Organic Gardening News

Innovative design trends often follow from the hospitality industry where stylish boutique hotels and restaurants create unique interiors that are dramatic departures from the conventional or popular styles of the moment. Those spaces feature esthetics that then become aspirational for homeowners such as the hotel-chic bedrooms that were all the rage not long ago as were spa-inspired bathrooms. More rare though is when the art world, specifically modern art, becomes the jumping off point for a new approach for using paint within the home.

A recent collaboration between British paint manufacturer Farrow & Ball and American artist Carol Bove at the Guggenheim Museum in New York became the inspiration for a fresh interpretation of using colour in a residential context. Joa Studholme, Farrow & Ball’s Colour Curator, worked with Bove to create custom colours to make the museum’s rotunda walls not only a backdrop to showcase her vibrant-hued abstract sculptures but also as part of the exhibition with its own colour story. The result is a graduated colour scheme of greys that begins on the ground floor with a deep hue and gradually winds up the spiral in varying degrees of lighter shades of the same colour family.

“Carol Bove’s team and the Guggenheim approached us to work with them on helping to bring the artist’s vision of creating a graduated ribbon of colour to life,” Studholme recalls. “We worked with their brief to create over 20 custom colours that operate as steps connecting each of our signature colours to the next in a seamless transition of colour as you move up the iconic rotunda.”

Seeing the bold effect of the graduated application of colour in a large public environment lead Studholme to wonder how it could be applied in a domestic setting and embarked on formulating how “the idea of graduated colour schemes can be embraced in the home.” The key is to use colours of the same colour family which produces a harmonious transition of the colours throughout the space. And while there is no rule to how many colours one can use, Studholme advises using no fewer than three, noting that the bigger the space, the more colours can be incorporated.

According to Studholme, there are endless possibilities when selecting a colour palette to create gradient colour schemes. As long as the tones are from the same colour family, she says, it will always work and will produce “a layered, polished effect.”

“Warming earth tones running from deep Tanners Brown through to glowing Stirabout work particularly well, as do neutrals, but my favourite is graduating from rich Preference Red through Dead Salmon to Scallop,” she says. (Note: the dead in Dead Salmon refers to the matte finish and not an expired fish.)

Just as there are no defined rules for the number of colours to create a gradient effect, there isn’t just one way to work with the various colours. Given that they’re all in the same colour family, there’s a lot of flexibility to where and how they can be applied, Studholme explains.

She cautions though that “the gradient of colour is much enhanced when the strongest colour is used at the bottom to ground the room and add depth and nuance with lighter colours above to open the space. The lightest tone should be used on the ceiling to unify the design, ensuring that the ceiling feels like an intentional element rather than an afterthought.”

The most recent paint trend favoured by many interior designers has been colour drenching where walls, mouldings, ceilings and even built-ins are done in the same colour and sometime the same finish. So for anyone who opted for that effect, the introduction of gradient painting doesn’t mean that colour drenching will disappear or feel passé as it’s been around since Georgian times, Studholme notes, adding that “there is definitely room for both forms of decoration in the modern home.”

And while colour drenching essentially envelopes a space in colour, Studholme believes that “rooms painted in graduated colours open up and out so there is a general uplifting feel of growth.”

The positioning of each colour and its finish should be intentional, and, while graduated painting can give the room an enveloping effect somewhat like colour drenching, it produces a sense of dimension and visual interest.

“The feel is seamless but never flat,” Studholme says.

Related

• Ikea is launching a new 43-piece collection this week across Canada, and we got a first look
• Squeezed for space? Why not tuck into a Murphy bed?

Identifying lawn diseases is the first step in stopping them. Here are the most common ones you'll come across and how to get rid of them.

A 1910 Craftsman residence with original floors, stained glass and claw foot tub is one of nine sites on the 2026 Heritage Discovery Day tour .

Participants on the self-guided tour will have a chance to check out a curated selection of nine heritage properties in Mount Pleasant and Riley Park. Another stop on the tour brings together mid-century modernist roots with what later became typical Vancouver Special layout and design.

Since 2003, Heritage Discovery Day has showcased the stories behind the architecture, design and history of some of the city’s most interesting and distinctive homes. Last year’s event drew 600 people to Kitsilano.

Ticket holders are provided with a guidebook that includes information about the homes as well lesser-known places and spaces that have shaped the neighbourhood. Volunteers are also on hand to provide information.

Biking and transit are encouraged, although some sites are walkable and parking information will be provided.

Heritage Discovery Day

When: June 6, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tickets are on sale now at vancouverheritagefoundation.org.

Related

• A look inside New Westminster’s landmark homes on annual heritage tour
• Sunset Ridge Estate comes with a private dock and, naturally, awesome sunsets

These tender perennials are having a major moment in gardens right now, and they’re proving hard to ignore.

Annual plants are incredibly economical to buy, but use them imaginatively and they’ll look a million dollars!

It’s one of the most frequently handled household items and one we think of as fairly unremarkable, but you’d be amazed what you can do with recycled cardboard in the yard. Here’s how it can help your plants and gardening on a shoestring

Blooming may be done by now, but June is actually when wisteria does the most work. Here’s how to help it get ready for next spring.

Don't disrupt your local wildlife, beneficial insects, plants, or neighbors with improper outdoor lighting. Use these low light pollution alternatives instead.

Ricardo Brites has spent much of his career helping move engineered timber buildings from ambitious design experiments into practical housing solutions.

Originally from Portugal, Brites completed his PhD in timber engineering before working in the United Kingdom during Europe’s rapid expansion of mass timber construction. At the time, Europe was already delivering large-scale timber buildings while North America was still cautiously testing the concept.

“I was part of projects with Lendlease, Mace, and Berkeley Homes when mass timber was transitioning from niche to near-commodity in that market,” says Brites.

Today, as director of engineering and VDC at Mercer Mass Timber, Brites works across Canada and the United States on projects ranging from libraries and universities to large-scale residential and commercial developments. His focus is not simply on promoting timber buildings, but on solving one of the industry’s biggest challenges — how to make them practical and affordable enough for mainstream housing.

“What drives me is not the structural performance of mass timber. That case has been made. What drives me is cost competitiveness,” he says.

Mass timber products such as cross-laminated timber, or CLT, are engineered by layering wood panels together to create structural components strong enough for multi-storey buildings. Increasingly, these systems are being paired with steel or concrete in hybrid designs that aim to balance performance, cost and speed of construction.

The most interesting and commercially viable work is almost always hybrid, says Brites.

That approach reflects a shift away from viewing timber as an all-or-nothing material. Instead, hybrid systems use each material where it performs best.

“A well-designed hybrid doesn’t compromise the timber story. It makes the whole building work better and land closer to budget,” says Brites.

One reason architects continue to gravitate toward engineered timber is the atmosphere it creates inside buildings. Exposed wood interiors can feel softer and calmer than conventional concrete structures, while the structural systems themselves often produce cleaner lines and more efficient interior layouts.

“There’s a quality to exposed timber that reads differently from any other structural material,” says Brites. “Warmer, quieter, more grounded,”

Brites says the bigger story is less about esthetics and more about industrialized construction.

One of engineered timber’s major advantages is prefabrication. Structural components are manufactured off-site using highly precise digital modelling, then delivered ready for installation.

“Prefabrication shifts where problems get solved. Instead of resolving co-ordination issues in the field, you resolve them digitally before a single component is fabricated,” he says.

That can shorten construction timelines significantly while reducing costly surprises during the building process.

Canada, particularly British Columbia, has become one of North America’s most active mass timber markets. Brites says the region’s progress has been driven by a combination of housing pressure, supportive policy and growing manufacturing capacity.

Projects such as UBC’s Brock Commons Tallwood House helped establish confidence in tall timber construction, while newer housing policies are encouraging more standardized mid-rise development.

Still, Brites believes the industry remains in a transitional phase similar to what Europe experienced years earlier.

“What we’re in now is a transition from early demonstration projects toward broader market adoption,” says Brites.

One of the biggest barriers is that developers often struggle to evaluate timber systems early enough in the design process. By the time cost estimates and engineering assessments arrive, many projects are already locked into conventional concrete and steel assumptions.

“By the time a project team had enough information to evaluate a mass timber solution properly, the design had already hardened around conventional assumptions,” says Brites.

To help address that problem, Mercer Mass Timber partnered with ZGF Architects and Fast + Epp to develop BuildSpec, a free digital platform that allows architects, engineers and developers to quickly test hybrid timber systems during the earliest planning stages.

The platform generates real-time information about structural feasibility, constructability and carbon impacts for mid-rise housing projects, helping teams compare systems before major design decisions are fixed.

“What previously required weeks of consultant co-ordination can now be explored at the massing stage in minutes,” says Brites.

For Brites, the long-term goal is not simply to create standout timber buildings, but to help the industry move toward repeatable systems that become more efficient over time.

“The housing supply problem in Canadian cities is not going to be solved by better-designed individual projects. It’s going to be solved by delivery systems that can produce good buildings repeatedly, predictably, and at a cost that works,” says Brites.

Related

• Baril's 40-year journey from Quebec startup to North American design name
• Soak up a spa-like bathroom with full-on renos or simple decorative touches

These cheap, speedy seeds will grow hundreds of blooms in time for summer, filling your garden with flowers, quick, in all zones. What are you waiting for?

Paths don't grow much but weeds if left to their own devices, so why not grow a herbal path with these fragrant plants? The bonus is they actively reduce weeding!

Provide hummingbirds with habitat, water, nesting material and maybe a cute swing! You'll have tons of hummers in no time.

This is the number one gardening guideline you need to follow. Find out how it can make the difference between flourishing plants and ones that fail to thrive.

From clever coyotes to powerful bears, your birth month woodland animal might reveal more about you than you think...

Kate Middleton sent narcissi to Royal Marsden patients – a gesture research shows is more than symbolic. Here's what science says about flowers and recovery.

From weekend breakers to long-haul travelers, these low-maintenance bloomers keep thriving even when you’re not around to fuss over them...

Don't let your clematis fall behind! Follow this May checklist to get it ready for its best summer yet.

These beautiful blooming bonsai prove you don’t need years of experience to grow something truly impressive

May is a key month for orchid care. A handful of well-timed tasks now will ensure plenty of flowers and healthy growth going into summer.

Believe it or not, backyard birds love a bit of disco dancing – if you’ve got the right dirt available. Here’s how to set up a dust bath to give your birds a dry shampoo