Canada Day

Red and white, front to back, without a single thing to hang.

Canada Day in Alberta is a long, bright evening — it does not get properly dark until well after ten. That is part of the appeal: the party is already going when the lights come on, and the house joins in rather than announcing itself to an empty street.

Run alternating red and white down the rooflines, or a slow red chase along the peaks with white on the eaves. Leave it through the long weekend. Nothing needs taking down on 2 July.

The same setting does duty on the days that matter to your street rather than the calendar — a graduation, a homecoming, a fundraiser your community centre is running. A house that can change colour turns out to be useful more often than people expect when they buy one.