I just got back from an amazing tour of several wineries in the Okanagan, all near Kelowna. Ok, seven wineries in two days, but hey, who’s counting!

One of our first stops on our trip was the amazing Mission Hill winery. The buildings at . . . → Read More: Okanagan Wine Country – Design is All Around Us]]>

I just got back from an amazing tour of several wineries in the Okanagan, all near Kelowna. Ok, seven wineries in two days, but hey, who’s counting!

One of our first stops on our trip was the amazing Mission Hill winery. The buildings at Mission Hill are designed by Seattle architect, Tom Kundig. Kundig’s vision was to create a building that would blend in with the natural beauty of its surrounds and not compete. There is a peacefulness and feeling of serenity about these buildings, and the sounds of the bells ringing, transports you to some far away hill top in Tuscany.

What a treat it was to go below ground and view the cellar where the wine is aging in its barrels. The smell of red wine perfumed the air, and the sounds of condensation dribbling down the volcanic rock walls was lovely and refreshing (outside it was nearing 30 degrees celsius!).

After our tour, we were led to a small tasting room, where we sampled some of Mission Hill’s wines. This winery boasts many awards, thanks to the vision of its proprietor, Anthony von Mandl, a Vancouverite of Austrian descent.

Following the wine tasting, we happily wandered through the gift shop and this is where I started to think about home staging. Ha! You knew I couldn’t resist a link, didn’t you? I was very impressed with the displays of gift wares – how they were artistically arranged to catch your eye.

The colours and textures really drew you in, and made you want to purchase an Eiffel tower or a ceramic hen, even though I already own a million Eiffel towers (hmmm, I don’t have any hens yet…). This is exactly what we do when we stage a home. We merchandise the home to make it seem more appealing to buyers. We draw buyers in using colours and textures, and creating stories that will be memorable to home buyers.

Curb appeal is also important, and wow, does this place have curb appeal! The vineyards are just beautiful, with grape vines running all the way down the hill to the lake. Roses are planted at the beginning of each row of vines. This is so that bugs will infect the roses first, before carrying on into the vines. It’s a warning sign of infestation, but it is also very beautiful to see the shot of colour at the beginning of each row. Yes, here I am, standing amongst the vines.

The grapes are a little behind, since the summer started out a little cool, but they should be bursting forth in no time.

If you get a chance, definitely go to the Okanagan and do some wine touring and tasting. Soak in the wonderful examples of great design and sample the wine. Next year, I’m hoping to visit a different area, maybe Naramata, where different grapes are grown. Until then, cheers!

Imagine you are a struggling, recovering female drug addict or street worker, trying to get your life back together, and hoping and praying someone would just give you a break.  We’ve all read about the Pickton murder trials, and read the biographies of the women victims who went missing.  In these biographies, . . . → Read More: What do Vancouver Home Stagers and the Women of Downtown East Vancouver have in Common?]]>

Imagine you are a struggling, recovering female drug addict or street worker, trying to get your life back together, and hoping and praying someone would just give you a break.  We’ve all read about the Pickton murder trials, and read the biographies of the women victims who went missing.  In these biographies, you start to realize that these women had previous lives, and families, and loved ones.  Life dealt these women tough blows, and their fate was a terrible one.

Louise Edwards, the Godmother of the Downtown Vancouver Eastside

Enter a woman, referred to as the Godmother of the Downtown Eastside Vancouver.  Louise Edwards is her name, and she has been on a personal mission over the past 20 years to help these desperate women.  Guess where she lives? – Kamloops!  What does she do?  Louise listens to the women’s needs, and gathers donations from the Kamloops community, and drives down every 2 – 3 weeks to deliver these donations to the Downtown Eastside  Vancouver women.

Now how, you may ask, does this have anything at all to do with Home Staging?

Well, recently, I attended the Real Estate Staging Association’s (RESA) monthly meeting.  We are a fledgling group, and anxious to form the first RESA chapter in Metro Vancouver.  For those of you who don’t know, RESA is the governing body for Home Stagers in the U.S. and Canada.

This was a fun meeting, as I was able to meet other fellow stagers and chat about our industry, the successes and the challenges that go along with owning your own small business.  As sole proprietors, it’s great to share a common passion, and although we are each other’s competition, we are also each other’s network and support.  More importantly, we decided as a group that one of our missions was to help our community.  Enter Louise Edwards.

Louise spoke to our group about the struggles of the Downtown Eastside Vancouver women. There is virtually no budget to help out these women obtain simple “luxuries”, such as a freezer or a working oven.   At the moment, there is an old hotel, called Sereena House, where women who are trying to work their way back into society reside.   We have agreed, as a group of Vancouver Home Stagers, to help furnish this cold, stark abode into a warm, comfortable living space, that will remind the women of “home”.

By carefully listening to the women’s needs, we will create a functional main area living space for dining and a social area for playing cards and watching t.v.  As home stagers and designers, you will be sure that we will be creating as beautiful a space as we possibly can.  We already have a freezer to donate, and we are all pitching in for the cost of delivery to Sereena house.

We are an excited group of Vancouver Home Staging women, ready and willing to help our fellow women in need.  If you would like to help, please feel free to contact me and I can arrange for pick up of any donated items you may have.