Garage Outfitters, founded in 2005, can help you transform your garage from chaos into the most useful and organized area in your home. They take you in a whole new direction of storage and organization – can you imagine everything at your finger tips, all items easily accessible, organized, and off the floor?

Their re-engineered slatwall is versatile, waterproof, beautiful and recyclable; The hooks, baskets, brackets and shelves are engineered to industrial standards. The StoreWALL HeavyDuty is available for demanding applications. The slats are available in: weathered grey, brite white, dover white, global pine, and rustic cedar.

Overhead storage allows you to store large, bulky items up off of the floor, while still providing easy access. Forget rented storage space. HyLoft ceiling storage units are ideal for storing holiday decorations, luggage, coolers and other large bulky items. The tire racking keeps tires sitting properly so that they will last longer.

The room will look great when they seal the garage floor utilizing a technique of sand, crack repair, paint flake and seal. The garage flooring systems using polyaspartic, polyurea and epoxy floor solutions becomes visually appealing. It is easy to maintain, stain resistant, durable and more comfortable.

Their renovation team sets up the plans and can include painting, electrical work, lighting, heating and plumbing. All estimates are FREE.

When you re-do your garage, it helps increase the overall value of your home. And imagine, you’ll now be able to park your vehicles in the garage where they were intended to be.

Location: 7467 Rte Transcanada
corner: Cote Vertu
Tel: 514-779-6696
www.garage-outfitters.ca, Facebook http://on.fb.me/NO2MVR
info@garage-outfitters.ca

Refurbishing giant, J. Sonic is holding a 3-day sale of air conditioners.The LG  13,000 BTU units  will cover up to 500 sq. ft.

The enormous warehouse is usually full of such things as TV screens, home theater systems, iPod docking systems, Dyson vacuum cleaners, blu-ray players, and cameras.

Location: 6869 Henri Bourassa Ouest
corner: Felix Leclerc
Dates: Aug 3-5
Hours:  Fri Aug 3: 2-9, Sat Aug 4: 10-5, Sun Aug 5: 10-4
www.refurbished.ca

I got a request from a fan with messy neighbors who wanted to block out the ugly scene by using some sort of fabric on their fence. I had two ideas for her:

1 – Textiles Debouk sells water resistant balcony fabric in about 6 solid colors and in stripes too,  at 54″  wide. You fill find all kinds of other fabric here as well. They are temporarily located at the address below while their original store down the street is being  renovated.

Location: 7498 St Hubert St
corner: Faillon
Tel: 514-276-3278
Hours: Regular plus Sun 12-5

2 – LasCan,  has everything related to tents, awnings, webbing, tarps, truck covers, sports nets, etc.  This is a 52-year-old family company and they do repairs so they have all kinds of things that might work. I believe they have the webbing you can weave in and out of a frost fence too.

Location: 9001 Elmslie, Lasalle
corner: Dollard
Tel: 366-2800
Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30-12, 1-4:30 (no Fri afternoon in summer)                                                s

If you’ve just made that major move, it’s now time to buy new blinds for your windows. They’ll even come to you at no charge.

From the traditional to the contemporary, Verti Store carries a vast array of blinds and draperies that suit every taste, every window size and every budget.

This window-covering mecca will amaze you with 10,000 sq. ft. of  displays of custom made PVC, aluminum, wood and faux wood vertical and horizontal blinds; beautiful shutters; panel tracks; roman, pleated, cellular or roller shades and affordable draperies and drapery hardware.

Verti Store also offers many in-stock versions of the above products as well as over 1,000 rolls of fabric to choose from.

Stop by one of their 5 locations or call in to take advantage of their completely free and no obligation shop-at-home service. For the same pricing as in store, you can shop in the comfort of your own home with the help of their decorating consultants.

Verti Store has been serving their customers for over 30 years, providing them with the most competitive pricing possible. Whether you’re working with a restricted budget or sky-is-the-limit funds, Verti Store’s wealth of choice and ice and experienced staff can turn any house into a beautiful home.

Using the Sodastream, you can  make your own soda with water and a carbonator. One carbonator adds fizz to  60 litres of water to become seltzer or flavored soda (cola, lemon, lime, ginger ale, tonic, root beer, cranberry, raspberry and diet flavors.).  It’s all natural, there’s no aspartame in the diet sodas and no high fructose corn syrup in the flavors .

It’s a green way to save our planet, no cans, bottles, no batteries, no clean-up. You simply exchange empty carbonators  for full ones and save money on bottles and cans.  The reusable BPA bottles makes soda for pennies a serving – about .25 per litre. The price is $99.99 (fancier designs can be $129.99 or $179.99).

You can buy your Sodastream at Warshaw; Uprooted from the Main, it planted itself facing the Atwater market. Warshaw concentrates on kitchen and household items. Prices are kept low, since they buy liquidation deals and pass the savings on to you.

The store is chock full of serving dishes, gadgets, baking dishes, table linens, curtain panels ($6.99 & up), placemats, shower curtains, bathroom accessories, area rugs and runners, plants, and a big espresso section.

Expect to find:
– a big selection of bar stools
– gardening pots, soil, vitamins, planters
– shopping carts from France with fun designs and words
– Klip-It lunch containers in all sizes: some have cutlery, salad dressing containers, room for an ice pack. They’re made of virgin materials which are BPA-free and lead-free
– silicone baking molds in all colors and sizes
– a huge display of Trudeau products. Their salt & pepper shakers are guaranteed for life
– aprons for adults and kids
– cushions, chair pads, throws, pillows, towels, placemats, napkins, tablecloths
– knapsacks that convert to towels, reversible beach blankets (in a carry bag) which are waterproof on one side.
– baskets and storage containers
– bamboo rugs, synthetic Persian rugs, bath mats
– novelty throws called Safari with animals and throws which reverse to sherpa
– specialists in espresso machines: Saeco, Caffitaly, Breville, Keurig with and without pods
– blenders, toaster ovens, grills, kettles, juicers, toasters, oven mitts
– hampers, picnic baskets, umbrellas
– a plant section in the store with oddities like lucky bamboo, money tree and ginkgo biloba.
– And the Sodastream machine to make your own soda

This is definitely the store where there is something for everyone.

Location: 145 Atwater
corner: St-Ambroise
Tel: 514-933-2250
Hours: Regular plus Sun 9-5

Granite Style Prestige has been open since 2008 and are specialists in granite, quartz and marble countertops for kitchens and bathrooms.

They have a bright airy showroom and offer personalized, individualized service. To make an educated decision about what you need for you home, here are some of the products they carry:

– Caesarstone is quartz from Israel. They were one of the first quartz surface manufacturers. Caesarstone is nonporous, stain, scratch and heat resistant and backed by a residential lifetime warranty. It is an ideal surface for kitchens, vanities and more.

– Silestone comes from Spain. It is a quartz surface which comes in a range of colors and textures. This countertop offers bacteriostatic protection that guarantees maximum hygiene on its surfaces. Silestone is hard and resilient so it is a good surface for kitchen countertops, bathrooms, floors and wall cladding as it uses the minimum number of joints.

– HanStone is a quartz from Canada. It’s twice as hard as granite. Luxurious and durable, it is a low maintenance surface product available in 43 patterns. HanStone is non-porous and requires no sealing. The lustrous surface requires no conditioning or polishing. It is heat, bacteria, stain and chip resistant. It is backed by a Residential Lifetime Limited Warranty and is GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified®.

HanStone Quartz is designed for high-traffic areas such as offices, banks, hotels and restaurants, where applications can also include walls, reception areas, serving areas, table tops, staircases and much more.

Here they stock full-sized slabs, so you can bring one of your kitchen cabinet doors to the warehouse to get a better perspective. Bargain hunters will like to browse their inventory of remnants – maybe something will inspire you.

When they take your order, it is made and installed within 10 days

If you buy right now, there’s a promotion going on – you get a free sink with a value of $350 with every purchase of $2500.

If you loved Ares in their old location, you will love it even more in its spanking new huge premises.

For serious or not so serious cooks, with 44,000 different items this store is like fairyland, starting with the massive wall of gadgets. Many things that you may need for your kitchen can easily be found in this restaurant supply business: for desserts – every size of pastry tips, Wilton pans, Kaiser products, 600 candy and cake molds, KitchenAid mixers; for cooking – Cuisinart, KitchenAid, Krups, pots by Le Creuset, All-Clad, Gastrolux, Paderno, Corning, and whisks and strainers in every conceivable size.

Look for the largest Alessi counter, the sea of pepper mills, Nespresso, Saeco and Jura coffee machines, Riedel wine glasses, knives by Henckels, Wusthof, Mac, Global and Victorinox.

New location: 2044 Transcanadienne, Pointe Claire
corner: boul. des Sources
Tel: 514-695-5225
Hours: Regular plus Sun 10-5
Other locations: St-Hubert, 1501 boul. des Promenades (450-926-2737); Centre Laval (450-902-1030); 6855 Jean-Talon e. (514255-3403).
www.arescuisine.com

Canada will be the first country in the world to wave goodbye to wheeled vacuum cleaners. James Dyson did away with bags, replacing them with cyclone technology.  Now, Dyson is doing it with wheels, too.  They’re gone, gone for good, replaced by lighter, more manoeuvrable and powerful Dyson Ball™ technology that’s suited to uprights and – for the first time – canisters.

The free flowing and lightweight ball  steers into difficult places.  Dyson’s first canister vacuum cleaners with Ball™ technology – the DC36 and the DC37 – are engineered using an articulating chassis and central pivot point for negotiating tight turns.  They don’t snag on furniture.  They don’t drift on hard floors.  And they don’t topple. The uprights – DC42 and the bigger DC43 – ride on a ball and turn on a dime. They nip into corners. They dart around sofas.  And, with their instant telescopic hoses, stretch up stairs.

Motors, electronics, ducting and airways are all neatly compressed within the ball, balancing the vacuum cleaners around their low centre of gravity, making canisters that are easier to pull, and uprights that are easier to push.

Other vacuum cleaners still rely on bags or filters to trap dust, losing suction over time. Dyson has been continually refining vacuum cyclone technology since inventing it more than 20 years ago. Dyson’s Radial Root Cyclone™ technology captures more microscopic dust than any other cyclone.  Every angle of each airway is honed to ensure microscopic particles – as tiny as 0.5 microns or 1/5,000th of a pin head – are spun out of the airflow and captured in the bin.

The DC36 cleaner head has ultra-fine carbon fibre filaments to remove dust from hard floors and nylon bristles for carpets. DC37 has the Triggerhead; a simple finger trigger activates the brush bar – on for carpets, off for hard floors.

Canadian homes have multiple floor types – hard wood, tile and carpet.  Dyson Ball uprights self adjust to any floor surface, ensuring the strongest suction at the cleaner head. Long bristles penetrate carpet to remove ground-in dirt, while shorter bristles remove surface dust and pet hair.

Dyson vacuums can be bought online at dyson.com and in store at: Future Shop, Best Buy, The Bay, Deco Decouverte, Sears, Canadian Tire, The Brick, Walmart, Home Depot and independent retailers.

In a building right off the Main, Ungava is a company that sells high quality duvets at low prices ($49 & up) using only anti-allergy sanitized feathers. They can create made-to-measure sizes (even for cribs), feather beds, can restuff your old duvet and do special constructions like custom sofa seats and window seats.

You can buy silk duvets, duvet covers, buckwheat pillows and wool mattress covers.  Better quality futons (UFO) are made here too (with guarantees), as well as futon covers, bases and bolsters. To finish your decorating, there’s Egyptian cotton and bamboo sheets,  bamboo towels and a large selection of ready made curtains (19.99 up).

Location: 10 Pine Ouest, suite 112
corner: boul. St-Laurent
Tel: 514-287-9276
Hours: Mon-Wed 10-6, Thurs & Fri 10-8, Sat 10-5

I’ve just had a conversation with Michel Blanchard who installs air conditioners for a living. He’s a second-generation installation guy so he really knows his stuff (been in the business over 42 years).

Blanchard recommends Quincaillerie Beaubien which is a Rona affiliate. In season, they have an unusually large selection of window air conditioners.

Location: 3194 Beaubien
corner :10th
Tel:  514-727-4525

Installer: Blanchard
Tel: 450-689-8667