It’s often said that the walls have ears. In Sibiu, Romania, the roofs have eyes. The effect is so striking that a paranoid person could panic while strolling the medieval city streets. ‘Why are the roofs watching me?!’ they’d think.

[caption id="attachment_527" align="aligncenter" width="427"]inusite_juin_2013 iStockphoto[/caption]

Look closely at the photo. Do you see that the roof is sleepy? Its eyelids are heavy; they’re going to close any minute now. Too much bad weather perhaps? Centuries of heavy rain, beating sun, freezing and thawing—it’s a lot for a roof to handle. And that’s not counting the weight of hundreds of years of history.[……]

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[caption id="attachment_490" align="alignleft" width="382"]Vague Eau ISTOCKPHOTO art-de-vivre source: iStockphoto[/caption]

Fresh water is a precious resource. Even though Canada seems to have ample supplies, it accounts for only 7% of the planet’s renewable fresh water reserves. And just because those reserves are renewable, it doesn’t mean they’ll last forever. If we want our children, grandchildren and future generations to be able to benefit from this natural wealth, each of us has to do our share.

 

At home, there are many actions you can take to reduce how much water you use.

 

Indoors

The bathroom is the place in the home where the most water is used. Taking showers or baths and flushing toilets account for 65% of our consumption. It’s easy to cut down the quantity of water used in the bathroom by following these tips:[……]

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[caption id="attachment_493" align="alignleft" width="350"]Chambre d’ambre Murs WIKIPEDIA inusite Amber Room by Jeanyvan (Wikipedia Commons)[/caption]

We laughed at Indiana Jones at the time. It’s only a movie, we said, watching Raiders of the Lost Ark. Treasure hunters no longer exist. Archeologists searching for the Ark of the Covenant are pure fiction.

First off, it’s true that some archeologists still hope to get hold of the Ark of the Covenant—unless it was destroyed. They look for it without lassos or guns, but they still look for it.

Second, treasure hunters do indeed exist. And one of the most coveted treasures is the Amber Room. Why? Because six tonnes of rare amber covered the walls. What’s more, the amber panels were backed by gold leaf and mirrors.

Let’s travel back to the time of the Russian tsars. In 1701, a Prussian king ordered construction of the room for the Charlottenberg Palace. In 1716, as a political move, he gave it as a gift to Tsar Peter the Great, who decided to increase the splendor of the room with additional work. Finished in 1755, the Amber Room was moved from the winter palace to the summer palace, near Saint Petersburg.[……]

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What do you think of the look of these cabinets? The pairing of two tones gives a modern, minimalist look to the kitchen. Here, white is paired with a dark wood-tone, but wood cabinets next to black are stunning too. Melamine with stainless steel also creates a big impact.

[caption id="attachment_491" align="aligncenter" width="486"]Cuisine Horizon Armoires ISTOCKPHOTO decoration source: iStockphoto[/caption]

Did you notice the many drawers in the lower cabinets? The European trend toward horizontal lines is increasingly popular in Quebec. There are more drawers for storage, whether as cabinets or inside a pantry. This increases storage and provides access to the drawer’s contents at a single glance. No more looking for a plastic container lid in a low cabinet. Your back and your knees will thank you!  [……]

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[caption id="attachment_463" align="alignright" width="339"]renovation_avril_2013 Source: iStockphoto LP[/caption]

The first thing that comes to mind when you think of pre-finished panelling are the brown-groove imitation-wood panels that still cover many walls. Vestige of a bygone era? What do you do with it? Remove it? Reuse it?

Walls that are finished with this material use grooves, wood or plastic baseboards and door and window frames.

If you want to reuse this panelling, be careful when removing the nails (dry wood breaks easily). Then it’s up to you to decide if you want to reuse them in a pantry or other fairly hidden space.[……]

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What are your childhood memories about wallpaper? Maybe you remember your grandmother’s living room walls with gigantic pink and red roses. Perhaps you also remember wallpaper that buckled, peeled and yellowed.

Today, in addition to higher quality wallpaper, the choice of patterns and textures is e[……]

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[caption id="attachment_461" align="alignright" width="338"]finance_avril_2013 Source: iStockphoto LP[/caption]

The construction of intergenerational homes has not experienced its expected popularity. Condominiums have mesmerized investors in recent years, at the expense of rental properties. However, senior citizens are omnipresent, and numerous. And do you know what? Their numbers are increasing every year. We haven’t seen anything yet.

Are you thinking of investing in real estate? The senior citizen housing market is a prime category. But you have to know the preferences of retirees and future retirees and how to adapt to them.[……]

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