She cinched it!

One of the best parts of my job is discovering designers who come up with clever ideas for home decor. It’s extra-super-pleasant when I learn they’re Canadian. So allow me please, the pleasure of introducing you to Melanie Norris of Fresh Leaf  Designs. Based on Vancouver Island, Norris has designed a removable decorative panel for throw cushions that she calls the Cushion Corset. Suitable for 17- and 18-inch throw cushions, the corset wraps around a pillow and is tied at the back with grommets and ribbons. The cinched pillow, used alone or with a co-ordinating cushion, adds a punch of colour or graphic interest. Norris also makes the co-ordinating cushions, the backs of which are often faux suede or microfibers. Bonus - it’s also easy to take a corset with you when you go shopping for matching decor pieces. Norris kindly sent me a sample cushion case ­in luxurious magenta brocade with rose and orange accents (see pic at left). It’s beautiful ­ — rich, rich colour and a wonderfully bold design. I think I’ll take it with me when I go shopping for bed linens for my bedroom reno – I love the idea of using these hot hues as accents to the cool grey I picked for the space. You can find out more about Norris’ designs at the Fresh Leaf Design website and shop for the products on Etsy. Prices are very reasonable – starting at about $35US.

 

Cool school

Hot Home Products focused on back to school goodies this week, but I didn’t have room for some stuff  I think would be great for the University-bound. For students coming to Toronto to the first time, a City Notebook from Moleskin  would be a meaningful back to school present. Not only does it contain general information about Toronto, including maps, TTC routes and a street index, it also has blank sheets of acid-free paper for jotting down impressions, stories, and notes that can be organized under personalized tabs. So a handy notebook could also become a wonderful memento of  a first year away from home. In addition to the centre of the universe Toronto, there are also City Notebooks for Vancouver and Montreal. They’re available at various BookCity locations, starting at about $21. To make on-campus laundry easier, send the kid off with an Umbra crunch can in trendy plaid. This collapsible  cotton canvas bag has a laminated liner and costs just $19. Stanley’s 684 Household kit includes nails, thumbtacks and pushpins, anchors, screws, picture wire, picture hooks and hangers, cup hooks and sawtooth hangers in compartmentalized trays. Just what Junior needs when he’s putting up pictures of Mummy in his dorm room. Now is the time to grab one - or three ­ - of these handy kits; Walmart has them on a “rollback” price of $9.97 until the end of September. (They’re usually $12.97)

I say tomato

While I was recently ignoring a deadline reading the Toronto Star from cover to cover to ensure that I remain fully informed about the life of the city, I came across an article from food writer Mark Bittman with loads of great tomato recipes. Kept the paper so I could make one of the recipes for guests, but since the house in full reno mode, it went missing. So I improvised at the last minute from my recollection of the recipe. It turned out to be so delish that I wanted to share. I chopped a load of large, firm field tomatoes, and tossed them with fresh chopped basil, olive oil and pepper. Then I sliced some rustic Italian bread very thin and spread one side with garlic butter. Slapped thin slices of goat milk cheddar on the bread, put another slice on top, and stuck a few of these in my grill (see pic at left) , which I find I’m using A LOT these days (it was perfect for the Grilled Eggplant recipeI found in the Star’s Living section.) I grilled the bread, then let it cool before chopping it into crouton-sized bites. Tossed those with the tomato mixture and sprinkled it with toasted pine nuts. WAY TOO GOOD. A few days later, I woke up in the middle of the night and thought about a variation – chopped Belgian endive with toasted nuts, and a blue cheese on the bread. I’ll head up this week to my favourite place to buy some nice stinky cheese (the Reesor Farm counter at the York Farmer’s Market and report back.  

Seasoned cast iron (aka non-stick) cookware

This week’s Hot Home Products column is about new types of non-stick cookware. While some of it is pretty fancy, there’s also old-school non-stick. That’s cast iron, which properly seasoned, will ­ — IMHO ­ — perform as well as most non-stick surfaces. How to season cast iron? It’s easy. Wipe a very clean, very dry pan inside and out with a thin coating of oil (I use grapeseed, as it has very little flavour) and stick it the oven at about 300° F for an hour or so. Let it cool in there for several hours. Purists will insist that detergent should never be used on cast-iron, but I sometimes cheat and use it, especially if my teenage cooks have burned food in one of my pans.  As for me, I never burn anything. Well, hardly ever.  If scrubbing burnt food disturbs the seasoned finish, simply repeat the process. Treated properly, a cast iron pan can last forever — I’m using one that I got from my mother about 10 years ago, and which she had used for several decades. She gave it to me after it got to be too heavy for her to handle  comfortably (Mother Dearest is 87!) That’s the one downside to cast iron — it’s heavy.

Full disclosure ­— I have three cast iron pans,  but I also love non-stick for making crepes, omelettes and bacon and eggs. I’m dying to try a new crepe pan from Twin— a line of high-end cookware from Zwilling J.A Henkels (see pic above). This three-ply clad pan with an aluminum core and stainless steel finish has gently sloping sides designed specially for crepes and omlettes. It should soon be hitting the shelves of gourmet shops, and will sell  for about $120. That may sound like a lot. But it's a small price to pay for a lifetime of perfect crepes, n'est ce pas?

Painting problem solved

Bedroom Reno - Part 26 - When it came to painting, the curved ceiling on the dormer above the built-in drawers (see pic at left) threw me. I had planned on a white ceiling and grey walls. But given the slope, there's  no natural delineation between the ceiling and the wall. What to do? Continue the white ceiling paint down to the floor and paint the drawers white? Paint the wall white and the drawer faces grey? I finally called My Close Personal Friend, brill designer William MacDonald. He  suggested that I paint the room out — ceiling and all — in my chosen colour. When line breaks are not clear, or curved walls make it hard to determine where to change colour, William says a single colour is the answer. Switching back and forth will contribute to a choppy look and can even make the space look smaller.  So it’s Pure Silver from the Rona Collection throughout. Now that the painting is done, it's on to the floor and doors. I've chosen smoked glass doors - sliders for John and a pocket door for my  new closet (you can see in the pic below how large it's going to be compared to the old one).  So will  I need to buy more new clothes to fill it? John says he thinks not. We'll see.

I-kea - I love it - I want it

 

I may just have to take an afternoon off this week. Not because I'm withering in the heat (which I REFUSE to complain about). It's more that the new Ikea catalogue is out, and I could easily spend several hours in the garden pouring over it. What resonates the most with me right now is the prevalence of grey; it's a colour I love and am having fun using in my bedroom reno. I am constantly amazed at how the shade looks slightly different throughout the day and in different lights. I love the way it's used in the living room decor and in the patterns of the chair and and rug (both shown above from the new catalogue). Since I've been searching for new nighttables and haven't seen anything I loved (not in my price range, anyway) I also want to run out to my local Ikea and check out the cute Ulsberg nightstand in dark grey ( see below). They're just $35 each. Which means I can grab a couple and still foot the grocery bill, which my 14 year old son is sending through the roof. Since when does two peanut butter sandwiches and a litre of milk constitute a "snack?"

Chillin' on a hot day

Now that the temperature has finally begun to climb, you may actually want to bring out the cooler that’s been sitting in the basement all summer - or treat yourself to a new one. Either way, you should probably get thee to a sunny beach, backyard or park while the getting's good. If you do take some nibbles and bevvies along, Rubbermaid has some tips for packing them safely and efficiently. Here they are:

• Use reusable gel ice packs that can be wrapped around food

• Pre-chill all items — the cooler will work more effectively than if they are  at room temperature

• Wash fruits and vegetables and pack in air-tight bags or plastic containers to prevent cross contamination

• Line cans and beverages in a ring around the outer edges of the cooler

• Fill a layer of ice in the center of the ring created by cans

• Place bagged items on top of the ice and repeat layering process

After the picnic:

• Wash the interior of the cooler with warm, soapy water

• Sanitize it by mixing equal parts of water and white vinegar and spraying it inside the cooler

• Once washed and sanitized, leave the lid on the cooler open to air dry

DIY - sort of

If you’re asking why so much of the work on “my” reno that I was going to handle “all by myself” is being executed by my husband, it’s like this. You know that DIY stands for “do it yourself”. Well, after that came “DIFM” or “do it for me”, which applied to homeowners who called in contractors and install experts to do the work. I’ve simply coined a new phrase. PAPTGVBALMTYH (plan a project and then get very busy and leave most of it all to your husband.) Fortunately John has not yet started complaining. Hands up if you think the guy at least deserves a top of the line new table saw for all his hard work? Or maybe a restful weekend at the cottage - oops, I forgot, there's more work for him up there! In the meantime, I'm Very Busy testing non-stick pans. I'll report back soon.

Almost ready for prime time

Back to the bedroom reno. Before we left for the cottage, I pulled down the old drywall and plaster on the exterior wall and my husband John added insulation before the new drywall went up. John was really impressed with the Roxul mineral wool insulation we used. He liked the fact that working with it did not irritate his skin as other insulation products have. The material was super simple to cut with a serrated knife, and he felt it was easier to adjust into spaces than the fibreglass he’s used in the past. Its flexibility — or “squashiness”, as he put it — meant it was simple to fit into an awkward spot in the room – behind the built-in drawers that sit underneath the dormer. We’re hoping that the added insulation will up the comfy quotient in January when the temperature is below freezing (Sorry, I know you don’t want to think about that right now!) Today, John is stripping and sanding the drawer fronts and the window sills so that the new paint will go on smoothly.  Then we prime, and then painting begins!

 

Be prepared - be very prepared

I was researching emergency preparedness this week, and came across some good information that I just did not have room for in my Hot Home Products column. The Weather Network has, for example, on its website a section called Under the Weather with advice on how to cope with weather-related  emergencies, as well as tips on dealing with lesser crises, such as bee stings, heat stroke and allergies.  Energizer Canada, which is currently running a contest with several vacation and prize packages, has a handy checklist for road or camping trips. Before you go, they suggest you:

Check your car’s tire pressure, oil and gas levels, and fill with windshield washer fluid (sounds like no-brainers, but lots of folks skip these little steps!)

Check the batteries in your cell phone (d'oh!)

Plan your route, but don't be too rigid -  allow  time to stop and explore a small town or area you don't know

Set up and clean out your tent beforehand  

Bring a couple of flashlights. Naturally, Energizer recommends their Energizer Weather Ready Area Light. It runs on four AA batteries, provides 100 hours of light  and sells for about $17 at Zellers, Wal-Mart and Home Hardware. I have to say I also like the three-LED headlight (shown above - about $16 at Zellers and Home Depot), which you can use while biking, riding or reading in bed. I bet it would also be great for letting kids run around after dusk without worrying that one of the little scamps would trip over a tree branch, break an ankle and send you off in search of the nearest Emerg Department. Don’t even think about it!