The open day at the Building Centre, Rondebosch, was the place to be on Saturday, 24 October. Founded 56 years ago by Laurie Wale, the Building Centre is a fantastic resource offering a permanent public exhibition of building materials for anyone planning on building or renovating.

“Saturday was a special day because people could speak to any of our 200 exhibitors,� said Cheryl Neave, public relations manager for the Building Centre.

We were there to give advice on how shutters add value to your home. One lucky couple went home thrilled to have won our pre-made shutters.

Above: Mr and Mrs Moir, winners of the pre-made shutters.

Saturday’s open day included interesting discussions with a panel of leaders in architecture, design and sustainable living. Speakers included award-winning design consultant Malcolm Worby who specialises in the design of natural, sustainable and environmentally friendly buildings. Anthea Torr, founder and previous editor of the bimonthly South African ecologically sound lifestyle magazine Biophile, spoke on how to become self-sustainable. Rob Johnson, executive director of Masters Builders Association, spoke about stress free building. Charles Homan presented alternative building systems including light frame housing and insulating systems.

Mama Rosie beamed with pride as the first four fruit trees were planted on the plot of her community project in Khayelitsha on Friday, 16 October.

“We are so excited about the trees,� said Mama Rosie who started the Mama Rosie Community Project in 2005. “We live in a squatter camp and these are the first fruit trees in our community!�

Mama Rosie started the community project four years ago when she saw a need to help unemployed people find employment or start their own business. She started by teaching them skills like sewing and painting and over the past four years has helped 26 people. Currently there are 13 people in the programme and last year they started a food garden and are learning how to farm in urban areas at low cost.

The donation of fruit trees is part of our green initiative in which they have sponsored 100 trees to be planted in disadvantaged communities of the Western Cape all of which will be planted at Mama Rosie’s Community Project.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s amazing the amount of design inspiration one can find online. While flicking through photos of beautiful homes and interiors on Flickr, the photo sharing site, we found a breath of fresh air in the beautiful home décor photographs of Yvonne Eijkenduijn.

Yvonne is a Dutch-born home maker, blogger, book store owner and home décor enthusiast who blogs about the progress she is making in decorating her home.

Read the rest of this entry »

Follow our regular design and decor tips on Twitter and on our Facebook fan page. We would love to help you make your home a masterpiece and share  great design finds online.

Have you got  great design tips to share? We would love to hear them so post a comment below or share a link on our fan page.

Come and visit our stand at Durban HOMEMAKERS Expo at the Durban Exhibition Centre from Thursday, 8 to Sunday, 11 October 2009. There are over 240 exhibitors to answer your decor dilemmas and update you on the latest design trends.

It’s spring, the perfect time to spring clean and redecorate your home. It’s about making more space and streamlining your life. If you don’t know where to start, read through our spring cleaning tips and find the inspiration to roll up your sleeves (or at least supervise).

Make it manageable

Instead of going “gung-ho�, start gently by organising , sorting and cleaning room by room and draw by draw. Spring cleaning can either feel like an arduous task or liberating, depending on your approach. Set a goal for each day or weekend and get the whole family excited about spring cleaning. Each member of the family can go through their wardrobe clearing out clothes they no longer wear which can to be donated to a local charity.

Read the rest of this entry »

Congratulations to Lizanne van Zyl, the Cape Town winner of R 15 000 of Decowood shutters!

Dean Roux (left) and Shaheeda Mohammed (right), from our Cape Town offices, drew the lucky Cape Town winner.

The prize is valid for six months and of course we’ll post the installation photographs once Lizanne decides to have new shutters fitted so watch this space.