This past weekend, The Toronto Star’s Your Home section featured any article about Murphy Beds. Our own Barb Larocque was interviewed for it, and provided some good information about our beds and the blossoming interest in them.  Even about a year ago, we were installing a Murphy Bed perhaps once a month; right now, we are closer to once a week, and the installations go smoother than ever before.  The bed pictures used in the article are of our Queen Size display bed, which you can see in person at our showroom.  To see the article, click here.

There’s a great article in today’s Toronto Star about a Garage makeover by HGTV’s Colin and Justin.  It’s a great Before and After piece, showing how you can reclaim that space!  Many of the products shown - overhead storage, slat wall and cabinets - are available from us.  In fact, our StoreWALL product is a more versatile product than the slat wall they used in this reno, coming in more colors and with more accessories.  The cabinet line they used is RedLine garagegear, for which Space Solutions is the exclusive Toronto dealer.  We have garagegear cabinets and StoreWALL on display in our showroom - visit our Garages page to learn more about what we do for garage storage!

Well, we’re at that time of year again.  Spring has indeed arrived; the weather is - generally - beautiful, things are sprouting, and it’s time to turn our attention to the outside.  For many of us, it’s now also time to turn our attention to the Garage. We’ve put away our snow shovels for the winter (We think. And am I the only one who never used his this year?) and time to dust off the lawn mower, hedge trimmer and garden gloves; and also it’s time to swap the skis and toboggans for the golf clubs and tennis rackets.  Many of us forget during the winter just how much we are storing in our garage, and now that we’re looking for that patio chair or barbecue tank, we’re stumbling over all the other things we keep in there.  That may mean that it’s time to have a garage sale - it’s that time of year, too - but maybe you’ve purged enough already. What you need is a better system.

Space Solutions has the means to let you reclaim the space in your garage. If you live in the city of Toronto, you’re likely lucky to even be able to park your car in the garage, as many older homes have garages that date back well before the dawn of the minivan and SUV.   Even with a larger space, a family with children will find that bicycles, skateboards and hockey nets take up much of the space that would otherwise house your vehicle.  Getting as much of the kids’ things off the floor as possible will go a long way towards freeing up that space.  StoreWALL’s slat wall system is a great place to start. With holders to hang bicycles, baskets for sports balls and hooks for all sorts of sporting goods and garden tools, you can have a better organized space in no time.  A wall covered with StoreWALL looks great too, and is resistant to weather damage and mildew. The patented locking mechanism on StoreWALL’s accessories keep things secure on the wall, because you need your garage to be a safe place, too.  Hang Mom and Dad’s bikes up high, and mount the kids’ bikes lower where they can reach them, and be amazed at how much floor space you recover.

RedLine’s garagegear cabinets provide a great solution for tools and smaller items.  Not every Toronto garage is going to have the space for cabinets, but even if you can get a small series in one corner, all those cans of paint, hammers (if you’re like me, you have 4 of them), light bulbs, Christmas decorations - they can all have a neat, tidy home.  Garagegear cabinets are powder-coated, making them also resistant to moisture and most chemicals.  Include a heavy-duty workbench top, and the hobbyist or home handyman has a durable, convenient place to work.  The best thing about about our garage cabinets is that they’re mounted off the floor to the wall, so they are away from wet, sloping garage floors.  Our trained installers guarantee to get it right, so you don’t have to worry about your things, your car, or your kids.

The Garage page on our website features more pictures of garage ideas, as well as links to our garage suppliers’ websites and color options. Visit our showroom to our offerings in person, we’ll also be happy to do a site visit and come up with a proposal for your space.

Here’s an interesting project we did recently.  The client had existing cabinets on either side of his fireplace in a beautifully detailed home in Riverdale.  The request was to build a low cabinet to serve as a window seat with storage inside, that would complement the existing cabinetry and match it as closely as possible.  You can see the results below - click on a thumbnail to see a full sized image.

We built the cabinet out of MDF and had it factory-painted.  (Our production shop has a spray facility for factory finishes.)  MDF is used for paint-able cabinetry, as it provides a consistent surface for even coverage - and also allows for profiles, like the applied molding on the drawer fronts, the baseboard detail and the wonderful edge detail on the surface.  To properly fit a cabinet like this, we perform two site visits with the installation team.  The initial trip is what we call the dry fitting: before the cabinet is painted, we bring it to the site to scribe the surface and do any of the tight fitting.  (In older homes like this one, right angles are few and far between, so some cutting is to be expected, and you don’t want to be cutting the unit after painting, as that would risk ruining the finishing on the perimeter.) After confirming the fit, the cabinet is then brought back to the shop for painting, and once that has been completed, the finished cabinet is then installed, and the handles attached.  The client then outfitted his new window seat with a stylish cushion, and the result is a piece of furniture that is as beautiful as it is functional.

We can also install the cabinet for you as unfinished MDF, in which case you - or a  painter you might hire - would paint it afterwards.  You can use whatever paint you might be using say for your baseboards, and the cabinet can blend right in.  It may depend on the size and look of your project which way you’d want to go - and of course, what your budget is, as painting it yourself will be more economical than a factory finish.  We have examples of cabinets both factory-painted and hand-painted in our showroom, so you can see the results for yourself.

Click here to read another post about another factory painted cabinet project.  And click here to request an in home consultation for your next project.

It’s that time again - our annual post-Christmas Element shelving sale!  Right now, through the end of January, Element-System shelving is 20% off!  Or, if we are doing the installation, you can opt to instead have us waive the installation fee, normally a minimum of $160!   Element-System is so easy to install, you may very well opt to purchase the materials and install it yourself, and get the biggest savings.  In addition, all in-stock Modular Plus components (the solid drawer and box options for the line) are 50% off!  Bring in your measurements, or use the Request Appointment option to arrange for a Free in home consultation.

Update February 1, 2010: our Annual Winter Sale has now ended.  Thank you for a successful sale!

Our Holiday Hours for end of December are as follows:

We’re about to “roll” out a new program of sliding doors for closets and room dividers!  We’re combining aluminum European hardware with a variety of insert options, and are cutting and assembling in house, to give you the best product for the best pricing.  We expect to have a new page launched on our website by the end of the month showing possible combinations, and we also plan to have display doors put in by January too, so you can see just how great this door hardware is.    In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek:

This coming weekend we will be exhibiting a Queen size Murphy bed cabinet at the Zoomer Show at The Direct Energy Centre at the CNE grounds.  The show runs Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 31 and Nov 1, and it’s a fabulous lifestyle show with lots of great booths and exhibits and information.  For more on the Zoomer Show, visit their website: http://www.zoomershow.ca/2009/media/  From Wednesday October 28, through Monday November 2nd, we will not have a Murphy Bed on display in our showroom - as we are sending it to the show.  Admission to the show starts at $8.00 + gst for one, with cheaper rates for bulk purchases - but if you come by our showroom, you can pick up a free pass for admission for two!  Thank you to the great folks at Classical 96.3 FM for putting this on - and click here to listen to the fantastic radio spot they’ve put together for us: Classical 963fm spot 

We’ll also be presenting a simple closet at Marilyn Wetston’s booth at The Zoomer Show.  Marilyn’s show, From A Woman’s Perspective, runs every Saturday morning from 8 to 9 am on their sister station, AM740.  Barb Larocque, the owner of Space Solutions, is a frequent guest on Marilyn’s show, and is happy to contribute to her booth as well.

We will be remaining closed on Sundays for the next while.  We apologize for any inconvenience.  You can always send us an email at info@spacesolutions.ca and one of us will get in touch with you as soon as we can.

There’s a terrific article in today’s National Post about Garage Organization, prominently featuring our RedLine garagegear cabinets, StoreWALL slat wall panels and other options.  As the article notes, we are the pros when it comes to layout and installation, and are always ready to help with your garage project.  Here’s a link to the article on the Post’s website: National Post Article.  Even better - come in to our showroom at Bayview and Eglinton and see the systems in person!  Then set up an in-home consultation, and one of our designers will come out and measure and help you sort out your garage!