Love your space but want to make it feel more like your own? Try adding texture to your walls and get an instant feeling of personalization.

 Whether you’re renting, renovating, or the proud new owner of a home, here are some simple ideas to help make your space your TruHome.

Get Your Wallpaper On

Fashion designer Bridget Smatlan of Fridget Apparel brings her design skills off the runway and into your home with her custom wallpaper installation service Tops Wallcovering. The savvy designer has an eye for detail and an unwavering commitment to using correct adhesives and surface preparation techniques. If done correctly, wallpaper can add an instant boost and focal point to any room.

Art for the Commitment-phobes

Looking for a more low-profile way to give your walls a little je ne sais quoi ? Edmonton-based Oliver Apt. designed a series of magnetic frames to hold your beloved art, music posters, and prints. The Prof. Prints series retails for $30 CAD and comes in three sizes and the choice of white ash or walnut finishes. Each kit includes countersunk holes to screw directly to the wall, as well as gold and white twine for hanging.

Plaster on the Warmth

Who says green living can’t be fashion-forward too? High Street’s Carbon Environmental Boutique proudly carries the American Clay line of natural earth plaster. These non-toxic plaster finishes come in a wide selection of earthy-tones, and can be applied on traditional wall surfaces – adding warmth and texture to your living space.

Hang Some Modern Nostalgia

Macramé is back in a big way, and nobody knows how to use it better than interior designer Julie Adams from Of Quartz Interiors. Check out her website and sign up for one of her plant or wall hanging workshops to make your own macramé work of art. You can also purchase ready-made wall hangings from her online shop.

Finnish with Fabric

Sometimes the simplest solutions can make a big (and memorable) impact. This is definitely true when it comes to using textiles as art. If you want a temporary solution to add colour and texture to any size of wall, try framing fabric and watch how it instantly transforms a space. We are especially in love with the selection available from Finnish design company Marimekko.

Spring is just around the corner, making it the perfect time to start preparing your two-wheeled beauty for a few months of glorious bicycle bliss.

Join the Network

If you are an avid cyclist, you will already know that construction is underway for a $7.5-million bike network that will provide seven kilometres of separated lanes for cyclists in downtown Edmonton. When complete, the Downtown Bike Network project will be similar to bike networks found in Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal or other major Canadian cities.

Edmonton Bike Swap

Looking to buy, sell or donate a bicycle?  Be sure to check out the Alberta Bike Swap, Saturday, May 13 from 2:30 – 4 PM at Northlands Edmonton EXPO Centre. This annual event is a perfect opportunity to sell a bike that’s been taking up space on your balcony or collecting dust in the garage, and an awesome opportunity to get a great deal on a new-to-you bicycle inspected and ready to ride off the lot.

Tune-up for Spring

If it’s a spring tune-up that you need, you’ll appreciate the friendly service at MEC’s Bike Shop, located in Oliver. Tune-up packages range from basic to premium, or you can choose individual bike services and repairs. This is also the place to check out for unique bicycle storage solutions for your house or condo.

Hands-on Help

More of the DIY-type? Then you are going to love the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters (EBC) fully-equipped, volunteer-run community bike workshops at BikeWorks North and BikeWorks South. For a small hourly fee, you will have access to specialty bicycle tools needed to repair and maintain your bicycle, as well as access to friendly  mechanics on hand to answer any questions you may have.

Choose Your Ride

When it comes to shopping for a new ride, Edmonton is home to a variety of of bike shops geared for all levels of cyclists. Garneau’s Redbike is the place to go if you are looking for function and European style. They also have a number of group rides you can sign up for on their website. Western Cycle and Revolution Cycle carry a wide selection of mountain bikes, scooters, and road bikes. MEC and United Cycle offer bikes and other sporting accessories at multiple price-points. Also be sure to check out Velocity Cycle at the new Ritchie Market.

Thinking about moving to a cycle-friendly neighbourhood? The TruHome team can help you choose the best options when it comes to condos and homes in Edmonton’s Central communities. Be sure to explore these great Edmonton neighbourhoods: Downtown |  Oliver | Queen Mary Park | Garneau | Strathcona | Ritchie

When we designed our Edmonton Building Age Map and wrote about Edmonton’s Urban Sprawl, we did not anticipate all the feedback and thoughts we would receive from Edmontonians and other great people through Twitter. Rather than just keeping the conversation there, we thought it would be useful to further share some of the thoughts and ideas here. Keep the #yegurbansprawl conversation going, by further sharing your thoughts on this heated topic.

• @adgelessness – “We have city’s to manage and service those effects to satisfy our choice of lifestyle.”
• @salcomm – “So many thoughts on sprawl. #1 dense suburbs still car centric. #2 Amenities in power centres, strip malls separated by big roads. #3 Neighbourhoods pw.o. alleys have to demolish hses and add more driveways crossing sidewalks to densify. #4 people still leaving to breed in the burbs. Weak connection between high density builds & less sprawl or affordability. Suburbs may be dense but still very car centric. Amenities a drive away across big roads. Street design 60yrs old. First, [we need to] stop building new developments using failed patterns.”
• @tstewarts – “My thoughts are we need to start building up.”
• @RobMeekel – “There’s a few things I’d say, first of all “urban sprawl” is designed as a negative term. No matter what side of an issue there’s usually more to it than people know and/or want to share. All cards on table needed. Which is OK if you are from that point of view but greater density has its own set of negative issues, conversation needs balance. Building codes have not kept up with Higher density, we now build zero property line 4 feet apart wrapped in combustible plastic siding. One house starts on fire its guaranteed that surely neighbouring properties will too, older 50s & 60s residential driveways were barriers. Smaller streets, more people, cars stacked on top of each other create streets its dangerous for children to be out on. In #YYC we have issues with 2nd scary suites (catch my POV?) people who buy R1 to live don’t want them, but property investors (which I am too) wanna buy on the low end and have re-zoned for profit (rentals). It doesn’t help that #yyc for years neglected to have sufficient multi-unit & multi family requirements in new residential areas. So when rental is tight (boom years) they use it as excuse to “need” more rental re-zoning. This leads to anger amongst property owners with different views. I don’t want anything but R1 where I live, my biggest investment was by choice in R1. My other properties (by specific choice) have been zoned multi from the start.”

These are all great points. The key to enhancing our city is conversation to allow for new possibilities to emerge regarding the needs of Edmonton’s urban planning.It is up to all of us to design and build places we love living in and our proud of! By re-looking at design concepts for urban planning and shifting our perspectives, we will find the right balance between “urban vs. suburban” “growing up and out” and making this city of ours even greater.

2016 is the REALTORS® Community Foundation’s (RCF) 30th year of giving back. RCF is an Edmonton based organization that brings together realtors with local communities to assist in funding and supporting charities that focus on homelessness, shelter, hunger, preventing crime, and other special projects.

Just like Elisse and our Home Tribe team, RCF is dedicated to caring, sharing and investing in our community!

In 2015, Elisse donated a portion of funds for each deal she closed. Thanks to our contributions and other amazing agents in the Edmonton region , RCF was able to announce that $308,000 went directly to some fantastic Edmonton and surrounding area charities!

These charities included working with hungry children,homeless youth, people suffering with addictions or mental illness and more. Each of these were all given a hand up because of the parts Realtors played in RCF’s collective success.

As Jill Didow would say, “Realtors are truly the most generous people i know”. By donating, we have been a part of helping over 50 charities with 100,000 people and counting being assisted. Discover more about the Realtors Community Foundation of Edmonton and how Realtors support and care for their communities.

The last half of 2015 was quite the time for Elisse Moreno and all of us here at Home Tribe! Not only was Home Tribe (our new app matching buyers to their ideal homes based on lifestyle) launched in Oct 2015, Elisse was also recognized at her office with two very prestigious awards:

• RE/MAX Excellence Rookie of the Year
• Executive Sale Club – given to RE/MAX Sales Associates whose paid commissions in a given year totalled $50,000 to $99,999. (sales from June -Dec 2015)

We want to thank everyone who helped us achieve such amazing success in 2015:

• This includes our many business mentors
• Our unbelievable clients who help us wake up everyday excited and ready to do more
• Our families including my husband Roberto Moreno and my father Wayne William Heine who is also a rockstar REALTOR is his own right.

2016 promises to be an even more exciting year – we hope you join us on our journey of helping enhance the Edmonton Real Estate market!

This past Wednesday, February 17, AWE hosted an all day entrepreneur learning event; “Alberta’s Best Leadership Day” at MacEwan University’s downtown campus. The day was filled with discussions on solving challenges and incorporating change into your business and industry to help reach greater success for all entrepreneurial thinkers. The program consisted of motivational talks from previous AWE Celebration of Achievement award winners as well as thought encouraged discussions, workshops, networking and paired time with experts. One of these experts was Home Tribe’s very own Elisse Moreno who was speaking out about Disruptive Idea-Building & Innovation alongside with Meghan Dear (Localize Your Food) and Robyn Henderson (Kids Uncomplicated).

For those that were unable to attend, we wanted to share some key highlights that we discussed during our panel time. 

One of the questions we were asked is: What does disruptive innovation mean to you?

Think of Uber , Netflix and even Thomas Edison who all began with the idea to change their industry, even RE/MAX who started as a single brokerage in 1973. All of these companies knew that to truly become a disruptive company they needed to re-look at a problem and think outside of the box (be innovative). I’m sure they all asked themselves, what creative or innovative tactics could they utilize to change their industries and strive for better. Often times, the truly disruptive companies emerge when they can provide: Better Quality, at a Faster rate and at a Reduced cost.

Once you are able to innovative and change an industry, the biggest risk for a company is to fall behind and not push further innovations in order to constantly improve their business. 

“A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts” said Richard Branson, and he is right! Getting to the top of an industry is hard, but not until you get there does your real work truly begin. A company has to be constantly evolving and changing in order to remain a “game changer” in their industry.

Another important thing to note, is when is the right time to get started. We can all be perfectionists at times, however, it’s the “baby steps” that ultimately result in mega milestones down the road.

We couldn’t agree more with Marie Forleo’s statement: “The key to success is to start before you’re ready”. That leaves us to one final point – WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Let’s all go out there and make something (exciting) happen! We certainly will be. 🙂