Prado: get the inside story ›› p.4
November 26, 2009
Coats for Kids kicks off on Monday It began 14 years ago, when Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association CEO Peter Simpson was starting his day. “I was driving to work on a particularly cold day, and driving through a local neighbourhood, I saw many kids walking to school,” Simpson recalls. “It struck me that a lot of them really didn’t have proper coats for winter. At first, I thought maybe they didn’t feel like wearing a coat – but then I realized it was more likely they simply didn’t have coats.” “We couldn’t Inspired with an idea do it without to generate coats for those who need them, the amazing Simpson took his idea to the GVHBA, and support the first annual Coats from the for Kids campaign was community.” launched. The coats collected go to the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau. Now in its 14th year, the annual effort has succeeded in thousands of warm, winter coats going to local people of all ages. Anyone who wishes to donate to the cause can do so from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 at the GVHBA office in Surrey, or at 43 member companies at 58 locations in 12 municipalities throughout Metro Vancouver (see full list of coat drop-off sites at www.gvhba.org). GVHBA president Peter Roskell says last year’s response from the community was heartwarming: more than 3,000 coats and other items were donated. “I am delighted so many prominent members of our association are participating,” Roskell says. Simpson agrees, and adds that it all couldn’t happen without the benevolence of those who donate – some who actually bring in brand-new coats. “Those coats reach a lot of people,” he says. “But we couldn’t do it without the amazing support from the community.”
Make your windows shine Dressing up the windows in your new home? Your hardest decision may be choosing... MAGGIE CALLOWAY
You can dress up the windows of your new home with a variety of treatments. Here, SouthPort sales manager Bruce Martin stands next to some chic, multicoloured curtains in ParkLane’s South Surrey showhome. Rob Newell photo
Is there anything more daunting, when you move into a new home, than being faced with what seems like an endless expanse of bare windows? Living on a private acreage, I didn’t have any window treatments at all for more than five years. It was very low on my ‘to do’ list, as I was slowly renovating each room, but now I feel I made a mistake. It was only when I finally installed drapes and blinds the house really felt like a home. Window coverings, which are important in these days of environmental consciousness, carry almost as much importance as art. Not just a vehicle to create privacy plus warmth in the winter and protection from the sun in summer, they reflect your taste and style. In the early part of the last century, style and wealth was partially displayed by heavy, voluminous drapes. The more loops, fringe and tassels, all piled on top of layered drapes, the better. One has to cringe at the thought of all the embedded dust and dirt from open fires necessary at that time! While we are on the subject of cringing, I have to confess to an absolute bias against what I feel is the strange imperative to swag yards of sheer fabric along the top of windows and then partially down each side. I always think of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland getting ready to put on a show. If you have a yen for sheer fabric, why not full-length, gossamer-thin, white sheers made not with the stiff polyester material of yesterday, but a natural material which will look magnificent when clean and bright, swaying in the breeze. I don’t think there has ever been a time when so many fabulous choices for window treatments are so readily available. The downside is with so much choice, it CONTINUED ON P.2