[PRESENTED BY JO ALCORN - WHITEWASH & CO]]

I love that my line of work often grants me access to innovative home products, new designer colours, furniture and appliances long before they hit the consumer market. And I love seeing and trying out new things. 
My clients often depend on me to come up with ideas that work for them, their families, and how they live in their homes. Here are six cool, new things I’ll be including in my fall client projects, and making lives easier with.

Electric Fireplaces

You may have noticed, I simply love electric fireplaces, and have been using them a lot more lately. The main reasons I love them, and include them, are that the price of gas units are so high, some units in my clients’ homes were inefficient, and in some homes gas was simply not an issue. I’ve installed a unit in a master bedroom to give a warm cozy ambiance, I’ve used them in living rooms to give a bit more heat, and have even included them in bathrooms! The newest option, and a really cool one, I recently saw at the Canadian Furniture Show was a unit by Dimplex where you can take the fire box out in summer months and use the unit as a media console, and then in the winter months you add the fire box back in. How brilliant is that?

A "Smart" Thermostat

Another great idea for client’s with electric heating, or who have vacation properties is the new CONNNEX Smart Thermostat by Dimplex.  They have introduced a new precision electronic thermostat, the CONNEX Smart Thermostat, which can be connected to any existing baseboard or fan-forced heaters. Simply put, this allows old and new electric heating units to now be controlled from anywhere in the world when used in conjunction with their WIFI CONNEX Controller, so arriving to a cold building is now a thing of the past. 

Soft-close Hardware

I love to educate clients about products I use in my own space, ones they may not know about themselves, but which make a huge impact. This past year I discovered the joys of soft-close hardware. All my clients want to see the pretty outside drawer pulls and cabinet handles, and they often forget about the function of the piece. GRASS drawer slide and hinge systems are perfectly engineered to enable all design ideas while maintaining the highest performance. You could literally have a drawer faced with solid marble and GRASS soft close hardware could hold it.  

Pizza Oven

A few other innovative products I have come across lately are kitchen innovations by luxury appliance brand Monogram. They have an amazing Pizza Oven that brings a luxurious oven to homeowners. Already available in the states, this product will be launching in Canada later this year. This oven is proven to replicate the exact conditions of some of the best pizzeria ovens in the world. Now this is something I’d love to test out first hand!

A Professional Grade Blender

When an appliance can make my life easier, it always goes to the top of my must recommend list. The KitchenAid Professional Blender is the most powerful blender on the market. This means I only need ONE for all my requirements.  It can power through kale laden smoothies, it can juice the heartiest vegetables and make the smoothest soups and dips. It is a gorgeous countertop appliance well worth the investment.  

Jo Alcorn Pillows

And last but not least I’ll tout my own Jo Alcorn pillow line. I wanted to create a line that was stylish and trendy but was also innovative and practical. I created the pillow in great colours and patterns to match all décor types but I also thought about the functionality. They are fully washable, have dust-mite control, are hypoallergenic, Canadian made and animal cruelty free. All things that are so important to me.