InterUrban will have big views of historic city -- PAGES D2-3

Durability and sustainability are two of the reasons why wood has replaced carpeting in popularity in the main living areas of a house. Traditional hardwoods like oak and maple have been joined by bamboo, cork and reclaimed wood. Bamboo reaches maturity in six years and can be continually harvested. With cork, the bark of a tree is harvested every few years without killing the tree. Shown here, a dining room with cork flooring, left, a kitchen with bamboo flooring, above, and a sitting area with reclaimed wood, right.

Dear Condo Smarts: Our strata council is confused on how to apply our bylaws.

A subtle pride permeates the Inter-Urban new-home project in New Westminster -- pride in the 18-storey building, but also in the neighbourhood in which it is located.

Q: Is it possible to grow basil indoors? I know it cannot be seeded or transplanted outdoors until late spring. I am craving some fresh, homegrown basil. I am fond also of cilantro.

Kinichi Shigeno is an award-winning veteran artisan whose ceramic works have been showcased both locally and overseas. Hamza Vora and Raneen Nosh are novice artisans whose tile creations have just recently made their public introduction.

OTTAWA, TORONTO, CALGARY: New homes, and new or renewed forms of homes, are a year-round attachment of Canadian home-and-garden journalism. Generating newspaper attention recently was the growing appreciation for the townhouse in Ottawa, top; the showhome of a highrise-development in the Toronto suburb of Brampton, above left; and a showhome for a tract-housing development in north Calgary. You can...

'Upcycling' is one of those reminders of the elasticity of the English language. The word 'upcycle' has only appeared in this newspaper twice in the last 10 years. It means, according to one of the 342,000 Internet sites in which the word appears, the "repurposing of a material into a product of higher quality. An example would be a purse made out of woven candy wrappers." It must have considerable...

CASCADE -- Project location: Westwood Plateau, Coquitlam

GINGER -- Project location: Strathcona, Vancouver

PETER SIMPSON -- peter

It may look like a spaceship, but it's not from Mars -- it's from Montreal. The model of a futuristic single-family home called 'Homerizon' was created by Jean-Pierre Desmarais and on display at the Cottage and Country Homes show held last weekend in the Quebec city. Most visitors to the show had never seen anything like it: rising high above the trees, a mushroom-shaped building with an elevator in...