Each year, paint companies announce their colour of the year, a tradition that lets us think about incorporating new trends into a tired space if you’re in need of a change. For 2024, we’ve got gentle pastels alongside bold hues, so no matter your style, there’s a colour that’s right for your palette.

One of the most anticipated announcements from the world of paint, Pantone has named ‘Peach Fuzz’ their colour of the year for 2024. A soft and gentle colour reminiscent of a summer day, their Executive Director Leatrice Eiseman described their choice as “an echo of our innate yearning for closeness and connection.” To help bring people together in your home, see if this shade fits in your family room where its soft hue will be easy on the eyes.

This rich hue is sophisticated and classic, a good choice for living rooms and dining rooms. If you’re working with a smaller space, consider painting an accent wall to not overwhelm the room, or pairing it with lighter accents for more balance. The team at Benjamin Moore made their choice in hopes of inspiring thoughts of space travel and adventure.

Another light-orange shade, this colour is different while still being classy, a way to introduce colour without being garish. Its neutral undertones make it easy to work with, and if used in a living room, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to play with contrasting colours through your accents.

It’s a brave new world of smart devices and Bluetooth enabled appliances, but how do you know if it’s just a gimmick? These tips on utilizing smart lighting in your home will give you a few suggestions on putting these gadgets into good use, and might even inspire you to give your home a smart upgrade

Getting up in the morning can be hard, but it’s easier when mimicking the patterns of a sunrise. Set the lights in your room to slowly brighten with your morning routine so that you’re not fumbling for a switch and facing harsh lighting, especially in winter months when it’s dark in the mornings. A gentler progression will make it easier for you to get up and get your day going.

It can take kids a while to wind down when it’s time to go to bed, but a with a few well-placed smart bulbs, you can create a bedtime routine that helps them know it’s time to settle down, while still being able to set the lights at full brightness when they’re needed during the day. Plus, they’ll provide a gentle nightlight for anyone who’s still not comfortable in the dark.

In your living area, smart light strips under counter overhangs paired with main lighting sources such as lamps or ceiling lights can all be coordinated to set ‘scenes’, no matter what the occasion. Having guests over? Get creative with the full colour spectrum and set the ambience for your guests to have a cool experience. Just watching a movie? You can play around with the light intensity and colour to create a unique night in that suits just you. And when you need to clean, set everything as bright as can be and you’ll never miss another speck of dust.

If you think you’ll be away for a vacation, you can set up your smart lights to keep to a steady routine to help your house keep from being targeted as empty. While you should still get someone you trust to pay it a visit if you’ll be away for a long period of time, being able to control your lights will give you an added layer of security and peace of mind.

Some smart lights can be paired with motion sensors and can be set to turn on when you enter the room. This can cut down on fumbling for a light switch in the dark, and keep the lighting in your home as efficient as possible, if you’re trying to cut down on your power usage.

​Image Credit: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4, Image 5

It’s a brave new world of smart devices and Bluetooth enabled appliances, but how do you know if it’s just a gimmick? These tips on utilizing smart lighting in your home will give you a few suggestions on putting these gadgets into good use, and might even inspire you to give your home a smart upgrade

Getting up in the morning can be hard, but it’s easier when mimicking the patterns of a sunrise. Set the lights in your room to slowly brighten with your morning routine so that you’re not fumbling for a switch and facing harsh lighting, especially in winter months when it’s dark in the mornings. A gentler progression will make it easier for you to get up and get your day going.

It can take kids a while to wind down when it’s time to go to bed, but a with a few well-placed smart bulbs, you can create a bedtime routine that helps them know it’s time to settle down, while still being able to set the lights at full brightness when they’re needed during the day. Plus, they’ll provide a gentle nightlight for anyone who’s still not comfortable in the dark.

In your living area, smart light strips under counter overhangs paired with main lighting sources such as lamps or ceiling lights can all be coordinated to set ‘scenes’, no matter what the occasion. Having guests over? Get creative with the full colour spectrum and set the ambience for your guests to have a cool experience. Just watching a movie? You can play around with the light intensity and colour to create a unique night in that suits just you. And when you need to clean, set everything as bright as can be and you’ll never miss another speck of dust.

If you think you’ll be away for a vacation, you can set up your smart lights to keep to a steady routine to help your house keep from being targeted as empty. While you should still get someone you trust to pay it a visit if you’ll be away for a long period of time, being able to control your lights will give you an added layer of security and peace of mind.

Some smart lights can be paired with motion sensors and can be set to turn on when you enter the room. This can cut down on fumbling for a light switch in the dark, and keep the lighting in your home as efficient as possible, if you’re trying to cut down on your power usage.

​Image Credit: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4, Image 5

Sometimes, your rooms are missing something vital to pull them together. The floor is too bare or there’s not enough colour, and this is where the perfect area rug comes in. They can add warmth, separate a room, and add a pop of personality – read below to learn how they can work in each room in your home.

Do you have a heavily used hallway between your kitchen and your dining room? Or a corridor linking multiple bedrooms? A rug to cover these hallways will extend the life of your floors and protect them from too much wear and tear over a long period of time.

If you have a finished basement, it’ll likely get colder in the winter months. If you have any tiled or hardwood floors, use area rugs to make it a little more comfortable to walk on when the temperatures dip—plus, your basement will look even more finished, creating the perfect family den, or even a separate living space. If your budget allows, wool rugs will also keep the space even cozier.

A rug can have so many functions in your living room, providing a splash of colour, or a neutral base for patterned furniture. Just be sure that your area rug is big enough that all your living room furniture fits on the rug, or the space will look too small. Rug size calculators online can help you select the perfect size and layout for your room.

If you have a wide open living area, an area rug underneath your dining table will help separate out the space from the kitchen. It’ll save your table from looking like it’s floating in an empty room and provide a little more structure to your mealtimes.

A rug placed under a bed can give the illusion of the room being larger, providing you place it correctly. Try to keep the bed in the center of the rug and let the rug act as a picture frame around it. Keep a half-meter between the rug and the wall, and don’t lose the symmetry if your bed is prone to moving– it might make the whole space look unbalanced.

​Image Credits: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4, Image 5

Save money, reduce food waste, take fewer trips to the grocery store and eat healthier with this vacuum sealer set that will help your food last five times longer.

In 2022 the National Zero Waste Council conducted research on household food waste in Canada, and the results were astonishing.

• 63% of the food Canadians throw away could have been easten
• For the average Canadian household that amounts to 140 kilograms of wasted food per year – at a cost of more than $1,300 per year!

ZWILLING has set out to help reduce food waste with their unique vacuum food storage system, Fresh & Save – designed to keep food fresher for up to 5 times longer!

Whether you’re a meal prepper like me or prefer planning only one or two meals at a time, minimizing food waste, taking fewer trips to the grocery store and actually eating those leftovers are more important now than ever. Plus, keeping produce fresh for longer motivates me to eat healthier. I love a good salad, but after just a few days when the salad mix starts to go bad — you know — when it starts to get that smell and sliminess, I can’t stomach it.

The solution: A food vacuum sealer. Air carries gas compounds and bacteria, which can alter food’s quality and taste (and eventually causes the food to go bad). Vacuum sealing keeps air out, so food lasts longer. Plus, it prevents freezer burn. You have many vacuum sealers to choose from online. I’ve tested the ZWILLING Fresh & Save Vacuum Sealer, and below I share how it works, plus my takeaways. Spoiler alert: It comes with an app!

ZWILLING Fresh & Save Starter Set

You can buy the food saver bags and glass containers separately to fit your needs, but this seven-piece set is a great way to get started. It comes with a compact, rechargeable vacuum pump, a large glass container, a medium glass container, two medium reusable bags and two small reusable bags.

How It Works

Unlike many other food vacuum sealers, the ZWILLING vacuum pump is compact, so you can neatly tuck it away in a drawer or cabinet, and it comes with its own charger (it lasts a long time between each charge). To use, wash and dry your produce as you normally would, and place inside the glass container or bag. Place the pump over the round opening, press the button, then watch the pump do its magic. The pump automatically turns off when all the air is pumped out.

Use these containers and bags to store meats, marinades and cooked leftovers, and you can even use the bags for sous-vide cooking. I personally love the glass containers because they’re microwave- and oven-safe, so I can directly warm up food in them.

Using the ZWILLING Culinary App

What makes the ZWILLING sealer great is its user-friendly app. Download the ZWILLING Culinary app here or on your smartphone, click Appliances and add Fresh & Save. Once you’ve added it, click Manage to add a food item. Fill in the item name (i.e. Salad Mix), scan the QR code on the bag or glass container, pick a food group and whether you’re putting it in the fridge or freezer. (You can even upload your own photo.)

The app organizes each added item in a list, along with the date entered and the date it will expire. The app includes a color-coded system; green means it’s fresh, yellow means it’s about to expire and red means it has already expired. You can turn on the notifications so it will alert you when an item is about to expire or has expired, so you don’t have to think twice about it. One caveat is that you can’t manually fill in the date added, so if you forget to add it the day of, you can’t track the expiration day accurately.

Does It Actually Work?

The ZWILLING Fresh & Save claims to help your food last five times longer. To truly test if it lives up to this, I decided to test one food that spoils the quickest — avocado. I placed an avocado half in one of the bags, sealed it and placed it in the fridge. Normally, it would turn brown within hours. I was so shocked to find it started to turn a little brown after five whole days. Not only did it still look fresh, but it also tasted fresh. The Fresh & Save also kept salad mix, cooked sweet potatoes and cilantro fresh for 10 days. Because of this product, I now only have to go to the grocery store twice a month.

By: Farima Alavi, HGTV​