Let the sun shine in on summer decor

As promised, here are Janette Ewen’s top tips for switching up to a fresher, lighter, more summery décor.

The first step, she says, is to give your home a good old-fashioned spring-cleaning.
This means getting into all those dark, dreary corners - cleaning behind the bed, behind the fridge, and flipping/vacuuming/steaming your mattress.

To avoid overload, assign tasks to family members and put together a cleaning schedule. Before you begin, make sure you have the tools and cleaners you’ll need. Ewen is a fan of steam cleaning, and favours Hoover's Twin Tank, which lets the user clean with steam alone, or with a cleaning solution.

 Here is Ewen's step by step program for lightening summer decor:

• De-cluttering will clear both your mind and home. Start by tackling one room at a time.  Sort items into piles, toss, donate and keep. Ask yourself, is this something I can tuck away, need on hand or want to display?  Once sorted, place the items into the appropriate storage containers.
• Change your paint colour, even if it’s just a feature wall. Think of shades you see in nature in the spring and summer — sky blues, leafy greens and sunny yellows.
• Swap your accessories. Replace dark coloured accessories with lighter pieces in simple shapes - think  sleek glass vases and clean-lined bowls. Fill them with oranges or apples for a hit of colour.
• Replace heavy tablecloths with lightweight open-weave linens. When shopping for plates and placemats, opt for a seasonal palette of bold orange, lime green, lemon yellow and sky blue.
• Change your window coverings. Replace heavy fabric drapes, such as velvet, with bamboo blinds or drapes that are light in weight or colour. Try something sheer that lets the sun shine in.
• Put heavy and ornate area rugs into storage. If you have one, expose your clean wooden floor. Alternatively, try rolling out a light coloured sisal or sea grass carpet.
• Place airy arrangements of wildflowers throughout the home. Keep the look soft and natural by mixing a variety of flowers and using an assortment of vases. Or try an eclectic combination of old tin cans.
• Replace winter bedding with soft blankets and top sheets in relaxing colours like lavender, pale green and soft aqua.
• Bring the outdoors in with rustic metal or wood planters or vases planted with fresh herbs or spring annuals. Incorporate furnishings with floral motifs into your living space.
• Shop for art or photography that incorporates natural and outdoor elements that reflect the season.

It's not too late for spring cleaning

Spring sprung early this year and then took a back seat as winter made another late appearance, throwing the seasonal change-over off-balance. That meant that many of us skipped the annual ritual of the Spring clean-up.  But lifestyle expert Janette Ewen has a message on that point — better late than never.

“Spring is a natural time to tidy, because you are letting air in. It’s almost as it that flow works on a sub conscious on your mind as well," says Ewen. But if you missed the first wave of Spring, Ewen cautions against waiting until the next natural marker in the fall. And Ewen says it’s not just your mental health that can suffer from clutter — it’s your pocket book as well.

“Canadian Tire sponsored a survey that found 68 per cent of Canadians say they’ve rebought something because they couldn’t find it in their house and another 71 per cent say they’d rather toss things out than find a place to store them!”

Ewen has a well-honed system for keeping clutter udner control. “I do a mini purge about once a month. I sell some stuff on Kijiji, which lets me make a little money, some of which goes to a favourite charity. If I get lazy, my assistant makes me do it. Staying on top of it helps me avoid getting overwhelmed.”  To help you from getting suffocated by stuff, Ewen has some suggestions:

• Sort stuff into three plastic tubs — one for recycling, one for garbage and one for stuff you’re going to give way. Be disciplined — if you haven’t used it in the last year, you probably won’t. For sports equipment, she’ll stretch it to two years. Before you unload items, consider doing a swap meet with friends — a great way to extend the life of items that no longer work for you.
•  Allow yourself a cabinet for sentimental memorabilia. After all, some things are worth keeping.
• Designate a shelf system for various types of items; one for temporary pieces that you’re not sure you’ll need long-term or not, one for craft or hobby supplies, one for seasonal.
• Use modular storage systems to create customized units that fit different spaces throughout the home.
• Instead of keeping mountains of mags, go through copies and pull the pages/pics/pieces you want and put them in file folders that can be housed in attractive holders.
• Use dead space by, for example, putting shelves above a garment pole in a closet. Consider a second shelf even higher up for items rarely used. Keep a foldable stepladder for easy access. How about under-stair storage?
• Use an under-the-bed storage unit.
• In the kitchen, line the space above upper cabinets with baskets (make sure they have lids)
• Pretty storage items will motivate you to stay organized. Ewen likes Debbie Travis’ line for Canadian Tire.
• When purchasing new furniture for the home, look for pieces that offer functional storage, such as ottomans with lids or closed entertainment units.  Tomorrow —  tips from Ewen on switching up decor for Spring.

Keeping it clean in the backyard

Got a space-challenged backyard, or an over abundance of garden and sport gear that's spilling out of the garage and back hall? Rubbermaid has a new shed that offers loads and room, and makes it easy to get at, so you can avoid pronging yourself in the face with the rake just to get to the lawn chairs. The Slide Lid Shed has a sliding roof that makes it easy to get at seasonal paraphernalia, and a profile low enough to sit below the sightlines of a six-foot fence, so it won't impair the neighbours' view. The paintable exterior mimics lap siding. About $500 at Home Hardware

 

Hot home office pieces

Sadly, there wasn't room in this week's column in the paper for all the great images I had of office furniture. Happily, the wonders of modern technology make it possible for me to share them here. Kind of a ying-yang sitch.

 

Arie shelves by Aril Levy (at Klaus) can do double duty as shelves or room dividers

Domison's office chair (Corian) has a deliberate formality

Mayhew can help with office design from the floor up

The well-designed home office can increase productivity (image from Mayhew)

 

Castor (at Klaus) offers an unsual take on office decor

Martha Stewart thinks a tidy office (with items show here and below) is a good thing

 

 

I looked into the future and saw...more laundry

While researching a Hot Home Products column about laundry appliances, I learned some cool things that I just didn’t have room for in my piece. For instance, Philippe Meyersohn, general manager for GE Appliances Canada, told me that the future will belong to smart appliances, which will be able to do fancy stuff like adjust the water temperature of the washer based on electricity prices. This generation of machines will require shape-changing municipal infrastructure, but GE has already tested the technology with good results in Vancouver. Meyersohn also said that while there are currently no Energy Star regulations for dryers, the company expects to see something in place by 2015.

“These changes will come about as people more concerned about environment, and because water and energy costs will keep going up,” says Meyersohn.

I also chatted to Steve Preiner, director of marketing for Bosch Appliances, about his company’s decision not to introduce steam,  which  is a hot (get it?!) feature on many lines, into its laundry products.

According to Preiner, steam adds cost to the machines and may not actually add that much functionality. “If you get a high enough temp in the wash, you don’t really need steam,” he says. “As for the dryer, you can get the same effect by spritzing a garment with water and using a gentle cycle.”

It’s a good tip, one I’ve frequently used. In fact, even with older or basic machines, good laundry “habits” can produce cleaner clothes. For example, do you:

• Shake clothes out before you put them in the wash, and turn them right side out?
• Make sure you’re not overloading the drum?
• Add detergent to the water before adding clothes, rather than loading the machine and pouring detergent on top?
• Treats spots and stains as soon as they happen, rather than letting them dry?
• Sort clothes appropriately, separating, for example, natural from synthetic fibres?

   

  Don’t forget that this hot, dry weather is perfect for line-drying clothes. At these temps, they’re ready in a snap, and the sun helps to bleach and sanitize whites.   Pic courtesy of Bosch
  For more laundry tips and advice, check out Clorox’s Dr. Laundry site.

   

  Pic courtesy of Bosch
  

A well-designed laundry room (and some good tunes) makes the job just a little easier

The efficient laundry room requires more than just good appliances. Perhaps that’s why Whirlpool enlisted the help of Clare Kumar, professional organizer, to design what it calls an "intuitive” laundry room (see example above).

Here are a few tips from Kumar:

Create an efficient layout with enough counter space to have a prep station for laundry products, and to serve as a folding surface when needed.

Use under-counter space to store hampers, and add shelves or baskets for supplies

Paint the walls a fun colour, and keep a radio or I-Pod nearby to listen to music while  working. My current fave song for folding laundry is by Fitz and the Tantrums 

Whirlpool Duet laundry pair (see pic below) also has some features that will save you time and trouble, including a “sixth sense” technology that measures the size of each load to determine how much water and detergent is needed, a built-in fan that  tumbles wet clothing for up to 16 hours, and an anti-vibration/noise feature. The set comes in white, red and silver. Prices start at about $2,500.

 

 

Clever design - I'll drink to that

 
Here's a fab Friday find. A cute, clever and colourful bottle bag from Reisenthel, perfect for carrying those empty wine bottles back to the Beer Store for a refund. Available at www.touchofeurope.net

Repeat after me - I WILL get more organized

While the calendar tells us that January is the official start to the year, everybody knows that in this part of the world it’s September when things “start up again”. If becoming more organized in your home office this “year” is one of your resolutions, check out this week’s Hot Home Products column in Saturday’s Toronto Star.

In the meantime, keep in mind that an elaborate administrative process isn’t usually necessary for the small home office, but it does help to maintain a simple, but consistent system. Here are a few ideas from label makers Avery, which sent a slew of samples, which I had to hide marauding gangs of back-to-schoolers at my house who suddenly realized that September is upon us!

• Spend at least 15 minutes each day getting organized. And don't tell me you're "too busy" - this is a time investment that will pay off.

• Mark priority projects and important documents with labels such as “Priority”, and “Outgoing”. Make secondary files called “Read”, “Research”, “Pay” and “Long Term Projects”. You can also get free template software from Avery to create customized labels. Of course, I’d need one that says “Deadline, dummy!”

• Use portable note taking tools. For example, Avery’s adhesive-backed PocketTabs, which can be attached an organizer or folder, was probably my fave among the samples of new stuff I looked at – I think these are a great way to cope with the flutter of papers that cross my desk in the office, and fill my purse while I travel.

Clutter in your closet? There's help.

I promised in this week’s (Feb.  6th) Hot Home Products column (so go and buy a paper, already!) to include some links with good information about home organization and storage. So, here they are:

Home Hardware’s ever-increasing online offering  now includes kitchen and closet organization software that lets you custom design a closet to your own specifications. Ever if you don’t go with the product they offer, I think it’s a useful exercise.

The Unclutter.com  has good daily tips and advice on staying organized, and a forum where regular folks swap ideas on ways to met the challenge of chaos in the home.

While taping a segment on the Steven and Chris show this week, I met Gretchen Ruben, author of a new book called The Happiness Project. Haven’t read it yet myself, but producers who had were RAVING about it. I scooted around her site, and found some insightful observations about clutter in one of her blog entries. By the way, did you know you can sign up for a Steven and Chris newsletter that contains exclusive information and way-cool giveaways from the boys? Yes, you can!

The Tiffany’s of home organization products for some, Rubbermaid,  has ideas and product suggestions for getting your organizational act together.

And I just this week found out about NeatFreak.com, a new company that offers a variety of home organization products. I hope to meet with them soon to learn more. You, gentle reader, will be the first one with whom I’ll share my news.

Organizational challenges

Organization is the theme of my next two Hot Home Products columns, so I did what I always do when I need information or inspiration on the topic. I called Estelle Gee of Orderly Lives, which helps homeowner with everything from moving to assistance with juggling the day-to-day to-do list. Estelle says she likes “stuff” as much as the next person. But she adds, “ At some point, stuff can start to overwhelm your ability to function efficiently.”

To determine if you’re at that point, answer the following questions.

• Have you been severely disorganized for at least five years?

• Do you hoard?

• Have you repeatedly tried and failed to get organized?

Nodding your head? Estelle has a few tips that might help turn things around:

• Establish a physical limit ("when the newspaper pile reaches 18 inches, I’ll recycle it”).

• When clearing out a space, ask yourself the following about each item: Do I like/want/need/use this? Do I have room for this? If I were moving would I take this with me?

• Keep a few samples of a collection and display them beautifully. Give away the rest to someone who’ll appreciate them.

• Remember that that electronic organizers, daily planners, and storage bins don’t actually organize you — they’re simply tools that can support good habits.

•  Make a 21-day commitment to yourself to stick to a new habit. By then, it will become second nature.