Tara Nolan » Toronto Star

Toronto Star & Metro holiday gift guides and decorating

admin — Fri, 25 Nov 2016 16:09:13 +0000

I’ve written a few articles about holiday decorating and a gift guide that are being rolled out from the end of November into December in the Toronto Star and Metro newspapers across Canada, and online. I love the holidays, so it was fun delving in to all the lookbooks and holiday lineups that retailers put together every year, crowd-sourcing gift recommendations, as well as interviewing a variety of sources for trends and tips. Here’s what’s been posted so far. Stay tuned for more!

* Look to your backyard for holiday decor
Appeared on: Metro website, Nov. 24

* Décor trends nod to turn of the century
Appeared in Metro newspapers across Canada, Nov. 25, the Toronto Star, Nov. 26, the Toronto Star website, Nov. 28

* Layer your lighting for a festive hue
Appeared in Metro newspapers across Canada, Nov. 25, the Toronto Star, Nov. 26, the Toronto Star website, Nov. 28

Toronto Star: Fall décor and gardening articles

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 16:57:54 +0000

This fall, I’ve written several décor pieces for various special sections in the Toronto Star. The first two appeared September 3 in a section called Your New Home.

For my first article, I interviewed paint legend Annie Sloan Q&A style. For the second piece, I featured a beach-inspired bathroom renovation created by Rebecca Hay of Rebecca Hay Designs, whose work has appeared on HGTV’s Income Property, among others. I’ll post a link to the PDFs as soon as I get them.

My next articles appeared in a Restyle Your Home section that was published Thursday, October 13. My articles for that section included:

* A Q&A with Michelle Slatalla, editor of Gardenista.com and author of the new book by the same name. I met Slatalla who was the keynote speaker at an influencer summit I attended earlier this year at P. Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain Farm.

* A product roundup, featuring décor items that will keep you cosy in the fall, both indoors and out.

* An article about extending your growing season with a cold frame. It featured a photo of the cold frame I designed using an old window for my book Raised Bed Revolution.

Toronto Star: Why you should stretch before gardening

admin — Fri, 01 Jul 2016 03:42:53 +0000

On Saturday, July 9, I had an article appear in the Toronto Star about stretching before you head out to the garden.

I interviewed a member of the Ontario Chiropractic Association, as well as a yoga teacher and a gardener for the piece, which appeared in a special section called Restyle Your Home. The article is called “Stretch it out before diggin in, expert says.”

Toronto Star + Metro: Hot new plants for 2016, raised beds + DIY staging

admin — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 16:15:46 +0000

I wrote a couple of pieces for the Restyle Your Home section that appeared in the Toronto Star Thursday, April 21. One was about the benefits of raised beds for small spaces and the other was a roundup of new plants that would be new to garden centres for 2016. These articles also appeared in Metro newspapers across Canada on May 5.

Earlier in April, for Buying and Selling Your Home section, I pitched a product story that would help readers to find items to stage their home.

Metro Special Report: Home Renovations
Thursday, May 5, 2016

* These plants have personality: This year’s garden picks are breeds of their own
* Have a small outdoor space? Consider a raised bed

Toronto Star: Restyle Your Home
Thursday, April 21, 2016

* Plants with purpose and personality
* Have a small outdoor space? Consider a raised bed

Toronto Star: Buying and selling a home
Thursday, April 7, 2016

* Do-It-Yourself-Staging

Fall 2015 Toronto Star articles

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 02:05:51 +0000

I was assigned two fall gardening articles for the Toronto Star. They both ended up in the same section on the same day. The first was about planting fall bulbs. I interviewed Pamela Dangelmaier from Botanus for tips and her favourite bulb picks. The second article was about turning your focus to indoor gardening and creating a terrarium. For that one, I interviewed Maria Colletti from the New York Botanical Garden, who wrote a book about terrariums, for DIY tips.

Unfortunately the Toronto Star doesn’t publish all their stories online, but both articles also ended up being syndicated in the Hamilton Spectator, so you can see them here:

* Tired of the same old red and yellow tulips?

* Take your green thumb indoors: Build a terrarium

Summer Toronto Star: Five eco-friendly ways to maintain your garden

admin — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 02:17:56 +0000

For a summer gardening piece, I pitched an article to the Toronto Star about how to maintain your garden during the hot, dry months of July and August.

This only appeared in the Toronto Star in print, but the Hamilton Spectator syndicated it in the newspaper and online:

* Five eco-friendly ways to maintain your garden

Spring gardening articles in the Toronto Star

admin — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 20:51:07 +0000

I had not one, but two gardening articles in the Toronto Star, recently. Both were on the same page in a special section called Restyle Your Home.

The first was about new annuals, perennials and edibles that will be making an appearance in garden centres this spring. Here is a PDF of Get green with these top plant picks.

The second article features tips about how to shop at your local garden centre from Paul Zammit (Toronto Botanical Garden), Helen Battersby (Toronto Gardens blog) and Miriam Goldberger (author of Taming Wildflowers). Here is a PDF of How to survive the garden centre.

Published: April 23, 2015

Gift guides for the Toronto Star

admin — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 14:45:29 +0000

For the 2014 holiday season, I wrote three gift guides for the Toronto Star. The first featured gifts made by Canadian artisans. It ended up in the paper in a special gift guide section.

Here is a link to the online version (they made it into a slideshow): Keep it Canadian this holiday season

I also wrote a piece about subscription gift boxes. This one was bumped from the paper and I was a little disappointed because they didn’t run the full article, which featured interviews and context. They simply featured my list of subscription boxes: A sampling of Canadian-based subscription boxes

The last gift guide I wrote about featured Canadiana-themed items. This was a fun one to research and I really like how it turned out. It’s not online, but here is the layout:

Toronto Star: Where T.O. Shops special section

admin — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 17:24:51 +0000

September 27, I wrote two articles that were featured on the front page of a special section called Where T.O. Shops. In the first piece, I interviewed landscape designer Michael Dimitriadis about how to extend the season outdoors by creating a cosy patio. For the second piece, I sourced home office items.

I’ve included screenshots of the two articles below:

Toronto Star: Restyle Your Home paint package

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 16:45:05 +0000

I wrote all the articles for a recent content package about painting your home that appeared on the Toronto Star’s website. I interviewed various interior designers and decorators for their tips that appeared in the following articles:

* Our experts reveal secrets to colour success
* How to use colour to define spaces in open concept living
* Choosing the right interior paint for your space
* Kitchen drama: Colour adds freshness and a touch of fun
* The psychology of colour: How palette affects your mood
* Dream in colour: How to choose a paint palette
* A primer on ceiling paint
* Photo gallery: Your paint job checklist

Published: August 2014