Homes

Barbara Hubbard is a bungalow believer. She sees potential in these unassuming, one-level homes that used to be dotted all over this city, and has loved living in her Uplands version for more than 28 years.

Living with Bohemian Style is like wearing your heart on your sleeve. All your personal passions are out in the open for everyone to see. Your living space can be small or large, but it feels especially right in lofts and attic rooms.

Dear Debbie: We are planning our backyard and would like an area set aside for relaxing as well as some gardens and maybe a water feature. What makes sense and is not too time consuming to keep up? We both work, no kids yet, love to entertain.

Most home gardeners recognize and honour their gardening spaces as natural sources of enhanced health and elevated mood.

Dear Helen: We have a rambler rose that we’ve been trying to keep trained neatly against a fence. Despite our efforts, the plant always gets away on us with rampant growth that reaches out to smother shrubs and perennials growing in front of it.

Dear Reena:How can we get rid of a strange odour on the seat of our leather sofa? This occurs only when someone is seated on it. Nothing has been spilled that we know of. We wish to give it away, but want to improve it first.

After spending a second exhilarating but exhausting day at the renowned design show in Paris, Maison & Objet, where designers and retailers from around the world visit to discover the latest trends, products, materials and colours for the home, I cou

I almost missed it as I cleaned around a trio of broad cedar stumps. Emerging from a deep crevice on one stump were small, soft creamy yellow, snapdragon-like flowers.

Dear Tony: Our strata is a 26-unit apartment building with two commercial units on the ground floor.

Dear Helen: Do you know of a source for alpine plant seeds? D.A. Chiltern Seeds in England (chilternseeds.co.uk) lists some rock plants and alpines among its enormously extensive A-to-Z listings of annual, perennial, shrub and tree seeds.