It doesn’t matter if you’re planning a mansion makeover or putting your own stamp on a starter home, there are great ideas on view at this year’s Designer Showcase home.

The showcase, in support of the Kids Help Phone Foundation, is in its 10th year in Calgary.

Designers invoked a Zen theme through a two-storey, 5,600-sq.-ft. house at 831 Durham Ave. S.W. in Mount Royal.

Larry MacDougal photos, Business Edge
The graceful Mount Royal home of Peter and Bev Brill has been beautifully redecorated to reflect the artistic falir of designers and suppliers.

The showcase house includes elements that the owners wanted to keep intact, such as the burled oak walls and grey carpeting in the front staircase. Some rooms were redecorated. Others, such as the kitchen, were gutted and redone, says Dawn Rosine, design chair for the showcase in Calgary.

The kitchen used to be a galley, but was enlarged by taking over what used to be a bedroom. The entry to the dining room was enlarged, giving a view of the indoor pool if the living room doors are open all the way.



She also points out the collector’s room, where the wood framing on the door and windows was painted to match the walls and sliding track screen drapes added. Cabinets came from Ikea and the puck lighting from Home Depot.

The library evokes a feel of luxury, right down to the upholstered furniture and the sliding ladder on the bookcase.

“A lot of the stuff in the room is from suppliers. I can’t speak enough for the suppliers,” she says.

Rosine took photos throughout the project and montages show the metamorphosis in progress with designers working in each space. It takes weeks to pull together after months of planning.

Melanie Kjorlien, project manager for Kids Help Phone, says the house was selected last August. Meetings with the homeowners and designers began last November.

Homeowners Peter and Bev Brill don’t consider three months away from their house a hardship.

“It’s a great cause,” says Peter, citing one of two reasons for offering their home of two years for the showcase. The couple are true believers in Kids Help Phone – Bev has been a volunteer for 10 years.

It was also time to look at doing a redesign, he adds, and the designers have done an incredible job.

The house is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily; on Thursdays and Fridays, it stays open until 8 p.m., until May 26. Admission is $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and students.

In nine years, the project has raised $1.4 million for the non-profit agency.

Valerie Cooper, Alberta regional co-ordinator for the Kids Help Phone Foundation, says fund-raising dollars support the Toronto call centre to make sure children and teens from across Canada who need someone to talk to won’t get a busy signal.

Launched in 1989, Kids Help Phone is the first and only toll-free professional counselling line for kids.

Counsellors have three to five years years’ experience dealing with child and family issues.

The phone centre in Toronto has a database of 30,000 resources across Canada, so kids with problems can get help in their own communities, from St. John’s to Victoria. Out of 363,000 calls from across Canada last year, 26,000 came from 315 communities in Alberta.

“For a charity that’s only 12 years old and had a zero start, it appears to be obvious that we’re filling a need,” says Cooper.

Two years ago, the agency added a parent help line. “If you’re a new mom and have issues with your baby, call,” says Cooper. “Or if you have teenagers and issues with them, call.”

Relationships with peers, teachers and parents spark about 70 per cent of calls to Kids Help Phone.

Posters aimed at kids are stark, because the problems of childhood and youth often are.

Says one: “Call if your boyfriend broke your heart. Call if your boyfriend broke your jaw.”

If you’re a kid who needs help, call 1-800-668-6868. If you’re a parent, call 1-888-603-9100.

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The weather was frightful, but the resale housing market was delightful in Calgary this April, according to industry figures.

A record 2,584 residences sold last month, beating the previous mark of 2,399 in May last year, the Calgary Real Estate Board said. The April 2002 figure is 10 per cent higher than March’s total of 2,344 and 30 per cent more than the April 2001 tally of 1,984. April also set a record of 611 condos, compared to 590 in March.

The average combined residential sale price in April was $196,645; up 1.3 per cent from March’s $194,158; and eight per cent from last April’s $181,575. The median price for April was $179,900; compared to $168,000 for the same month last year and $178,000 in March.