Like with any kind of relationship, when things are too familiar and uneventful, things get stale. The culprit? A phenomenon called hedonic adaptation. If you look at your kitchen for a long time and you’re there all the time, you will likely not notice its beauty, no matter how beautiful it is. Having mini-adjustments continuously…
Tag: home
A beautiful walkway
Canadian designers often face the challenges of merging heirlooms and artifacts with a contemporary aesthetic, as many families have a link to one old world or another. This is such a home where the interiors have been shaped at the intersection of a distant past with the contemporary architecture of the present and a new…
Is it me or every home is a luxury home? Whatever happened to good old sensible design?
Dead of winter is here. And it feels more alive than ever. Standing on the fireplace mantel is a small wooden amulet chipped at a corner and leaning against the plaster. Next to it is a bowl full of fruits, fresh bananas and oranges from the harvest season of a faraway land. The copper bowl…
Living with snow in Canada
At the start of winter, an ever-changing mass of gulpable snow covers buildings, trees and streets with blobs of different sizes, colours, and cleanliness levels. Everyone assumes that Canadians love snow just because we have it. I am Canadian. And a Romanian emigrant. I do like snow but not necessarily all aspects of it. Does…
From candles on the dinner table to the chandelier above it
From gathering around the fire, to the fire on the table, to the light above it and what that did and where do we go next. Gathering around the fire The chill of the night, forgotten, the closeness of others, embraced, the loving hand of a forgiving universe present in the darkness of the sky….
Christmas traditions, dishes and how to present them
I am a Christian. I do not know how much of a believer but a Christian in terms of traditions. I was raised in Romania in a mixed Hungarian-Romanian family with many customs that did not fit one norm but rather straddled the two cultures. Food tradition, like in any celebration everywhere in the world,…
Three things to look for this holiday season that make gifting yourself or others a pleasure
With the holiday season just around the corner, the stay-home crowd will naturally think of gifts and shopping, cooking and house decorating, outfits and social visiting schedules. As you approach it, you better start planning some things ahead. Time goes so much faster between November and January, does it not? Considered by many the lesser…
Time’s a waste! Change your home and boost your brain power
What is there to think about when you thought about “things” for more than half a century? What is there to buy when you bought all that you need? Where is there to travel when you’ve travelled everywhere. If you’ve gotten to the point where you’ve wondered about these, the answer is … plenty. And…
Home vibe – what it really is and how to positively resonate with your home, part 2
Home-lovers and house-users are two kinds of homeowners that look at things very differently. The home-lovers cherish their homes dearly; the house-users have a non-emotional go-about their day, move tomorrow if a better gig appears type of sentiments. There is nothing wrong with either; however, if you’re in the house-user camp, something is to be…
Home vibe – what it really is and how to positively resonate with your home, part 1
Home vibe is not a myth. It is controllable, measurable and real. As obvious as this may be, the less obvious part is the strong dependence between vibe and meaning. Science may not have quite all the tools set up, but the foundation is there, and the data is available. When lawyer and philosopher Tam…
Homes these days are less about norm and more about culture, part 2
Continuing our house tour on the main floor… (If you’ve missed part 1, read it HERE) MAIN FLOOR The living room and dining room are pulled together by a three-sided fireplace that articulates them without disrupting the flow of the space. The dining room sports a beautifully detailed bar with a backlit natural stone backdrop…
Homes these days are less about norm and more about culture, part 1
When myriads of cultures mix, borrow and evolve together within Toronto’s small geographic footprint, their aesthetic preferences intersect and build homes that exude a rich cosmopolitanism, proud of being different. This is such a home. A home where the owners love the contemporary design and wanted to keep most of their existing furniture and artifact…