Real Estate - International

Many Canadians are under the misconception that it takes a big piece of real estate to realize a big dream. One homeowner has proven that it's not the size of your lot, but what you do with it that makes the difference.

From the street, Susan Brown's 1930's home looks like a quaint two-storey house, typical of its North Toronto neighbourhood, but step into the backyard and wow! You are transported into a luscious, rambling garden reminiscent of tropical hideaways. The real surprise is the wood-frame pavilion rising out of the greenery. It's an outdoor classroom modeled after a Japanese teahouse.

Since 2000, this narrow piece of urban real estate (which is roughly 175 feet deep) has been home to Brown's realized dream: The Artists' Garden Cooperative.

After 30 years in the arts world as a teacher and an artist, Brown wanted to continue her involvement when she retired. Her experience as head of a high school arts department and as an art consultant helped her build an extensive network of contacts among artists, art groups, museums, galleries and musicians.

Since she bought her house in 1978, it has had one significant renovation, but the garden has undergone a transformation.

"The major change was in the garden, because the summer was the time I had off and could be creative," said Brown. "I sort of played in the garden ... There were already perennials and the other part was expedient as I can't grow grass -- too much shade."

Trees and bushes of all heights and shapes create a leafy visual barrier between neighbours. A splashing waterfall helps reduce carry-over classroom and concert sounds.

"A lot of things were fortuitous," said Brown. "At a school reunion, I met a past student and he had become an architect. He was going to Japan and, close to retirement, I had a dream. In 1984 I had been to Japan and had seen all these lovely teahouses. He was intrigued by the teahouse idea and had never designed something that small."

The award-winning garden structure that resulted was more modern than a traditional teahouse -- a 12-foot-by-15-foot hybrid of a Canadian wood frame structure and Japanese traditional design -- and ideal for her plans.

"My home does not take up as much space as the garden does," said Brown, estimating that the garden is 100 feet deep. "I was paying all these property taxes and not using it as efficiently as I could have. After having a friend reno my garage into a studio, the next step was to make the garden into something worth looking at."

Contemplating retirement, Brown was looking for a new alternative lifestyle. A course on starting a business helped her turn the dream of "some kind of arts education out of my garden" into a workable program.

Brown decided on a simple non-profit structure that did not require a board of directors, but that enabled her to collaborate with artists and communicate with schools -- a conferencing initiative.

"It's its own organism depending on when I send out a call for artists and musicians and who responds," said Brown, who creates an impressive, and different, list of more than 40 hands-on workshops and concerts each summer. "I wanted to help the professional development of teachers who did not have an arts background. This is an alternative for teacher education, [for youth arts programming] and for adult education -- for those who do not want to invest weeks and weeks in a program to see if they like it."

Asked why she continues to manage the Artists' Garden Cooperative, Brown says: "Because I am not wealthy enough to have an arts foundation where people can come and get grants, and because the government has all kinds of hoops you have to jump though ... I'm not an elite evaluator. I am going with what artists are happy to offer to the community. This is a one-on-one experience working with a professional artist or art educator ... It's never the same and it is actually a product of people who want to participate."

Although Brown uses a breakeven non-profit model to contribute her arts expertise to the community, this venture faces challenges common to home-based businesses:

• Impact on neighbours: Work hours and deliveries should be planned to avoid noise and parking complaints. Brown operates during standard business hours and not on weekends.
• Liability: According to Carol Ann Jessiman, an Ontario-based associate insurance agent with The Cooperators, home insurance covers personal property and personal liability. A home-based business may need a rider on the existing home policy or its own stand-alone business insurance:
  • to achieve liability coverage for business visitors and exposure of company products, and
  • to cover stock and equipment kept at home or transported to a client's premises.

    Note: Business insurance may also include loss of income protection, crime coverage or bonding to cover employee fidelity.

A once-a-year event like an artist's studio sale is still business, so ask about your home policy to discover what it will not cover. A few hundred dollars of business insurance may save you thousands.

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