Just under three weeks ago, the city I call home was thrown
into chaos when two rivers breached their banks and caused unprecedented
flooding. More than 75,000 people were evacuated to higher ground and a
significant number lost their homes and many of their possessions. Despite the
fact that the citizens of Calgary stepped forward to help clean up in the
aftermath, many lives will have to start anew—some, unfortunately, without
insurance.
Although I was evacuated from my own home it remained
untouched by flood waters and life returned pretty much to normal after a week.
In fact, the only thing I had to do to get back on track was clean and re-stock
my fridge. Despite being able to help in some small way by clearing debris out
of homes in the affected areas, I still feel like more needs to be done.
To this end, I am offering a 25% reduction in contract
hourly fees for anyone who experienced significant flood damage to their
primary home and must rebuild. The scope of this can range from assisting with
colour and material selections for your restoration provider to complete
furniture replacement or full-fledged renovations.
While I cannot guarantee the availability of my contractors
and their trades—based on the volume of work already underway—I will do my
utmost to connect new clients with reliable, quality workers. I am also happy
to work in conjunction with your own trades, should you already have them in place.
In this vein, I am also creating three comprehensive
“design-in-a-box” options for those who do want to work with their own labourers
but take the guesswork out of the selection process. After all, there will be
enough information to process with insurance claims, restoration companies,
personal finances and the like without adding something as relatively frivolous
as colour choices into the mix.
These designs will include scale-able materials available
through a wide variety of suppliers, complete with product numbers, colour
codes and similarly useful information. All will feature flood-friendly (not
flood-proof) materials that are either salvageable or economically replaced
should an event such as this ever (fingers crossed it doesn’t) occur again.
Based on my knowledge of the affected areas, I have chosen
to focus on three themes: traditional, contemporary and retro. The last one is of particular interest to me,
as I grew up in the era of rumpus rooms and miss the days when we truly had a
place to unwind and let kids be kids.
While the past cannot be undone, it’s my sincere hope that
the aforementioned measures can be of some use as Calgary rebuilds to become
the vibrant, neighbourly city I know and love. As our civic motto proclaims:
Onward! For more information, please contact me via e-mail; david@barbariandesign.ca or telephone: 403-808-5630.
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