AT HOME_APRIL 2011

APRIL 2011 {

T H E U LT I M A T E G U I D E T O D O M E S T I C B L I S S O N T H E N O R T H S H O R E

}

INSIDE:

ADD VALUE TO YOUR HOME THE DIRT ON DIRT

TREND Watch KITCHENS AND BATHROOMS

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY NORTH SHORE STONE WORKS

A20 - athome - Sunday, April 24, 2011

Boost your home’s value Bathroom renos can add a lot to a home’s value — next to the kitchen, a well-designed and maintained bathroom does more than anything else to help boost the price of a home. But if you go overboard, you can end up pouring money down the drain.

Bathrooms, after kitchens, are among the most expensive rooms to renovate. There’s less cabinetry involved in a bathroom and you don’t have major appliances to add to the bill, but plumbing, tubs, tiles and taps aren’t cheap. While kitchen renovations can set you back $50,000 or more, for a new bathroom, you should budget $5,000 to $15,000, experts advise.

If your bathroom is more than 10 years old, it is probably in need of a makeover.

A quick spruce-up is easy — a colourful shower curtain and accessories such as matching towels, wastepaper basket and bath mat quickly change the mood of the room.

There’s nothing like a fresh coat of paint on the walls to liven up a room at moderate expense.

Other budget-friendly ways to change the look of a bathroom would be to install a curved shower rod, new towel bars, door pulls or toilet tank lever.

These projects may be small, but still make a big impact on both the style and functionality of the bathroom.

“We refer to it as the ‘remodellite’ trend,” says Tim McDonough, a spokesperson for Moen.

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“We have noticed consumers don’t want to invest in a major remodelling project, but still want to spruce up the room.“ Old bathroom faucets can be both outdated in style and waterefficiency. New faucets that meet WaterSense criteria reduce water usage by up to 32 per cent without affecting performance. Moen’s M-PACT common valve system allows consumers to change the look of a bathroom quickly.

With this system, people can change the style and finish of their faucets without having to replace the underlying faucet plumbing.

“In our experience, most bathroom remodelling projects involve creating more space,” says Andrea Mills, design spokesperson for IKEA. “If you don’t have anywhere to keep your stuff, it will be impossible to maintain a clean, organized bathroom.” She says IKEA has lots of solutions, such as wall-mounted cabinets or open shelves for spaces where storage is an issue.

Keeping the plumbing in the existing positions is the least expensive option in any bathroom renovation.

Fixture items such as bathtubs, sinks and toilets can be straightforward to replace as most replacement fixtures follow uniform industry standards. If fixtures need to be moved to use the space more efficiency, not all is lost.

“A sink can be moved to a different spot along the same wall without much problem,” says Stew Millett, owner of Miles Plumbing. “Toilets can be moved about a metre — depending on what’s under the toilet — and bathtubs and showers can be moved side to side along a wall as well.

A remodelled bathroom adds value to a house, but the key is to make it appropriate to the price range of houses in the area, advise real estate agents.

“Some people embark on a bathroom renovation just before they put a house on the market with a mistaken belief that it will help boost the value of the house,” says Niels Madsen of RE/MAX Alliance.

But that’s not always a good idea. Many buyers would rather pay a few thousand dollars less for a house that needs a new bathroom, and choose their own design.

And, Madsen stresses: “A new bathroom isn’t any help if the rest of the house needs to be upgraded as well.”

PEDRO ARRAIS

Sunday, April 24, 2011 - athome - A21

CLOPAY SALE DOORS

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A22 - athome - Sunday, April 24, 2011

KITCHEN AND BATH TRENDS

What’s hot in 2011?

The National Kitchen & Bath Association surveyed more than 100 designers during the final three months of 2010.

The results identified seven kitchen and four bathroom trends.

LISA KADANE

Kitchens: 1 Shake up your cabinets Traditional Shaker-style cupboards are making a comeback. They are timeless yet can work in a contemporary kitchen.

2 White kitchens are so last year Dark finishes are gaining in popularity on cabinets and countertops.

3 Unchilled wine storage is growing in popularity.

No need for a wine fridge; a rack built into the end of your island will do.

4 Side-by-Side freezer If you’re still using a freezer-on-top (or bottom) refrigerator, it’s time to get with the food storage program. Side-bysides are where it’s at.

5 Induction cooktops are closing the gap on electric and gas ranges.

It seems people like this energy-efficient, no-mess option.

6 LED lights are taking over from incandescents in the kitchen.

7 Trash solutions Designers are installing garbage and recycling pullouts that look like another set of drawers.

Bathrooms:

Stop dreaming, start saving.

1 Quartz counters are gaining on granite in new bathroom designs.

2 Spa-like More homeowners are going spa-like and green — as in the colour — on bathroom walls and finishes.

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3 Under-mounted sinks are still the most popular in bathrooms, though more people are choosing vessel sinks (formerly found only in the powder room).

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Sunday, April 24, 2011 - athome - A23 A D V E R T I S E M E N T

RENOVATEMySpace Renovate Your Kitchen and Bathroom to Add Value If you’re looking at renovating to improve your quality of life and add value to your home, the two most effective places to upgrade are your kitchen and bathroom.

Mary Vasilopoulos of North Vancouver’s Bathrooms plus Kitchens design Centre since 1993 understands how to get the most out of your existing space.

“Before you begin with a kitchen or bathroom renovation, studying the space is a must,” says Mary.

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Working with Bathrooms Plus begins with a visit from their design team to measure the site and look at how the space will be used. Your budget, storage requirements, number of people using the space and the overall feel you’re trying to create are all taken into account.

“We then provide you with a no-cost renovation proposal that includes a floor plan and the 3D drawings.

We also look at functionality, colours and provide you with a design concept, project management and outstanding professional quality work.”

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A24 - athome - Sunday, April 24, 2011

The scoop for spring PETER FITZMAURICE HAS GOT THE DIRT ON ALL THINGS DIRT.

As the vice president of hard goods merchandising with GardenWorks, Fitzmaurice knows exactly what’s needed — and almost more importantly, what’s not needed — when it comes time to prepare for the impending planting season.

April is the ideal times to plant perennials, shrubs, trees and various bulbs. When getting those items into the ground, Fitzmaurice suggests using bone meal or fertilizers with high amounts of phosphate to get them going.

“You want to turn organic material into the soil and I would always suggest planting with bone meal because that gives a nice and strong root system.”

Fitzmaurice suggested a 6-8-6 fertilizer as a good starting point. The trio of numbers on the front of the bag of fertilizer represent the three nutrients plants need most to grow: nitrogen, phosphate and potassium.

Nitrogen is best suited to aid lawns or leafy plants, while potassium helps develop the plant’s stem, making it more cold and disease resistant. Phosphate is key to ensuring the health of a root system, and helps fruits grow more readily.

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Getting the right plants in the ground, however, is only half the battle, as paying attention to water and soil levels is also key.

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Sunday, April 24, 2011 - athome - A25

Fitzmaurice said the two most common problems he encounters are gardeners who water too much or fail to use the right amounts of soil.

April is the ideal time to plant perennials, shrubs, trees and various bulbs.

“If you’re planting in a pot, always make sure the soil level in the pot ends up at the same soil level in your garden,” he said. “And always allow for a little bit of subsidence. After the soil is compacted or if you’ve watered it in a couple times, it can drop down. So you want to make sure that you are not planting it too deep. Some people also plant too deep and then they put a layer of mulch right up to the stem of the plant, so you’re actually burying the plant deeper than before.”

A wilting stem or ailing plant of any sort usually causes people to think that the No. 1 cause is a lack of water.

Not so.

Fitzmaurice added that Mother Nature typically provides all the watering needs for a given plant between the months of March and May. If the weather is unseasonably warm or dry during that time, he suggests moving to watering the plants every day.

IT’S SPRING!

PHOTOS LARRY W RIGHT

“Sometimes people can see something looking stressed, and they automatically assume it’s a lack of water, but it can also be too much water,” Fitzmaurice said. “So a good idea is to dig around and see what’s going on. It could be too deeply planted or it could be too much water.”

Peter Fitzmaurice from Garden Works plants daffodils in well-balanced soil.

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A26 - athome - Sunday, April 24, 2011

GOING GREEN! Adopting an eco-friendly lifestyle is But that same lifestyle can also pay something many people instant dividends, helping homeowners do selflessly in an save money and creating a effort to protect the healthier atmosphere in which environment and to live. Homeowners can ensure that the make several manageable Single-pane windows not only generations changes around the allow lots of external noise into to come have house that can protect a healthy the environment without the house, but they also contribute planet at their disrupting one’s current to heat loss in the winter, forcing disposal. lifestyle. residents to turn up the thermostat

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Installing double-pane windows will keep more external noise at bay, and allow homeowners to minimize heat loss in the winter.

ian ad uct n Ca rod P

PAINT WITH THE PLANET IN MIND.

Homeowners with painting on their to-do list should GO LOWchoose no- or lowVOC (volatile organic FLOW. compound) paints.

If replacing shower heads, faucets or even toilets is on the to do list, replace existing fixtures with lowflow models to save water and money.

Xeriscaping, a style of landscape design that requires little or no irrigation, can save significant amounts of water. If xeriscaping is a viable alternative, then homeowners will save water while also reducing the use of potentially harmful pesticides and chemicals commonly used to keep lawns looking lush.

FIX THOSE DRAFTS. Chances are, at this point after a long winter, homeowners are well aware of which rooms were warm and which might have had drafts. Visit those colder rooms and plug any air leaks around the house. This will result in a lower heating bill and could save substantial amounts of energy. For homeowners with attics, checking the attic for air infiltration should be done every year.

SHOP FOR SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS.

UNPLUG THE APPLIANCES.

Sustainable flooring is growing in popularity now that going green has Perhaps nothing around the house truly taken off. Search for wood that has silently uses energy as much as a been harvested in an environmentally plugged-in appliance that’s not being friendly way. Sustainable flooring used. Certain estimates suggest as much materials include bamboo and cork, as 40 per cent of a monthly utility bill is which many homeowners find as going toward powering home appliances aesthetically appealing as it that are turned off. While every home is eco-friendly. is different, it’s a safe bet that most homes can save energy by simply unplugging appliances that aren’t in use.

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Sunday, April 24, 2011 - athome - A27

ASK A PROFESSIONAL

Advertising Feature

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Signs that you may have an underground tank include: • A filler pipe sticking out of the ground; • A vent pipe at the side of the house; • The odour of fuel oil in or near building, oil in your sump or externsl drains and/or ditches.

Even if these signs are not visible, it is still possible that a tank may exist on your property. Hiring a qualified Oil Tank Contractor is the best way to ensure your property is tank free.

A single pinhole leak in a 1,000 gallon fuel storage tank can leak its contents into the environment in less than eight hours contaminating the principle property, groundwater, streams, neighbouring properties and injuring wildlife.

Typically 9 out of 10 properties with a free standing above ground tank, also have a buried tank as well.

Many lenders & home Insurance companies will insist on the removal of an oil tank, otherwise they may not provide their services.

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