Smitten with Siding

@puredraft: Siding for your home, which would you choose?

Nothing will affect the appearance of your home more dramatically than the exterior siding you choose. Whether you're building a new home or remodelling, there are a lot of choices. Starting with the standard four that we typically use over here on the west coast - wood, vinyl, stucco and cement fibre siding / concrete siding, mostly known as their brand names Hardiplank and HardiPanel. Which would you choose?

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New GE-neration!

With a large part of the market being first-time home buyers, 79% are under the age of 32. General Electric (GE), one of the world's largest appliance manufacturers, took note and created a new kitchen appliance series with its target audience between the ages of 25-34. Created by a youngin himself, 27 yr old industrial designer Tomas DeLuna, the new Artistry Series features gas or electric range stove, bottom-freezer refrigerators, over-the-range microwaves, and top control dishwasher. By removing the digital clocks, touch screens and stainless steel they focused more on the design and keeping the cost down. With the choice between glossy white or black finish, distinctively simple clean lines, affordable prices and Energy-Ster ratings are sure to appeal to our age checkbox. The biggest features are the brushed stainless-steel, horizontal handles, slightly chunky knobs, rounded edges for the so-slightly retro look and my favourite, the analog clock on the range. The entire kitchen suite is just over $2,400, which is a lot of design for very little money. No matter what age checkbox you are in, would you buy this product?

The gas or electric range $599; the bottom-freezer refrigerator, $1,099; top-control dishwasher, $499; over-the-range microwave, $219 - Total $2,416. Find the closest dealer in your area by zip code at www.GEAppliances.com.

Coming to stores this month, September 2013.

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All Fired Up!

Since fireplaces are the focal point of a room, fire screens are another decorative or useful detail to think about. Although our fireplace is gas, a fire screen will give the illusion of a wood fireplace (if only I could get the sound and smell). For every style of home, here are 6 of my favourites all within a reasonable price. Do you use a fire screen and what style would you choose? 

art deco   |   contemporary   |   modern   |   vintage   |   traditional   |   industrial

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Getting Cultured

I figure 9 out of 10 new construction stonework is made of manufactured or artificial stone veneer. Companies have worked so hard to make the veneer look like the real thing -- even with a close look. Most manufactured veneer is composed of Portland cement for stability, aggregates to lighten the weight and iron oxides to colour the stone. These three and the cheaper cost make up the reasons we are now choosing manufactured over natural.

Eldorado Stone  |  Cultured Stone  |  Boralna

Precast panel system gives the appearance of a precision hand-laid work or for more control on your pattern, large individually cut stones. Colours range up to 8 different options and either mortared or dry-stack for the choice of style. Mortared, as the name says, has mortar between each stone and projects a traditional, old world look while dry-stack stone looks contemporary without mortar, block to block. Blend two different profiles for a more dramatic look.

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High & Low: Curtain Rods

With Pottery Barn and West Elm's industrial curtain rods, rings and curtains price being higher than what I would like to spend, I decided to shop around and do it myself - saving $225 per window treatment at Home Depot and IKEA.

High $286.55  |  Low $61.26

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Colourboard

It's not as easy as it sounds to pick the right paint colours for your walls. There's lots of things to consider including how lighting conditions affect colour (like my first colour - beige became green against my white trim). But here is a decorators fail safe that sort of feels like cheating. Have you tried it?

Pull colours out of something else that is going to be in the room such as fabrics, rugs, or art work. My choice; two cheap paintings that I absolutely love. Narrow down two or three colours, 1 main and 1(+) accent(s). Choosing one of the more subtle accent colours in your home decor as your main colour will bring a fresh dimension to the whole space. Purchase a sample can ($5.00 CAN) of each to make 2'x2' sample boards. Hold the dry sample boards up to the furniture, the fabrics, trims and the surfaces already in the room to see if the colour changes depending on the items in your home. Tape the sample to your walls and live with them for a few days. Then get to work, you've got a lot to do…

1   |   2   |   3   |   4

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Room Inspiration I

March marks the first month in which my excitement for our new home is out of control. As per usual, we still haven't made quite as much progress as one would have hoped, but we've been investing a substantial amount of my nights formatting inspiration boards, choosing furnishings, sketching their blueprints, and deciding how to bring our style into our home - a little je ne sais quoi. To begin, we are starting with our living room utilizing key details - vintage, rustic, natural elements and warm, soft tones and textures. Keep reading for our complete room by room DIY's. -Chelsey

          

(Left to Right - High $6K)

1   |   2   |   3   |   4   |   5   |   6   |   7   |   8   |   9   |   10

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Lumber Love

To start this year up right, my husband Troy and I decided to not waist any more money on so-so, manufactured furniture with a short expiry date, as so many people do. Instead of putting down a large chuck of change on good quality furniture, we've decided to build our own furniture while tackling a few of our New Year Resolutions; DIY's, save money and buy more tools. You can probably tell which ones mine might be.

We went out searching for some cheap lumber. We visited one of our local, independent lumber yards for some cut offs and scrap pieces. Instead, they took us to a beautiful 18"x18"x16' boxed heart douglas fir. HUGE. It had been sitting in their shop for over 3 years and they just wanted it gone. So we grabbed a friend with connections to his shops flatbed truck (for a couple cases of beer), picked up the beam, took it to the other side of town to be milled into custom sizes, and took it home. Now the work begins...

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Nothing to Wine About

There is something wonderful about these floors (and countertops). Warm, rugged, and full of personality, the final product plays great homage to the liquid they once helped age. Simply genius and just a hop, skip, and a jump to Richmond. You can find it here at the wine cellar depot for about $30/sf.

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