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Get Your Living Room Winter-Ready

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It’s cold, so get cozy

Kitchens and bathrooms tend to get the lion’s share of attention during renos, redesigns and home updates. It makes sense: the cabinetry, fixtures, surfaces and overall layout are all critical to how they function. Living rooms, by contrast, can be relatively simple, but they need no less attention – especially as the temperature drops and they become the go-to spots for crawling under a warm blanket in defiance of the cold weather. Are we being melodramatic? Maybe. But we take being cozy very seriously, and so should you. With that in mind, we’ve rounded up some of our favourite finds to make up the perfect living space.

In Situ Sofa

With no fewer than 30 pre-designed configurations, Muuto’s modular In Situ sofa contains multitudes, at least one of which is bound to be the perfect fit for your home. But with nine modules and deftly concealed connective elements, it’s a cinch for buyers to make their own arrangements, too. Available in multiple fabrics and colours. As shown, $10,790, at Drechsel Studio.

Ricky Rug

Inspired by Japanese engraving, Atelier Février’s hand-knotted Ricky rug, which abstractly depicts a cloud, pushes its details outward. The varied colouration along the edges are cut to different lengths as well, creating an effect that’s as much tactile as visual. Call for pricing, at Y&Co.

Pukka Armchair and Ottoman

If it looks a bit like Gaetano Pesce’s 1969 Up 5 chair and Up 6 ottoman, that’s because it’s supposed to. If it looks a bit like a sponge, that’s on purpose, too. Designed for Ligne Roset, Yabu Pushelberg’s Pukka armchair and ottoman pay homage to the former, which was inspired by the latter. Constructed out of ultra flexible foam and upholstered in Ligne Roset’s Gentle fabric, a 100 per cent wool stretch velvet, it’s also as comfortable as it looks. Armchair, $2615, and ottoman, $1025, at Home Société.

Eden Rock Cocktail Table

With stained cherry wood construction, varnished Carrara marble and brass accents, designer Sacha Lakic’s Eden Rock collection for Roche Bobois isn’t short on luxury flair. And no wonder: Lakic sought inspiration from Louis XVI-era design, albeit tempered with a rhythm borrowed from postwar American furniture. Call for pricing, at Roche Bobois.

Cabinet de Curiosite

Cabinet de Curiosite marries patterns straight out of Art Deco’s golden age with pared back floral references, creating a vibe that’s at once Roaring ’20s and Secret Garden. And as part of Wall & Deco‘s collection of waterproof wallpapers, it’s also suitable for high-humidity spaces like washrooms – or, months from now, during Toronto’s typical summer. $18/sq. ft., at Are & Be.

Story Bookcase

With a small footprint and steel and aluminum construction, DWR’s Story Bookcase is a perfect fit for condo-dwellers whose small spaces require elegant solutions. And with two sizes, six finishes and shelves that rotate 180 degrees, it means nobody’s will look quite the same. From $310, at Design Within Reach.

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Okay, but it clearly is

For the first 16 years of my life, the bat cave at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)—a reconstruction of an actual cave in Jamaica—was among my favourite places in the city. The cave was decorated with cast stalactites and wax bat models, which hung from the ceiling and threw jagged shadows on the walls. A few other features imbued it with spooky verisimilitude: the drip-drip-drip sound effects, the mirrors arranged to create the illusion of infinite depth, the strobe lights strategically placed to make the shadows flutter. When I visited as a five-year-old, the bat cave scared me. When I visited as a stoned fifteen-year-old, it scared me even more. Then came the renovation.

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