JuliaE, I like the idea of an activities advent calendar too, and have been doing some research online. Here are some good ideas I've seen: - an evening trip to see the Christmas light...

I absolutely love this Ferm Living paper and have been wracking my brains over where I could possibly use it! Also love the galvanized metal sconce.

Love the scarves idea - much better than emptying the Kleenex box of actual tissues!

I absolutely love this idea. We have taken to suggesting brunch as the best time for us to socialize with our young son.

Yay, a Toronto room! I love the wrought-iron bed, and the way it feels whimsical but still restful. That's my own personal bias against some of these super-colourful kids' rooms: they look fun to P...

We moved into our three-bedroom house before our son was born. We used one bedroom as a guest room, and the smallest bedroom as a home office (the largest is the principal bedroom). During my pregn...

My fairly mainstream pediatrician suggested that we could try a very modified form of this, by holding our 13-month-old son over the toilet in the morning and before bed. I think this sounds very m...

The Ergo is very comfortable for back carries; however frame backpacks have the advantage of sitting the child up higher so they can see up over your shoulder (my son is always straining to look ar...

I appreciate Yolanda's perspective. We are expecting our first baby next month and trying to make the same decisions about what's necessary and what's not. We have decided to take a "wait and see" ...

Toronto has a pretty progressive garbage-collection program. We have to separate our waste into compostable materials (food scraps, etc.), recyclables (the usual) and anything that doesn't fit thes...

The available space in our home dictates the amount of books I keep. Right now I have two tall bookshelves full and that's the maximum real estate available without making rooms feel hopelessly ove...

Totally second the shop vac recommendation. My husband insisted we get one and I thought it was going to be a waste of money ... but it has been a real workhorse. We've also used our sander a lot too.

We live in Toronto — not right downtown, but on the outskirts and accessible by public transit. We couldn't afford to buy downtown (unless we bought in a high-rise condo, which wa...

I totally agree about the cheap-and-cheerful Home Depot kitchens that don't stand the test of time. We felt zero guilt about ripping out the kitchen in our 1930s house. It clearly wasn't original, ...

I like a total of five pillows on a double (or larger) bed: two on each side for each sleeper, and a toss pillow that you can use for propping up books or as extra support for reading in bed.

This isn't quite the same contemporary aesthetic as the pieces you've listed, but I think that our antique cast-iron bed is a piece that will hold its value. It will never wear out, and it has a ti...

Limesickle is just a great paint colour in general. A friend did in fact use it in her child's room, but I and several friends/family members have used it in kitchens to good effect. It's just a ni...

A couple of other neat additions — online I've seen suggestions to add pumpkin-pie spice (to scent the dough deliciously). I've also added glitter to the dough before, which kids like.

The Mrs. Beasley is the stuff that nightmares are made of. My nieces have one and it only looks creepier with wear and tear! I remember having that phone myself as a child. That's probably the only...

This is so funny. When I saw the first picture I thought, oh, how interesting, that staircase looks so much like ours. Then I read on to discover that it is indeed in Toronto (just like ours!)