ENHANCING CURB APPEAL

Curb Appeal: Neutral paint adds elegance; flowers add flair
By Suzanne Rowe 
The Gazette March 11, 2014

A retired couple from Laval enjoy the location of their bungalow. This home, in which they've raised their children, is filled with precious memories.

The stone-grey shingles were in good condition. I felt that by painting the two pipes and the metal flashing at the base of the chimney in the identical shade of the roof and in a flat finish, these details would look less obvious. The white siding and other white elements were in perfect harmony with the neutral coloration of the beautiful brickwork. With time, these components may look a bit dingy. If so, they ought to be resurfaced with a few coats of exterior acrylic paint in a flat finish to rejuvenate their brightness.

The reddish orange accent on the posts conjured a distracting effect and gave these banal parts too much importance. In most cases, columns ought to reflect the same hue as the windows and fascias. After removing the third beam that was leaning on the corner of the wall and centring the second post between the small windows, the trio, as well as the new linear planks above, will be painted in a crisp white. The colour emphasis will now be provided by the freshly painted cranberry door, which is the new focal point.

A custom-made flower box would measure the entire length of the large widow and at least 20 centimetres high. It will be opaque stained in a dark warm grey tone in a soft sheen. The louvres as well as a tall but narrow vessel would reflect the same coloration. The container will be set near the entrance and host red annuals and climbing greenery. Our homeowners enjoy their well-groomed rock garden. Although being a welcoming feature on the side of the driveway, it is pretty much a secret landscape from the front view.

It could afford to flow more toward the centre lot in a curvy paisley form. The two main beds were timidly connected to each other with a slim strip of soil in the middle. I propose to exaggerate the outline into a more dramatic arched shape. I have redistributed the owners' oddly placed but meticulously pruned evergreens inside the two convex spaces. Alongside the stretch of the porch walk, a sequence of Buxus persistent shrubs will permanently camouflage the base of the floor without ever visually encroaching over the front portal. Bright lime and yellow foliage from some perennials and shrubs will provide an interesting interplay with a few purplish Cimicifuga Brunette and the red and gold petals of the Stella Ruby Hemerocallis. A snowy Clematis will embrace the newly painted white standing light fixture. Strings of transparent fishing lines, installed on this post will motivate the plant to climb. Inside the bed on the right, a miniature white blossoming tree will reside among three different-sized grey boulders. Before all ground cover has a chance to blanket the soil, a generous layer of black mulch is recommended between plantings.

Finally, the rotten gate at the end of the driveway will be substituted with a new one in which planks are of equal height and closely fitted together. This will ensure more privacy from the street perspective.

These simple upgrades on the facade and the enhancement of the garden composition will make our residents fall in love with their home all over again.

Vegetation (left to right):

- Clematis Duchess of Edinburgh (climber, double white blooms, cut back low over a set of fat bulbs every spring)

- Hemerocallis Stella Ruby (perennials, red with yellow heart, both beds)

- Spirea japonica White Gold (low shrubs, white blooms, yellow leaves, both beds)

- Buxus Green Velvet (owners' recuperated shrubs in both beds and new bushes alongside the porch walk)

- Cimicifuga ramose Brunette (perennials, white candles, deep purple, to hide white ramp and front of brick strip on the right bed)

- Owners' Thuja (small globular and egg-shaped evergreens, throughout beds)

- Hosta Sum and Substance (perennials, white blooms, yellow lime, in line with left window, disliked by slugs)

- Lamium maculatum White Nancy (perennials, white blooms, silver white with green edge, ground cover, both beds)

- Heucherella Stoplight (perennials, white blooms, lime leaves with a dark red vein, base of Buxus hedge, compost in spring, thick layer of black mulch)

- Impatiens Wallerana Dazzler Cranberry (annuals, red blooms, all containers, do not over-fertilize)

- Hedera helix (cascading greenery, green or variegated, take indoors for winter, return outdoors in spring)

- Hakanechloa macra Aureola (ornamental grasses, yellow ribbons, green stripe, left of right bed)

- Onoclea sensibilis (ferns, soft green, copper in fall, beneath centre of flower box)

- Euonymus fortunei Canadale Gold (low persistent shrub, green and gold leaves, front of right bed)

- Malus Sir Lancelot (small crab apple tree, white blooms, centred in the right side of bed away from window view)

- Hydrangea arborescens Annabelle (shrub, white blooms, front right of Cimicifuga, right bed)

2013 CALGARY REAL ESTATE BOARD FORECAST

CREB® forecasts moderate sales, price growth

 The full forecast report is available here.

Calgary, Jan. 16, 2013 – The resale housing market in Calgary and area will see moderate sales and house price growth in 2013, CREB® said today at its annual forecast.

Sales growth in the city is expected to ease to 2.2 per cent this year, with house prices rising by 2.9 per cent.

“Slower growth trends in employment combined with lower migration estimates will impact sales growth across all resale sectors, and, as listings continue to decline, this will further dampen sales growth, particularly in the single-family market,” Ann-Marie Lurie, CREB®’s chief economist, said at the 2013 CREB® Forecast Conference & Tradeshow. “However, as the overall market remains well supplied, prices will continue to grow but not at the levels seen in 2012.”

In 2012, Calgary’s single-family market recorded sales growth of nearly 15 per cent. With a decline in the level of new single-family listings, that is expected to ease to 1.8 per cent this year. Prices are estimated to rise by three per cent.

Becky Walters, president of CREB®’s 2013 board of directors, said the city and surrounding areas are seeing good resale activity.

“We have a nice, balanced market, and it’s expected to see some growth this year,” Walters said. “Although some big markets in Canada are stumbling, Calgary is hot on the heels of a year of recovery, with the forecast saying the market is going to stay in positive territory.”

In the condominium market, sales are expected to increase by three per cent, with a moderate price appreciation of 2.4 per cent for condo apartments and 2.8 per cent for condo townhouses.

Although the prediction is for a “balanced” resale housing market, Lurie said there are numerous risks in the market.

“The largest risk in our market is related to concerns in the oil sector,” she said. “They are facing pipeline constraints and lack of access to more diverse markets, impacting the price they receive for their oil. If the discounts on our oil persist, this clearly could impact the job sector and, ultimately, the housing market.”

A PORTRAIT OF A CARPORT

Improve the dark, dingy look of a carport
Wide-spaced trellis planted with vines adds interest
By Suzanne Rowe
The Montreal Gazette

Here lives a beautiful young family.

I chose this house mostly because of its carport. People don't quite know how to improve this dingy space.

Aside from the obvious option to convert it to a garage, a less-expensive alternative is to close off the right side and the back with horizontal stained wood planks leaving a door for the backyard. My option is to build a widespaced trellis from ceiling to ground all the way to the back. Stained white and decorated with one natural climbing vine, these psychological walls will provide a perception of privacy while adding ornamental value. A white enclosed ceiling would complete the newer and cleaner area. Adding two hefty square posts on each side of the car port will redefine the structure and give it visual strength.

I've also incorporated two similar posts right under the floating triangular shaped roof, giving it a sense of solidity, depth and interesting architectural detail. The screen door has to go into retirement.

A tall wooden flower box stained the same tint as the bricks would bring a different texture to the facade. A smaller shallower one could also do the trick just fine if respecting the width of the window above.

If, in the future the roof requires replacement, using a colour similar to the bricks would give the optical illusion that the house is taller. A very dark chocolate brown for the roof could be appealing if the front door is also painted the same colour in a semi-gloss finish.

A walkway from the street is a good addition to the one near the driveway. Two big square slabs would be placed side by side to form a rectangle. They would be repeated all the way but leaving in between a gap of about one third of the size of one tile. To soften the lines, tiny mosslike ground cover would spread throughout the spacing and bloom with miniature white flowers in June. A hedge consisting of lovely white Campanulas perennials would great their guests to their lovely home.

On the left half and in front of the foundation, the lawn will be removed to form a rectangular-shaped flower bed.

Three evergreen shrubs could be planted to furnish the new area under the triangular roof area and at the same time hide the awkward brick transition.

On the left corner, three pyramidal evergreens frame one side of the house while making it look wider.

A handsome shrub on a stem is at its best when displaying its snowball-shaped clusters of flowers. Any small ornamental tree with white flowers would do.

For a different and more dramatic look - budget permitting - an evergreen Juniperus Scopularum "Tollenson's Blue Weeping'' would steal the show.

Vegetation (from left to right):

- (3) Thuja Occidentalis 'Smaragd' (evergreens)
- (1-3) Heuchera 'Palace Pur-ple' (perennials)
- (3-5) Hemerocallis X Hy-brida 'Apricot Beauty' (perennials)
- Weigela Samba (shrub)
- (3) Taxus X Media 'Hicksii' (evergreens)
- Campanula Carpatica (per-ennials, white, hedge)
- Arenaria Verna (ground cover)
- Tropaeolum Majus (an-nuals, flower box)
- Viorna on stem (small ornamental shrub)
- Parthenocissus Quinque-folia (climbing vine)

STAGE RIGHT?

MARKET READY
By TIM McKEOUGH
New York Times September 28, 2011

Q. Our old apartment is sitting empty, and not selling. Is it worth the money to hire someone to stage it?

A. Staging an apartment — adding furniture and accessories to make it look lived in — can be expensive. But you may be able to cover your costs, and then some, by creating a more appealing environment.

“I won’t let people come on the market empty if I can help it,” said Deanna Kory, a senior vice president at the Corcoran Group, who has used staging to help sell apartments for more than a decade.

Ms. Kory, who has staged apartments on her own and worked with professional staging companies, said renting a hand-picked selection of furniture and arranging it with accessories will often speed up a sale and generate a higher selling price. Generally, she has found that sellers with empty apartments can increase their selling price by “at least 5 to 10 times the investment you’re going to make” in staging, she said.

For instance, if you put in $10,000, it should yield between $50,000 and $100,000 more in profit than an apartment sold empty, she said.

But, she added, “There are good stagers and not-so-great stagers.”

“You have to get recommendations,” Ms. Kory said. “If they have a good track record, they should be able to tell you stories and show you some photos.”

One stager she has worked with is Sid Pinkerton, who runs a company called From Drab to Fab. Mr. Pinkerton has been in business since 2003, and he estimates that he has staged over a thousand apartments in New York City during that time.

One of the primary reasons for staging, he said, is that potential buyers often have difficulty understanding the proportions of empty rooms.

“Most Americans are what I call ‘visually challenged,’ ” Mr. Pinkerton said. “When rooms have no furniture in them, you have no size spec. It raises the question, ‘Will my furniture fit in here?’ The whole point of staging is to answer those questions before they even arise.”

This is especially true, he noted, when it comes to bedrooms. “They might feel small when they’re empty, when in fact they will very easily hold a queen-size bed, nightstand and dresser.”

While every job is different, Mr. Pinkerton said his services for staging an empty apartment “can be as little as $5,000, but up to $15,000 and more,” depending on factors like size and layout. Those figures include furniture rental; if you add some of your own furniture to the mix, the fee would be lower.

The other option, if you’re confident in your design skills, is to do it yourself. Companies like CORT (888-360-2678 or cort.com) and Churchill Furniture Rental (800-941-7458 or furniturerent.com) carry a range of pieces catering to different tastes, available for short-term rental.

Just remember the goal. “You’re trying to appeal to the baseline needs of the general public,” Mr. Pinkerton said, not create a space that reflects your personal style. “Staging is the complete counterbalance to interior design.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/garden/staging-an-apartment-market-ready.html?ref=marketready

Images featured is the work of Bloom Property Stylists in Calgary, Alberta

GOOD ADVICE WHEN SELLING!

A guy's guide to a spiffy abode
Barbara Mahany
Chicago Tribune October 31, 2011

We’re not pointing fingers or anything, but let’s just say we might have strolled into more than one apartment in our time in which the fellow in charge of cleaning was, well, clearly otherwise preoccupied.

Exhibit One might have been the kitchen sink, piled high with a good month’s worth of dirty dishes, spaghetti sauce now permanently splattered to the wall, a la Jackson Pollock. Or maybe it was whatever lurked behind the bathroom door. And made us slam the door, dash down the hall and bang on some stranger’s door in search of a salle de bain not quite so, um, pungent.

Fact is, plenty of males we know need help in the cleanup department. And we are here, mop and dustbin at the ready, to leap to the rescue. We enlisted the expert advice of Nicole Sforza, senior home editor at Real Simple magazine and a clean freak who knows her way around all the nooks, crannies and dust holes that might trip up a lesser soul.

Herewith, our Guy’s Guide to Housecleaning, headlining the top 10 tips for a spick-and-span abode. Or, as Sforza put it: “How to minimize the gross factor.”

1. DITCH THE TOILET BRUSH, DUDE. No really. You do not want that nasty thing festering in the holder, over there in the corner. “Minimize the concept altogether,” says Sforza. Go with disposable toilet brushes. Swish, and ditch. (Or ditch ‘em altogether: Next time you find yourself in need of Alka-Seltzer, well, your toilet bowl could use two, too. Just pop ‘em in the bowl, let the bubbles do their thing, and 20 minutes later, flush it all away.)

2. HIDE THE GOODS. Keep a bottle of all-purpose cleaner in every room in your house, but hide it. Under the couch. Beneath the sink. You name it.

3. CUT THE BIG SCREEN FIXATION. Do not, do not spritz any sort of cleaner on your big screen, boys. Ditto for the computer screen or any electronic gizmos that sport a dusty patina. Instead, next time you haul a load of laundry out of the dryer, grab the old dryer sheet (yes, the one that just came out of the dryer) and wipe down your screens, all of ‘em.

4. BE STILL MY DUSTER HEART. Yes, the hand-held shaggy-haired wandy thingy is the next best thing to that genie in a bottle. You don’t need any spray. Just swipe the duster on any surface and you’ll clear the decks of dust. But beware: When the duster starts to turn a greyish colour (say, how you look when you glance in the mirror on the morning after a big night out), it’s time to toss it out.

5. LEAVE IT WHERE YOU’LL TRIP OVER IT. The tile cleaner, that is. Tuck it between the shower curtain and the shower liner (if you have one), so you’ll remember to spritz the tile walls every time you suds up.

6. HIDE ALL BUT THE ESSENTIALS, when it comes to the bathroom at least. Toothbrush? Toothbrush holder? Razor? Rusty can of shaving cream? Why do you think medicine cabinets come with doors? Shove ‘em back there, and forget ‘em. If you’re lucky, no nosy body will stick her nose in there and sniff out your unsightly ways.

7. VROOM, VROOM GOES THE VACUUM. Just because you have thick rugs or shaggy carpet and can’t see the dirt, don’t think it’s not down there. Plug in the vacuum, and suck it up. Sforza’s tips: Don’t pretend you have no vacuum; remember to overlap your path; and a mini hand vac never hurts — you can swipe up a rug in no time.

8. THE BATHTUB. We could spend weeks on this sorry pit, but let’s start easy. If you’ve remembered to put a hair trap over the drain, know this: You do have to clean out the hairs. And pouring a shot of white vinegar and a clump of baking soda down that drain will never ever be a bad idea. Have at it, Mr. Volcano Man.

9. MOVE OVER, MICROWAVE GRUNGE. You’re gonna love this: Fill a microwave-safe bowl with water (a squirt of lemon scores you extra points); zap for five minutes, till the inside of the ‘wave is all steamy. Wipe it down with paper towel and you’re back in business, splatter-free.

10. TIME TO HIT THE KITCHEN SINK. Once you suds through the month’s worth of dirty plates and bowls, you will notice that there is a sink down there. It will need a shine. Take half a lemon and swipe it all over your sink’s surface, and if — and only if — you have a garbage disposal, make it purr: Stuff a half lemon down there and crank it up. Your kitchen will smell like a citrus grove. Well, maybe.

AND NOW FOR SOME TRICKS TO GET YOU IN THE CLEANIN’ GROOVE:

—INVITE FOLKS OVER. Yes, sir, surest way to force you to clean is to consider the faces of your friends when they realize what a slob you really are. Sorry, tough love is the only way sometimes.

—SPEED CLEAN. Set a time limit, something tolerable, say, 20 minutes. Crank the timer. Rush around like a crazy man. See how much real estate you can cover before the gong goes off.

—STICK TO COMMERCIAL BREAKS. Got a long night in front of the big screen? Well, put those commercials to good use, and commit to cleaning while the ads whir by. By the time you click it off for the night, your home sweet home could be shinin’.

—A GREAT PLAYLIST IS A HOUSECLEANER’S BEST FRIEND. We’ll let you compile your own.

Photo By: Christian Yanchula

THE SIMPLE LIFE

Small, simple, smart
By Pedro Arrais
National Post · Sept. 16, 2011

The combination of an aging population, first-time buyers and rising real estate costs has created the trend toward downsized living areas, with the resulting challenge of how to do more with less.

Smaller rooms have folks rethinking their furniture needs. Disposing of some items is an option, but the solution many people are turning to is multi-functional furniture.

Some pieces have long been multifunctional. In many homes, a dining room chair is moved to another room - a home office, for example - to serve as an occasional chair until needed for large dinner parties.

In many households, the dining table functions as a task desk by the family before and after dinner.

"People expect their furniture to do more," says Dana Wright, merchandising manager for La-Z-Boy Furniture. "They are looking for a simpler life."

She says the trend toward multi-functional furniture began when home sizes began to get smaller. Interior changes, such as a move away from separate living and family rooms to a great room in houses, created a need to reduce visual clutter.

Nowadays, ottomans invariably double as storage bins, and coffee tables have drawers for remotes and magazines.

"It is an ongoing evolution," Ms. Wright says. "At one time there was only a television to contend with. Now we have large flatscreen televisions and gaming consoles. All those components and controllers need to be hidden away."

It is easier to adapt to small living spaces if the furniture is smaller as well. An average sofa is about 216 centimetres long. A condo-size sofa can be 198 centimetres.

"Manufacturers typically put straight and narrow armrests instead of wider, more traditional rests on condo-size couches. That makes the difference in width not that noticeable but it fits better in smaller spaces," says Love Dodd of Dodd's Furniture in Victoria. "Some bottoms flip up to reveal storage underneath, some have a chaise on one end and others can recline. It is all about catering to different needs."

Even the traditional sofa bed, the original multi-functional piece of modern furniture, has evolved.

"Our hide-a-bed couch separates into two chairs, which can face each other, turn and swivel," says Chris Morton, assistant manager at Nood Furniture, a chain of stores in Western Canada. "We carry furniture with more European sizing, with smaller dining chairs and slipper chairs with no arms."

Also in an effort to declutter, people are looking for elegant solutions to recharging their electronic devices. Complex docking stations with hidden power bars are now built into bedroom night stands or kitchen sideboards.

Furniture is not the only item that is being asked to do more. Increasingly, interior designers are also being tasked with coming up with multipurpose rooms.

"It comes up all the time," says Cydney Hellier Gray, principal of an interior design business that bears her name in Victoria. "The classic scenario is for a condo's only extra room to be a TV room, a den, an office and a guest room when called upon."

She advises people to build more custom cabinetry to take advantage of dead space in a room. But she also warns multi-functional pieces should be used in proportion to a room's dimensions.

"I am not a fan of wall beds," she says. "They tend to make a room look smaller because of their bulk." She tries to keep furniture less than 91 cm in height because it visually preserves a sense of volume in a room when a person can see the wall. Any higher and that piece dominates the room because it eats up a person's sight lines and makes a small room look smaller. She says Murphy beds work better in larger spaces.

"It all comes down to a sense of balance and proportion." PH