I recently returned from a week-long vacation in Nova Scotia, where I visited family and caught up with old friends. Over lunch with a university friend, the subject of work came up. She asked how freelancing was going, and I explained how I had the great misfortune of being paid to tour beautiful homes and write about them. Sarcasm aside, I still can’t believe I get a cheque in the mail for living the life of a looky-loo.
Last month I toured two bright, bold and beautiful homes for Saskatoon HOME magazine, one of them being the city’s first garage suite. The aforementioned friend hadn’t heard of garage suites, and, until I showed her the photos of the home, she had envisioned something much less hospitable (less glulam beams and more gasoline stains). Needless to say, she was taken aback by how stunning the space was. 
I won’t prattle on about it, because you can read the article here, but I’ll add that I hope to see more of these homes built in
Saskatoon. I’ve always been a big believer in walkable neighbourhoods, and to have walkability, you need density–more growth in existing neighbourhoods where services and amenities are already in place.
Also, I kinda want a Shiba Inu puppy now…just look at this dog…
I’d build a ga
rage suite myself if I didn’t already have a garage with a roof sheathed in succulents. Speaking of which, I wrote an article on the process of planning, planting and maintaining our green roof for the spring issue of the same magazine. It was a great opportunity to spread the word that such things are possible here…despite our unbearably cold Prairie winters.
The accompanying photos were taken last summer, and I’m happy share that not one single plant (out of ~700) died off over the winter. It’s looking colourful and healthy in its second season (see fresh photos below). You can read that article here.
So it would seem I’ve unintentionally carved out a strange niche–writing about unique garages in Saskatoon. If you know of an interesting home (or garage, or garage/home hybrid) that might be a good fit for the magazine, please get in touch.
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