ORIGINALHOME • MAGAZINELiving Well at Home • Personal Style on Any Budget

OHMAY

•2014•Issue 9

Get Comfortablewith Rustic Country

Host A “No Mess - No Stress” BrunchDepression Glass for a Cheerful Table

A Little PinkspirationFor Every Room

Table of Contents

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EditorNgaire Genge

Acquisitions ManagerLorna Hamilton

AdvertisingElaine Sainsbury

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Fearless ColourPinkspiration for Every Room

Deconstructing European Country StyleVibrant Italian DecorFresh French Country

Creating the Woman Cave

Colourful CollectionsCarnival and Depression Glass

Your May GardenA Very Varied May: Managing a Late Spring

Successful Companion Plantings

Classic Cooking at Home: PastryA Baker’s Dozen Shortcrust Pastry TipsChoux Pastry: Easier Than You Think!

Traditional Cornish Pasty CrustPlus Recipes to Fill Them Up

Entertaining at HomeServing Up Brunch for the Bunch

Mastering Breakfast in Bed

A Little Touch of LuxThe Absolute Best in Beds

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Our Cover this Month:

Photo by Kallan MacLeod Project by Mal Corboy Design and Cabinets

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A Room of Her Own• Creating the Woman Cave •

“‘Why would a woman need a cave? Isn’t the whole house

basically hers?’ That is what so many people say when I tell them I’m doing a ‘woman cave’ project for a client,” says Giselle Leblanc. “But, no one bats an eye when I say it’s a ‘man cave’ project!” Her current client, Lise Beauville, couldn’t agree more. “About five years ago, we created the ultimate man cave for my partner Paul. The basement, which was quite large, now houses a home entertainment centre, a pool table, and his workshop for woodworking projects,” she says. “We don’t have one of those 1970s home bars in the corner, but, we do have a very nice drinks cabinet on wheels! His favourite thing? He has a spot for his poker table

that he ‘never has to put away between poker nights.’” Lise’s section of the basement space is a laundry room. “It is so small, you can’t get past the dryer without closing the dryer door first,” chuckles Lise. “I’m not sure which of us ‘owns’ the mechanicals room, but, you can’t get to it without going through the laundry - after you close the appliance doors, of course!” Says Leblanc, “The Beauvilles also have a double garage where Paul’s ‘car stuff’ lives, including a motorcycle he’s had in pieces, taking up one whole space in there, for about two years now.” The family’s three teen-aged children used to have a playroom in the basement, but, they now have the big

open space above the garage. “It was a bit of a toss up,” says Lise. “For years, Paul was going to put his man cave up there and we were going to redo the basement into a proper crash pad for the kids, but, then Paul realized he couldn’t get the pool table up to the top of the garage, so they just traded spaces.” Meanwhile, Lise, the creative one in the family, paints on the back step in fine weather, on a drop cloth in the dining room in poor weather. Lifting the bed skirt in the master bedroom reveals leg extenders to lift the bed eight inches and a dozen long plastic storage bins. “Lise’s room,” laughs Giselle. “Not a lot of headroom, but, there’s a container for her fabric and sewing notions,

Photos: Baker County Tourism, Shimelle Laine, Hans Jurgen Kugler, Cheryl Jaeger, Christine Landis, and Michael Jarmolouk

another one for her paints. She’s recently been working on a night course, and all her school materials? In that bin there on the front corner.” Even Lise’s sewing machine lives under the bed, right next to the rowing machine which, fortunately, folds flat. “I don’t know why she bothers with the exercise machine,” says Giselle. “She gets a full workout just lugging bins back and forth!” The Beauvilles live in a traditional three-bed-two-bath bungalow. Their two oldest children, boys, share the larger of the two other bedrooms while the ‘baby,’ 13-year-old Marie, gets the smaller one to herself. “Realistically, even if Lise waits to inherit a bedroom, it’ll be years before she gets a room of her own,” says Giselle. “When she does, it’ll probably be the small bedroom - which won’t meet her needs at all.” Which is why Lise and Giselle are building an extension off the back of the garage this spring. Their planning process addressed three main areas of concern: light, space and storage, and utilities. Says Giselle, “Every woman’s interests differ, but, getting her an appropriate space that meets her needs will involve the same planning steps. Giselle first set Lise a little ‘homework,’ asking her to write down everything she wanted to do in the new space, and what was required to do it comfortably. “Lise wanted a sewing table that, like Paul’s poker table, she could use and leave in place between sewing sessions,” says Giselle. “It’s sort of funny really. Lise doesn’t just sew projects for herself, her sewing is a small business. She does alternations for a local tailor, makes items for a craft shop, and sells in several regional shows each year - but the sewing machine still has to get taken off the family dining table every day!” That’s a trend Giselle has seen in numerous woman cave projects. “Women often see to everyone else’s needs before getting around to their own - even if their own have a practical application and someone else’s are strictly for entertainment or a hobby.” Giselle completely rejects the notion that men need a space of their

Creating a Room of Her Own

The tiniest spaces can contain a ton of creativity when everything is at your fingertips! When everyone else sees your things have a purpose in this space, they’re less likely to treat it like a oversized junk drawer.

Image by Jessica F

own because women ‘make the decisions in the rest of the house.’ “It’s ridiculous, is it not?” she asks. “Today, more than ever, couples and families decide what colour to paint the bathroom - as if that was ever a space where you could set up a sewing machine anyway? Everyone works, everyone cooks, everyone cleans,

everyone eats off the same table, and everyone fights over the clicker in the living room. So, where, in all of that, is any one person’s ‘space?’” Especially if that one person’s chosen activity tends to be messy? “Most people do not clean their carburator on the coffee table,” says Giselle. “The reason ‘man caves’ always

Crafting of various sorts remains a favourite activity for the Woman Cave. Today’s “sewing room” however has evolved, becoming a multipurpose space and, increasingly often, into a home business.

Image by Chrissy Farnan

Creating a Room of Her Ownseem to make sense is because the stuff that happens in them is so often messy or noisy, or both. That women might want to clean the carburator, or that sewing is also a messy activity, in need of lots of space to lay out fabric for cutting and a floor that’s easy to sweep up, has not been so readily acknowledged.” Lise’ s list of messy activities turned out to be quite long. “She’s sews, paints, makes jewelry, and works out, ” says Giselle. “She takes a lot of photographs with her traditional camera and still likes to develop her own black and white film.” In the category of not-messy-but-nice-to-do undisturbed are two of Lise’s other favourite activities. “She’s a student, a voracious reader and writer,” says Giselle. “Laptops and digital books make that less a concern for space and mess, but, these are activities you might enjoy more without interruption. Who wants other people pushing them out of the way to set the table when they’re in the middle of drafting a term paper.” Up until now, Lise accommodated these activities in some creative, if inconvenient, ways. “Well, for the darkroom, our bathroom off the master has no windows,” says Lise. “I made a heavy drape and put it on a rod above the inside of the door. I set up my trays in the bathtub and the enlarger on the counter. I brought in a bedside lamp, put a red-safe bulb in it, and plugged that into the GFI outlet above the counter.”

Accommodating the wide variety of activities means providing access to water and electricity,creating an easy-clean environment, and ensuring an abundance of useful light.

Image by Peter Shanks

Assembling and dismantling her darkroom made the work much less enjoyable - as did lying across the hard edge of the tub to move paper from tray to tray. “And, sometimes, I would forget to lock the door and someone would come in at just the wrong moment,” she says. From Lise’s list, Giselle began to note the technical requirements for each activity. “Clearly, running water at a convenient counter height for the photo

development,” began Giselle. “A separate room without windows, with a good extractor fan, and, preferrably, an outside light to warn others off when she flipped on the red light inside.” Big windows in the main space, however, were also a requirement for Lise’s painting. Otherwise, she’d still be reduced to lugging paints outside and protecting floors inside the house. “Also necessary, enough room for a sensible-sized table for laying out patterns and cutting fabrics,” adds Giselle. “A floor that won’t mind the odd splat of paint, but that’s easy to sweep and mop so fabric fibres aren’t collecting in grout lines or flying about getting onto a wet canvas.” Many of Lise’s activities require access to power. “She has a sewing machine and a serger, her laptop and a charger for the digital book reader, and a charger for her cordless phone. The photo enlarger needs power,” says Giselle. “The jewelry making actually needs some special power requirements because she has a casting set-up, a glass oven, and another kiln. Run any of those on the same circuit as anything else and - pop! - you’ll be in your breaker box all day long!” Lise did steal a small corner of This well-organized darkroom provides stations for individual tasks. All it needs now is a water supply.

Image by Missi

Creating a Room of Her Own

Paul’s garage space for one other item. “Making glass beads - flamework - requires gas tanks. I use a torch that’s practially identical to a welder’s rig,” she says. “I would use a corner of his work bench for that.” “Which is one reason why we’re putting an extension off the garage instead of the home, or stealing some space in the basement,” explains Giselle. “When she has her own space out there, she won’t have to lug the bin of glass-making supplies out from under the bed, to the garage, and back to the bedroom every time she wants to use it.” Giselle has included a tank-storage cupboard outside the garage to make recharging them easier.

Creative spaces can be created in some unexpected places, like the eaves and attic of existing buildings. A dormer window can provide headroom and light.If your activity is weaving, which requires a large footprint, you may not be able to accommodate it in everyday space inside your home.

Image by Kairos Photography

All that open flame made a stretch of heat-safe counter space a practical addition to the woman cave plans. “I think there’s a tendency to assume that a woman cave is a girlie sort of space,” says Giselle. “It’s not true though. Women spaces can require some pretty ‘manly’ sorts of accommodation - depending on the woman.” As the various requirements for

Lise’s woman cave came together, Lise described it as “one part industrial, one part boudoir!” “Well, not quite a boudoir,” says Giselle. “But, yes, it includes a spot to be cozy, quiet, and relaxed. I think that’s important.” The women chose the back of the garage for its great light throughout most of the day.

Imagination can create a dedicated activity space almost anywhere. A permanent sewing room in a closet or a cozy reading room under a stairwell.Images by Jennifer Longaway and Wicker Paradise

Creating a Room of Her Own “We plan windows on the east, south, and west-facing walls,” says Giselle. “The north wall, the back of the current garage, is a double-height space, so, to take advantage of it, there will be a mezzanine space. Below that balcony will be the window-less darkroom, an open shower room which also doesn’t require windows, and storage cupboards for all Lise’s supplies.” The mezzanine, a fairly long, but shallow, space will be the new home for all Lise’s books and her “office.” “The back wall, the garage wall, will be all book shelves,” says Giselle. “This isn’t only nice for Lise, who has had boxes of books in storage for some time, it means they’ll no longer have the existing bookcases in the living room, giving them an extra foot of width in there.” Facing out on the mezzanine, and overlooking the work area below, will be a long desk. “I discovered some time ago that a wooden surface on two short filing cabinets is about the perfect height for a desk, and it gives great storage,” says Lise. “Giselle is going to put four short cabinets along about twelve feet of the front of the mezzanine and just drop a piece of wood the entire length of it. Add a rolling chair and I’ll be able to use all of it really easily!” Also planned for the mezzanine is a comfy couch or chaise. “There’s a lot of reading to the program I’m studying,” says Lise. “To have a quiet place to sprawl and read, being able to just leave the books open and

come back to them, that may be a silly sort of luxury - but, I can’t wait!” It’s a ‘silly luxury’ many women appear to want. “Women seem to be lifelong learners,” says Giselle. “The local campus of our university confirms that. Women of all ages seem to be continuing, extending, or returning to their studies. Nearly 70% of students over 30 are women - in both full-time and part-time studies.” A reading nook, a study spot, a writing room are all, according to Giselle, popular wishlist items for many women. “I’ve done a lot of closet conversions,” she says. “Hard to believe, but, not every woman wants a closet as big as a spare room for clothes!” The spaces under the stairs that used to store brooms and things are also being opened up to the adjacent room or hall and used for a tiny reading spot - a quiet place away from televisions and family noise. “Designers are co-opting even the landings at the tops of stairwells,” says

Giselle. “This is especially true in families where someone is doing an online course of study. That quiet nook helps lower distractions.” In Giselle’s design for Lise, the space taken in for the project is much more generous than the space below the stairs, but that doesn’t mean the women aren’t counting their square feet. “Every project has a budget and a space,” says Giselle. “We’re lucky here in that the Beauvilles had this space behind the garage.” The woman cave’s biggest hurdle? “Finding the right space,” says Giselle. “In this case, we needed running water and heat-resistant surfaces. Finding that without adding it specifically isn’t easy inside most homes, even in most garages.” Sometimes, it appears there is no space anywhere in the home. “That’s because there isn’t,” says Giselle. “Homes aren’t really meant to accommodate anything beyond personal hygiene, sleeping, feeding, and a little relaxing in between!”

An odd - often useless - nook can hold a chair, a light, and a stack of books just waiting to be read.

Image by J Deering Davis

Rearranging the furniture can sometimes make a room-inside-a-room.Image by Peter Alfred Hess

Creating a Room of Her Own

Attempts to convert extra spaces in houses create challenges. “Basements don’t work for most artists,” notes Giselle. “No light.” Attics often have no headroom, no windows, and, most importantly, no possibility of getting a permit to alter them. “If you can’t escape from it, you can’t live in it.” Indoor spaces don’t work for many fitness rooms, no matter which floor of

the house you’re investigating. “Ceilings are too low for jump ropes and hanging bags. Air circulation is poor and the room tends to smell like sweat socks in no time.” Few rooms accommodate spa spaces. “Again, no running water and not enough electrical lines,” says Giselle. “I had a client with advanced arthritis. She found significant relief from a heated

water massage bed, so much so that they bought one for the home so she could use it at need, but, when she plugged it in, they discovered she couldn’t even have a floor lamp in the same room!” Giselle has turned closets into reading spaces and writing nooks, but, says, “Even then, I had to add a plug for a lamp or the laptop, or put in an overhead light.” They often need a small fan too. “You’d be amazed at how much heat even small laptops put off if you’re working in a tiny space with them!” Of the popular woman caves Giselle has created, she says the one that needs the least work to an existing space is generally the “power closet.” “For some women, fashion is their passion and they treat clothing like art - which it sort of is if you don’t live in track clothes,” says Giselle. “It’s a collection and they enjoy displaying their shoes, bags, and jewelry, their scarves and belts. Organization is important to them, they want clothing hanging or neatly folded in sizeable spaces, not shoved into corners or creased.” Even in the power closet project, however, utilities play a role. “The laundry room accommodates lots of clothing routines,” say Giselle. “But, it’s not unusual to have a steamer or an iron and ironing board in these spaces.,

Each woman’s needs are different, even within the same scope of activities. A sewer who quilts may need a broad table for cutting and layout. Another seamstress may prefer a narrower workspace that allows

access to wall-mounted notions and tools. Image by Alison Headley

A power closet provides display, not just storage, for your valuable wardrobe.Good lighting is essential in any wardrobe space to ensure accurate colour rendition.

Image by Jenine Ley

Storage should be flexible in any “cave.” Ensure everything is accessible and efficient.

Image by Chrissy Farnan

Everything in its place. Wine will be happy in this brand new home cellar while people gather

upstairs. Image by Danielle Blue.

so, yes, you may need an extra outlet.” Good lighting is essential too. “Not only for matching accessories and ensuring you didn’t pull out the black sweater instead of the navy one you wanted this morning, but, for those who use the space as a complete dressing room, to apply makeup, do their hair, or work on a skin routine,” she says. “If you really need to dress for success from the skin out, you don’t want to be applying mascara with people brushing past you in the family bathroom while you lean over the counter.” Extra outlets for hair dryers, curling/straightening irons, steam rollers, makeup mirror and other appliances might be necessary too. Once you know what activities your woman cave will house, what your physical requirements for the space are, what types of storage you’ll need, you’re well on your way to finalizing a plan. One factor in the design is whether the space will be a private retreat, or a social space to share with others. “One of my clients loves wines, and so do her friends,” says Giselle. “An evening of trying out new vintages was a real treat for them, but, it created a bit of a traffic crunch.”

Creating a Room of Her Own

A little bit of design history brightens up this closet space.Image by Kyle Brazil

The best space to store wine? In the basement. The best space to drink wine? In a comfy social space. “These ladies weren’t spitting their wine into buckets,” says Giselle. “They didn’t want to stand around in a cold basement for three or four hours.” Getting more than three people into the small wine cellar wasn’t all that easy either. The solution was a woman cave addition in the form of a new sunroom off the kitchen. “Wine stayed in the basement, but, there was a nice seating area created next to the kitchen where we added an under-counter wine fridge,” says Giselle. “Wine for that evening, whether from her own collection downstairs or brought by friends, went into that fridge on the evening of the get-together.” “At first, it was a bit of a struggle to prevent it becoming general family space,” Giselle adds. “Eventually, by keeping other people’s personal belongings out of the space and adding just her own things - wine books, her label journal, and items relating to her other passions, reading and coin collecting, it became her own space, even though its connected to a family space.

Now, they treat it like her husband’s home office, where they would never think to leave their comic books or a place to plunk down with a slice of pizza.” If your space, like the wine room, is meant to be a social area to share with other people, Giselle advises you give some thought to how people arrive and leave the space. “If you have options, consider the privacy of other people in your home,” she says. “One reason to have a man cave or a woman cave is to keep those activities out of the main parts of your home. A poker night in the basement isn’t likely to disrupt the routine of other people like poker night in the dining room where others might be doing homework or having a late snack.” Lise teaches sewing one-on-one to newbies and this was a consideration in her decision. If Lise’s addition had been off her home instead of the garage, she planned to have an outside door as well as a door to the interior of the home. Giselle’s wine-loving client gave considerable thought to her open sunroom addition. “She weighed out the advantages of letting more light and passive heat into the home by making it an open space against the privacy of a door to

Creating a Room of Her Own

her space,” says Giselle. “She thought she could eventually ‘train’ everyone to understand it was her private space, even without a door, and, despite a few relapses, it’s been a fairly painless process!” Even with room for an addition, clients always plan to achieve the most utility with the least space. “Adding the mezzanine to Lise’s space gave her a tremendous amount of extra work space,” Giselle notes. “If you can go up, you’re golden. Instead of building in your attic, maybe there’s a way to make an almost double-height space and go tall with storage.” The ability to leave equipment in place between sessions dictated long counters on her main level. “Add in the fact we were going with a lot of glass on three of the four walls, and, we were out off wall storage pretty quickly,” says Lise. “I wanted to

be able to sit at those counters to work at the sewing machine and everything, so, there’s no real storage under the counters - that’s where your knees need to be!” “Double-duty spaces like a cutting ‘table’ that is actually a big flat space above a set of back-to-back shelving units gives Lise back a lot of storage without using extra square feet,” says Giselle. “That the whole thing is on locking wheels means she can move it aside when she doesn’t need it.” Another of Giselle’s clients, Maeve Dunning, shares Paul’s passion for vintage motorcycles, but she lives in an apartment-style condo. “No basement, garage, or attic,” says Giselle. “Not even a locker, storage cage, or parking spot in the building!” Finding a spot for her woman cave meant creating it entirely off-site. Giselle bought a 20-foot storage

Not every Woman Cave is about “doing.” A quiet retreat for thinking, dreaming, and imagining isimportant. A contemplative spot doesn’t require all the mechanicals of other spaces, but can be hard to

find in any home. Not every woman cave needs to be a “busy” space. It’s okay to simply relax.Image by Cheryl Jaeger

container and found a nearby business willing to rent her two parking spaces in a corner of their lot for a reasonable price. Says Dunning, “It was brilliant! She had a welder come and install three dome skylights so I didn’t need power during daylight hours. All my tools are rechargeable and I have a rechargeable stand light that I can bring with me if I’m there at night - which is rare anyway. “ Other than washing her hands after playing in the grease, she doesn’t need running water either. “I can walk to the corner garage to wash my hands or fill my water bucket,” she says. “I could never have afforded a house or condo with a garage, but, the container cost me less than $3,000, less than $5,000 even after the refurb - I couldn’t have built a garage in the suburbs for that! The rent on this corner of the lot is $100 a month, which, incidently, I make back allowing another motorcycle owner to park his bike securely in here with mine.” Dunning paid Giselle to source out cabinets and a work counter, and that was the end of her expenses. “I come here, do my thing. I’m in no one’s way, no one bothers me. It’s a very zen sort of thing,” she chuckles. “It’s perfect for me, I just love it!” “Identify the activities, spec out the physical requirements, find a space or alter what you have - or find a location outside the box that meets your needs, and you really can have that room of your own,” says Giselle. “I really love woman cave projects. They’re all so different. It’s just amazing how happy they make people.”

• Ngaire Genge

Comfort is key to every woman space. It doesn’t have to be fancy, it just needs to support your dreams.Make it your happy place, with mementoes and souvenirs that inspire.

Image by Nani Puspisari

Reading rooms top women’s want lists. Even if your books are digital, invest in a great chair and

adjustable lighting to enjoy your reading time.

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Our Talented Contributors

We would like to recognize the creative

individuals and firms who helped bring

this issue together!

Mal Corboy Design and Cabinets

Kallan MacLeod

Katerina Tana Design

Sue Murphy Designs

Jenni Leasia Design

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Design and Graphic LayoutHillsborough Design

Photography courtesy of Pixabay

Gabriel Fam • PD Pics

Hans Braxmeier • Ralf Kunze

DSA • Anja Osenberg

David Mark • Michael Jarmoluk

Emilian Robert Vicol • Anita Menger

Viola Heusser • Science Freak

Artemation • Efraim Stochter

Public Domain Pictures

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Dora Luz Contreras • Jay SimmonsHans Peter Klasser • Christine Landis

Photography courtesy of Free Digital Photos

Just2Shutter • MrLightmanBrian Holm • Ambro

Stock Images

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Jade • KFJ MillerMag Cindy • Max Straeten

Photography courtesy of Flickrvia Creative Commons Licences

Nani Puspisari • Tim - TindenbaumOfer El-Hashahar • Danielle Blue

Kyle Brazil • Jenine LayAlison Headley • J. Deering Davis

Peter Alfred Hess • Jennifer LongawayKairos Photography • Missi

Peter Shanks • Chrissy FarnanJessica F • Shimelle Laine

Wicker Furniture - Wicker ParadiseHome Space • Hotel de la Paix Geneve

Baker County Tourism • BarbaraMaegan Tintari • Colleen Lane

Gwyneth Anne Bronwynne JonesHans Jurgen Kugler • Cheryl Jaeger

Photography courtesy of WikiMediavia Creative Common Licence

Alex Barrow • Pere IgorZ. Vesoulis • David Johnson

Mind Matrix • Eric Baker