Kitchens - the hub of the house...

We all love kitchens and no matter what goes on we all end up in them. Everybody gravitates to the kitchen.

Recently I was as a new showroom in Burlington, Interior Works Inc., http://www.interiorworks.ca/, located in Burlington,  where you can do one stop shopping for all of your kitchen needs.  Interior Works has formed an affiliation with one of my favourite haunts - The Decorating Centre http://www.thedecoratingcentre.ca/  to offer everything from the planning, cabinetry, counter tops & back splash ideas as well as wonderful hardware choices and of course appliances.  There are a variety of companies represented including Richelieu, Cambria, Goemans; Oatman; Slate Flex, etc.

The warehouse where all the cabinets are created, was as clean as any living room!! What a feat. Besides giving us plenty of great information on what they are offering, we also enjoyed wonderful hors d'oeuvres (I know, I am always going to events where there is yummy food, I have to eat it, can't waste it, what can I say!)

Kitchens are one of the most popular renovations today for both your own enjoyment and resale potential. With all of the wonderful options around, it is quite the undertaking to try to make decisions on your own. That is where your decorator/designer and companies like Interior Works come into play.  We make it happen!!

 Dave Routery, President & his wife Brenda, Interior Design Consultant where the warehouse is kept amazingly tidy and clean!

Representatives from Cambria 

Sara Rooney, District Manager for Cambria

Beautiful Kitchens

Again, here we are smiling for the camera!!

Debbie Travis supports Walls of Hope in her new series "All for One"

This past spring, Debbie Travis challenged different communities across Canada to step up to the plate and honor their hometown heroes. These are the people who are the glue of a community. The go-to people. The folks that make the place we live, well, just better. All For One is a heady mix of construction, decorating, family, friends and most of all community. It is about an entire neighbourhood coming together. It is modern day ‘barn raising’.  The "hero" selected from Oakville was a lovely woman, Sera Mansueto who is the person who started helping others and started Walls of Hope.http://www.wallsofhopecanada.com/

Founded in 2005, Walls of Hope has already helped the lives of 10 families. We believe that through home transformations we can create an environment that will inspire and create a home atmosphere that does not reflect the hard circumstances a family has fallen into. We have witnessed this philosophy work!!!!

Walls of Hope looks for families who have fallen on hard times, through no fault of their own, and are truly trying to change their lives for the better. We prefer to work with famlies with children as they are the innocent ones.

A colleague of mine, Linda Graydon is very involved in this charitable foundation called "Walls of Hope". I felt this was something I would like to be involved in so I mentioned to her "count me in".  The project we were involved in was right here in Oakville where Debbie re-designed several rooms in the home of the woman who started Walls of Hope way back.  She is always helping others and not taking any time for herself or her own home so...... Debbie along with many people from Walls of Hope and neighbours, friends, etc jumped in and took over this house for 5 days to create something really special and it was done while Sera, the owner was away so when she returned home she in for a huge surprise.  So glad she loved what was done!!  It really looked splendid.  Photos of the home are below.

All For One with Debbie Travis launches 26th of September at 9:00 pm on CBC Television.  The home in Oakville will be aired October 31.  If you miss it go to and have a look   www.debbietravis.com/blog.

Below are some photos to show just a "few" of the many people who helped make this such a success and are courtesy of Karen Hubert.!!

Debbie and a couple of Walls of Hope members create gorgeous lampshades.

Another great idea to raise money for Walls of Hope was the creation of a calendar of some of the great men who worked on this project along with a "ladies only" evening at Oliver & Bonacini http://www.oliverbonacini.com/ where these great guys  strutted their stuff on the "catwalk" and were auctioned off.  They volunteered 4 hours of their personal expertise to the lucky ladies who bid the highest and all of the money raised goes directly to help Walls of Hope help others.  What a great idea!!

Debbie announcing the Walls of Hope "Studs" to be auctioned off.

A quick peek at what you missed! (photo courtesy of Audrey Madconald)

p.s.  The first printing of the calendars sold out, but there will be more coming...

Here are some of the photos of rooms we worked on

Daughter's Room

Another Daughter's Room

Master Bedroom

New Office for Walls of Hope

Summertime and the livin is easy.....

There really was a song by that name, and now that I mention it, I am really dating myself.  Oh well...

We missed summer last year and for most of the previous year so this year I had a lot of hope running on it.  We have had a variety of weather - hot, rainy, hot again and so on.  Enjoying the outdoors is all part of what we do here for those precious few months that we can, and having a nice space in which to enjoy the summer months is paramount.  Outdoor decorating has really evolved from the days of my youth.  No more the portable round grill with briquettes and a couple of folding web chairs sitting in the back yard.  We now have rooms created within our outdoor spaces with areas for relaxing, sunning, dining and so forth.
Covered areas to keep out the strong rays are a must as is good seating.  Some of the more elaborate gardens sport "cooking areas", water features and fire features.

Our outside spaces are now being co-ordinated to the style of the home as well as the interior decor.  There are so many looks around.  Let's see some of them.....

My own spot for relaxing!

and dining....