they might even use an iconic piece, like a child-sized Barcelona chair — to add both a design-conscious and user-friendly element.

"We think you can make a child's bedroom fun and young without using child-themed paper or bedcovers," Gold says.

Marc's daughter, Clara, who just turned four, has a pegboard just above her bed, made from a recycled antique wooden shelf. Marc covered the backing with cork and trimmed it with bunting so that when Clara comes home from nursery school, she can put up her latest drawings.

She chose a fresh putty colour to paint the pegboard. "That colour looks so nice with blue," Marc says. "I like to do the unexpected with colour."

The fabric-covered single bed was found at a garage sale, its cane head and endboards broken. Now the pretty fabric used to cover them are also used in details on the pillow and on the fabric bolster, inside which Clara keeps toys from time to time.

A complimentary blue-striped linen with cream lining is used to make the canopy that drapes the bedhead.

"Kids love those whimsical touches," Marc says.

Because she wanted to keep the dark-stained hardwood floors yet achieve a cosy ambience, Marc added two champagne coloured sheepskin rugs on the floor, just below the painted bookcase full of Clara's favourite books and boxes to hold her dolls' clothes, books and toys.

On the spacious wall near the bookcase, Marc has created a grouping of her daughter's artwork and family photographs above a prettily framed series of letters, written to the newly born Clara by each of her grandparents.

Baskets of toys fill a corner of the room, while on butterfly hooks above Clara can hang favourite items. In the far corner, what was once her changing table has reverted to its original use as a white-painted chest of drawers.

Even the large cupboard in the room is put to play and storage use, covered with blue and white floral wallpaper, with organizational boxes and room to put away clothes and shoes.

"I love the huge scale of the flowers in this wallpaper," says Marc, who has labelled the boxes with various types of clothing.

"This gives Clara a chance to learn how to organize her things," she says.

donnanebenzahl@videotron.ca
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

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?).