COLIN & JUSTIN: THE GREAT OUTDOORS - OAKVILLE HOMES

By Colin & Justin

Ahh, bliss! As we compose this week’s column we’re sitting on our Scottish terrace, basking in unseasonably temperate highs. Aye, when the weather plays ball in Glasgow, it’s a wonderful place. That said, it would be a whole load more wonderful if we could simply pop a lid over the entire city. British weather, you see, in general terms anyway, can best be described as “ish.” Never Baltic, never Saharan, never really anything. Which is one of the reasons we so love Canada. We’re drawn to pronounced seasonal demarcation, a climatic plan of attack that tells us what to expect as each period unravels. Crisp falls, for example, which tend to deliver bitingly cold winters. Temperate springs which yield, in turn, to gorgeous summers. You get the gist . . .


It’s fair to say we’re obsessed with thermometers. Glued, as we often are, to CNN News, we’ve observed that much of Canada is currently enjoying similar highs to those we’re experiencing this side of the pond. And this information, for us, is manna from heaven because our next task, when the sun sets and we shower off the Ambre Solaire, is to jump online and book our North American travel. After six weeks filming in the United Kingdom, we’re home from homeward bound. Yay!

Which brings us neatly on to the great outdoors. We have a landscaping project in Halifax (one which we’ve been fielding due to a burgeoning diary) and, with a rare two-week window of opportunity upon our return, we’ll finally be giving it our undivided attention. Sure, it promises to consume our available schedule but we’re really looking forward to digging in. We’ve specified ebony decking (inspired by Bauhaus uncluttered aesthetics), a small rectangular lawn outlined with black bamboo and an assembly of Dedon weatherproof furniture. Perhaps, if we can twist our client’s arms, we’ll reveal the fruits of our horticultural labours in these very pages.

But our clients aren’t the only Canadians who’re gardening obsessed. Canucks in general love their outdoor space. Year in, year out, we’re constantly inspired by the work you guys do to ensure porches and decks (not to mention patios, gardens and terraces) are as attractive — and practical — as possible. We’re excited to observe a growing commitment to exterior space and, as devoted fans of al fresco entertainment, we’re envious of the fun factor we imagine takes place in each zone. Sure, we’ve a sizeable enough balcony of our own, but at 39 (windy) floors up, getting anything to grow is as likely as getting our buddy Gerard Butler to take up floral art.

And so, with warm days finally upon us, we reckon now is the perfect time to proffer some exterior maintenance tips to help you prepare for relaxing afternoons in what we hope will be ongoing sunshine. Or, for that matter, in readiness for casual, balmy evenings with the barbecue at full tilt. It’s amazing what you can do, with even just a little expense, to make the great outdoors even greater. Here’s how.

Getting the best from your space

Okay, we know what you’re thinking. Just how do I add that all important — yet often strangely elusive — design factor? Well, it’s not that difficult. A porch or front step, for example, should serve as a welcoming stop-off point as you fumble for your keys. It should provide visitors with shelter as you make your way to greet them. Porches allow you to spend time en dehors even if the weather is less than perfect and, if properly shielded from side winds via roll-down blinds or screening, they can be enjoyed well into autumn. Add a (supervised) shiny steel patio heater (they’ve come down in price over recent years) and you could well find yourself enjoying al fresco activity even as winter takes hold.

Finding inspiration

As summer approaches and you start planning how to dress your patio or veranda, consider how its furnishings should relate to the rest of your exterior. Plunder the detail of your home’s build period — roof lines, eaves, posts and rails, etc — and mirror these in your outdoors propping. Modern exteriors can be successfully dressed with contemporary pieces, but a traditional exterior tends to look best when dressed with wicker, wood or rustic detailing. Okay, so a little mixing and matching can be fun, but it’s good to respect your home’s architectural “vernacular.”

Ongoing care

Before thinking of furniture and accessories, make sure areas in which everything will be sited are well maintained. Prior to the mercury’s vertiginous ascent, it’s a good idea to tackle a little DIY. Here are a few points to consider:

• Use a power washer on pressure-treated lumber to remove grit and grime. Doing this won’t just clean, it will also help reveal the original tones and patina of your flooring.

• Treat your timbers. Apply top grade wood preservative to inhibit moisture ingress and sun damage.

• Remember that, with proper maintenance, a well-made deck constructed from pressure-treated wood can last 20 years or even more.

• If you have a slabbed terrace or patio, clean between each tile and apply weed killer.

• And if you’ve got grass? Invest in a cute wee mower and start striping that verdant greenery.

Tidy up

One of the worst things you can do is treat your garden, stoop or deck as a storage zone. A front porch used as a messy stop between kitchen garbage can and refuse collection is such a turnoff.

• Tip: Buy colour-coded crates, stash neatly together and make sure they don’t overflow. If you’ve nowhere to stash, think about the environment — sort refuse into boxes and seek out your nearest recycling centre. You know it makes sense.

Set dressing

A collection of pots planted with bright flowers and foliage will add a dash of drama to even the dullest approach. And, due to their portable nature, you can move them around as and when required. But don’t panic; you don’t have to be an expert horticulturist to achieve good results — many plant these days are specifically bred to challenge even the most inclement weather. Choose hardy plants to act as decorating accents against neutrally painted siding, pillars or walls.

• Tip: Hanging baskets are a great way to enliven proceedings, though remember these can dry out in as little as an hour on particularly hot days.

Finding extra function

On TV, and in private commission, we’ve dressed many gardens as comfy dining areas and we’ve attired others as secondary warm weather living zones. If you install safety gates to enclose young kids, decks and patios make fabulous playrooms as long as constant supervision is considered — particularly at the front of your home.

Top 10 tips

To create the perfect deck, patio or terrace:

• Develop a strong visual relationship between inside and out.

• Investigate building code and planning requirements before starting any building work.

• External lighting is important, so employ the services of an electrician and wire everything correctly so you can enjoy space at its best.

• Position small in-ground solar lamps at the side of steps and illuminate back and front doors with sensors that flick to life as you approach.

• Dress to impress — clever planting in pots and tubs is the simplest way to add outdoor style.

• A few jolly cushions will add “pop” to the plainest furniture while decorative outdoors crockery will awaken even the most boring table.

• Opt for stains that penetrate the surface of your deck or porch rather than those that simply sit on top of timber. And don’t be shy to chin your sales assistant — in better stores, such as Rona, they’re equipped to provide all the info you require.

• Debris in grooves between deck boards will trap moisture — this in turn may encourage mildew and rot. So start clawing it all out. The manicure comes later.

• Scan your own neighbourhood for inspiration and take photos of everything you like. Consider all your options and, if necessary, make a 3D model or plot everything out on graph paper.

• And finally! When you’ve dressed to impress, go one stage further by adorning your space with flickering lights and get ready to host that glamorous candlelit supper you’ve been promising your friends. Pop cute wee tea lights into storm jars and light citronella candles to keep bugs at bay. There’s little worse, after all, than dishing out that chic wee salad only to find a plague of yellow jackets sucking the life out of your balsamic dressing.

In essence, it really isn’t that hard to make your garden, yard or deck a positively welcoming and exciting haven. This year, as our professional calendar rolls ever faster, you’ll see us tackling more outdoor spaces than normal. We suppose we’re all now familiar with the term “bring the outdoors in” but perhaps these days, in light of how the gardening market is blossoming (if you’ll excuse the pun) maybe it’s finally time . . . “to bring the indoors out.”

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COLIN & JUSTIN: A MASTER STROKE IN THE MASTER SUITE - OAKVILLE HOMES

As designers, we relish the opportunity to pull down walls, reconfigure space and jiggle floor plans, all in our relentless quest to optimize the true potential of Canadian real estate. For us, a competent redesign is all about “freeing up” the home so it can articulate at its absolute best. We enjoy the challenge of combining small, awkward rooms to max up residential footprint. In fact, as far as we’re concerned, it’s often better to have fewer good rooms, rather than a labyrinth of smaller spaces that add little to the livability factor.

That said, we love an easier ride from time to time and therefore kick our heights when we stumble across a needy room that already boasts ample square footage. A room where our demolition ball can be set aside for another occasion and our builders “rested” so they, too, can enjoy a lighter workload. Today’s project (all things considered still a large job) falls neatly, and squarely, into that “ample square footage” category. Significantly more commodious than the rooms we generally lavish, this master bedroom suite was in pretty much perfect condition when we rolled by, although any suggestion of good taste was invisible to us. The walls, however, were sound and perfectly smooth, the floor was level and solid and even the ceiling was gloriously ripple free.

But you know us. As much as this design crime scene was drably immaculate (who doesn’t like a little contradiction in terms?), we’re still going to give the perpetrators a little battering. Just look at the evidence. Curtains, above the bed and at the windows, tied back flat. Postage stamp sized rugs dotted around the floor. And a furniture collection that Noah might have discarded had he found time while outfitting his arc with a plethora of animalistic pairings.

So just who lived here? Well, believe it or not, a hilariously entertaining couple with whom we instantly bonded. At the very early stages of middle age, they’d allowed their boudoir to become a style vacuum and hadn’t decorated for 20 years. Outgoing to the max, our clients had a young demeanor in all of life’s other areas but, as far as their inner most sanctum was concerned, they didn’t have a clue.

Remedy, of course, lay just around the corner. During animated chatter and a whole load of elegant cocktails, we suggested a plan that we hoped might appeal. Our clients listened, and we talked. Then our clients talked and we listened. Collectively we agreed there was little to salvage from the room’s previous furniture collection, so each item that wasn’t required was shipped off to a local charity store. Nothing, in our world, is wasted. But of course you’ll know that if you were reading our column last week.

Our primary suggestion was to “zone” the soccer field-sized bedroom to make better use of the space. With ample room for cross purposing it was, to us, an obvious solution. Our plan would include, as well as luxuriously appointed sleeping quarters, a comfortable seating area in which to relax before hitting the land of nod, or an indulgent spot, perhaps, in which to prepare for the day ahead. In our bedroom projects, we generally try to include secondary seating, but with proportions such as these we could have subdivided the room and still left our clients with enough space to take in lodgers and house the entire furniture collection at the local branch of Sears.

Wall covering

There’s a lovely wee hotel in the heart of South Kensington, London, called No. 16 Sumner Place and, when filming recently in one of their toile decorated suites, we vowed to recreate the same look whenever we found a bedroom big enough. As soon as we encountered this one, we knew the French paper depicting pastoral scenes would make the perfect backdrop. But hold on a sec. Don’t think that traditional paper such as this will only work in a traditional home. We recently used it in a Manhattan loft and it looked strangely wonderful pasted on an accent wall as part of a project that we dressed with Bauhaus inclusions. It’s all, as we regularly command, in the mix.

Window treatments and bedding

Using fabric from the same range as our paper we commissioned bedding, as well as drapery panels to dress either side of white Roman blinds. Again, mixing and switching (done properly) can lead to lovely results. The opaque blinds softly diffuse incoming light while the Toile panels provide an extra layer that serves to fatten the overall look.

Flooring

As we were specifying lots of touchy freely fabrics and soft upholstery, we knew our scheme could easily handle a hard finish floor treatment. When compiling an essentially monochrome esthetic we always advise having an extra colour — or two — elsewhere in the mix to ensure results don’t appear one-dimensional. This in mind, rather than lay ebony (our original plan) we finally settled on an admittedly dark floor, but one with much warmer tones.

Rugs

For extra layering — and to help demarcate zones — we custom-manufactured rugs with inky black binding. The ebony tapes are like picture frames which serve to further enhance the art (in our case the furniture) that lies within. If you fancy a similar look on a budget, then it’s worth noting that Ikea carries a selection of rugs taped in various colours, so pop on over to the big blue and yellow shed for inspiration.

Bed side tables and hutch

If you read our column last week, you’ll recall we waxed lyrical about the joy of consignment stores. Indeed, it was from one of these very meccas we purchased these cute wee nights stands and, at just $45 a pop — and $75 for the matching TV hutch — they didn’t break the bank. In their original incarnation they were knotty pine but after being treated to a lick of black and white satin they suddenly took on a whole new look.

Bed

It’s SO important to scale furniture choices according to available square footage. That said, if we had a buck for every doll-sized bed we’ve seen dressed daintily in a large bedroom (or a dollar for each time we’ve espied a jumbo double king squeezed into a tight space) we’d be rolling in it. Rolling in the cash, that is, not the bed. But still the space versus furniture conundrum continues across the globe. It makes sound sense, before buying, to create newspaper templates; these will allow you to see how proposed items fit when arranged in your room.

Seating area

Anchored by another area rug, this comfy nook serves as a useful secondary living zone to which our clients can retreat should family life, downstairs, become chaotic. And isn’t it nice to have an extra crash zone, over and above the bed itself, to enjoy a glass of wine or read a book? Yup, if you’ve got the space, give it a go.

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GARDENS THAT WILL ATTRACT AMAZING WILDLIFE - OAKVILLE HOMES

As you prepare your shopping list for the garden centre this week, include plants which will attract wildlife to your garden. I am talking about the kind of wildlife that Canadians really WANT in their yard like butterflies, song birds, blue jays & hummingbirds.

The secret to attracting song birds, hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden is providing their favourite food and nectar-laden flowers in a sheltered, warm and sunny location.

Plant material plays a large role in attracting butterflies and hummingbirds (and song birds too!). Your choice of plants should include lots of native species, if you want to maximize the value of them as ‘magnets’ to butterflies and hummingbirds.

Hummingbirds are migratory. They pass through our gardens once in spring and again in late summer/early fall. Have a hummingbird feeder set up near your kitchen window so that you can see them easily from the indoors.

Hummingbirds are attracted by visual cues. Look for bright-coloured red or orange perennials and annuals with ‘trumpet’ shaped flowers for the hummingbirds.

While hummingbirds are attracted to your garden visually, they will stay longer if the flowers used to attract them in the first place have a sweet fragrance. They are, after all, looking for nectar to feed on.

Butterflies are attracted to your garden by scents in the first place. Flat, bold faced flowers are attractive to butterflies because they are easy to perch on.

Plant lots of trees for nesting and protection for the birds, including hummingbirds. Use a mixture of deciduous and evergreen trees as both provide protection, food sources and shelter.

Bright sunshine is favoured by most butterflies and hummingbirds in fine weather, but trees provide protection from wind and severe weather.

Place lots of still water around the yard for drinking. Butterflies prefer drinking from shallow water. Bird baths work well. Empty them weekly to avoid mosquito breeding.

Songbirds are attracted to plants that produce a seed head, for the most part. Their food preference is seeds: which is why we use a select, clean combination of seeds to attract them to our birdfeeders.

Plants that attract songbirds later in summer and into the autumn, when the seed heads develop, include Beebalm, Echinacea [Coneflower], Globe Thistle, Sweet William and many ornamental grasses.

You can attract different types of birds to the yard by offering different mixes of seeds.

• Black oil sunflower seed is the universal bird food in my opinion. More birds seem to like it and go out of their way for it than any other single type of bird food.

• Finch blend: I love wild finches. They are small, colourful much of the year and active beyond belief! Finches prefer a mix of pure white millet, red millet and canary seed plus Nyjer and sunflower hearts.

• A songbird blend should be a combination of shelled peanuts, red millet, black oil and striped sunflower, cracked corn, white millet, red millet, canary seed and unshelled sunflower seed.

• Blue jays love peanuts in the shell. No sooner do I have the peanuts out there and they are calling one another to get over to Mark’s place — there is a feast in the making! And in they fly. Be sure NOT to use the peanuts in the shell that you buy for human consumption! Avoid anything that has salt on it.


With a little planning of your flower garden and investment in quality, Canadian produced bird seed blends; you can keep the wild birds coming to your yard year round! Just the right types of wildlife for most any gardener!

Hummingbird feeders should provide easy access to the feeding station, a perch and most important, the “nectar” that you put out for them should be refreshed each week. Otherwise the sugary liquid may go rancid. Place in an open area near a water source.

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335 GLOUCESTER SOLD!! - OAKVILLE HOMES

Congratulations David & Chris!

LISTED AT $1,679,000 - TOO LATE!

Call Mary Ann TODAY for your evaluation!


Welcome to 335 Gloucester. This 4 bedroom home is situated on a majestic 150' X 147' lot. PREMIUM & EXCLUSIVE location on Old Oakville's most sought after street! Surrounded by multi million dollar homes. Walk to nature trails, parks, downtown boutiques, restaurants, marina & lake. Location, location, location! Endless opportunities with this home. Renovate, add on, or custom build your super sized estate dream home. Zoning is R01 - and property is over 1/2 acres.

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