Books Turn Sofa Time Into Winter Work

Canada: a country where, in winter, half the population curls (or skis, or snowboards) and the other half curls up for a good read, justifying the sofa time under the mohair blankie with the thought God forbid this should be fun. It's project-planning. Your story too? Well, isn't it reassuring to know that enough books exist to keep you warmly occupied until Christmas when, assuming you've been careful about cocoa stains and toast crumbs, you can wrap them up for your friends.

Redecorating is step two; step one is clearing your rooms of clutter. Feeling overwhelmed by stuff is such a common condition that entire TV series are devoted to helping you get sorted. From a U.K. show comes The Life Laundry: How to De-Junk Your Life, by Dawna Walter and Mark Franks (BBC Worldwide Americas Inc., $22.95). Its mantra? "Use it or lose it." Walter and Franks are tough cookies; fill-in-the-blanks surveys, checklists, truths that you can't fault (such as why hang on to blankets if you own a duvet? "Bin these relics") make this the most convincing self-help book yet.

Sorry, no glamorous interiors, but a guarantee you'll find House About It: Dream/Design/Dwell by Sheri Koones (Gibbs Smith, $34.95) curiously intriguing. Where most volumes with house in the title concentrate on appearances, Koones's is more concerned with the innards. Aiming her words at would-be builders and renovators, she packs in copious amounts of practical information: the pros and cons of various flooring options, what lighting works best, technical terms so that rather than asking Home Depot staff for "those thingies round the door" you can speak knowledgeably of corner blocks and cross headers--there's even a workbook so you can really get going, at least with a pencil.

But enough hard labour. Open the Merlot and let's start dreaming. A Denman Island weekend place may exceed your budget, but you can still live the fantasy by transforming your little urban pad into a cottage. The question is, Which kind? English or French? Acadian or farmhouse? Abundant fuel for decisions lies in Canadian Country Style (McArthur & Company, $29.95), an offshoot of shelter mag Canadian Home & Country that showcases nine approaches to cottage life, from the "relaxed leather sofas and plump club chairs" of the western style to the "tables the colour of faded driftwood" typical of seaside chic. Succinct text leaves space for large photos you can scan for ideas to borrow or colours to match at the paint store.

Tuscan-yellow, perhaps. Imagine owning Frances Mayes's Bramasole, the gorgeous Italian villa her books have raised to stardom. Failing that, Bringing Tuscany Home: Sensuous Style From the Heart of Italy (Broadway Books, $42) lets you step inside her life, from meeting the locals to growing herbs in her sun-baked garden to assembling a platter of antipasto della casa. The title pretty much says it all. Steven Rothfeld's sensual shots of drowsy landscapes, weathered stone, opulent candlelit dinners, and extreme closeups of Parmigiana don't hurt either, and Mayes's piccola guida to shopping for Florentine ceramics, textiles, and papers is enough to have you calling the travel agent.

Up there with sofa-reclining for shameless indulgence is a lengthy read in the tub, justifiable when you tell yourself this is fieldwork as you leaf through the Zenlike interiors in Contemporary Asian Bathrooms (Periplus Editions, $39.95) by Chami Jotisalikorn and Karina Zabihi, with photos by Luca Invernizzi Tettoni. Maybe you should think about installing a solid-brass tub; perhaps "muslin drapes gently wafting in the soft tropical breeze" would make a difference; could be that a bamboo ladder propped against the wall would make an admirable towel rack... Let the reveries begin.

Towelled dry and again horizontal, you're struck by déjà vu as you open the cover of Bungalow: The Ultimate Arts & Crafts Home (Gibbs Smith, $70). Relax. If some of those houses look familiar, you could be right. Linda Svendsen's lavish visual roundup includes homes in Vancouver and Victoria as well as the States. In this benchmark volume, Jane Powell walks you through the bungalow's origins and typical exteriors before taking you inside, room by room. If you've ever wondered how to marry modern convenience with an arts-and-crafts kitchen, or create a bathroom in character, here are solutions. Bonus points for Powell's refreshingly opinionated text. Not many coffee-table books contain lines like "Ninety-nine percent of contemporary architecture sucks."

Just as subversive (on TV, anyway) is the broadly grinning, cheerfully sexy Charlie Dimmock, the Nigella Lawson of the herbaceous border, who, along with colleagues Alan Titchmarsh and Tommy Walsh, anchors the U.K. series Ground Force. Individually authored paperback spinoffs (BBC, $24.95 each) span a Weekend Workbook, Practical Garden Projects, and a Water Garden Workbook with a handy primer on Container Gardening for suite dwellers. Instructions are dead simple, and right down to earth. But gardening is months ahead. All you can do right now is read about all the labour involved. So do. Research, remember?

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There is Nothing Basic About New Blacks

White provides the background in so much interior design today that it was only a matter of time before the design world looked at black in a new light.

Black has always been used to add definition in professionally designed rooms. Even the airiest modern décor benefits from the grounding effect of a few black lines in a wrought-iron table, some black-and-white photography, an African sculpture, or, at the high end, a grand piano.

Painters know that black is not found in nature and must be created from a range of not-quite-black ingredients. If you hold a piece of black glass up to the light, you'll see that it's, in fact, very deep purple or brown.

Black is the accent colour that never goes out of style, but in the world of designer merchandise there are some new blacks to consider. These softer versions are warm and earthy in a way that the basic one is not. The blackness found in natural substances like soil, charcoal, ebony, and even espresso beans are the new blacks in merchandise that is both modern and organic in feeling. We've been finding beautiful examples everywhere.

Moe's Home Collection (2360 Granville Street and 1728 Glen Drive) has carved Indian mirrors in a burnt-timber hue, and a range of trunk tables, tall curio cabinets, and other useful pieces in satiny black lacquer with the edges sanded to reveal the warm wood beneath. They also have black bamboo library ladders that would add a strong, sculptural note to any room.

Home to organic modernism, Roost Homeware (1192 Hamilton Street) carries gorgeous pod-shaped ceramics in matte glazes from bittersweet chocolate to lead-pencil black, as well as translucent resin tableware in almost edible amber and cola colours. It has sleekly modern wenge and walnut trays and other useful wooden pieces by Vancouver's Formative Design. Add winter warmth to a sofa or chair with one of its shaggy fur pillows or a lightweight mohair throw in deep cocoa.

Espresso leather furniture makes a great alternative. It has the dark good looks and graphic appeal of black leather but appears softer and more natural. Classic leather pieces have never been more affordable, with many stores importing chic, apartment-scaled couches, chairs, and ottomans from China. Even IKEA (3200 Sweden Way, Richmond, and 1000 Lougheed Highway, Coquitlam) has a fantastically tailored, baseball-stitched sectional sofa with a low profile and clean lines for $1,200. It's still an investment, but a few years back a deal like that was unheard of.

If you're in the market for a beautiful table lamp that won't date, check out the T-Base or Teardrop lamps from Koolhaus (2199 West 4th Avenue). The bulbous silhouettes of these lamps, available with black or white linen shades, are classically modern and are just the thing to take the hard edge off a modern desk or table.

You may have noticed a profusion of imported Vietnamese planters, tables, and other pieces in dark-grey zinc at the garden stores. The rugged, industrial colour of this lightweight metal is just as handsome indoors as out, and the largest ones make great-looking end or coffee tables. A simple sheet of glass placed on top will add stability and gleam.

A queen-size faux-mink bedspread by Torre & Tagus from the Urban Barn (various locations) would bring instant luxury to your bedroom this winter. The bittersweet-chocolate colour and soft, shimmering texture are convincing to the senses, and they are a lower price than many ordinary bedspreads.

The most mysterious blackened objects in town come from Industrial Artifacts (49 Powell Street), where owner Ross MacMillan resuscitates wooden pattern moulds--once used by a local ironworks to pour the huge gears for boats and bridges--into all manner of furniture, mirrors, and accessories. The resulting aesthetic is something between African tribal sculpture and Land of the Giants. Each piece is unique and all of MacMillan's work has a dramatic, sculptural presence.

In response to the spatial limitations of many urban homes, I prefer to keep the main rooms in most of our projects light and neutral, but smaller spaces like powder rooms, dens, and guest rooms present an ideal opportunity to create a dramatic space within your space, with just a gallon of paint.

Some of my favourite new blacks come from Benjamin Moore. Kendall Charcoal HC-166 is a dark, warm grey with a hint of slate green. Witching Hour 2120-30 is a soft black with a grey-blue tone. Stone Brown 2112-30 has a warm, bittersweet chocolate cast. Mohegan sage 2138-30 is the darkest slate-green imaginable. These depthless shades make woods look rich and lamps look brighter.

A pop-art atmosphere is guaranteed if you use pure-white gloss on the trims and some black-and-white photography or graphic posters on the walls.

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Extreme Makeovers Hit Home

On a chilly Sunday afternoon in mid-December, a group gathers around a TV monitor in the yard of a single-family home on south Granville Street. The next few seconds will determine whether they can pack up and head off or if they must completely dismantle the room that a professional designer has sweated blood over for the past few days. Only on prime-time television... The first HGTV series shot in the GVRD, Love It or Lose It combines an extreme makeover with what its producers call "designer Russian roulette". You volunteer your space knowing only that one of three potential "extreme" designers will have carte blanche. Your personal taste doesn't come into it. If you love the results, they're yours, including the furniture. If you choose to lose them, you get freshly painted walls and your old possessions back in position. The crew wagers on the outcome. "Most people love it," says series creator and executive producer Blair Reekie, with a hint of disappointment: they were trying for an even split.

News of the series drew applications from floods of owners of single-family homes, bungalows, even a mansion on Southwest Marine Drive, who couldn't wait to hand their places over to strangers to take apart. Finding designers, however, took time. Reekie does a savagely funny impression of the typical audition. Those who applied, he says, were "too conservative, very West Side, very like Linda Reeves. 'I listen to the client and only work with Jordan's.' Or 'Everyone's doing fusion.'" He wanted distinct voices. Specializing in gothic, retro, modern, Asian, Indian, and country, the six-pack of "extreme" designers who made the final cut are "all bizarre characters with a great sense of style".

Not to give too much of the game away, the first show rockets from '70s colonial back to '60s Austin Powers. Well, as the nice homeowners admit, they did want a change. Most people yearn for that Whistler feel: comfy, cozy, country. What they get often isn't. Theatricality rules. If you're still willing to take the chance, apply at www.loveitorloseit.ca/. "We're casting the room, the people," Reekie says, "and we're almost casting the yard"--used, in this case, for the catering crew. Fussbudgets are welcome. (One woman revealed that an interior designer had fired her.) Potty mouths: stay away. Viewers may say "*%#$%" at the screen, but participants are more moderate, even the woman who found herself facing a nearly two-metre grizzly and other taxidermical masterpieces.

And then there was the Indian love bedroom. Approaches may be way off the conventional scale, but the goal is to challenge tastes, not offend them. "It helps the homeowner to see the space in a different way," says "Extreme Asia" designer Mah Wai Poi, who will work on four or five rooms in the 26-part series. Feng shui principles have steered the look of today's room, but "the last one was Zen minimalism. We put a bamboo forest in a living room in North Vancouver. The homeowners were looking for 'rustic Whistler'; I gave them rustic Mount Fuji." Show host Tamara Taggart, of CTV, can't imagine volunteering her place. "You're not allowed to drive by or phone. I would freak out," she says.

It's now almost 3 p.m., and owner Emma Isaac with adult daughters Melissa and Gemma are en route from downtown to a space that, when they last saw it, featured an anything-goes decorative style with elements of Spanish Colonial and IKEA, and plentiful knickknacks. They only know that the transformation will be Asian, modern, or gothic. Mom wants the first, the daughters are hoping for modern, but being put up in the flamboyant Le Soleil suites is, they think, a subtle hint that they're destined for gothic.

They can relax. What Mah has created is a serene, richly textured room in natural colours: the brick fireplace has been painted a warm grey; a simple branch is displayed on the wall; curtains are shimmery gold. Deft choice and placement of furniture such as temple tables and dark-red cuboid boxes that double as seating and storage visually enlarge the 3.75-by-5.7-metre space. A 40-drawer medicine chest stands at one side of the fireplace. Gentle sound comes from a magnificent "water wall". Whatever the final decision, these last two will go--sponsors can only be generous to a point--but because they are all local, it does mean that if you like what you see on the screen, right down to the General Paints paint on the wall, you can track it down.

The technical term for the moment when naked eyes meet dressed room is "the reveal". Cameras are ready to roll. Blindfolds await on the top of the fridge. At
3 p.m. on the nose, the trio comes in via the lane. You could bottle the smiles and excitement. We crowd around the monitor and watch them led into the room inside. Scene 57. Take 1. A-a-a-and action! We watch tears, smiles, money change hands in a family bet. There's no sound, but we're in no doubt. They love it.

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Eight Décor Vows Big on Wow

The morning after the New Year's party, you took a bleary-eyed look around you--at the developer-beige walls, the clapped-out furniture, the bedroom that makes Motel 6 look glamorous--and thought "I will transform this blah setting into something worthy of jewel-like me and I will do it all today." Well, chalk up another resolution that's bitten the dust. But we're still on the first page of the calendar. It's not too late to change what drives you crazy. So here goes, a bunch of common resolutions and how to make them happen.

I WILL INHABIT A WORLD OF COLOUR One word: paint. Cheap for the instant bang you get, fairly effortless, and so sweet-smelling these days that you don't have to wait for window-opening weather, you can get going this weekend. Collectively, paint companies had an aha moment when they realized that a thumbnail-size chip was no gauge for what a whole wall would look like. Now they have samples. Buy one or two and do the space behind the sofa before committing. What Vancouverites are buying right now, says one paint-store staffer, are deep honeys, dark brown, and warm vibrant reds.

MY APARTMENT WILL BE A CENTREFOLD Grab an armload of Canadian shelter magazines (not out of patriotism, but because if you do fall for a lamp, you can probably buy it). Closely examine that retro kitchen in the Ontario farmhouse or that Québécois converted barn and you'll notice a commonality: flowers. A plant, a large bouquet--the difference they make to a room and your spirits is incalculable. Daffodils from the corner store work as well as exotic orchids, but you must make it a habit. Ask the florist how to extend their lives. That way your multibloomed alstroemeria will last a couple of weeks, and roses up to a month.

I WILL CLEAN UP MY MESS The most useful tricks I know are to convince yourself to throw out 27 things in a five-minute period (which turns it into a game) and some advice I jotted down at the recent Massive Change exhibit at the VAG: "Composer John Cage once said that paralysis comes from not knowing where to begin. When the issues we face seem too daunting, consider his suggestion: 'Begin anywhere.' "

MY BEDROOM WILL BE A HAVEN OF FANTASY Changing your duvet cover makes an immediate difference. Fuchsia and bright orange still rock, say staff at Bed (2152 West 4th Avenue), but coming on strong are '50s saturated pastels like flamingo pink and sea foam. Pick one for a duvet cover ($100) and go wild with the other bed linen. More exotic? Hit the sale at Maiwa (in the Net Loft on Granville island): 30 percent off everything now through Sunday (January 30). Grab two Indian hand-printed bed covers ($56 each for the queen size during the sale) in ochres, rusts, and indigos, and have them stitched into a quilt cover. (Or buy one ready-made for $105.) A few toning cushions, an intricately painted bedside chest--now is that a Jaipur palace or what?

MY BATHROOM WILL TURN CLEOPATRA GREEN WITH ENVY Several litres of skim into the tub is pushing it. More realistic is a stack of thick towels. Buy four all the same in pristine spa-look white or emerald or orange. Hit the Army & Navy, where recently gorgeous "seconds" were going for under $10 each. You need a rack that spans the bath for books and a glass, a loofa, a bath pillow, and as many candles as possible. A dozen and you won't need to turn on the light.

MY SMALL KITCHEN WILL CONVEY A SENSE OF LARGESSE Stainless steel and spotless counters are long on efficiency but short on soul--and not exactly in the Tuscan- or Provençal-farmhouse mould. Cheat. New terra-cotta flowerpots can hold utensils. Decant sauces, oils, and vinegars into empty wine bottles and identify their contents with handwritten brown-paper labels. Pile lemons and oranges high on a glass cake stand from Hafatzim (2028 West 4th Avenue). That plus the odd Leonardo da Vinci print on the wall should do it.

MY OLD SHABBY SOFA WILL BECOME SHABBY CHIC Who's kidding who? Having loose covers made costs as much as new seating. So try doing it yourself, but don't spend a bundle on materials. Check out Textile Clearance House (5550 Fraser Street), where fabrics run $3 to $10 a yard. For the creative, artist's canvas can be painted, sponged, or drawn on before you start stitching. Either way, buy more than you need and arm yourself with a spool of strong thread and one of those curved upholstery needles.

I WILL INVEST IN ONE GOOD PIECE OF FURNITURE EVERY YEAR A Chippendale chair will only make your banged-up IKEA table look sadder. Picks that work better with what you've already got are mid-century modern pieces like the oatmeal-flecked Danish teak pullout day bed at Wow Interiors (350 West Pender Street).

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Champagne Wishes and Global Dreams

THE GREAT DIVIDE
The sleek, modernist Divide coffee table designed by Grant Wyllychuk of Ornamentum Furniture comes in light, regional woods. It's a great-looking piece that will stand the test of time and trends, but it's also an ideal design solution for small spaces. That's because it doubles as storage, with the top sliding open to reveal space inside. Available woods are Douglas fir, white oak, and alder, and the standard size is 50 by 100 by 35 centimetres. However, you can order other wood types and customize the table to a size that suits your room. All of Ornamentum's furniture is hand-crafted to order at the company's East Side studio. The Divide table sells for $1,950. To view the Divide and other pieces, visit www.ornamentum.bc.ca/. To order, call 604-215-7444. (Turnaround time is about six to eight weeks.) Ornamentum Furniture is committed to environmental responsibility and the use of sustainable woods.

THE WORLD AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Anyone who saw Martin Scorsese's The Aviator was treated to a feast of interior and architectural design from the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. The film about the halcyon years of billionaire recluse Howard Hughes focuses on international aviation, so it's no surprise to see big, beautiful, rotating world globes popping up as set decorations throughout the picture. Many of us grew up with a globe in the bedroom or on the teacher's desk. Globes can add a nice if somewhat nostalgic design dimension to rooms, and the biggest assortment of these stylish spinners can be found at International Travel Maps & Books (530 West Broadway). ITMB sells about 200 different types of freestanding, desktop, illuminated, and inflatable globes ranging in price from a few bucks to as much as $10,000. If they don't have something in stock, they can special-order it for you.

FUN AT FUNHAUSER
Alice goes to Tikiland, where all things late-'60s and early-'70s have been spruced up and reincarnated. Funhauser, nestled right in the Chinatown corridor (35 East Pender Street), presents plenty of choices for rumpus-room chic: everything from coffee-table books (like The Donut Book by Sally Levitt Steinberg) to original art (Luc Latulippe, I Braineater, Tiki Bob, Heather Watts) to gifts (toys, party bags, lunch boxes) to home accessories (coasters, collectible mugs, patio lanterns, TV trays). Just one walk through the store is enough to conjure memories of playing bartender in those slightly dank basement bars of yore. To make the nostalgia trip complete, owner Peter Usiecki assures us that the velvet paintings are on order.

BUBBLY SEATING
Most of us know the proverbs of Mohammed and the mountain, or the horse and the water. Well, architect David Christopher pretty much put them into action after designing enough homes only to find he couldn't find the proper furniture to fill them. His one-year-old collection focuses very much on the art of entertaining and to this end seamlessly marries form and function. The Phat-J couch, of the J-Collection (www.dcfurniturecollection.com/), features a champagne bucket built into the ottoman, and many of the pieces adjust to accommodate more guests as the party builds. Admirers of the line include NFL wide receiver Jerome Pathon and Donald Trump, who called the J-Sofa "magnificent". The champagne has been flowing ever since.

STARRY, STARRY SOFAS
Haven of all things girly, Peridot Decorative Hardware (1512 West 14th Avenue) puts a twinkle in your living area with silver-sequined cushions that Mae West would have loved (rectangular, $75; square, $125). Picture them by candlelight. Admittedly less glittery but just as glamorous in their own way are square black cushions framed in fluffy black feathers ($55), by local label Cocoon. If you'd rather sink into something downright snuggly, invest in a creamy-coloured cushion covered in long, curly-haired Mongolian lamb ($149).

OFFICE ASSISTANCE
Working at home often means your living room or bedroom has to do double duty. No problem there, except that files and boxes in the traditional manila colour do say "government department" rather than "snug nest". Light-years ahead in visual appeal is a line sold at Pottery Barn (2600 Granville Street). Covers are in matte "bookcloth" (which looks like dull-surfaced silk) in crimson, willow green, and black. Stash your papers in a file box ($50.99), organize photos and DVDs in their own separate container ($27.99), and line up those back issues of BC Business in a "magazine butler" ($21.99). Small metal frames accommodate your handwritten description of what's inside.

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Hip Parental Tastes Rub Off on Babes

What happens when a generation obsessed with the aesthetic appeal of iPods, Barcelona chairs, and vintage Air Jordans decides it's time to start breeding? Forget about Disney figurines, teddy-bear crib sheets, and eyelet-trimmed lamps: increasingly, offspring-minded urbanites are outfitting baby rooms with the same keen eye they apply to the rest of their homes.

Local boutiques catering to the tastes of Wallpaper*-fixated parents are now popping up in neighbourhoods known for funky clothes shops and hipster-friendly cappuccino bars. Baby versions of the grownup's "lifestyle store", these shops specialize in carefully chosen collectibles that cover everything from décor to duds.

The newest of the bunch, Dandelion Kids (1206 Commercial Drive), sits beside the packed Havana patio. Standing in the studiolike space, which has

lanterns hanging in the window, Stefanie Missler ponders the buying habits of today's new mothers and fathers.

"It's such a design culture now; it's pervaded our society to a whole new level. We define ourselves by finding the perfect sneaker or whatever," she explains. "It's a different generation of parents, and children are an extension of their parents' tastes-up to a certain age. By now my son's five and he knows he wants Spider-man shoes."

In the past, nurseries were generically pretty. Now parents are accessorizing them with the kind of high-design Euro pieces, retro toys, and one-of-a-kind handmade items that Missler carries in her store. "There are the throwbacks to the really traditional wooden toys that last for more than a generation-the kind you'd want to have in your trousseau," says the mother of two, who has an art-history background.

Her partner in the business is Maria Livingstone, who also works as a costume designer for film and television.

A few of Dandelion Kids' imported offerings bring to mind the shapes and colours of Italian homeware lines like Alessi: from Vice Versa, which hails from the same country, come stylized neoprene and soft-silicone accessories, including suction-cup hooks emblazoned with stylized baby heads ($10 to $16).

Alongside such boldly modern designs sit pieces with a nostalgic appeal. Fans of the classic children's storybook will love the Petit Prince blackboards ($34.95). France-based Vilac's hand-painted wooden bookends and pull toys have old-fashioned springs attaching the bobble heads to wiener dogs, ladybugs, and frogs (about $44.95). And for the real pintsize culture vulture, splurge on one of the label's artists' collections: the red wooden pull-toy shark designed by mid-century sculpture star Alexander Calder ($200) is likely to stay displayed on a high shelf.

Missler and Livingstone didn't have to search overseas for all their unique finds; some of their edgier handmade items are from here in town. Check out Project Danger's rock 'n' roll sock monkeys, which sport everything from fur-lined minis to skull-motif sweaters ($68). ("We've sold them almost completely to adults so far," Missler says with a laugh.) The same local label has faux-fur-lined baby pillows with velvet hearts and tattoolike designs ($30). Elsewhere, no two of Erin Boniferro's Pocket Bears are the same: adorably lopsided and made of neutral shades of cushy fleece, they're based on drawings by children as young as four ($25).

Up the Drive and around the corner at 1706 East 1st Avenue, another of the city's newer additions, Chickpea Children's Boutique, is tapping into young parents' penchant for all things retro, whether it's reproduction tin toys by Schylling or carefully chosen classic hardcover books.

"When people walk in here, they say there's a warmth to it; it brings so much back for them. It reminds them of their grandmother's place or something," says owner Sarah Hoivik.

A hit for nurseries are her own Chickpea label's vintage-look print linens, bearing funky '40s-style cowboys, airplanes, and robots for boys and paper dolls, poodles, and polka dots for girls.

They come in throw pillows ($39) and blankets of all sizes, some with cushy chenille or velour ($49 to $139). Or decorate a wall with the same fabric sewn over cork into memo boards ($65). Scatter old-school alphabet cards by New York's Eeboo ($45) over the wall or display pastel-painted ABC blocks by Victoria's T.?J. Whitneys Traditional Toys on a shelf ($59) to complete the room. Hoivik stresses the décor of today's nursery is "vintage but still modern, with a clean look". Think crisp white walls as a backdrop to a patchwork crib blanket and pillows.

Whether it's in-the-know blasts from the past or ultramodern accessories, the question remains: does surrounding your bundle of joy with all this hip design mean junior is destined for the Parsons Institute or the pages of Architectural Digest? Only time will tell…

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Urban Accessories

GLASS ACTS Sleek and space-agey, they look like the kind of martini glasses you might sip from at the bar on the deck of the Starship Enterprise. Two Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design students are finalists in Bombay Sapphire's annual contest to create innovative versions of the cocktail nation's ultimate accessory. Brian Paschke's Transtini, made of curving double-walled glass, has a slightly oval base for easy handling and a soft rubber bottom; check out the little slots on the rim where olive picks can lie across the drink. Meanwhile, Paul Falcon's entry lives up to its name, Fluidity: his tinted-blue vessel is balanced on a slooshing wave form, a sculptural metaphor for the taste of the martini flowing down your throat. They're up against Carleton University grad Dolly Audit for a chance on March 10 to proceed to the international finals in Milan, Italy, during the prestigious Salone del Mobile design show.

EVERY LITTLE BREEZE Options in the interior-décor world can be dizzying. Adding to the vertigo, Lampe Berger (available at Lothantique [2655 Granville Street] and Atkinson's [1501 West 6th Avenue]) is much more than a scented candle or essential oil can ever be. This Parisian fragrance system, created in 1898, simultaneously acts as an air purifier. The porcelain base burns specially created oils that drift through the air and kill up to two-thirds of the bacteria residing there. Coco Chanel was a fan, and Paris's Le Plaza Athénée hotel is purified with this small piece of French ingenuity and elegance. Rarefied air just took on a whole new meaning.

ROCKS OF CHOICE Ingenuity and the DIY credo can always take the mundane to designer heights. A current trend is to use industrial materials in a more refined context. For example, gabions (available at Nilex [3963 Phillips Avenue, Burnaby]) can make for great looking structures in the back yard. Often used as highway retaining walls, these flexible wire cages can be filled with a rock of choice (try Northwest Landscape and Stone Supply at 5883 Byrne Road, also in Burnaby) and stacked to build a partial wall. Use cut stone for a more refined appearance or broken rock to keep with the industrial feel. Decorate the yard's new accent with vines and hanging flowers. You can also fill with soil, seed with grass, and-presto!-a giant chia pet or grassy knoll.

ABSTRACT MATS Patricia Baun's hand-painted canvas rugs may have their roots in folk art, but this season, her collection of floor art brings to mind Mondrian, modernism, and mid-century mosaics. The Vancouverite recently unveiled a range of strikingly abstract stripes and grids in time for her debut at Toronto's Interior Design Show earlier this month. The repeating patterns come in colours that evoke vintage Marimekko or coolly contemporary interiors: oranges and yellows with brown, say, or varying shades of sage green. The mats, made hardy with layers of wax and sealer, cost $50 to $55 per square foot through her Web site, www.pmbdesigns.com/.

GOOD WOODS Tropical woods can bring a warm exoticism to contemporary interiors, but you never know what kind of environmental devastation they're leaving behind in their home countries. Enter the new Kroehler Coastal Home Store (1401 West 8th Avenue, 604-733-6824), which, alongside its 150-odd styles of couches, ottomans, and chairs, has brought in eco-friendly furniture from the far reaches of the world. Check out the plantation-grown shesham (a type of rosewood), whose reddish hue evokes the parlours of colonial India, or rich-brown plantation-grown rubberwood in glossy or rustic finishes. Tall teak display stands are starkly modular but rippled with a warm grain: they work alone as a night table or grouped at varying heights to show off collectibles. Add texture to a room with seagrass, Filipino abaca (banana-tree bark), or even coconut. (Overall prices range from about $300 to $700 for coffee tables up to $1,200 to $2,300 for dining tables.)

STICK 'EM UP For the extremely creative, or extremely lazy, blik self-adhesive graphics will transform pretty much any room in the house or office. And no paint can need be opened to accomplish the feat. The blik temporary adhesives (you can find them at Koo-Koo [2152 Main Street]) stick to practically any surface?-from floors to walls to windows-and take very little time to apply. Imagine a flock of birds flying across the night sky of your ceiling or a poem on your bathroom wall.

http://www.straight.com/node/6183

Urban Bites

Drop Dead Gorgeous Real wood, like real women, has curves. Tree trunks aren't square and branches don't search for sunlight in parallel lines; they swerve up, bend, and dip. The current taste for retro modernism celebrates clean straight lines and stark angles, creating interiors that are paper-cut sharp. So any hint of a sway is a reason to celebrate. The stunning, polished ebony Drop coffee table by Italian designer Giorgio Soressi for the company Trend Sofa, available at Bravura (534 West Pender Street), adds a little spice to linear spaces. Its natural stripes in shades of chocolate and its round base (perched securely on a hidden flat pedestal) make a bold statement-not surprising, considering that Soressi has also designed for the fashion house Fendi. The Drop table is 19 by 80 by 131 centimetres. It also comes in wenge and natural cherry, and sells for $1,498. Meanwhile, Soressi's Shanghai coffee table manages to be long, slender, and supple yet substantially heavy and grounded. Both ends of the table's 150 centimetres swing up in a playful reference perhaps to pagoda wings. With its combination of solid construction, curves, and dark wenge, this piece fits perfectly into our West Coast style. The Shanghai table stands 20 centimetres high and is 50 centimetres wide, and sells for $1,998.

Natural Geometry Victoria furniture maker Ken Guenter looks to the past and the paintbox for his evocative pieces. Each is one of a kind, even the Fraternal Twins stereo towers, originally conceived as a response to 9/11. A subsequent visit to Versailles provided further inspiration-and names. Curvaceous mahogany and wenge wood details combine in Minuet. Primary-coloured dots decorate Polka. You can check out Guenter's approach in Of Curves and Colours. On through Tuesday (May 3), the exhibit at Circle Craft Gallery (in the Net Loft on Granville Island) also includes the Primary Issues table based on a 17th-century style that transforms it from triangle to circle. In the Louis Credenza art deco-meets-neoclassical with scarlet touches of Bauhaus. If you can't make the show, check the site at www.ofthewoodsfurniture.com/.

'60s Light Show Think of a beaded curtain circa San Francisco's tie-dyed-to-death Haight-Ashbury during the 1967 summer of love, replace the beads with tiny, multicoloured electric lights, and you've got Skina ($14.95), a "curtain" of lights brand new in IKEA's summer catalogue. Each groovy drape is 18 centimetres wide, 11 centimetres deep, and 23 centimetres long, and comes with five extra bulbs. They'd be great as décor for a summer patio party, but they're designed for indoor use, so bring them in when the fun is over. These lights are a real turn-on; just go ask Alice when she's 10 feet tall.

Creme de la Castoffs The rich are different from you and me. They drop $9,600 on a yellow-cream damask silk camelback sofa and when it's time to redecorate, simply consign it. At the Carriage House (505 Railway Street in the Alexander Design Center), it's yours, in perfect condition, for $2,400. Fancy Marge Carson leather-and-suede campaign chairs that might normally run you $2,400 a pop? Try $750. Typical savings at this up-market consignment store are 70 percent off nearly new, or new samples and discontinued styles from the worldwide showrooms of designer-manufacturer William Switzer & Associates. Currently in the 10,000-square-foot space are French country pine armoires, Biedermeier-style chairs, bar stools, art, and 180 Persian rugs. If the income-tax vultures are hovering, the Carriage House has a lay-away program for those Apprentice boardroom chairs you're eyeing.

Spring Bulbs Paint may be the quick and easy fix to set the mood of a room, but lighting is just as critical. Lighting, however, involves quite a bit more research and patience. Sistemalux (available at SLS, 22 West 2nd Avenue) is a Canadian-born company out of Montreal and offers the gamut in lighting technology: halogen, HID, fluorescent, and LED. Worth examining is its Cool Line for Interiors (www.sistemalux.com/). The bulbs are made of Italian blown white glass and cast a gently diffused light. Queen, one product within the line, reads like the minimalist version of a classic chandelier: eight candlelike cylinders sit perched on a grey square frame. The look obviously works within a décor of clean lines but try it in a more eclectic room, matched with a chestnut table and heavy, filigreed flatware.

Debbie Does Cheerful Given the power of colour and light to affect one's mood, it's no surprise that the new Debbie Travis Paint collection (available at various Canadian Tire locations) is based on this theme. Travis has divided her colour offerings into four themes: calm, cheerful, nostalgic, dramatic. She's also thrown in an essential-whites palette for the colourphobic. (Although, choosing the correct white-vintage white, ivory white, crystal white, et cetera-is more likely to drive someone around the bend than selecting a simple orange or blue.) The paint line features 348 colours. The DIY guru advises that before starting the decorating process: "First choose a mood for a room…then choose a colour." Given that artists such as Charles Baudelaire heard music when they saw certain colours (a condition called synesthesia), looks like ol' Deb is on the right track.

Days of Swine & Roses They aren't quite as easy to swipe as the garden gnome or the pink flamingo on your neighbour's fastidious lawn but serve pretty much the same purpose. Ital Decor Ltd. in Burnaby (6886 East Hastings Street, www.italdecorltd.com/) offers garden ornaments of fibreglass, concrete, cast marble, cast ivory, and plaster, with most any top finish or patina conceivable. Rustic, copper, and porcelain are among the options. Roberto Tinucci of the founding family adds that the large pigs ($250) are so popular they can hardly keep them in stock, especially on Mother's Day. Hmmm… Paint the pigs to look real or leave them looking petrified in the grey cement in which they arrive, they are the ultimate in stoic art.

Hod Goddesses The stories behind New England cottages, getaway cabins, and other hand-crafted homes-all built by women-are evocatively detailed in The House That Jill Built: A Woman's Guide to Home Building (Gibbs Smith, $33.95). Author Judy Ostrow breaks new ground with case histories that don't play down the sweat and years involved. Photos by Karen Leffler show the results: houses of unusual warmth and character created, almost always, on a tight budget. From where to find land to how to get money, user-friendly information and sources give self-starters the basics they need to start dreaming about what to construct on their own piece of Gulf Islands heaven.

http://www.straight.com/node/7372

Store brings country to city

On the business card is a silhouette of a cozy cottage. Adapted from a vintage book for kids, it's a nostalgic reminder of life before e-mails, blogs, text messages, stratospheric caffeine levels, and, especially, the stresses of working 24/7. Job demands are what prompted Chris Switzer, along with architect Robin Muxlow, to open Stepback (3026 West Broadway, 604-731-7525) in March. It wasn't the hours so much as the multiple months travelling as a drum and percussion tech, most recently with Dido, that were hard when you have two small kids and are renovating your heritage house. "We'd always talked about doing this," says Switzer, who, from the age of two, spent weekends at garage sales and flea markets with his parents. Looking at old stuff, he says, gave everyone in his family an appreciation for the patina of aged wood and the simple functional shapes of earlier times. The shop's own story dates back to around the 1930s. The couple spent a week bringing its fir floor back to life, hung traditional schoolhouse lamps (a find at Rona Home & Garden) from the high ceiling, and painted the end wall a fresh green. (Plans are to change it seasonally.)

If Switzer and Muxlow are the band, his parents, Jim and Shirley, are the roadies: she finishes the furniture that he and grandson Rob Dyck make with materials salvaged from barns, fences, and other sources. The wood of a sturdy garden potting bench ($400) is "as aged as it's going to get", Chris Switzer says, adding that it could work in an indoor sunroom, too. Recycled pieces of pressed-tin ceilings create sharply angled roofs and a single shapely twig adorns the façades of houses for design-conscious birds ($45 to $65). Birdhouse-shaped cutouts, each bearing a coathook, flank the ends of a shelf unit ($36). Hooks are also attached to an old window frame made into a mirror ($170). "Nice if you don't have a window where you want one," Muxlow comments. Another frame surrounds a blackboard ($80) and is painted the same green as the end wall. (The colour is Fresh Sprout from Cloverdale Paints, and enough people have asked that she knows its number-7777-by heart.)

You have to like their attitude. Switzer says they would rather "sell lots of things at a lower price", keep the stock moving, and have customers returning just to see what's new. You find vintage suitcases complete with stickers, scarlet-enamelled dustpans with three-dimensional smiley face, sepia postcards of Vancouver, books on flea markets, and, obviously, several authentic stepbacks, those invaluable pieces of kitchen furniture that predated built-in cupboards. Examples currently include a cream-painted one with glass doors ($1,300) and another, its upper section a series of shelves in dark-stained wood ($850). A magnificent wood Zenith model ($1,000) from the 1930s has a built-in flour bin, spice rack, and the original decals on the doors. Opening the right-hand one reveals a small poster filled with useful household information and a handwritten note: "Put tomato leaves on top of cabbages to keep butterflies away."

If you had to define Stepback's style, call it authentic country, bringing to mind buttery sunlight and home-baked scones. Add in checked tea towels (they sell those too) blowing on the washing line. It's an aesthetic, Muxlow says, that appeals to both genders. This isn't chintzy-wintzy Marie Antoinette playing shepherdess. Pieces here are practical: they've lived a life and they have the scars to prove it. Most of the white enamelled pitchers ($50 to $65) on display, no two the same, have a few dings. But they're real. "There are all sorts of people doing replicas, even with chips," Switzer says, "but it doesn't look as good."

Benches are a big seller. (Every one in stock walked out of the door a few weekends back.) Small ones ($55 and up) double as ottomans, side tables, or stepstools. A large three-compartment one ($500) is ideal for a family hallway, especially when you put old high-school wire locker baskets ($32 each) inside. While cream and black are the most popular colours for furniture, a vintage album holds photos of other shapes, sizes, and colours, inspiration for the custom orders that are already a growing part of Stepback's business.

It's often hard to distinguish between the old and modern accessories that sit as neighbours here. Hotel-strength cups and saucers, maybe 50 years old ($8 each), have the same dusky pink and design simplicity as new china bowls, cereal to mixing size ($5.50 to $17). Also new, and looking amiably at home with Canadiana, are what the importers call Grandma Thermoses ($34) from China. Tall containers in red, yellow, blue, or green with a wire handle and a stylized flower on the side, they could have come straight from '30s Shanghai. Switzer and Muxlow probably have a few still for sale, but some of the pieces described here will have definitely flown the coop by publication. Not that it matters. As Switzer says: "Everyone in the family is always out there scouting."

http://www.straight.com/node/7357

Logic lies behind some TV home makeovers

Brought down to earth and forced to watch HGTV for a few days, an alien might rightly hightail it back to his or her planet bewildered. What's with these humans and their conflicts? On one hand, viewers are shown and told how to inject personality into their rooms via chartreuse walls, sari-draped ceilings, and family photos. On the other, designers so obnoxious you could slap them (except they might like it) are slagging off homeowners' tastes in chairs, curtains, and wall finishes before ousting every last vestige of originality, dumbing down houses until they become the equivalent of the homogenized, teeth-straightened, hair-blonded, lacklustre bimbos that populate reality-TV shows. But, hey, it'll sell faster, right? While the bile is flowing, I tuned out of House and Home in a Toronto heartbeat when an admittedly extreme minimalist designer said he "thinks penitentiary" in his own place. No Martha comments, puh-leeze. Let me also boast that I've mastered the split-second timing needed to hit the remote to avoid what's known in the trade as "the reveal", the moment when Janet and Joe raise the blindfolds and see their "ohmiGAWD" transformed room.

To be fair, HGTV does have its uses as long as you keep a notebook at hand and are prepared to pass, Alice-like, through the screen and go inside the designer's head to figure out the core idea behind what you're seeing on TV. Wotta concept. Call it What Were They Thinking?

Here's what I mean. Design on a Dime features a budget of $1,000, the by-now-clichéd Keystone Kops speed-up that condenses a day's work into a half-hour and an emerald-green living room from hell. Owners Monica and Jennifer want Spanish-rustic for their California bungalow: "a room that celebrates their Mexican heritage". Presto, the walls become terra cotta and the TV hides in an entertainment centre-so far, so obvious, but two usable ideas do emerge.

Concept No. 1 in designerthink is "multiples". Mounting eight wrought-iron candle sconces on a wood panel stained to match shutters added at either side might not be your idea of a visual good time, but the basic thought is a sound one. Compatible groups are always more fun than being on your own. The trick is to seek out identical triplets or quintuplets (stylistically, as Japanese egg packagers know, odd numbers have it visually over evens) or siblings with a strong family resemblance. Think of a row of cylindrical glass vases-Ikea, dollar store, they're everywhere-lined up on a windowsill with cosmos or geranium flowers from your balcony in each one. Imagine a stack of cushions in different shades of Vancouver's favourite sage green, or wicker baskets rounded up from various rooms and corralled in one corner.

Programs that deal with oversized empty rooms are irrelevant to most of us. So three stars to Mission Organization for taking on the double whammy of a small room (about four metres narrowing to two in the episode I watched) and mind-blowing clutter. Cogent advice for those aiming to get out from under their stuff came from host Gail O'Neill, who suggested sorting those heaps and mounds into three categories: keep, donate, and toss. Double points because she let the owner hang on to her funky but nonfunctioning pink 1950s fridge as a storage unit.

If trashing five years of Architectural Digest and every term paper you ever wrote makes your heart flutter, you also need more storage. Tuning in to Rooms That Rock, I watched a small Pepto-Bismol-pink teenage room raised to legal age by a palette change and bed elevation. What were the designers thinking? In the case of the bed, about the vast amount of potential storage space that hides beneath your mattress along with the dust bunnies. Raising your bed even a few centimetres (wood blocks would do it) frees up a potential storage locker for skis, out-of-season clothing and the bargain-but-bulky 48 rolls of toilet paper you grabbed at the drug store.

Designers think obliquely. Just because it's an old iron gate doesn't mean it can't be painted to go on the wall, have hooks glued to it, and display fancy purses (which is what the Rooms That Rock folks did). Design on a Dime was just as thick with clever, simple, and cheap ideas, such as transforming a blah beige lampshade by painting it caramel, cross-hatching it with a deeper shade, then scratching it with a toothpick to create a weathered-leather look. Keep your eyes open at yard sales for candidates you can refurbish.

That is, if you ever make it off the couch.

http://www.straight.com/node/8868

African American Homeownership Living The American Dream

Homeownership is without a doubt, one of the best ways to achieve wealth for yourself and for your family. Homeownership instills a sense of community and pride that is conducive to a safer and more socially fulfilling living environment.

It's simple. When people invest in their neighborhood, they care what happens to it. Afterall, it's the biggest investment that they will probably make during their lifetime.

According to the U.S. Census bureau homeownership for all races have been steadily rising. This is great news for the African American community, but more work needs to be done to narrow the gap in homeownership between segments of the population. The statistics for homeownership in the year 2005 were as follows:

Non hispanic white: 75%

Asian & Native American: 59.4%

Latino: 49.7%

African American: 48.8%

Studies show that, homeownership still eludes low income families. If you are thinking of owning a home, know that the dream is possible. The Housing and Urban development provides the following guides for consumers of all income ranges, when considering homeownership.

1.Figure out how much you can afford. This is extremely important as it sets the tone for your home search. What neighborhoods should you consider? What type of home should you buy: condo, townhome, single-family-home (SFH)?

2. Shop for a loan. Find a service that offers multiple loan quotes at no charge. Do this first BEFORE you seriously start looking for a home. Most sellers require pre-qualification before they allow you to make an offer. In addition, it ensures that you can qualify for the right loan amount.

3. Shop for a home. Based on how much you can afford and how much a mortgage lender has qualified you for, you can now find a home that meets your needs.

4. Make an offer. If you are working with a real estate agent, they can make an offer to the home seller.

5. Go to closing. A settlement attorney will draw up the final paperwork to ensure that the title for the home is free and clear of any liens.

Lastly, congratulate yourself. Keep the dream alive!

http://ezinearticles.com/?African-American-Homeownership---Living-The-American-Dream&id=164560

You Want To Do What For A Living

In it's simplest of forms; Nuisance Wildlife Management is resolving human/wildlife conflicts in the most efficient, humane and professional way possible. This very unique career field involves many facets of wildlife management. One day could find you working to solve a beaver problem that is flooding a neighborhood and the next you are finding a new home for a family of squirrels that are living in an attic.

Human/wildlife conflicts can range from coyotes capturing urban pets, birds nesting and roosting on residential and commercial buildings to rodents and other mammals living in structures. Almost any wildlife species can be a source for a wildlife conflict. Some people might not think that ducks could do any damage, but when they are living in your swimming pool, that can be a big nuisance!

With the encroachment of civilization into suburbia and abundant food sources that come along with this growth, it has created the perfect environment for wildlife. In a city or suburb, there are few if any predators. Cars and the occasional bird of prey are generally the only concern for wildlife in urban environments. The animals lose their fear of humans and come to co-habitate with them quite nicely.

So...with all of this nice wildlife habitat, why wouldn't the wildlife feel as if the welcome matt is out? Wildlife thrives well and can get out of control!

That is where we as Nuisance Wildlife Managers come to the aid of homeowners, private companies and governmental agencies. We assess the conflict; provide recommendations and solutions and finally prevention strategies to prevent another occurrence of the wildlife problem.

A typical day in the life of a Nuisance Wildlife Manager

There really is not what you would call a "typical day" in this career. Every project is different and every situation has its own uniqueness. This makes for a challenging work environment and holds your interest to the project at hand. You have to be part investigator, part animal controller and part client service representative.

A day may involve setting up cages for a raccoon that is in an attic. Then you are off to remove a starling nest out of a dryer vent. Next, will find you searching for a black rat snake that has invaded a basement and you're off again to the next challenge of removing moles that have destroyed a nicely manicured lawn.

Your day may change by the hour with an emergency call that comes in to remove a squirrel from a fireplace. Make no mistake. It's not boring!

During the busier seasons of spring and fall, days may be longer than usual and sometimes up to 10-12 hours depending on work load.

What does it take to be a Nuisance Wildlife Professional?

It takes someone who has a desire to learn. Someone who possesses discipline, integrity, honesty, some knowledge of wildlife and a general knowledge and the skills to do small home repairs.

The ability to climb ladders; work in small spaces such as attics and crawl spaces and sometimes at heights. If you are afraid of heights or working with animals, this would not be a good career move for you.

How do you enter into this field?

It can be difficult to find a position with a governmental agency in this industry. The positions that do come available are usually quickly filled.

Federal agencies such as Wildlife Services section of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) have field and support staff positions working with human/wildlife conflicts. Wildlife Services agents help farmers and ranchers control predators and protect their herds.

State agencies may be the Division of Wildlife or the Division of Natural Resources. Each state may have their own unique name they call their agency. Generally a state Division of Wildlife does not get involved directly in wildlife control, but will assist with information to the landowner.

City agencies such as Animal Control will normally control the dog and cat issues in a town or city.

Private companies are the backbone of support for resolving human/wildlife conflicts. Wildlife Management Professionals are the ones who resolve wildlife problems every day and are the core responsible industry. Some companies are one person operators and some have a fleet of service vehicles. A All Animal Control is one such company that offers franchises of their Wildlife Management System in all areas of the United States.

What does the future hold for Wildlife Management Professionals?

The future appears very bright for this industry. With the growing population in the U.S., more encroachment will occur and habitat will be lost. This all translates into more human/wildlife conflicts and a growing problem in America.

Advice for career seekers

If you are considering this type of work, some preparation is in order.

First, it would be good to have an educational background in wildlife biology or biology in general. Wildlife damage management course work would be preferred and as much hands on or internship programs will help make you a more immediately valuable member of any team. Employers are looking for people who can communicate well, are organized and who work well with the general public. Self confidence is a must as this translate into your clients trusting you to be their Wildlife Expert! But most of all, a professional attitude and demeanor is very important as you will be working with live animals and the publics' perception of how you deal with them.

Finally

Working in the Nuisance Wildlife Management field has been the most rewarding thing I have ever done. When you are able to make a difference in your client's lives and improve their quality of life, they are happy beyond compare. Your home is often you most valuable asset and it should be protected and free from wildlife and the diseases they can carry.

I ask that you investigate the opportunities in this field and find what the right fit is for you. This can be a very rewarding career and very enjoyable as well!

http://ezinearticles.com/?You-Want-To-Do-What-For-A-Living?&id=419883

Camping How Not To Get Cold Wet And Muddy

For many people camping in the great outdoors is a fantastic and uplifting experience. For some it is plain hell. This Article takes a look at some reasons why - and what to do to put things right!

Some years ago a friend suggested we go on a camping trip. He'd just bought a new tent and was bursting to 'christen' it somewhere. At that time I'd never been camping in my life so I agreed and off we went.

Just to show the depth of our lack of know-how, we chose to go to the English Lake District in February. I'll say no more - ask anyone who's been there at the tail end of winter! Suffice it to say we arrived pretty wet and cold (we both rode motorcycles back then) and hurriedly pitched the tent then scurried off to the nearest pub to thaw out.

We got back and what followed was probably one of the worst nights I have ever spent. I was freezing and the thin sleeping bag I had was useless. I think I managed to get to sleep at about 5a.m. - sheer exhaustion claiming me.

When I woke I glanced at the radium dial on my watch. It was 9.30a.m. - and still pitch black. I couldn't figure this out so opened the tent flap to discover about four inches of snow were covering us!

My friend woke up, teeth chattering. We 'discovered' quite quickly that we had -

• No stove
• No matches
• No food worth a damn
• No drinks
• No dry clothes

All I can say in our defence is that we a were very young!

We packed up the tent as fast as we could and headed home, blue with cold and swearing never to go camping again. It was in fact some time before I did - but it was with someone this time who knew what they were doing. What a difference!

My first two times camping taught me a very important thing. It brought home the fact that, being accustomed to a cosy home and a nice warm bed, I hadn't the first clue how to stay comfortable in the great outdoors. Why should I? As a product of modern civilization My habits were ingrained by a lifetime of relative ease.

And yet it's just as easy to stay dry and warm when camping, except in the severest of weather - and even then you can get by. It's all down to knowhow. I'm not talking about being a 'wilderness expert' or having the survival skills of a member of the SAS either. It's just knowing a few points on living outdoors and applying them.

So how do you learn these points? Well, you can either do as I did (no please don't do that!) or you can read up on it or join an outdoor centre or group. A lot if it lies in the ability to 'think outside the box' of modern urban living - the creature comforts we all take pretty much for granted. Manage to do this and you won't be wet, cold and muddy!

So don't let my first experience put you off. Choose a nice summer night, stay somewhere not too far from habitation and assimilate the necessary know-how before you leave. I'm sure that then you will enjoy your camping experience and it will become for you, as it has for so many, a lifelong passion.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Camping:-How-Not-To-Get-Cold-Wet-And-Muddy&id=416241

Ideas for Remodeling Small Bathrooms

With more and more households adopting urban living, the luxury of space is becoming more and more appreciated, such that designs for small but efficient bathrooms are sought more than of expansive bathrooms. These small bathroom designs that are economical in space and money are fast getting peoples interest. Because even though the remarkably lack of space, these new age toilets makes more than enough in terms of accommodation and efficiency. Small bathrooms can become luxurious, too when you put extra ideas into place. Going around to stores that carry bathroom supplies, you will get the ideas for remodeling small bathrooms.

Approaches in small bathroom designs are quite popular to those households located on metropolitan areas. New York for instance, and the surrounding suburbs of Boston and Washington DC with its high density population, leads the pursuit for smaller yet highly posh and sophisticated accommodations.

Are you in the midst of remodeling your small bathroom? How would you fill your roughly 7 square feet of bathroom space? Check out these fantastic ideas for remodeling small bathrooms.

Yes, bathtubs are extremely space consuming, yet some models try to incorporate several features into one compact package. Like the Steam Shower and Whirlpool Combo WAS-2245 from Wasauna.com. This shower combination offers several fantastic features: shower nozzles at the ceiling to afford non concentrated showering and a hand held showerhead. 22 adjustable body massage jets and a foot massager will relax tired muscles with pinpoint accuracy. The 3 Kilowatt steam engine can generate enough steam and the temperature detection system will ensure that the temperate remains steady. All these come into one compact 59” x 59” x 86.6” package.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Ideas-for-Remodeling-Small-Bathrooms&id=363260

Kitchen Cabinet Remodeling

Today’s treatment of kitchens had made many to consider these rooms as guest accommodating next to living rooms. While in the past they are more inclined for efficiency, over the years kitchens are becoming as much aesthetically pleasing and comfortable as it is efficient as the margin that separates the two becomes less and less plain.

So while kitchens may be among the easiest to plan, design or remodel, today’s assorted requirement for kitchens might make any designer more often scratching his head. Don’t chew that pencil tip just yet. Checking various tips from different room designers should crank your designing gears in just a minute.

Scrapping Conventional Modeling

It seems that congregating on a tightly knit society, everyone will eventually share similar traits and tastes. European and Western ideas for kitchen are getting old and it’s a good thing that people are starting to scrap that old western kitchen design. The new (and better) concept in modern kitchen design comes from the eastern way. Yes, it seems that eastern designs are more space conscious than expansive flavors of western design. And since eastern leading countries have long ago develop a taste of modern urban living, most of these designs come as well thought, space conscious and hygienic looking kitchens.

Kitchen designs should not be also confined to worn concepts. Design practices in the past makes the kitchen much less obvious to visitors. But as hospitality and courtesy to visitors gets more encompassing, more households have begun receiving guests from the kitchens. The old English habit of non-guest kitchens is apparently absolved.

Kitchen Remodeling Floor Plans

At getdecorating.com, you’ll get a healthy dose of ideas for kitchen remodeling floor plans. From a complex U-bend to a more simple L-Shaped kitchen remodeling floor plans, after checking out this site its almost guaranteed that you’ll have several ideas of your own. Too bad, though, as most designs that here aren’t particular to those having to cope up with a shoestring budget. Nevertheless, kitchen designs here are really fantastic.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Kitchen-Cabinet-Remodeling&id=363262

Finding a Home: Urban Community

My leap into communal living in 1993 opened my life to new ways of being. It also created more adjustments than I could have imagined. All sorts of questions emerged about my definition of intentional community, my role in community, and how to transition into community.

As a single woman living 2,000 miles from any blood relatives, I had spent my adult years living in the city, either alone or with one or two roommates. With roommates, the un-spoken rule was that we each had our own independent life somewhere outside the living unit. While we jointly paid utilities and cleaned the house, we rarely ate together. Connections were tangential. We lived together out of convenience, not conviction.

In my outside social life, I attended meetings about community, but then went back to my own private apartment. Community was something separate, apart from my home; it was a hobby that I would set aside when it interfered with my independence. Yet, this modern living left holes in my soul. I knew that my spirit was not being fed. After finding a copy of the Directory of Intentional Communities, I began to yearn for more community connections in my home life. I imagined living at Twin Oaks or so me other rural, self-contained community, but I knew that was a very big leap. Surely there were other options! I wanted to retain my single, urban lifestyle and still live cooperatively. So when I found a notice on a cafe bulletin board about a cooperative home, I called that day and did not look back. That's how I found Bright Morning Star, a group home in Seattle.

Moving to an intentional community was a big jump! But now, looking back after a few months, I heartily recommend the same process to all city dwellers who seek broader personal connections, more community, in their home life. I've been able to keep my job, my friends, and my city pleasures, such as first-run movies and live theater and music, and live in community, too. If I ever choose to live singly again, I can easily find another apartment situation. If I end up moving to a rural community, Bright Morning Star is a perfect first step for trying out cooperative living.

In my transition to residential community, I've learned about cooperative values. In today's urban environment, it is more and more common for people to see the home as a place to retreat, relax, and tune out the world. Folks recover from the stresses of work and congested city life by "vegging out" and watching TV. While I have lived this way, too, I've been disturbed by it. Can't home be a place of activity and nurture as well? As a child, I remember eagerly waiting for my dad to come home from work so that the whole family could be together--that was when family life happened! Living Relationships

When I first moved to Bright Morning Star, the numbers seemed overwhelming to me--three adults and two teenagers, a house full of people who wanted to get to know me! I wanted to reciprocate but was so busy adapting to the new house and the group agreements that I did not have the time, energy, or frankly the desire to share conversations that first week or month. My home, once a bastion of solitude, was suddenly overpopulated.

However, over time, the communal meals provided a semblance of family life, other daily activities, chores, and meetings created a kind of knowingness and synergy that goes beyond verbal sharing. As each week goes by, other group members and I are increasingly involved in each other's lives. I still have my friends outside of Bright Morning Star, but now I have supportive relationships at home, too.

Privacy and Community

Privacy can be more ambiguous in community. Since all of my house members have lived together for eight years, they seem to have worked through territorial issues. My own territorial limits were tested when other house members initially felt freer than I liked about entering "my" room. The situation came to a head when I was out of town for a few days and my room was entered to check the window locks. They were indeed unlocked, but I still felt somewhat invaded.

Where was the compromise between security and individual privacy? When I lived in an apartment, people did not enter my room without permission. But other house members had a right to security despite my need for boundaries. I wanted a place in the house where I could keep materials such as journals and know that they were seen only by permission. In the end, I told my housemates that my bedroom was off-limits unless there was a legitimate need--such as checking the windows.

Simple Living Values

People have different ideas and priorities about how to live consciously and simplify their lives. For instance, I do not eat meat and I use public transportation rather than own a car, but until I moved into Bright Morning Star I enjoyed taking long showers and regularly tossed leftovers into the garbage. Now, some of my housemates own cars and some eat meat, but we also recycle water and save food for the compost pile and worm bin. How do our different values affect the community? Am I obstructionist if I don't save water? Do I judge house members who own cars for burning fossil fuels? Do I feel guilty if I take a long shower once in a while? These questions about priorities are present in many ecologically minded communities, including mine. However, it takes very little energy to recycle bath water for toilet flushing, or to put food scraps in containers for the worm bin. If ecological systems are put in place, the work of sustainability is certainly made easier, but the value decisions about long, hot showers and fossil fuels will not be resolved easily.

Community Responsibilities

At Bright Morning Star, we rotate cooking chores for a nightly communal meal. Since movies and community meetings often begin at 7 p.m., I have had to make choices between missing dinner or arriving at events late. We also have to schedule a weekly house meeting (finding a common day and time that all can attend is an interesting process). At times, it's simply inconvenient; other times, I resent the imposition of community on my life as a single woman. Yet home-cooked meals and gatherings with housemates are nurturing and satisfying experiences. Ultimately, it's worth the bother to have connections with domestic partners.

A final thought about starting the journey toward cooperative living: start where you are. Undoubtedly there are people in your town looking for cooperative lifestyles, seeking to share social energy as well as material expenses. I was acquainted with a member of Bright Morning Star for a year, through three different community groups. Yet, I didn't explore common interests with him or discuss dreams of cooperative living until I saw a notice for his community on a bulletin board. Who knows how many other opportunities I missed by not talking with people about my dreams?

I look back a year ago to when I fantasized about living in some of the communities listed in the Directory. My imagination was not big enough to even guess that I would be living in a cooperative home by now. Perhaps I have more transitions ahead of me: creating urban work that is nurturing and sustainable, or maybe moving to a rural community. I am hopeful that my housemates will support my search for the ideal living arrangement wherever that takes me. But for now Bright Morning Star is for me.

http://www.ic.org/pnp/cdir/1995/11cigliani.php

Attitudes toward Urban Living Landscape and Growth at the Dawn of Greater Torontos Growth Management Era

The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is Canada's largest metropolitan area and principal destination for international migration and investment. Over the next 25 years, the GTA is anticipated to grow by approximately 2.5 million people to a population of almost 8 million. While many view this growth as a symbol of economic prosperity, others see it as a threat to Toronto's economic, environmental and social well-being due to the dispersed, automobile-oriented way in which the city has accommodated its growth since the 1950s.

Over the last two decades, planners have focused much energy on ameliorating the shortcomings of post World War II urbanization by developing policy measures such as Smart Growth, Growth Management, and New Urbanism that aim to alter the way in which cities are built and thereby effect change in the lifestyles that have precipitated from this landscape. In Ontario, the Provincial Government recently launched a Growth Management campaign for the Toronto area called Places to Grow. Although many have attempted to define this relationship between environment and behaviour, little attention has been given to attitudes, preferences, and behavioural tendencies of those who will be most directly affected by such policies: the general public.

This study surveys residents from six GTA neighbourhoods in order to understand their attitudes and preferences toward urban living and accommodating urban growth and thereby shed light on where support may be found for implementing Places to Grow. Academic literature suggests that residents generally oppose changes to the physical landscape that do not conform to prevailing cultural values and attitudes. The results of this work indicate that people generally support development that is in keeping with the landscape to which they are habituated. Given that most Torontonians live a suburban lifestyle and that most of Toronto's growth occurs in the suburbs, municipalities may be challenged to implement Places to Grow which stands to impact the suburban landscape more than other areas of the region. If Places to Grow is to be successful, planners must have a better understanding of residents' preferences and motivations in order to attract and maintain their interest in community development throughout the entire planning process.

http://etheses.uwaterloo.ca/display.cfm?ethesis_id=958

Urban living environmental workshop planned

Urban living and environmental change will be explored in a new University of Waterloo workshop series, beginning early next year.

An initiative of the Urban Environmental Project, the goal of both the workshop series and the project is to develop cooperative learning and research networks, programs and projects that address urban environmental issues and concerns.

"The idea of the workshop series is to bring people together from different backgrounds to discuss social, economic and environmental concerns that are relevant to living in urban areas," said Beth Dempster, project coordinator.

"There are many challenges for planning, management and decision-making in urban areas that reach across many scales, sectors, and activities. We want to provide an opportunity for addressing these challenges by learning from and integrating different types of knowledge and experience."

"Anyone interested is welcome to attend. Participation is free. Interested people will include residents; people from government and business; high-school, and university students; teachers, college and university faculty."

Dempster added that although we associate issues and concerns arising from population growth and development with large, high-density urban conglomerations such as Mexico City and Tokyo, they also arise in our own urbanized areas such as Waterloo Region.

The sessions, to be held every Thursday for five weeks, begin Jan. 13, 2000, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., at the Adult Learning Centre, 185 King St. S. (at Allen), in Waterloo.

To allow for interaction and discussion, attendance is limited to 50 people. Space will be allotted on a first-come first-served basis. To register, contact the Heritage Resources Centre at UW, (519) 888-4567, ext. 2072; e-mail: hrc@fes.uwaterloo.ca

The series is principally sponsored by the Heritage Resources Centre, with support from the Interdisciplinary Research Fund, the Dean of Environmental Studies, and the School of Planning at UW and the Kitchener Rotary Club.

Besides working toward a more desirable environment, the objectives of the workshop include encouraging open, civic and participatory approaches to planning, management and decision-making for the urban environment and establishing a network of interested people to continue working on such issues.

The workshop sessions:

• Jan. 13: Ecology and urban environments. People value green space and natural areas in cities, yet the understanding, design and stewardship of such areas present challenges. Discussion in this session will consider landscape theory, planning cities to balance economic and ecological needs, citizen restoration and management of green space, and satellite technology as an aid to encouraging improved design of buildings and natural areas.

• Jan 20: Water, water everywhere? Water is such a familiar feature that we often forget its significance, yet a clean, reliable supply is essential for living. Discussion will focus on key ideas and concerns relevant to maintaining this valuable resource in our area. Research, understanding, and actions required for developing an appropriate relationship between supply and demand will be considered.

• Jan 27: The Urban Environment as Hazard. Where natural and societal forces collide. Hazardous conditions arise from interrelationships among urban and natural forces. Discussion will consider society's fascination with disaster, examine 'vulnerability' as a social construct, and review current understanding about flooding, air quality, and other hazards that are common in our area. Implications of these issues for management will also be considered.

• Feb 3: Social Justice and Environmental Equity. Environmental risks and environmental quality are not fairly distributed in urban settings. Discussion will question how this inequity comes about, and the concepts, research and experience that might aid in understanding and changing it. The emphasis will be on implications for developing social policies to address these concerns.

• Feb. 10: Building connections for urban environmental planning, management and decision-making. A key challenge in coping with the issues relevant to urban environments is integrating the broad range of knowledge and experience essential for understanding. This last session will include discussion on how the issues and concerns raised in this series can be brought together, who should be involved, and what approaches might be useful in strengthening public understanding. What have we learned through this workshop series about the potential for sharing knowledge and for creating planning, education and research opportunities?

http://newsrelease.uwaterloo.ca/news.php?id=1352

Urban Living Room

Cathy Nieciecki has lived in her Chicago condo for more than a year. She loves the home's features such as crown molding, hardwood floors and a beautifully restored fireplace, but doesn't feel the room reflects her modern lifestyle. The Design on a Dime team is armed with $1,000 and a plan to give this single city dweller a living room with urban appeal.


The Dilemma
The living room is a little small, and the current furnishings are a bit too big for the space. The cocktail table commands the majority of the floor. The TV is awkwardly placed next to the fireplace, which needs added architectural interest.

The Solution
The team comes up with a plan to evoke a New York-style apartment from the 1950s. They'll dress up the fireplace to give it more of a presence in the room. A grayish-blue wall color will complement the brown tones in the space. The TV will get a new cabinet to help incorporate it into the room's decor. To top it all off, they'll frame some of Cathy's own photography to use in the room. Here's how the plan comes together.

The fireplace is now the room's focal point. Crown molding gives the facade architectural appeal, and Cathy's own artwork is displayed above to lend the space a personal touch.

The vintage typewriter now has an attractive spot for display. The secondhand side table gets a fresh coat of paint and new hardware for extra sophistication. A chic silver lamp complements the look.

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_design_living_area/article/0,1793,HGTV_3376_4995076,00.html

New Housing Trends Lure Dog Lovers to Urban Living

Urban living for dog lovers can be a challenge, especially when it comes to finding housing. "No dogs" is the rule at many otherwise promising properties, and those buildings that allow dogs often do so grudgingly, forcing pets to use service elevators or back entrances, and to avoid any common areas.

But there's a new trend in high-rise living: projects that not only allow dogs but also welcome them with animal-friendly features. In Washington, New York and Florida, high-rise condominiums are going up with dog parks and grooming rooms built in.

"The two hottest cultural trends in America: pets and real estate," said real-estate expert Bradley Inman, publisher of the Oakland, Calif.-based Inman News. "It is no surprise that they are being married in new and creative ways. Developers are quick to pick up on new trends to differentiate their products and find ways of feeding new niches."

Consultant John Rymer of Atlanta-based Rymer Strategies has observed the same trend. "We recently did a focus group in Tampa for a project and found that pet-friendly activities were at the top of potential home-buyers' list," he said. "The condo project has yet to break ground, but the developer has made it a priority to include pet-friendly amenities."

In Seattle, a rooftop dog park was added to plans for the Cristalla project after focus groups expressed an interest in a safe place for canine exercise. "I would absolutely classify Seattle as a dog-friendly city," said Steve Washburn, the self-described dog lover who's a principal with Cristalla LLC. "I was excited when we were able to develop such a place."

Some dog lovers were just as excited to hear about it. Tom Taylor and Heather Hayes of Seattle, who have bought into the under-construction Cristalla, felt downtown living was a better match with their lifestyle, except that they were unwilling to compromise when it came to their dogs Madison and Jackson.

"Our dogs are so important to us that we consider them in just about everything we do," said Hayes of the couple's two wirehaired fox terriers. "We never would have moved to a place that would not have welcomed our pets. When we heard about the Cristalla's rooftop dog park, it made moving downtown a real possibility in our minds. The fact that the developer considered the dogs was a big part of it for us."

While its multiple dog parks and restaurants that cater to dog lovers mark Seattle as one of the more dog-friendly cities, the trend toward putting dog-friendly amenities in housing is gaining ground elsewhere as well. In New York City, for example, Manhattan Skyline Management's project on the Upper East Side will also include a dog park, on the fifth floor above the retail levels.

And while the Seattle and New York buildings are both pointed at the luxury market, the DUO condominium project in Hallandale Beach, Fla., is aiming for a more middle-class group of dog lovers. The draw at DUO is a "groom room" equipped with bathing, blow-drying and grooming stations for keeping dogs tidy. The room will be available for residents to groom their own dogs, or they can make arrangements for a groomer to make a house call.

"It's not the first time we've developed a property that allows pets, but it's the first that incorporates pet amenities," said David Reich of Triad Housing, developer of DUO. "We have people who are moving from houses and don't want to give up their dogs. We hear, 'Finally, I found a place that welcomes me!'"

Back in Seattle, Heather Hayes is used to the surprised reaction from people who assume she and her husband will be dumping their dogs as part of their move to high-rise urban living.

"A lot of people ask what we will do with the dogs when we move," she said. "You would never move into a place where your kids aren't welcome or have room to play. Our dogs are part of our family. A place that isn't pet-friendly isn't even a consideration for Tom and me."

Q&A
Pet songs are silly, but they sure are fun

Q: Thank you for your column on pet songs crooned by loving owners. Tonight during dinner I sang your song about your dog Andy to my husband, and we both teared up in recognition of this special tribute to your longtime canine companion.

Our dog Maybe certainly needed a song, and it did not take long for us to come up with one for the abandoned puppy who has become my husband's constant companion for seven years now. As soon as we started experimenting with the tune, Maybe became very excited, and we all had a dance around the kitchen, singing and barking. Thanks for a sweet idea and a fun evening. -- S.D., via e-mail

A: One of the most wonderful things about sharing our lives with animal companions is that around them we can indulge our silly side without worrying about anyone laughing at us.

I have always had "theme songs" for my pets. My darling Sheltie Andy, gone almost two years now, had the mottled gray and black coat common in breeds such as the Australian shepherd. His stunning markings attracted attention where ever we went, and it also inspired his "theme song," sung to the tune of "You Are My Sunshine":

"You are my Andy, my only Andy/You make me happy, because you're gray ..."

Like most of the animals in my home, he came to recognize "his" song and seemed to smile when I sang it. Now it makes me smile to remember it. Thank you for reminding me.

Q: I take issue with your view of dogs who display aggression. As a second-time Akita owner, I have known members of this breed to be highly intelligent and often assertive when protecting their owners.

On one occasion, my 2-year-old male Akita snapped at my former mother-in-law after she startled him. Given the fact that my mother-in-law was no stranger to him, I was alarmed by this behavior, immediately consulted with our veterinarian and subsequently worked with an animal behaviorist.

After weeks of advanced obedience training (consisting mostly of socialization techniques), the dog mellowed into a sweet family member and remained so for the rest of his life.

This is why I take issue with your staunch and unyielding view on aggressive dogs. With love, socialization and consistency, most dogs can be trained to be safe companions. Your article indicated little hope for aggressive dogs. I trust you don't share similar views on the child who, on occasion, "acts out."

A: I trust you aren't serious in equating a child who throws an occasional tantrum in grocery store with a dog who has tried to bite or has succeeded in biting a human being.

Every time I share my "staunch and unyielding view" on aggressive dogs, I get letters from people who make excuses for their animals. Your reasoning is very common: The dog's breed is "naturally protective" and some degree of aggression toward people is normal for the breed.

What's essential for all dogs, regardless of breeding, is that we don't make excuses for aggression toward humans. You did the right thing by recognizing the problem and getting help immediately, which is exactly what I advise other people in your situation to do. In some cases, aggressive animals can indeed be rehabilitated.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1747&S=2

Tableware tastes are turning Japanese

Japanese dishware has quietly infiltrated our living spaces to the point where we don't even think about it. When it's not holding norimaki, your oblong white sushi platter has designer moments with bright-green Granny Smith apples or a trio of lemons. Your blue-and-white bowls, each pattern different, come out of the cupboard one at a time for your morning muesli or as a group for soup with friends. But Michiko Sakata says that in 1980, when she opened Kaya Kaya (2039 West 4th Avenue), it was a challenge to sell angular plates or bowls that weren't part of a set. What's changed is Vancouver's increased familiarity with Japanese food, she observes. "When I opened, it was only UBC professors and people into Asian studies," she says of her customers. "Now it's skateboarders who eat sushi."

Sakata's roots provided the foundation when she began running a store. Born in Nagasaki, a centre of porcelain-making since the 1600s, she had deep connections to what she would one day sell: she grew up with a father who was a major collector; as a child she met "Living Treasures", rare artisans who continue ancient crafts. Initially, Kaya Kaya (named after her son) specialized in Arita ware, typically blue and white, and Imari with its traditional red-blue-gold palette. Sakata then added pieces from the 350-year-old Fukagawa Porcelain Manufacturing Company, who had provided dishes to imperial courts and, now, to most restaurants in Japan, says Sakata.

From fashion to electronic music, western tastes today are far more in sync with Japan's than they were in the early '80s, and that includes our attitude to tableware. Instead of assembling 124-piece dinner sets, we create lively kaleidoscopes that mix Caban or IKEA basics with mom's hand-me-downs, vintage treasures, and souvenirs from travels. Breaking a plate isn't a tragedy anymore; it's a chance to introduce one more newcomer to the party.

If traditional western table settings are clones, Japanese dishes are more brothers and sisters with features, such as colour or shape, in common but with their own individual characteristics. Check out Sakata's set of five blue-and-white mugs ($43), each with its own floral pattern, or a quintet of rice bowls ($90) whose only commonalities are shape and a palette of muted gold, silver, and black. Sakata points out rustic earthenware for hearty country cuisine, and elegant porcelain for more delicate fare.

Nearby, porcelain pieces from the Hakusan company include white oval dishes that narrow to a point at each end (set of four in different sizes, $140). Sakata says the porcelain is fired for 14 hours, and so strong that the company drops pieces on the ground as evidence-a test, she admits with a laugh, that she's never personally tried.

Exposure to global trends inspires today's Japanese designers, sometimes prompting the subtle evolution of centuries-old shapes. In a collection he created for Hakusan, ceramics master Masahiro Mori slightly flattened the classic rice bowl so that it works for dessert. Its decoration is a chevron pattern in inky blue, defined by shiny on matte ($45) or pale blue on white. Especially popular with first-time buyers is Mori's whimsical line of six different tall white cups ($29 each), their dimples and protrusions a comfortable fit for fingers.

Sakata indicates a set of leaf-shaped celadon dishes ($39), which Japan, according to her, produces "a more transparent blue" than other countries. As well as twice-yearly trips to her homeland, she now combs Southeast Asia for tableware and furniture that fit her store's aesthetic. Her travels have equipped her with the design knowledge to point out such niceties as, for instance, the barely discernible difference in proportion between lacquer bowls made in Japan and Vietnam.

In the same way that western and Japanese design increasingly meet mid-Pacific (as in a set of three nesting bowls patterned with English-looking wildflowers [$30]), so does the food on our tables. Where sashimi was viewed as weird a generation ago, it's now a staple of the Vancouver diet. Matcha, Japanese tea, is so popular that even Starbucks has adopted it; meant for whisking the powdered tea in, the earthenware bowls that Kaya Kaya sells (averaging $25) also work for cappuccino.

"Japanese love to mix designs," says Sakata. Why would you want six identical teacups when you could collect one-of-a-kind specimens ($20 each), floral, speckled, swirled, all with handsome red or brown wood saucers? "When you hold it in your hand, it's a really nice feeling," she says of the satisfying dovetailing of flesh and form that is typically Japanese. Flying out the door these days are large noodle bowls ($13 and up). As Sakata notes, they also work for salads, pasta, and all the other one-dish meals we eat, not just ramen. Another word customers wouldn't have known 25 years ago.

http://www.straight.com/node/9848

Designer furniture has really gone to the dogs

Whether it's with home-baked biscuits, doggie daycare, or Louis Vuitton leashes, people these days are treating their four-legged friends better than they treat some humans. So it's not putting two local industrial designers down to say they've decided to treat humans like they do dogs.

Chris Morse and Jae Won Sim started out inventing high-end beds for Bowser, but now their stylish creations are leading to a whole new line of human furniture.

When the two Emily Carr Institute industrial-design grads decided they wanted to create a product from scratch, they began researching gaps in the market.

"Here was one area where industrial design has not been applied," says Morse, surrounded by furniture at the company Pet Revolution's Burnaby studio. He points out the dog bed has traditionally ranged from an old-style "doughnut" to a miniature couch. "Those looks weren't doing much for people who had a design-oriented home. We looked at the problems first: one, they were hard to clean, and two, we found the dog's smell would permeate the material and you would have to throw them away."

The duo designed a bed encased in waterproof, tear-resistant nylon-finally settling on the same material that's used for bulletproof vests. To make it more aesthetically pleasing, they came up with the idea of a removable, zip-off covering-a reversible panel of microsuede that could be thrown in the washing machine or inexpensively replaced. Soon, they were playing with fashion colours: a neutral bed could be transformed into a bright robin's-egg blue or vibrant orange with a pull of the zipper.

Over months and months, they interviewed dog owners, trainers, breeders, and vets. "Part of the project was learning how dogs live," Morse explains.

They discovered that people were keeping their dogs longer, and that these older pooches need support for their aging joints. The solution, the duo determined, was enough foam density that a sharp little elbow wouldn't push through to the floor. They also had to accommodate the range in breeds, with a longer bed, with two raised ends, for large ones, and a smaller, boxy version for smaller pets. Morse and Sim designed optional, stylish metal or transparent-acrylic stands for those dogs that prefer sleeping off the floor; the mattress Velcros on and off, so it's easily transportable to other rooms. (Prices start at about $400. They're for sale at Fetch [5617 West Boulevard] and soon at Barking Babies [433 Davie Street], as well as via www.petrevolution.com/ or call 604-451-0321 for more information.)

The result was a chic-looking piece of furniture that, as Morse puts it, you don't "have to hide away when company comes over". What they had was a washable, comfortable, durable piece of contemporary design whose colour could be changed on a whim. And suddenly they realized those attributes might be attractive to two-legged customers, too.

It helped that Morse's two-and-a-half-year-old daughter had taken to sleeping on one of the prototypes he had lying around the house. It was warmer and more comfortable than a regular crib mattress, but just as waterproof and cleanable, and much more tear-proof. Now the team has brought in another partner, furniture designer Celina Dalrymple, to design a proper kids bed, with a slightly raised end that incorporates a pillow right into the mattress and a printed flannel covering that zips off for washing. (The line, available on the Web site above, is called Child Revolution, with the beds and coordinating blankets starting at around $400.)

But the trio found there were many more applications for their basic design. Just as they had observed dogs lounging around, Morse and Sim started looking at the way people use furniture in lofts and urban condos. Eating dinner on the ottoman or the couch is now the norm, and they and Dalrymple recognized the usefulness of the waterproof fabric and removable covers for the living room, too.

"One thing that radically differentiates our furniture is that it can be a fashion statement-you can change it every season," says Sim, pointing out most people are leery of investing in anything but a neutral-hued sofa or other big piece of furniture because its colour might go out of style. Revolution's zippable coverings offer materials that can change with someone's mood.

Their first pieces are rectangular, upholstered benches that can double as seating or ottomans. One model incorporates hidden storage. Another has a metal base that becomes a low table when the cushion is removed; you sit on the cushion to eat. (The benches, under the label Interior Revolution, start at about $830 via the Web.) Next up: Morse, Sim, and Dalrymple are developing sleek sofas that won't cause a coronary when your friends spill their wine.

The possibilities seem endless, but the Pet Revolution team hasn't finished creating items for its four-legged customers. For one, Morse and Sim are working on a more burrowlike bed for those breeds who like to den. And they've come out with faux-fur throws that coordinate with their doggie loungers: one pink lamb's-wool blanket looks chic enough for Paris Hilton's beloved Tinkerbell. Come to think of it, Paris would probably appreciate it, too-and that's the whole point, after all.

http://www.straight.com/node/10221