LoveMyPlace.com - Renovation, Design, Real Estate

In my constant desire to acquaint you with all that is hip and hot, I assembled, during a recent western jaunt, a master list to help you shop when you find yourself in Canada’s western gate. (more…)

Summer is officially over, but that depressing fact can still be ignored for a little while longer, especially if you concentrate on squeezing every last moment of summery pleasure out of your deck or patio. (more…)

When Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Do what you can…where you can…with what you have…” he probably wasn’t talking about home décor—but it makes perfect sense. Working with what you have is the idea behind the emerging trend of interior redesign, making it an affordable, less time-consuming, alternative to traditional design. (more…)

As we all think more “green”, we become more conscious of how our daily habits affect the planet we share with all other living beings. For instance, once you become “conscious” of the life of a spider and learn to appreciate all the good these creatures bring with them to your home’s environment, you become aware that killing it will affect many things. But you don’t want a house full of spiders and their webs. So do you kill the spider or do you capture it and move it outdoors? Life has just become a little more complicated, but you have started to “awaken” to your true impact on this planet. (more…)

Small appliances are mainstays in most homes—toasting bread, brewing coffee, and making any number of personal grooming tasks easier. So what do you when your favourite gadget is damaged or broken? (more…)

The person who invents the self-cleaning floor will — deservedly — become a millionaire, and possibly a saint. (more…)

The showers that first appeared in North America homes in the 1870s were primly utilitarian devices, consisting basically of an inverted watering can and a hand pump. But it wasn’t long before design flourishes were added to this new-fangled accoutrement to hygiene, according to The Elements of Style, an architectural dictionary edited by Stephen Calloway. (more…)

Approximately 1.5 million households in 10 Canadian cities spent an average of $11,000 in 2006 in renovations, according to a study by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. More than 60% of those families updated, added value to, or prepared their homes for resale, while 33% completed repairs. The top jobs were room remodelling, painting or wallpapering, and flooring. (more…)

It seemed only appropriate that there was scaffolding all over the church where my mother’s funeral was held. She was, in fact, a builder-a builder of home and family. Her greatest buildings were her children, her grand- and great-grand children, and a loving marriage of sixty years. (more…)

Great design wears well. That may explain why works by Danish designers of the last century are still winning prestigious awards and why design junkies are seeking out Danish home décor and design products with an enthusiasm not seen since the 1950s, when Danish modern (remember teak?) was all the rage. (more…)