The Junction is really hitting it’s stride in terms of having everything from essentials to inspiration within walking distance.
Most recently a Scandinavian design store has moved into the hood. Mjolk, is the name of the store, means milk in Swedish. It is located on Dundas Street west of Keele and east of Pacific Ave. The store itself is beautiful, and it’s full of exquisitely designed pieces.

Architects from Studio Junction designed the shop, and as usual they have done a stellar job with the finishing touches.

La Merceria is a delightful cafe and housewares shop. Its elegance and coziness is like no other. I had a fantastic lunch on my visit the other day: black bean soup, a veggie and cheese pastry, and an americano to finish it off.

They carry only the most beautiful housewares for an international household – great for gifts.

La Merceria is on Adelaide east of Bathurst.

Technorati Tags: brunch, Cafe, coffee, delicious, espresso, latte, sandwiches, Toronto

I don’t know about you, but this time of year I have a real desire to get organized. In my current circumstance of having a little one on my hands it’s hard to do, so I take all the help I can get. “Neat” is a store that has all kinds of containers and devices to help you get organized. They also have some general stuff for your home that is kinda ‘neat’ (as in cool) and has nothing to do with organization. A fun little store if you are into some new beginnings for your home. It’s located on Queen St. W, west of Bathurst.

Technorati Tags: Queen St. W, Toronto

Heritage Toronto puts on some great walks throughout the city. I recently took one and found it was a nice way to learn about the City’s history and architecture while exploring on a beautiful day. Check out their site for upcoming walks.

Technorati Tags: architecture, Design, history, puppy, Toronto

Spring is starting to appear and it’s time to think about what this year’s garden may hold. Will it be a yard covered by the ever-so-aggressive mint? or a weed by another name? or some luscious sweet peas? Plenty of decisions to be made.

If you are planning on planting some vegetables in the garden and would like to plant organic heirlooms I have a great source for you. Urban Harvest sells all kinds of fantastic seeds that you can plant in your window sill and later transfer over to the garden.

Urban Harvest provides you with options to plant many varieties of plants which have fallen out of favour with big agribusiness and are much more flavourful than those found in most grocery stores.

The sad truth is that vegetables, such as tomatoes for instance, are being bred for shipping date, pest resistance, weather tolerance and not for taste. That explains why some of the beautiful red tomatoes taste like water. Urban Harvest claims that North Americans now eat only a fraction of the diversity of fruit and vegetables that were eaten 100 years ago. That stinks.

Toronto-based Urban Harvest has an online store and ships across Canada.

PS – Another helpful references to gardening is You Grow Girl, a fun book for basic gardening tips and blog written by a charming Toronto native.

Technorati Tags: garden, heirlooms, local business, organic, plant, seeds, Toronto

With a name like hawk eyes I expected a lot. I was not disappointed.

This recent addition to Roncesvalles Avenue is set up full of amazing little vignettes that make you feel like you are in a storybook.

The fairy tale awaits you from Wednesday to Sunday. The hours are roughly 12-5.

Not to mention the prices being reasonable, Rachel is lovely and her dog Tullulah is pretty cute too. Here’s a close up of Tullulah and her smile when you say “Gremlin”.

Technorati Tags:
Toronto, Vintage, Furniture, Roncesvalles, elegant, antique

Another great local designer: Lubo of Lubo Design. He is an architect turned woodworker and furniture designer. The detail and quality of workmanship in his pieces is amazing. He combines some Asian and European elements with clean modern lines, producing intricate, crisp yet warm designs. He uses only beautiful solid wood for his works, some of which is reclaimed wood. Check out the renovation work he has done. I dream of having some of his custom cabinetry.

You may have seen his showroom window on Dundas Street West near Lansdowne, or his van around town. Lubo is a nice guy. If you wave I’m sure he’ll wave back.

Technorati Tags:
artisan, furniture, design, Toronto, renovation

Outstanding modern designs are displayed in the MADE showroom on Dundas West.  All of these designers exhibited are Canadian and their works include furniture, lighting, ceramics, jewelry and home accessories.  Although MADE has a friendly gallery-like feel, pieces are also available for purchase. The art is always changing, and there is always something amazing to be found.

I heard all the hype and was excited about the new light bulb technology that was being promoted throughout the land.  These new compact fluorescent light bulbs use 75% less energy than regular light bulbs! Yahoo, an easy win!  Switching to CF bulbs, combined with some diligent turning off un-needed lights and appliances reduces the  demand for our dirty electricity.  Since much of our electricity is produced by coal burning power plants (that emit greenhouse gases contributing to global warming and cause asthma), anything that can help us conserve power is good news.  We are improving our environment through simple steps to reduce demand for electricity.

It was only after changing out nearly all of our light bulbs that I heard these bulbs contain mercury and the toxic metal will leak out if you break the bulb. Which means that these bulbs require special disposal.  Nowhere in these big advertisements did they mention that CF bulbs cannot go into the garbage. 

The City of Toronto has set up the following methods for disposal:

1. Community Environment Day (April – September)

2. Drop off the fluorescent tubes and compact bulbs at the Dump or call the Toxic Taxi  if you have 50 Liters of hazardous waste (maybe getting the neighbours in on it would help)

3. Ikea is taking back and recycling the bulbs they have sold customers. Go Ikea!  Rona seems to be the only other company that is working toward a corporate initiative to take back the bulbs. 

By the time these long lasting bulbs burn out I’m sure disposal will be made easier, especially as we get closer to 2012 when Ontario will no longer sell any other type of light bulb. 

David Suzuki reminds us that coal fired power plants are the largest sources of mercury in our environment today, so by reducing our dependence on them through use of these bulbs we are still ahead.

Now if only we could get offices to turn off the lights when no one is working …

Check out this cute little shop.  EyeSpy is located at 1100 Queen Street East and carries all kinds of eye candy and home decor… ideal for gifts.  (That’s code for “you’ll probably find all kinds of things for yourself”.) They carry beautiful table lamps, high design kiddy items, jewelry, cards and some furniture.