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Toronto Life •

How a $1-million reno transformed a frilly Rosedale mansion into a "home for adults" - Toronto Life

A four-bedroom, four-plus-one-bathroom, 5,000-square-foot mansion in the heart of Rosedale.In 2018, the current owners of this classic Rosedale home asked interior designer Megan Crosbie to tour it on their behalf. They were based in Asia at the time, and their goal was to buy the real estate, renovate it and live in it eventually. The mansion’s maximalist aesthetic was dated: loud coffered ceilings, decorative Roman columns and garish wallpaper. A softer, airier, contemporary aesthetic was requ...
Toronto Life •

This couple downsized into an elegant two-storey condo—and their daughter handled interior design - Toronto Life

In a cooling condo market, Toronto homeowners Jolie Lin and Ian Crosbie saw an opportunity to downsize. By 2024, they were spending most of their time in an Erin vacation home they’d purchased in 2012. “We loved the quiet of the countryside,” Lin explains. The property also had more room for their two dogs—an English springer spaniel named Auggie and a border collie–Australian shepherd mix named Cooper.Meanwhile, the four-bedroom Summerhill home they’d lived in since 2014 sat empty. They were re...
Canadian Grocer •

From socca to success—the story behind Peacasa

Aaron Johnstone and Victor Delage first met in 2015, when the two were studying business at the University of Ottawa. It wasn’t until the end of 2018, however, that a Mediterranean street food called socca would inspire the duo to start a food company.While hiking through France—where Delage was working as a professional sailor—he introduced Johnstone to socca, a light flatbread Delage had grown up eating. “They make it from chickpea flour and olive oil,” Johnstone explains. “They make it in the...
The Globe and Mail •

This 42-year-old and her daughter had a $450,000 budget for a home in Winnipeg. Here’s what she found

Michelle Hamilton was born and raised in Winnipeg. In 2013, she moved to Gabriola Island, B.C., a rural community 25 minutes from Nanaimo by ferry, with her husband, who is also from Winnipeg. In 2014, they purchased a two-bedroom farmhouse on five acres of land for $335,000. Their daughter, Ainsley, was born in 2018. After that, Ms. Hamilton, now 42, yearned to be closer to family back in Winnipeg.
The Globe and Mail •

A college or university degree still matters, but acquiring the right skills is just as important

If you’re a young Canadian or a job hunter on social media, you’ll likely have come across viral posts and videos such as “Top 10 highest paying careers without a four-year college degree” or “Think you need a degree to make good money? Think again.”

It can be tempting to forgo the traditional college or university degree path and focus on acquiring the skills or experience you need to land your first job. But a study from Boston Consulting Group released in December 2023 shows that the percent...
The Globe and Mail •

What home can $1-million buy for a couple seeking ‘upscale but not ostentatious’ in Kelowna?

In 2022, Allison Young, CEO of a hospital foundation, began dating Allan Neilson, a public policy consultant. A year later, they moved in together, renting a two-bedroom carriage house in the Pandosy Village neighbourhood of south central Kelowna, B.C. A few months later, by the summer of 2023, the couple started thinking of buying their own place.

“We wanted to invest in something that was beautiful but had a bit of a lighter environmental footprint, both physically but also with ongoing maint...
Precedent •

How law firms can attract top junior talent

Recent survey data sheds light on what Canadian associates look for in a position. The principal priority, perhaps unsurprisingly, is money. If you hope to lure an associate to your team, you’ll need to offer that person a competitive salary. That’s a virtual certainty.But it’s not the only factor. Next on the list of associate priorities is work-life balance. This is a tricky one. The legal industry tends to impose onerous billable-hour targets on its associate class, in part to afford the high...
The Globe and Mail •

Earn your first glimpse of Machu Picchu with just a one-day hike on the Inca Trail

Only an hour into a one-day trek on the Inca Trail and I’m already doubting myself. The 12 kilometres to Machu Picchu started out flat but I’ve been climbing what feels like an endless set of stairs and switchbacks. Maybe it’s the thinner air – we’re about 2,500 metres above sea level – or the relentless sun or the burning sensation in my lungs with every breath. I don’t know how I’m going to make it six more hours to our destination.

Our guide is a patient Andean woman in her 50s who has done...
The Globe and Mail •

Could this Toronto couple find a detached home with transit access on a $1-million budget?

In 2004, Peter McGillivray, an opera singer, met Jennifer, a production manager, when they were both working for the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. They got married in 2008, then in 2012 Ms. McGillivray’s work brought them north to Parry Sound, Ont., then to Sudbury in 2015, where they settled in a four-bedroom house purchased for $236,000.

Over the next eight years, both partners developed their careers – Mrs. McGillivray’s into a fundraising role and Mr. McGillivray processing employment...
Toronto Life •

Inside the epicurean backyard wedding of two pasta-loving gourmands - Toronto Life

Maryanne Casasanta, a 44-year-old artist educator, first matched with Nicolas Aldea, a 39-year-old chef, on Tinder in the summer of 2020. After pandemic-era park dates, the new couple bubbled up and bonded over cooking new recipes and trying new wines at home. Things got serious quickly after Maryanne’s mother passed away in 2021. They moved in together the following year and were engaged on a trip to Italy in 2024. An intimate 14-person wedding in the backyard of their High Park rental followed...
Canadian Grocer •

Meet the duo behind Brazilian frozen food brand Frittos & Co.

Although both Wallace Franca and Marcelo Braga hail from Brazil, they didn’t cross paths until after they immigrated to Canada—arriving six months apart in 2019 and settling in London, Ont. Introduced through the local Brazilian community, they quickly discovered a connection: Franca’s father-in-law, an obstetrician, delivered Braga’s daughter back in Brazil. The coincidence sparked an instant connection between their families. “We became very close and spent Christmases together,” Franca explai...
Cottage Life •

How a young family in Alberta turned a shed into an off-grid cabin for less than $30,000

For most of us, sheds are a place to stash our yard tools and sports equipment. But lifestyle blogger and interior designer Deborah McDonald reimagined a shed as a place for her, her husband, Patrick, and their kids, 15-year-old Berkley and 13-year-old Palmer, to finally have a cabin of their own. The McDonalds, based in Central Alberta, used to be trailer folks. They would drive their trailer out to their Clearwater County “quarter-section,” a measure of about 160 acres on Deborah’s family’s fa...
The Globe and Mail •

Who needs retirement? Vancouver senior shares his culture and expertise in Chinatown

Vancouver’s Chinatown is like a second home for Bob Sung.

A third-generation Chinese-Canadian, Mr. Sung’s family has lived in B.C. for more than 130 years, running retail and wholesale food businesses and working with restaurants and grocers in Chinatown. Now, Mr. Sung shares his cultural heritage and his food expertise through culinary and cultural walking tours through that second home.

“I use food as a medium because food is my passion. Food is my background,” says the 73-year-old, whose co...
Toronto Life •

Real Weddings: Inside the city hall wedding of two TTC superfans - Toronto Life

Emily Fenech, a 29-year-old product manager, met Nicholas Ashmore, a 28-year-old PhD student, at a bar in Kingston, Ontario, in 2019, while the two were studying at Queen’s University. Their shared love of The Lord of the Rings and similarly close-knit families (Fenech is especially tight with her grandparents) drew the two together. After Nick moved to Edinburgh in 2021 to start his PhD, Emily followed in 2022, and the couple is still based there. They were engaged in 2024, and an intimate 15-p...
Cottage Life •

Buy the Way: This young couple bought their cottage off-market through a personal connection

As of 2015, Josh Reyes had never been to a cottage. His family, who is from the Philippines, would go on camping trips, but it wasn’t until he started dating Mallory Rowan that he began cottaging each summer at her family’s place on Dickey Lake, Ont.
By 2020, he was a full-on convert. That summer, the couple were visiting a friend’s cottage on Lac Bataille in Val-Des-Monts, Que., when he realized just how much he loved the lake. “We were sitting on the dock, watching the sunset, and I looked at...
The Globe and Mail •

How artificial intelligence is helping urban planners design smarter, more livable cities

From housing demand to traffic congestion, city planners have long relied on imperfect models to predict how people move and live. Now, artificial intelligence promises to make those forecasts more accurate.

Mohamad Khalil, a transportation engineering researcher who is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alberta, has been interested in machine learning long before it was trendy.

“I actually started working with machine learning in 2014,” he says. “To me, at the time, it seeme...
The Globe and Mail •

Can this Ottawa couple find a four-bedroom home outside the city for $800,000?

Christine Ung had only been living in her one-bed-plus-den condo in Ottawa for a few months when she met Jack Glick on dating app Hinge in April, 2023. Mr. Glick lived in a three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom townhouse 20 minutes away in Gatineau.

“It was a lot of back-and-forth,” Ms. Ung said about commuting between their two homes. Mr. Glick shared his home part time with Zev, his five-year-old son from a previous marriage. On weeks that he didn’t have Zev, Mr. Glick would stay at Ms. Ung’...
The Globe and Mail •

Inside the new movement toward respectful wildlife encounters

When Jesse Villemaire first started working as a wildlife photographer in 2015, he noticed other photographers doing “questionable things” at the time, like feeding animals – what’s referred to in the industry as baiting – to get a great shot.

“I just knew it felt wrong,” Villemaire says. “I started questioning the things that I was seeing that didn’t sit right with me.”

Three years later, in 2018, the Muskoka, Ont.-based photographer and his wife Susan began hosting wildlife photography works...
The Globe and Mail •

Halifax swaps dated interchange for new urban neighbourhood

A new redevelopment on the northern edge of downtown Halifax is transforming an underused stretch of infrastructure by replacing the aging Cogswell Interchange with a vibrant urban district.

In the late 1960s, the Cogswell Interchange was built with the intention of connecting it to a larger freeway around the city’s peninsula. After the overpass was constructed, the freeway was cancelled due to opposition over the demolition of historic buildings required to make room for it.

The interchange...
Toronto Life •

Real Weddings: Inside a kitschy art-filled celebration at the June Motel - Toronto Life

Briony Douglas, a 41-year old visual artist, first met Steve McKeon, a 40-year-old custom fabrication engineer, when they were working as bartenders in Toronto in 2008. They lost touch for years, until Steve asked Briony out on Instagram in March of 2022. Their relationship progressed quickly after that: travelled to Vancouver six weeks later for a family wedding, and Steve moved into Briony’s apartment later that year. The couple was engaged by March of 2024 and wed in a whimsical lemon-themed...
The Globe and Mail •

An overachiever’s guide to holiday hosting

If no one posts a photo of your Michelin-star-worthy holiday meal, did you even spend two days sweating over a hot stove cooking it? Earning social media accolades goes beyond delicious food. Dinner needs to look as stunning as it tastes.

Louise Borins is the owner of Into the Kitchen, a company that brings clients into the inner sanctums of some of Toronto’s top restaurants (La Palma, DaiLo, Mamakas Taverna) for one-on-one workshops. She is also an enthusiastic home cook who has been entertain...
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