This past March, I was lucky enough to visit the Ikea headquarters in Älmhult, Sweden to get a sneak peek at the new Stockholm collection. In fact, I even had a chance to sit down with the lead designer Ola Wihlborg and chat about the collection (check out the September 2013 issue of H&H for …
Modern Makeover: A Family’s vibrant Arts & Crafts house
When an art-loving household with two little children purchased this century house in Toronto’s West End, they quickly got to work putting a younger stamp on the too-formal interior. For 18 months, David Sword as well as Lise Anne Gougeon dealt with interior designer Stephanie Pellatt of Pivot style as well as designers Leanne Tammaro as well as Adolphina …
Our new home Server Isn’t a Server – The Synology 1813+ NAS review
like many of you, our storage requirements have been growing over the years. Our first Jukebox server was built in 2005, primarily to store music files. Then in 2009 Jukebox MkII was born and with it a reduction in power consumption along with a major leap in performance and capacity to cope with high definition video …
Husqvarna Automower review part 8 – A Tesla for Your garden
After several months with the Automower it’s time to look back and take stock. but first here are a couple of things we’ve not covered yet. Running costs & Battery Replacement The manual quotes the Husqvarna 430X Automower power consumption at 30 W during cutting and also quotes a ‘mean energy consumption at maximum use’ of 20 kWh/month in a …
Ask A Designer: warm primary bedroom
Q. I am having a difficult time embellishing our primary bedroom. The headboard wall is papered in a subtle silver as well as white pattern, as well as the furniture is dark brown oak. I just recently installed drapery hardware however I have no concept what colour or pattern of drapery to hang. I would …
In The Spotlight: Canadian-Born artist Agnes Martin
executive editor Kimberley brown shares why Canadian-born artist Agnes Martin should be on your radar. Inspiration can come from anywhere, but when designers turn to artists, things tend to get gorgeous fast. Take Yves Saint Laurent’s Mondrain-inspired dresses in 1965, Salvador Dali and Elsa Schiaparelli’s lobster dress in 1937 and Takashi Murakami’s smiling flowers for Louis …
Video: very amazing Touch switch coming to Iridium Mobile?
Here’a fab looking touch switch posted to Twitter by Nikolay Rusanov. From what we can make out from the short video the unit supports PoE (although there’s a mains adaptor plugged into it). There’s a micro USB port on the rear, presumably for programming. The UI borrows heavily from Windows Mobile and looks fast and responsive. We asked Nikolay what …
Video Review: Amazon Echo Your smart home Assistant?
The new Echo is a 9 inch high tube shaped Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker coupled to Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, their version of Apple’s Siri or Google Now. Amazon Echo is developed around your voice. It’s always on—just ask for information, music, news, weather, and more. Echo begins working as soon as it detects the …
Rowhouse Reno: 1 Month To Go!
We are lastly in the house stretch of our rowhouse renovation. (Click right here if you missed my previous posts.) The floors have been installed, tile chosen out, appliances delivered, the primer is going up as well as the cupboards are being made. We are lastly seeing it come together. I believed I would provide …
Christmas Wrapping concepts
It’s not truly looking or feeling like Christmas yet, however there’s no escaping the building excitement. Of course, lots of have been preparing as well as buying as well as embellishing for weeks. Not me. I like the rush as well as enjoyment of last-minute everything. So the truth that I have already believed up …