News — postmodern

WHEN ELTE’S KEN AND RENEE METRICK FINALLY DECIDED TO EMBRACE COTTAGE LIVING, THEY BUILT A CONTEMPORARY RETREAT THAT’S AS PERSONAL AND POLISHED AS THEIR ICONIC STORES. IF IT'S RARE TO FIND a family that can work together, it’s rarer stillto find one that, atthe end of a long workweek, can’t waitto getto the cottage to spend more time together. Ken and Renee Metrick and their sons, Andrew and Jamie, are the third and fourth generation of Metricks overseeing Elte,the wildly successful Toronto-based home decorating juggernautfounded by Ken’s grandfather 100 years ago in 1919.Almost a century later, in 2015, the family...

The condo they bought in the heart of Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood overlooks the jutting, crystal-like exterior of the Royal Ontario Museum. “They were excited about being less traditional and more contemporary in an urban environment,” says Colette. With this fresh start, the owners were eager to see the treasures they had accumulated over a lifetime in a completely new light. Colette, who honed her everything-old-is-new-again approach in the U.K. when she was creative director for legendary designer Nicky Haslam, began by visiting her clients’ Montreal house prior to the move. She relished walking through the rooms one by one, reviewing...

Kim Dawson worked tirelessly to turn a garish property into a serene home, ideal for a Scandi-style Christmas. When Kim Dawson first viewed a handsome Edwardian house in her dream location, she was unfazed by the multicoloured, dated interior, realising that with vision and determination, it could be totally transformed – just in time for Christmas. ‘I’m sure many people would have been put off by the riot of colour that confronted me when I walked in,’ says Kim. ‘The house was completely over the top, decorated in all colours of the rainbow dominated by yellows, reds and purples.’ Despite this...

THE HOMESPUN BEAUTY AND HISTORY OF ANTIQUE FRENCH LINENS CHARMED THIS VERMONT HOMEOWNER, WHO USED THEM TO CRAFT HER HOME’S UNIQUE DECOR—AND HER HER LIVELIHOOD. WHEN WENDY LEWIS HAD HER SON, ETHAN, AND 18 months later her daughter, Innogen, she was overcome with such a profound feeling of love that she vowed to surround them with beauty and history. But the photographer and amateur genealogist didn’t know precisely how she would express her love tangibly until she pulled a piece of 18th-century printed cotton from a pile of textiles at an antiques store in the French countryside. “It was as...

Auckland-based owner of homeware store Collected, stylist and pilot LeeAnn Yare talks us through her boys’ bedroom makeovers. When we moved into our Sandringham bungalow, Tyler (now 11) was a toddler, and Dylan (now 10) was just a week old. The house was a sea of beige, so I quickly took charge and decorated their rooms in a playful way appropriate to their age. But after a decade of accumulating stuff and the general wear and tear that kids’ spaces are subjected to, it was time for a makeover to ensure their rooms reflect their personalities as they move into...