Evelyn Ward de Roo, Interior ReDesigner

Garden Recycling Ideas

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:25:02 -0500

For all you gardeners interested in recycling, here are some great ideas from John DeGroot of DeGroot’s Garden Centre. “Don’t throw away that old rug just yet. Cut the carpeting into strips of 3 or 4 ft wide and use it as a pathway in the garden. Lay it down fuzzy side up and it will make a fine base for a garden path. If it looks questionable, as I suspect it might, put a layer of woodchips o

Letting Go

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 13:41:01 -0500

I want to share with you some words written by a friend and newsletter editor of Shalom Sacred Mountain Retreat Center, Pat Parisi about letting go. A lot of the work I do with clients revolves around just that. “There's this little ritual that we do at the beginning of many a Shalom Retreat. Let go and breathe out, and with it all the distractions that keep me from being fully present here.

Office in the woods

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 19:42:10 -0500

In the summer, my husband and I move to our cottage on the great prairie ocean. In order to spend lots of time there we need an office from which to do our daily business in the outside world. We renovated a 50 year old 8 x 9 ft shed into a pine scented oasis, replete with laminate floor and big windows to look out into our bird land. Imagine how wonderful, while trying to solve a difficult progra

My first basket of veggies

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:49:12 -0500

Today was the first day of my harvest basket pick up at the local organic farm, of which we have a share. Boundary Creek Farm near Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba, is a CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) operation. I was so excited to go over to get my first basket of freshness and goodness. Knowing the family themselves and the happy face when I pulled up in the driveway made it even sweeter. Knowing t

Beach Zigzag

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:59:04 -0500

Part of the planet said ‘Hurrah’ tonight. We were out for a stroll on the beach and it turned into a clean-up. First we commented on how much garbage there was. Then we found an old plastic bag but it had a huge hole. Then a sturdy stick held it in place so the two of us could carry one end each. The hole in the first bag was covered over by another piece of plastic. And thus we zigzagged across

Fridge purge

Thu, 5 Jun 2008 21:06:06 -0500

Do you know what’s growing in the back of your refrigerator? We live for part of the year in a different part of the country therefore we do a complete purge of food items in our house before leaving. I almost make it a game to meat out every last morsel of edible items from my cupboards and fridge, designing meals to use up every conceivable ingredient. When I go to clean the fridge before leavi

Fire Ritual

Mon, 12 May 2008 11:52:33 -0500

What reminded me of the value of fire in the process of decluttering was reading a friend’s blog entry on helping her friend clean out her office, The Art of Decluttering. She says... We decided to create a ritual for letting some of these precious things go... Rather than tossing them in the trash, we made a pile to burn, an offering of prayers, to be transformed and carried away in the flames an

Well hung pictures

Mon, 5 May 2008 17:16:37 -0500

Have you ever been in a house where the pictures were hung too high? Or they looked like they were floating in nowhere land? Most people make the mistake of hanging pictures too high. Most art is viewed from the sitting position, except for pictures in hallways, entrances, receiving areas (or behind a toilet, that one’s for the guys). Pictures need to relate to the furniture. 6-8 inches is a good

Creating A Harmonious Home

Thu, 1 May 2008 16:14:54 -0500

A Home of Love Yesterday’s blog from DailyOM was so right on I just couldn’t pass up sharing it with you. I really can’t say it better myself. “At their best, our homes act as our sanctuaries. They are the nests we return to for rest and nurturing nourishment before we venture out once again to spread our wings and fly. But there are times that we may feel quite differently about our homes—times

The Joy of the old fashioned Work Party

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 09:29:40 -0500

Last Friday afternoon and evening a bunch of us came together to lend a hand to friends. If you want to get a lot of labour done in a short period of time, just get a group of people together, to sweat, laugh and carouse. The the spirit of an old fashioned barn-raising, ‘many hands make light work’ credo, I organized a yard clean up for some friends who are moving overseas to teach. Their decision