Blog - Page 2 of 3 - | Home Improvement – Toronto

Small Office Space? Try Floating Shelves

September 7, 2014 in Uncategorized by lesley | No Comments

Small office space. Can we say, “really small space”. It’s part of living and working in Toronto. Sometimes it isn’t about the design and the look but more about being functional. A quick and easy way to get both is to add shelves. We just did this in a small office in downtown Toronto. In this case, there are 3 desks in a space of 150 square feet. Instead of bookcases that sit on the floor, we installed floating shelves starting halfway up the wall and then another row above that. This way they kept the floor space uncluttered while still having a place for file folders and binders. Many of our clients have bought floating shelves at IKEA.

Tip: to add color to an area you can paint the wall a different color. This may add flare to a kid’s room.

photos: http://www.houzz.com/photos/5719985/POINT-GREY-HOME-contemporary-home-office-other-metro
http://www.housetohome.co.uk/room-idea/picture/home-office-storage-ideas/8

Small Living Space Solution: Murphy Beds

August 18, 2014 in Uncategorized by lesley | No Comments

We tend to do a lot of work in smaller spaces like smaller sized condos and office spaces. Recently, I have noticed that there are a lot of new furniture stores that accommodate smaller space living. I was extremely impressed with a store called Resource Furniture. To put it simply, they are able to transform one room into another room with dual purpose furniture like murphy beds. When the bed is closed it looks like fashionable, built-in living room furniture.
Macleans magazine wrote a great article on the store: http://www.macleans.ca/culture/a-bookcase-you-can-dine-at-then-sleep-on/

The store’s website is: www.resourcefurniture.com.

Concrete Counters

July 21, 2014 in blog by lesley | 1 Comments

One of the newest design trends is polished concrete counters and wow are we impressed with how it is being used for countertops. Nothing is more versatile and the colour options are almost limitless giving you the ability to coordinate or match the countertop with other colors in a room. Concrete can also be cast in almost any shape allowing sculptural effects not possible with other materials. Concrete countertops can even be personalized with inserts, inlays and customized designs. Concrete countertops are a specialty trade and not something that FIXIT! small job specialists, offers but this link takes you to a website which is an unbiased resource for ideas and concrete contractor credentials. This link will take you to a great article on their site: http://www.concretenetwork.com/newsletters/2011/the-quest-february-3.html

Tiling your Kitchen?

June 4, 2014 in blog by lesley | 3 Comments

I recently spoke to a friend who needed a change in her kitchen. She lives in a 700 square foot condo, and the kitchen is open concept. Her cupboards are a light beige which match the color of her walls, the appliances are silver and the counter is black granite with a hint of dark green in it. She had a designer come by to add suggestions on how to improve the space. One of his recommendations was to add a new backsplash. He recommended green glass tile for her backsplash. Something so simple, yet such a dramatic change. Here are some places in Toronto that my friend went to when shopping for tiles:

http://www.olympiatile.com

http://www.saltillo-tiles.com/

www.centura.ca

photo: http://www.caller.com/photos/2009/jun/17/57974/

And of course there are stores like Home Depot and Rona

Tip: If you live in a condo please check with condo rules and regulations. Your tradesman has to cut the tiles to be precise. This can be loud and your condo may have time restrictions.

FIXIT Gift Cards – Great Suggestion for Mother’s Day

May 4, 2014 in Uncategorized by lesley | No Comments

Giftcards are a great way to say Happy Mothers Day. Most of our Moms have things that they need done around the home. FIXIT offers gift cards for special occasions, or any occasion, for that matter. Many of our clients have received the cards from their real estate agents as house warming gifts. We recently received a call from a new client who was thrilled with her gift card because she was able to use it for a bunch of those small jobs that need to get done when first moving into a home. We painted over some scratch marks caused during the moving process and we hung up mirrors and paintings. Our tradesman also did a walk-through with her and advised her on some options for making some of the improvements she was interested in. We will also be going back next month to build some custom flower planters for her deck.
Tip: Gift Cards can also be a perfect gift for fathers day. Take some of the jobs off the ‘to do’ list for dad.

Narrow Hallways – Installing Shelves

April 22, 2014 in Uncategorized by lesley | 1 Comments

When you are living in a smaller unit every inch of space is important. In some of the condo units that FIXIT has worked on, we have seen long narrow hallways. This space isn’t generally a functional part of the unit but some people have made it functional by hanging up shelving or adding narrow tables. Big, bold artwork or trendy wallpaper can also add a great wow factor. Here is a site that I found to be an inspiration for many of my clients. It has a lot of good visual ideas.
This is a great link for ideas:
https://www.pinterest.com/explore/narrow-hallway-decorating/

TIP: Go vertical. Hang shelves for storage space and a splash of colour.

Drywall Adventures

March 29, 2014 in blog by lesley | No Comments

Small drywall repair is a much larger task that most people think. It usually takes three visits before the surface is ready for painting. The number one reason for drywall repair is water-related, but that’s not necessarily because the drywall gets wet. Plumbers are also a major source – they cut large holes in drywall to get access to pipes, fix the pipes, and then leave. Not all plumbers of course – but we affectionately call those that do, “drywall terrorists.” FIXIT handles all kinds of small drywall repairs; we’ve patched walls on a boat, repaired the ceiling after squirrels were ‘evicted’ from the attic, and fixed what our client referred to as a ‘fist sized hole’ (we didn’t ask). There isn’t much anyone can do to make the drywall repair any faster, but we try to combine fixing other little things around the house while we are there.

2012 at a Glimpse

March 27, 2013 in blog by lesley | No Comments

2012 was a great year for Fixit! We launched our new website and we watched our team grow. Specializing in small jobs means that we get a pretty wide range of jobs. Some of the more interesting ones included installing a personal ‘dance pole’ in a condo and performing ‘home renovations’ on children’s playhouses at a daycare. One of my personal favorites is the job we had repainting the numbers on half of a condo’s visitors parking spots. Apparently the builder asked two people to start painting at either end of the parking lot. They each started with #1 and bumped into each other starting to paint #34! Needless to say, Fixit to the rescue…. parking spots #35 – #67 are now ready for guests.

Go Vertical

March 25, 2013 in blog by lesley | No Comments

Condo storage units are great and I don’t know how I could survive without mine. But when I look around at how some of the storage units have been customized, I get inspired. ‘Go Vertical’ is my new goal. When I look around, the best examples of maximizing storage space are the units with shelving that goes right to the top. I’m also inspired by California Closets, but with a budget-minded focus. The big box stores like Home Hardware and Rona sell a range of pre-fabricated units. I’m planning to use a combination of styles to create a custom solution with lots of shelf space for boxes as well as an area for taller items like my golf clubs and skis.

When Purchasing Wallpaper

March 22, 2013 in blog by derooted | No Comments

Ok here is a tip when buying wallpaper…..check the lot numbers and try to get the rolls from the same box. I made the mistake of purchasing wallpaper from a reputable handy store and got the same lot numbers BUT failed to get the rolls from the same box. I didn’t even realize you can do this. I am hoping this could save you time and money. It was an expensive mistake for me.

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