HGTV Canada Casting Call

Southern Ontarians, this one is for you. A new show for HGTV Canada is currently casting and YOU could be on it! Do you have a burning desire to show off your stunning interiors or fab renovations? Then read on:

Does your house, condo or apartment have an awesome interior thanks to your fantastic decorating skills? Have you created something out of the ordinary? Or weird and wonderful? Perhaps you've put your heart and soul into a major renovation project? If you answered yes to any of the above, you and your home should be on a fun new show from Proper Television. If selected to appear on the show, you could win $1000!

Types of homes and interiors needed: Size doesn’t matter. Your home can be a cozy cottage, a slick condo or a monster home. Its decor can be eclectic, eccentric, minimalist, modern, shabby chic or over-the-top baroque. There's really no right or wrong...apart from one rule: no professionally designed or decorated homes. We want to hear about YOUR property masterpieces - from quirky conversions and fantastic period properties to the truly unique!

If you live in Southern Ontario and think your home is something special - we want to hear from you. Just email the following to casting@propertelevision.com by May 13, 2011:

• A short description of you and your home 

• A picture of you (jpeg if possible)

• Up to 5 pictures of your home (jpegs if possible)

• A daytime telephone number

• Video isn't necessary at this point but if you insist, please upload to YouTube and send the link.

Love this idea for a show. Its so great seeing homes designed by "non-professionals", don't you think?Let me know if any of you apply and get on the show!

Scoop du Jour: Sarah's House II

My favourite designer, Sarah Richardson, returns to the airwaves with Sarah's House 2, on Tues. Sept. 30 at 9pm ET/PT on HGTV Canada. Sorry, you US-folks won't be able to catch this awesome show, but you may be able to find reruns of season 1 in your local listings.

Its an intriguing show... over the season, Sarah takes you through the house selecting and buying, the demolition, the design, and the entire renovation. That's right, she renovates a place from top to bottom, then sells it at the end of the season - hopefully for a profit! She offers renovation and design tips along the way that any homeowner can appreciate. Sarah was also pregnant throughout the filming of this season (her second daughter arrived about a month ago), has a 2-year old, is filming another show (Sarah's Cottage) simultaneously, and runs a thriving design practice so it'll be interesting to see how she juggles all those demands! Its quite a different house this time around - a more suburban looking 1950's ranch backsplit. I'm thinking this one will be a bit more contemporary with mid-century elements.

Here's some pics from Season 1 to show you what the fabulous Sarah can create:

*a little insider's story for you: Sarah asked the purchasers of Sarah's House 1 to leave her a note saying if they wanted to include any of the furnishings in the purchase. She found a post-it note on the front door with one word: Everything! Now that is what I call 'move in condition' ;)

Handy Tips

Anyone else addicted to HGTV? Just when I think I can wean myself (c’mon, seriously, how many times can I watch re-runs of Property Virgins?), they go and put another show on that just feeds my addiction. For the last few weeks, HandyMan and I have been watching Handyman Superstar Challenge 3. I haven’t seen the first two seasons but I wish I had. I’ve already picked up a few handy tips like this one which I’ll pass along.

Drywall Patch:
When you’ve got a large hole in your drywall, the logical thing to do is cut around the hole and create an opening that is rectangular in shape. Then, measure that rectangle and from a new piece of drywall, cut a piece the same size. Put that piece in the hole, tape, and mud. If you’re lucky, you’ll have cut the patch perfectly and won’t be able to see the seams between the old and new.

Wrong-o! What you should do is cut your patch piece from the new drywall FIRST. Then, using the patch as a template, trace it onto the drywall to be repaired. Cut out this shape, put in the patch, tape, and mud. You should have a perfect fit! Its a lot faster too than cutting and measuring, cutting and measuring.

Luckily for us, we won’t have to make use of this tip just now because all the drywall in the kitchen is up! The tarp zippers worked like a charm and contained most of the drywall dust to the kitchen. We plan to prime and paint this weekend so will be posting some progress pics soon.

Any great DIY tips you want to share??

What Not To Build

I'm not usually a fan of the Mike Holmes approach to renovating. He's a perfectionist and though one should strive for excellence in any type of work you put into a home, sometimes it seems excessive (Leak in the shower? Tear out the whole bathroom!). But I must say he did an incredible job with one problem house.

In a special 2-hour episode "Lien On Me" which you can watch in its entirety here, Mike encounters a house that is filled with so many issues that it literally needs to be torn down. The house has too many attrocities to mention - falling brick, unsupported floor joists, stairs that are different heights, no footings supporting the foundation, unlevel floors, missing insulation, kitchen cabinets held up by finishing nails, a window built into a load-bearing wall...and the list goes on and on. And this after the homeowners have spent $200K and a lien has been placed on the house by the contractor for another $300K+! It is almost unbelievable.

In the end, over 100 different companies come together to build a new house that is eco friendly and structurally sound. All you DIY-ers out there should enjoy watching this one. Let's call it "What Not To Build".

Design On Demand

If you can't get enough of HGTV Canada, now you can watch episodes online of your favourite shows! Of course, I watched an episode of Design Inc straightaway even though I've seen every episode like a gazillion times already. I love fast-forwarding to the 'reveal' (that's always the best part anyways).