Whether you’re planning a major renovation, a seasonal refresh or simply looking for ideas to make your home work better, you’ll find plenty of worthwhile tips at the 2026 Vancouver Fall Home Show.

The event, which returns to the Vancouver Convention Centre from Oct. 15 to 18, will feature more than 200 exhibitors and bring together industry experts, products and resources across home improvement and design, fashion, wellness and food.

The overarching theme of this year’s show, says coordinator Madelyne Lemieux, is the creation of spaces that help us live better.

“Whether that means renovating, improving energy efficiency, enhancing wellness or updating your decor, the show is focused on helping people build homes that support their lifestyle,” she says.

Here are seven must-see highlights:

Presentations on the Sleep Country Main Stage

HGTV fan-favourite Sarah Baeumler will headline the main stage with interactive Q&A sessions on Oct. 15 and 16. In keeping with this year’s theme, the interior design expert will share practical advice for homeowners on how to make their spaces feel calmer, healthier and more personal.

“I’m going to talk about what it’s like to design for real life — for family routines, busy schedules and the messiness of everyday life — while designing with the idea of a calmer routine in mind,” she says.

Also returning to the main stage are sleep expert Neil Harding, who will share advice on sleep health, and My House Design/Build Team’s Graeme Huguet, who will offer advice on making design and renovation projects more approachable and achievable.

The Healthy Home

One of the most anticipated highlights of this year’s show is the Healthy Home feature, inspired by Sarah Baeumler. A series of curated room vignettes will showcase simple strategies for improving sleep, reducing stress and creating a home that supports overall well-being.

“We’re going to talk about things like lighting choices, colour choices, air quality and materials in the home,” she says. “And even just daily organization and routines.”

The YMCA Health and Recreation Zone

The YMCA Health and Recreation Zone will put the focus on “movement, mindfulness and overall well-being,” Lemieux says. The interactive space will give visitors a chance to take part in demonstrations and pick up practical tips for incorporating healthy habits into their lives.

Smash + Tess

Fashion lovers can check out loungewear, dresses, knitwear and seasonal pieces at the show’s first-ever Smash + Tess pop-up. The B.C.-based, woman-owned clothing brand will also host a fashion show on the main stage on Oct. 17, “reflecting the idea that how we live extends beyond our homes,” Lemieux says.

The Cooking Stage

The Cooking Stage will bring back Chef Bruno Feldeisen from The Great Canadian Baking Show, alongside former Top Chef Canada contestants Deseree “Dez” Lo, Haan Palcu-Chang and Billy Nguyen. Through live demonstrations, attendees will discover new techniques, food trends and recipes to create at home.

On Oct. 16 and 17, the chefs will take part in challenges, and a few lucky attendees will be selected as VIP taste testers.

The Market District

This year, the Market District will feature the show bar within the market for the first time, allowing visitors to sip while shopping local products. For those looking to incorporate more art into their home, the Art Market will offer a variety of styles, from contemporary and abstract art to mixed media and resin creations, making it a “great place to discover unique pieces to add character to your home,” Lemieux says.

The Passport Program

The newly introduced Passport Program offers visitors a chance to win prizes while exploring the show. Attendees can pick up a passport stamp card at the entrance, visit participating exhibitors to collect stamps and submit the completed card for a chance to win up to 10 prizes valued at more than $250 each. “It’s an exciting way to increase your chances of winning a prize from the show,” Lemieux says.

The Vancouver Fall Home Show runs from Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West. Find the Main Stage and Cooking Stage schedule, a rundown of features and workshops, plus show hours and tickets at vancouverfallhomeshow.com.

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In recent years, there’s been heightened discussion about healthy food choices and the ingredients in the food we consume. Now HGTV star Sarah Baeumler wants to bring that conversation into the home.

“We’ve started this conversation around food selections, which is incredible,” Baeumler says. “But there’s so much still not being discussed about the materials that we’re bringing into our homes, where we spend so much of our time.”

The interior design expert will make that a focus of her presentations at this fall’s home show, during which she’ll explore some of the best natural materials to incorporate into your space. In her own home, Baeumler is a big fan of wool rugs, marble countertops and linen sheets.

“Linen bed sheets changed our life,” she says. “Knowing what you’re sleeping on and putting your head on and inhaling every single night is really important.”

Baeumler says lighting can also play an important role in creating a healthier space. She wants people to better understand the role natural light plays in our circadian rhythm, and how light temperature can support our rhythms throughout the day.

“I hope we are seeing the end of the idea of designing with a million pot lights in our homes,” says Baeumler, who wants to move the conversation toward lamps, sconces and decorative light fixtures to create a calmer environment.

Colours for cosy season

When it comes to fall colour trends, Baeumler says attendees can expect to see plenty of warm hues at this year’s show, including deep browns, maroons and olives.

“These are much more grounded colours, which is great to see,” she says, adding that aged wood and metals with a natural patina—including unlacquered brass—will also be prominent. Together, earthy palettes and natural materials can help create that cosy atmosphere many Canadians crave as the weather cools and the days grow shorter.

Baeumler isn’t necessarily one to redecorate with every changing season, though. For her, it’s about making subtle changes. “I’m not a ‘change it for the theme’ person, I’m a ‘change it for how it feels’.”

For fall, that could mean bringing in heavier throw blankets, swapping your bedding for a warmer duvet or changing your lighting.

“Even swapping out a bulb that is 4,000 kelvins down to 2,000 kelvins will give a warmer light to your space and make it feel cosier,” she says. Candles, table lamps and soft light sources offer a similar effect.

A main-stage headliner for the second consecutive year, Baeumler can’t wait to be back in B.C. She and her husband Bryan Baeumler lived in Vancouver in the early 2000s and recently spent the summer in Port Alberni filming the first Canadian season of Home Town Takeover , set to air this fall.

“We just have this soft spot for the West Coast,” she says. “We feel very connected to the people out there and their way of life.”

Baeumler sees Vancouver, with its enthusiasm for health and wellness, as the perfect city to start a broader conversation about healthy homes.

“I want people to think about how our homes really support our health and well-being,” she says. “I know it’s a little different, but let’s see how it lands and at least start the conversation.”

HGTV’s Sarah Baeumler will headline the Main Stage with interactive Q&A sessions on Oct. 15 and 16. The Vancouver Fall Home Show runs from Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West. Find the Main Stage and Cooking Stage schedule, a rundown of features and workshops, plus show hours and tickets at vancouverfallhomeshow.com.

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Crystal Koskinen and Rudi Strahl both work from home, which is currently a two-bedroom condo. The desire for individual workspaces was part of their decision to buy into Polygon’s Beaumont development on Burke Mountain.

“It gets a little crowded,” said Koskinen, a visual artist, arts educator and voice-over actor. “I mean, my workspace now is in the living room.”

Beaumont is a 101-home development featuring three- and four-bedroom townhomes ranging from about 1,380 to 2,220 square feet. The homes are being released in phases, with occupancy in the first phase expected from fall 2026 into early 2027.

Floor plans include three-bedroom homes, some with dens, and larger four-bedroom layouts. All homes have powder rooms, double-car garages, heat-pump heating and air conditioning and Level 2 EV-charging capability. Some have dedicated laundry rooms and family rooms, along with generous decks, patios and yards.

Strahl, who manages a team of software engineers for Shopify, and Koskinen will leave their current 935-square-foot home behind for about 2,200 square feet of living space. It’s an end unit with its own floor plan.

“The idea of having a yard and fewer shared walls is nice,” Koskinen said. “It feels a little more like a home when you go in there.”

The homes come with contemporary finishes in two designer colour schemes. More than 5,000 square feet of outdoor amenities include a central green space, children’s play area and landscaped plazas with seating. The development connects to Burke Mountain’s trail and creek network and is near hiking and biking routes and Minnekhada Regional Park. Select homes have views toward Mount Baker, while southwest-facing homes overlook a protected stream.

The couple’s new home will be their second in a Polygon development. Their current condo is in Klahanie, the developer’s master-planned community in Port Moody, though Koskinen says she only recently realized the connection.

“We’ve always driven up to Burke Mountain. We always do our coffee drives up in that area, and we’ve just been watching it develop,” she said. Over years of visiting open houses and new developments, “it seems like Polygon is the one that we always really like.”

When they moved to Port Moody in 2019, Strahl recalls the area as something of a “best-kept secret,” with mostly low-rise development and relatively little traffic. With higher-density development now arriving around the city’s two SkyTrain stations, Burke Mountain reminds him of the Port Moody they first moved to: a neighbourhood still taking shape, with amenities coming but removed from the busiest roads.

“They have a very good method for picking areas,” he said of Polygon.

Burke Mountain is in the midst of a major build-out. The northeast Coquitlam neighbourhood, home to more than 20,000 people today, is expected to grow to about 50,000 over the next 25 years. Much of that growth is being planned around Burke Mountain Village, envisioned as the area’s commercial and social hub, with about 120,000 square feet of retail and commercial space.

Construction began this year on the Burke Mountain Community Centre and adjoining Burke Village Park, scheduled to open in 2029; the centre will include pools, a gymnasium and fitness centre, multi-purpose rooms and a new Coquitlam Public Library branch.

“But even Beaumont is removed from that,” Koskinen said. “You’re close enough to access all that stuff but further up the mountain. You get the views and the quiet. We’re really looking forward to having less traffic around.”

Along with space, quiet is a big motivation for the couple’s move.

“It’s nice to have a little more quiet for my recording, number one. But also just being able to sit outside. We go up every weekend and take a look at you know the progress on our place, and it’s just so quiet.”

Project: Beaumont

Project address: 3630 Harper Road, Coquitlam, B.C. V3E 0P9

Developer: Polygon Beaumont Homes Ltd.

Architect: Ekistics

Interior designer: Polygon Interior Design Ltd.

Project size: 101 three-storey townhomes; approximately 1,380 to 2,220 sq. ft.

Price: From $948,000, plus GST.

Number of bedrooms: Three and four bedrooms

Sales centre: Beaumont Sales Centre and display homes, 3630 Harper Road, Coquitlam

Centre hours: Noon — 6 p.m. daily except Fridays

Phone: 604-238-4162

Website:polyhomes.com/community/beaumont⁠

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Weekly roundup of three properties that recently sold in Metro Vancouver.

12 — 7465 Mulberry Pl., Burnaby

Type: Three-bedroom, three-bathroom townhouse

Size: 2,626 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $1,212,000

Listed for: $1,265,000

Sold for: $1,245,000

Sold on: Aug. 8

Days on market in this listing: 66

Listing agent: Rahim Jivraj at eXp Realty

Buyers agent: Matt Stone at Rennie & Associates Realty

The big sell: This renovated townhome resides in Burnaby’s Crest subdivision in a greenbelt setting just to the southeast of Burnaby Lake Regional Park with schools and everyday amenities nearby. It forms part of the Sunridge development, a 50-unit complex that was constructed in the mid-1990s with a strata that permits both pets and rentals. According to listing agent Rahim Jivraj, this three-storey home was updated in 2021 with permits and features a remodelled kitchen with quartz countertops and premium appliances, water-resistant laminate floors, recessed lighting throughout, custom millwork, cordless shades, and redesigned bathrooms. The versatile lower level offers additional storage space as well as a family room, laundry and utility rooms, and the attached double garage can be conveniently accessed via the main floor. Outside, there is a private patio and 750-square-foot backyard with natural gas hookup.

4740 McLure Ave., Richmond

Type: Three-bedroom, three-bathroom detached

Size: 1,940 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $1,612,000

Listed for: $1,389,900

Sold for: $1,200,000

Sold on: July 20

Days on market in this listing: 76

Listing agent: Shafik Ladha PREC at ReMax Westcoast

Buyers agent: Non Member / No Agency

The big sell: According to the listing agent’s team, a subject-free offer was received and accepted for this three-bedroom detached house in Richmond’s Quilchena district. The property in question is a two-level home comprising almost 2,000 square feet with a functional layout, a stone-surround gas fireplace, three spacious bedrooms (two are in excess of 16 feet long) including a main-floor primary bedroom and ensuite bathroom, a private backyard surrounded by hedging and mature plants, and an appealing 7,940-square-foot lot that offers potential to renovate the existing house or to build a new home. Built in 1974 on the western side of the city between No. 1 and No. 2 roads, the property has a highly walkable location with Thompson Community Centre, Railway Greenway trails, schools, parks, and transit all nearby.

5529 Driftwood St., Sardis

Type: Three-bedroom, three-bathroom rowhouse

Size: 1,548 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $755,000

Listed for: $749,900

Sold for: $733,000

Sold on: July 9

Days on market in this listing: 63

Listing agent: Rod Bahari PREC at Sutton Group — West Coast Realty

Buyers agent: Brad Latham PREC and Juan Silva at ReMax Nyda Realty Inc.

The big sell: Webster Crossing is a master-planned community in Chilliwack’s Sardis district with recreational activities on hand including nature reserves, river trails, and Cultus Lake, as well as a host of modern conveniences. This updated non-strata rowhome has a three-level layout with the principal entertaining rooms on the main floor, a den and foyer on the ground floor, and all three bedrooms upstairs highlighted by a vaulted primary suite complete with a walk-in closet and ensuite bathroom with dual quartz vanities, a heated floor, and a five-foot-wide glass walk-in shower. The open-concept kitchen has stainless-steel appliances including a gas range, quartz counters and Shaker-style cabinets, while the bright living room has a gas fireplace, built-in shelving, and large picture windows that frame mountain vistas. Air conditioning and new floors have recently been installed. Outside, the covered patio has an overhead heater, pull-down UV privacy shades, and a gas barbecue hookup.

These transactions were compiled by Nicola Way of BestHomesBC.com.

Realtors — send your recent sales to nicola@besthomesbc.com

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Tannis Seufert found her artistic medium through a tragic circumstance.

“After my dad became ill with pancreatic cancer, my mom and I were kind of joking around, not in a distasteful way, but we said, ‘Oh, we should do some fluid art with Dad’s ashes.’

“And I went back into my head after doing some training with a friend — I was a guinea pig for her, she was acting as a life coach — and I said, ‘You know, there’s something in that idea.’”

Seufert found a way to preserve her father’s ashes — in resin.

She was soon working with the liquid material full-time, experimenting with pigments, inks and other colourants.

“The thing I find most satisfying with resin is how the colour behaves inside the texture of the liquid, because resin has very, very intelligent properties when you learn to work with how it behaves. Which I think is the goal of any person working in a medium. You want to crack the code of that medium.”

The resulting images — vividly coloured, solid, glossy abstract shapes — proved popular in the small community where she lives, Kitimat, and in nearby Terrace. She was soon booked solid with commissions.

For the third year in a row, Seufert is bringing her work to the Vancouver Fall Home Show.

“The first time, I was overwhelmed with how people responded to my work,” she said. “Because I’m in the north, wearing my crusty resin clothes, hanging out with my cats — it’s very unglamorous. And then I go into the limelight and people are like, ‘I have never seen anything like this before.’”

Seufert cuts and shapes her own hardwood canvases before applying the resin. The images often come to her as a shape as she’s working with the wood.

“It’s also a quality in how you draw the line on your canvas. Sometimes it has this bone-like texture. Sometimes it’s like a shard.”

And sometimes she’s inspired by a visit to the store.

“I’ll go into Windsor Plywood and I’ll find wenge, purpleheart, canarywood, walnut, live-edge maple, and that alone will inspire me to go down a rabbit hole with it. I will often experiment to find the colour conveying a feeling I have.”

Seufert was born and raised in Saskatchewan before moving to B.C. with her family. She studied fine art in New Zealand and spent over two decades in the fashion industry across New Zealand, Australia and Canada before transitioning fully to studio art.

“I had gone through textile design, screen printing, photography, silk screening — so many different mediums — and nothing really grabbed my attention until I found resin.”

She is an avid student of quantum physics and holistic healing and says that both influence her work.

“Multi-dimensional quantum physics is a very advanced study of energy,” she said. “It’s learning, really, how you function energetically as a person. When you learn how you function, you learn the principles of creation mechanics, the principles of how energy behaves. You connect that with your own intuition and your own knowing. It expands upon everything much more easily, for whatever reason.”

Seufert is looking forward to the Vancouver Fall Home Show as a chance to mingle and share energy.

“I go from zero to one thousand,” she said. “I just love taking in the rhythm of the people. And people love seeing the art. I want to inspire uniqueness. I want people to tap in and listen to the small voice, their creative instinct. I’m bringing my message with my art.”

The Vancouver Fall Home Show runs from Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West. Find the Main Stage and Cooking Stage schedule, a rundown of features and workshops, plus show hours and tickets at vancouverfallhomeshow.com.

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In B.C., fireproofing your home has never been more critical. Structure Defence is a new North Shuswap-based company that consults with homeowners to protect their property from wildfires.

“We started this based on our experience fighting wildfires, being around communities that have been exposed to wildfire, and seeing that there are things that you can do beforehand,” said co-founder Warren Gray.

“We wanted to help people prioritize things that they can do to make their home more wildfire resilient. We’ve definitely seen that there’s a spot for people to improve, and we want to help.”

Gray and the company’s other co-founder, Craig Nygard, are both NFPA-certified firefighters. Drawing on their experience, they use internationally recognized principles to help homeowners and builders identify wildfire vulnerabilities and turn mitigation strategies into practical steps for protecting properties.

They started the company earlier this year, says Gray, after seeing the devastation wrought in B.C. by this and previous years’ wildfire seasons.

Despite burning less land than the province’s record-setting 2023 wildfire season, 2026 has been one of the province’s most destructive years for homes and other structures, with more than 500 damaged or destroyed by mid-August.

“The Bush Creek East fire here, in 2023, was kind of a big eye-opener in terms of something happening right in our community,” Gray said.

“It’s a whole different thing when we’re out doing it in somebody else’s community,” Nygard said. “But seeing in happen so close to home and personally experiencing the devastation really kicked us into high gear to get something going.”

Protecting a house from wildfire may increasingly begin with prevention, long before smoke appears on the horizon.

“One of the things that we try to impress upon people is that the more time you have, the more options you have,” Nygard said.

“If you’re leaving your decisions or your plan until the last minute, instead of having options, now you basically have priorities. We try to make it as proactive as possible. ‘Wildfire preparation starts before the wildfire arrives’ is one of the big messages that we try to get across.”

Some things people can do is remove high-priority wildfire hazards from within five feet of a home.

These include combustible material like patio furniture, propane tanks, gas cans, and wood. “If you have bark mulch nearby and you have time, replace that with gravel,” Nygard said.

Cedar trees, sometimes used as “privacy fencing,” can be hazardous. “You grow the cedar hedge up and now you can’t see your neighbours. Those are extremely flammable, and they put off a lot of embers.”

The company also consults on new homes and provides emergency services.

“In the event a wildfire is happening right now at your property, we have personnel available who can walk you through top priorities, things you can do in the immediate time before you evacuate,” Gray said.

Structure Defence will be discussing these and other fire prevention principles and mitigation strategies at their booth at this year’s Vancouver Fall Home Show. Nygard will be on hand to conduct a property review for anyone providing their address and asking for help.

“They can bring in pictures of their home, but we’re going to be able to pull their address up on an iPad and look over their property from satellite view and run down what we see as the major concerns, or positive things that they’re doing,” said Nygard.

Nygard will also be a presenter at the home show on Oct. 16 and 17.

“We’ll discuss how firefighters would look at a property, how we would evaluate it, what our priorities are, explaining what the pathways are and what the dangers of certain things can be.

“We really just want people to leave saying, ‘I’ve never looked at my property that way before.’ And hopefully it makes more sense to them.”

The Vancouver Fall Home Show runs from Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West. Find the Main Stage and Cooking Stage schedule, a rundown of features and workshops, plus show hours and tickets at vancouverfallhomeshow.com.

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Many people with a fitness routine and an internet connection probably remember doing at least a few online classes during the pandemic.

The YMCA was among the organizations that embraced remote fitness, and the format has stuck. Today, digital programming is part of the Y’s effort to reach people beyond its bricks-and-mortar facilities.

“We learned a lot during the shutdowns,” said Christina Matthews, general manager of YMCA BC Digital Experiences.

“People are busy and they’re looking for ways to be active and healthy. They’re looking for opportunities to do that sometimes in a more hybrid capacity, where you can go into a branch, but you can also do things at home.”

That connection between home and health is what the organization hopes to demonstrate at this year’s Vancouver Fall Home Show.

At the YMCA Health and Recreation Zone, volunteers and staff will lead fitness demonstrations, offer personal-trainer consultations and talk to visitors about the Y’s in-person and digital programs. There will also be games and prizes.

Among those staffing the zone will be Lisa Stiver, the Y’s director of fund development and a member of its community team, a group of staff and volunteers who represent the organization at special events.

“I think sometimes people don’t know a lot about the Y if they’ve never been in a facility,” Stiver said.

Even people who are familiar with the organization, she said, may know only one part of it.

“Everybody knows the Y in a way that they’ve engaged with it. Some people, it might be child care; some people, it might be summer camp; some, it might be swimming lessons. The hard part is really telling the whole Y story.”

That story increasingly includes programs that don’t require setting foot inside a YMCA .

Y@HOME+ offers live and on-demand fitness classes, wellness webinars, healthy meal plans, recipes and online preventive health programming. The Y also provides child care and camps across the province, employment and newcomer support services, and mental-health programs such as Y Mind Youth.

Its online learning programs include the Responsible Adult Course, designed for people working with children from birth to age 12.

The breadth of those services can be obscured by the Y’s familiar image as a place to exercise.

“I think sometimes people look at the Y as ‘gym and swim,’” Matthews said. “They forget that we have so many community programs. We have a bigger impact on the community than solely our health and fitness facilities.”

Founded in London, England, in 1844, the YMCA arrived in Canada seven years later, when the first North American YMCA opened in Montreal in 1851. Today, the YMCA in Canada is a federation of 37 independent associations operating at more than 1,000 locations and serving about two million people annually. Once known as the Young Men’s Christian Association, the Canadian organization has been secular and inclusive for decades.

At the Vancouver Fall Home Show, however, fitness and recreation will provide the entry point. The idea is to show visitors that incorporating wellness into daily life doesn’t necessarily require another trip out the door.

“Fitness and wellness doesn’t have to just mean going to a facility,” Matthews said. “There are more ways to make that fit into your life, and our homes play a really important role in supporting both our physical and mental well-being.”

For Stiver, that makes the home show a natural place to introduce people to a broader version of the YMCA than the one they may have in mind.

“It’s making the connection between our programs and how they connect to you at home,” she said.

The Vancouver Fall Home Show runs from Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West. Find the Main Stage and Cooking Stage schedule, a rundown of features and workshops, plus show hours and tickets at vancouverfallhomeshow.com.

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The choice of colour combinations selected by Vancouver’s Studio Roslyn can come across as slightly peculiar — but that’s the idea.

Studio Roslyn, founded by Jessica MacDonald and Kate Snyder, has a reputation for interiors that are richly composed, confident and somewhat unusual. Their rooms do not feel decorated, but orchestrated. A colour appears where perhaps it should not, a material feels a little rougher than expected and an unusual pairing suddenly makes sense.

The studio’s choice of hues can raise eyebrows, which is intentional. MacDonald and Snyder love mixing muddy, earthy, heritage tones with fresher, more vibrant hues, creating rooms that feel balanced, but not predictable.

“We’re drawn to the tension between the two,” MacDonald says. “Heritage tones carry a sense of depth and familiarity, grounded in something already lived with, while brighter colours introduce immediacy, freshness and playfulness.”

This contrast helps explain why the studio’s projects feel both nostalgic and current. They have depth, without the heaviness.

A little friction goes a long way

The colour combinations are a mix of instinct and editing, MacDonald adds.

They aim for balance, but not necessarily symmetry or calm. A calm room can be beautiful, but it can also feel flat. A room with friction has life, she says.

The success of an unusual palette often depends on hierarchy.

“There’s usually a push and pull between the colours — one anchoring things, the other introducing a bit of friction or surprise,” she explains.

At It’s Okay, a Vancouver bar and restaurant, Studio Roslyn chose neon pink table edges to offset retro wood tones. At Vancouver beauty studio Umeglow, they used lipstick red, electric chartreuse and pale mint green to contrast warm and cool. The studio also keeps returning to yellow and blue palettes, which it describes as the quirkier sibling of the more familiar orange and blue combination.

“We tend to place bold colour in moments of close encounter, places you touch, open, or pass through slowly. Joinery, thresholds, shelving, furniture details, stair elements,” MacDonald says.

This may be useful advice for anyone curious about colour, but wary of going too far. You don’t have to paint an entire room oxblood red to introduce drama. You might place it inside a cabinet, along a shelf edge, in a tile detail or on a single piece of furniture. The colour becomes an encounter rather than a command.

Colour as composition

MacDonald says the studio is currently drawn to muted yellows, dusty lilacs, oxblood reds and earthy browns.

“They’re not necessarily new colours, but the combinations feel fresh again, depending on how they’re placed and weighted within a space.”

Colour is not just a surface choice. It has mass. It can anchor, lift, unsettle or soften a room. Studio Roslyn’s work treats colour as part of the architecture of feeling.

“We tend to think of colour less as surface decoration and more as part of the composition of a room,” MacDonald says.

Playful, not chaotic

The Studio Roslyn palette can seem peculiar, but not careless. The difference between playfulness and chaos is restraint.

“A bit of restraint goes a long way,” MacDonald says. “Even when there are multiple colours in play, there’s usually a shared logic — whether that’s tonal softness, material consistency or simply repetition across the project.”

That shared logic is what makes the work feel cohesive rather than busy. A colour may reappear in an unexpected place. A material may connect one room to another. A bright detail may be grounded by timber, stone or plaster.

The same thinking applies to materials. Studio Roslyn is drawn to things that age well and shift over time, including handmade ceramics, coloured natural stone, brushed aged metals and textured plasters. Breccia is a current favourite.

“We also like pairing more refined finishes with slightly rougher or more tactile ones. That contrast keeps interiors from feeling too polished and introduces a bit of looseness, which we always find important,” MacDonald says.

“This year has continued to shape the studio in a direction we’ve long been moving toward — working across both architecture and interiors as a single, connected process.”

One current residential project, Camassia House, has been particularly meaningful.

“As interior designers first, we naturally began from the inside out — starting with how the home is lived in day to day, and in particular, the kitchen as the nucleus of the home.”

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Fall is a great time to refresh your home, and paint is one of the most impactful ways to do that without spending a lot of money. In addition, autumn’s cooler temperatures and lower humidity create the ideal conditions for painting.

Inspiration awaits at the 44th annual Vancouver Fall Home Show , being held Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West.

Colour can transform a space, and the hues you choose can evoke a calming or stimulating effect, says Trish Picariello, specification and design specialist at Cloverdale Paint .

At the heart of Cloverdale Paint’s colour trends palette is an overarching theme for colour, with cool tones replaced by warmer ones. According to Picariello, the 2026 colour selections reveal a collective move toward comfort and stability in a world going through chaos.

Cloverdale Paint’s Colour of the Year 2026 is Day Spa.

“Day Spa is the most beautiful blue, it is deep but not bold, not bossy but relaxed,” says Picariello. “Day Spa is best used for a living room feature wall, because it doesn’t overwhelm the room. It is calm yet commanding, serene yet indulgent.”

Day Spa is also ideal for creating tranquil nooks, serene bedrooms, or mindful workspaces, as it inspires a sense of grounding, comfort, and peace.

Bright or stark whites and silver-grey are now decidedly warmer and organic.

“In times of chaos, whites and off-whites offer an ease in our surroundings, with calm whites that adapt well to both natural and artificial lighting,” says Picariello. “Think refined esthetics with imperfect whites, inspired whites instead of the cool whites.”

Colour is also dictated by the season.

“The fall evokes thoughts of reds, greens, oranges and navy,” says Picariello.

“However, we are seeing new interpretations of these colours; more yellow in our greens, more terracotta in our reds, blues that are more saturated but softer, and more blue undertones in greens.”

The other “hot blue” is Atmospheric Pressure.

“This blue It reads as fresh and beautiful, much like the air and sky on a gorgeous day,” says Picariello. ”There is a trend continuing toward clearer blues that speak freshness.”

Whether you want to add a touch of personality to your bedroom, create bold statements in every room in your home, design a bedroom for your baby, Picariello is always ready to talk about inspirational palettes for everyone, from the very colour-timid to the outrageously colour-bold.

When it comes to children’s rooms, she says: “Colour is one of the most influential yet often underestimated elements in children’s interior design. While it certainly shapes the look of a space, its impact goes far beyond esthetics. The colours chosen for a child’s room help set the mood, influencing everything from creativity and concentration to relaxation and restful sleep.”

So, what colours does Picariello suggest for your child’s room? Soft blues and greens, and warm neutrals. In the end, Picariello says: “There are no rules stating you can’t use a dark colour palette in every area of your home, so go for it if you want to!”

It’s entirely possible to turn a bland living room into an impressive retreat and a boring kitchen into a luxurious gathering place with a few coats of dark paint. Catch Trish Picariello at the Vancouver Fall Home Show on Oct. 16, at 5:30 p.m., where she will talk about everything paint.

The Vancouver Fall Home Show runs from Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West. Find the Main Stage and Cooking Stage schedule, a rundown of features and workshops, plus show hours and tickets at vancouverfallhomeshow.com.

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In recent years, there’s been heightened discussion about healthy food choices and the ingredients in the food we consume. Now HGTV star Sarah Baeumler wants to bring that conversation into the home.

“We’ve started this conversation around food selections, which is incredible,” Baeumler says. “But there’s so much still not being discussed about the materials that we’re bringing into our homes, where we spend so much of our time.”

The interior design expert will make that a focus of her presentations at this fall’s home show, during which she’ll explore some of the best natural materials to incorporate into your space. In her own home, Baeumler is a big fan of wool rugs, marble countertops and linen sheets.

“Linen bed sheets changed our life,” she says. “Knowing what you’re sleeping on and putting your head on and inhaling every single night is really important.”

Baeumler says lighting can also play an important role in creating a healthier space. She wants people to better understand the role natural light plays in our circadian rhythm, and how light temperature can support our rhythms throughout the day.

“I hope we are seeing the end of the idea of designing with a million pot lights in our homes,” says Baeumler, who wants to move the conversation toward lamps, sconces and decorative light fixtures to create a calmer environment.

Colours for cosy season

When it comes to fall colour trends, Baeumler says attendees can expect to see plenty of warm hues at this year’s show, including deep browns, maroons and olives.

“These are much more grounded colours, which is great to see,” she says, adding that aged wood and metals with a natural patina—including unlacquered brass—will also be prominent. Together, earthy palettes and natural materials can help create that cosy atmosphere many Canadians crave as the weather cools and the days grow shorter.

Baeumler isn’t necessarily one to redecorate with every changing season, though. For her, it’s about making subtle changes. “I’m not a ‘change it for the theme’ person, I’m a ‘change it for how it feels’.”

For fall, that could mean bringing in heavier throw blankets, swapping your bedding for a warmer duvet or changing your lighting.

“Even swapping out a bulb that is 4,000 kelvins down to 2,000 kelvins will give a warmer light to your space and make it feel cosier,” she says. Candles, table lamps and soft light sources offer a similar effect.

A main-stage headliner for the second consecutive year, Baeumler can’t wait to be back in B.C. She and her husband Bryan Baeumler lived in Vancouver in the early 2000s and recently spent the summer in Port Alberni filming the first Canadian season of Home Town Takeover , set to air this fall.

“We just have this soft spot for the West Coast,” she says. “We feel very connected to the people out there and their way of life.”

Baeumler sees Vancouver, with its enthusiasm for health and wellness, as the perfect city to start a broader conversation about healthy homes.

“I want people to think about how our homes really support our health and well-being,” she says. “I know it’s a little different, but let’s see how it lands and at least start the conversation.”

HGTV’s Sarah Baeumler will headline the Main Stage with interactive Q&A sessions on Oct. 15 and 16. The Vancouver Fall Home Show runs from Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West. Find the Main Stage and Cooking Stage schedule, a rundown of features and workshops, plus show hours and tickets at vancouverfallhomeshow.com.

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Coquitlam’s Westwood Plateau, with its large lots and upscale homes, has long attracted wealthy professionals with growing families. The area’s exclusive Rockridge Estates neighbourhood goes a bit further — and higher, as it sits at a slightly raised elevation — with its luxury, custom-built homes and natural privacy thanks to mature trees and lush greenbelts.

This Rockcress Place property is also a step above, sprawling over a more than 15,000-square-foot lot with hot tub and outdoor fireplace, and nearly 8,000-square-feet of indoor living space featuring eight bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

The backyard, with expansive patio and deck space, is nearly surrounded by tall trees and lots of bushes and hedges on an irrigation system.

The three-car garage and wide driveway can accommodate parking for six vehicles.

A newer tile roof, along with other upgrades, were added within the last few years. “That was a big cost and undertaking for that size roof,” says listing agent Carolyn Pogue of Royal LePage Sterling Realty and Pogue Real Estate Group.

What’s inside

The main floor family room’s double doors open onto a 500-square-foot deck that leads down a flight of steps to the backyard. The sunken living room’s 21-foot ceilings and tall windows to match make it feel quite grand, says Pogue.

Premium quartersawn solid wood flooring covering the main and second floors has recently been sanded and stained.

The commercial-grade kitchen features appliances by Wolf, Sub-Zero and Miele. “A door beside the fridge opens into a massive walk-through pantry, which is a nice feature,” says Pogue. There’s also a dining room as well as a separate eating area.

Custom cabinetry by Downsview Kitchens has been installed throughout the home, including extensively in the office, “Making for good storage organization, and you’re never short of space,” says Pogue.

The island’s countertop is stained solid wood, with a small area below for wine storage, while the rest of the countertops are stone.

A curved wood staircase winds up to four more bedrooms, most with en suite, plus a large flex space. The primary bedroom’s en suite features a step-up tub, walk-in shower and oversized vanity with duo sinks. There’re also a fireplace and a deck that extends off the primary bedroom. Most bathroom fixtures are by Kohler.

A huge playroom in the basement area, which has a separate entrance, allows plenty of space for kid games, or can be used for a bedroom, office or extra storage.

A theatre room with six chairs in tiered row seating features Surround Sound with additional soundproofing and heavier doors to reduce sound leak, says Pogue.

There’s also a wet bar for entertaining.

The home is warmed via radiant heat and three gas fireplaces, and cooled by AC.

In the neighbourhood

“Even though it’s in Coquitlam, you get the sought-after catchment of Heritage Woods Secondary and Dr. Charles Best Secondary for French Immersion,” says Pogue. “You’re close to everything while feeling nestled in nature.”

Many other top-rated schools — elementary, secondary and Montessori — are a short drive away, as is Douglas College Coquitlam Campus.

Both Westwood Plateau Golf & Country Club and GreenTee Country Club are a six-minute drive away.

Many parks, including the Minnekhada and Belcarra Regional Parks, are within 15 minutes’ drive. Town Centre Park, with its abundant sport, recreation and cultural amenities as well as Lafarge Lake, is a seven-minute drive away. Grocery stores, shops and restaurants, as well as Coquitlam Centre Station with SkyTrain and buses, are within an eight-minute drive. Pogue says there’s also transit that services the Rockridge Estates neighbourhood. Eagle Ridge Hospital is less than 10 minutes’ drive away.

“The space this home offers, very prestigious neighbourhood, lots of greenery, close to amenities within a few minutes drive, and really good school catchment appeals to families that want that kind of luxurious, grand feeling in their home,” says Pogue.

Location:1535 Rockcress Place, Coquitlam

Listed for: $2,999,999

Year built: 2001

Type: Eight bedrooms, nine bathrooms

Size: 7,925 square feet

Realtor: Listed by Carolyn Pogue, Royal LePage Sterling Realty and Pogue Real Estate Group

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Whether you’re planning a major renovation, a seasonal refresh or simply looking for ideas to make your home work better, you’ll find plenty of worthwhile tips at the 2026 Vancouver Fall Home Show.

The event, which returns to the Vancouver Convention Centre from Oct. 15 to 18, will feature more than 200 exhibitors and bring together industry experts, products and resources across home improvement and design, fashion, wellness and food.

The overarching theme of this year’s show, says coordinator Madelyne Lemieux, is the creation of spaces that help us live better.

“Whether that means renovating, improving energy efficiency, enhancing wellness or updating your decor, the show is focused on helping people build homes that support their lifestyle,” she says.

Here are seven must-see highlights:

Presentations on the Sleep Country Main Stage

HGTV fan-favourite Sarah Baeumler will headline the main stage with interactive Q&A sessions on Oct. 15 and 16. In keeping with this year’s theme, the interior design expert will share practical advice for homeowners on how to make their spaces feel calmer, healthier and more personal.

“I’m going to talk about what it’s like to design for real life — for family routines, busy schedules and the messiness of everyday life — while designing with the idea of a calmer routine in mind,” she says.

Also returning to the main stage are sleep expert Neil Harding, who will share advice on sleep health, and My House Design/Build Team’s Graeme Huguet, who will offer advice on making design and renovation projects more approachable and achievable.

The Healthy Home

One of the most anticipated highlights of this year’s show is the Healthy Home feature, inspired by Sarah Baeumler. A series of curated room vignettes will showcase simple strategies for improving sleep, reducing stress and creating a home that supports overall well-being.

“We’re going to talk about things like lighting choices, colour choices, air quality and materials in the home,” she says. “And even just daily organization and routines.”

The YMCA Health and Recreation Zone

The YMCA Health and Recreation Zone will put the focus on “movement, mindfulness and overall well-being,” Lemieux says. The interactive space will give visitors a chance to take part in demonstrations and pick up practical tips for incorporating healthy habits into their lives.

Smash + Tess

Fashion lovers can check out loungewear, dresses, knitwear and seasonal pieces at the show’s first-ever Smash + Tess pop-up. The B.C.-based, woman-owned clothing brand will also host a fashion show on the main stage on Oct. 17, “reflecting the idea that how we live extends beyond our homes,” Lemieux says.

The Cooking Stage

The Cooking Stage will bring back Chef Bruno Feldeisen from The Great Canadian Baking Show, alongside former Top Chef Canada contestants Deseree “Dez” Lo, Haan Palcu-Chang and Billy Nguyen. Through live demonstrations, attendees will discover new techniques, food trends and recipes to create at home.

On Oct. 16 and 17, the chefs will take part in challenges, and a few lucky attendees will be selected as VIP taste testers.

The Market District

This year, the Market District will feature the show bar within the market for the first time, allowing visitors to sip while shopping local products. For those looking to incorporate more art into their home, the Art Market will offer a variety of styles, from contemporary and abstract art to mixed media and resin creations, making it a “great place to discover unique pieces to add character to your home,” Lemieux says.

The Passport Program

The newly introduced Passport Program offers visitors a chance to win prizes while exploring the show. Attendees can pick up a passport stamp card at the entrance, visit participating exhibitors to collect stamps and submit the completed card for a chance to win up to 10 prizes valued at more than $250 each. “It’s an exciting way to increase your chances of winning a prize from the show,” Lemieux says.

The Vancouver Fall Home Show runs from Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West. Find the Main Stage and Cooking Stage schedule, a rundown of features and workshops, plus show hours and tickets at vancouverfallhomeshow.com.

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When asked what we can gain by watching an interactive cooking demonstration, Top Chef Canada’s Dez Lo turns to an automotive analogy.

“You can tell me how amazing it is to drive a Ferrari, but unless I get to try it myself, I won’t really know how it feels to go from zero to 60, not unless I get to step on the gas,” says the show’s season 10 runner-up.

Lo knows that some recipes can be tricky to follow, but seeing a chef work through a dish can make the process easier — and a lot more fun. That’s what Lo hopes to bring to the home show Cooking Stage stage, where she’ll team up with friends and fellow Top Chef Canada alumni Haan Palcu-Chang and Billy Nguyen.

New to the Cooking Stage lineup this year is a two-day chef’s table feature, with cooking demonstrations that will centre around B.C. seafood and local ingredients. With seafood supplied by Vancouver-based sustainable seafood provider eatfish.ca, the chefs will demonstrate how to turn fresh ingredients into dishes that can be recreated at home. Lo will appear with Palcu-Chang on Oct. 16 at 4:30 p.m., and with Nguyen on Oct. 17 at 3 p.m.

Palcu-Chang lives on Salt Spring Island, where Lo says people love to entertain with outdoor, farm-to-table dining, an approach that will influence their Cooking Stage collaboration, with dishes focused on fresh, locally sourced ingredients.

Nguyen and Lo have also become close friends, working together on pop-ups in Vancouver and Calgary. With a shared Cantonese background, they enjoy creating Asian-fusion dishes that draw on their heritage, while incorporating local ingredients. They’ll also take that approach at the home show; they’ll create a more intimate, formal dinner, but the dishes will still be approachable. “We want to focus on turning something that you already have in your kitchen into something new, and give it a new spin — teach how to make it into something you may not have known to do, a totally different flavour profile than you’ve done before,” Lo says.

While seafood will be the main focus of the Chef’s Table feature, Lo says home cooks shouldn’t be intimidated by ingredients such as geoduck or sea cucumber. Her friend Jenice Yu, the so-called Sea-E-O of eatfish.ca , introduced her to B.C.’s abundant seafood after she moved to Vancouver from New York. Now, Lo keeps preparations simple, quickly sautéing geoduck or serving it sashimi style with a little light soy sauce. “Genuinely good ingredients should shine on their own,” she says.

That simplicity is part of what Lo hopes visitors will take away from watching the chefs at work. She also encourages home cooks to experiment, rather than follow a recipe too closely. She might swap halibut cheeks into a beef rendang, for instance, or use Sichuan peppercorns in place of jalapeño. “Trust your instincts and play around with it,” she says.

When asked about an ideal fall dinner that incorporates local seafood, Lo imagines a seafood boil packed with Dungeness crab, Salt Spring mussels, Vancouver Island clams and big pieces of halibut cheek, all mixed in a creamy Cajun butter sauce and dumped over a newspaper-covered table. Add Chilliwack peaches-and-cream corn, crusty bread and a cold glass of B.C. beer, and you have a meal Lo says could be made almost entirely from local ingredients.

“You can cook the entire pot with ingredients found within 100 kilometres of B.C. You don’t even need to go anywhere else.”

The Vancouver Fall Home Show runs from Oct. 15 to 18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, West. Find the Main Stage and Cooking Stage schedule, a rundown of features and workshops, plus show hours and tickets at vancouverfallhomeshow.com.

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Our spring-into-summer drought and significantly warmer temperatures have been hard on so many trees, shrubs and other garden plants. Lawns also look pretty rough now and things won’t improve for a while with little rain on the horizon and water restrictions still in place.

In many cases our soils are tired, deprived of moisture and the microbes necessary to keep them thriving are missing. This is where regenerative soil management can play such an important role in renewing our garden soils resulting in more resilient lawns and plants.

There is a new Canadian product on the market now: a regenerative, organic blend that is making a remarkable difference in the revitalization in our gardens. Called Replenish Nutrients 1, it brings the principles of regenerative agriculture to our farms and gardens. It’s an all-natural, non-water-soluble rock phosphate that remains in the soil instead of leaching into the waterways. The primary concept is to help soil micro-organisms naturally cycle these nutrients thereby making the phosphates available to plants. The goal is to restore soil health while supplying nutrients to plants.

This amazing new product is the result of seven years of research, development and collaboration by Neil Wiens and Kevin Erickson. Wiens has an extensive background and experience in transforming organic waste material into valuable agricultural products and brings the principles of regenerative agriculture into both the farming and home gardening communities. Erickson has 30 years of experience in the fertilizer industry, including research and product development in organic and regenerative practices.

Traditional synthetic fertilizers feed plants while making the soil more acidic, increasing the soil salinity, and in many cases, causing microbes to disappear. Biofertilizers instead feed the soil, help restore organic matter, aid the soil in retaining more moisture and, overall, encourage a thriving ecosystem.

Replenish Nutrients 1, with a formulation of 0-0.5 (available phosphorus)-20 (potassium)-20 (sulphur), is a soil probiotic that helps break down organic matter, improves nutrient availability and helps restore biodiversity. Rock phosphate has been scientifically proven to benefit root development, and it also aids in flowering and fruit production. Muriate of potash regulates water movement, strengthens cell walls and dramatically improves drought resistance. The organic compost base adds carbon and helps fuel an improved microbial ecosystem.

The regenerative difference between Replenish Nutrients 1 and synthetic fertilizers is the nutrient aiding in nitrogen fixation and phosphorous stabilization. Additionally, microorganisms colonize the soil and restore the nutrient cycle. They also restore organic matter throughout the soil.

Replenish can be used everywhere in our lawns and gardens and is safe for pets and children. If you are reseeding this time of year, it can be applied along with the seed over your entire lawn. A small 2.27-kg bag will cover 70 square metres of lawn or 22-kg bag will cover up to 750 square metres. Be sure to water it in well for activation. Incidentally, folks who have already applied it to their lawns this summer have reported seeing a significant improvement in the quality of their grass.

If you are doing a late planting of vegetables or winter vegetables, simply work Replenish into the soil before planting. You only need one cup for about half a square metre. Your veggies will be tastier and the plants much stronger.

Many of us are planting garlic this time of year and Replenish will help with faster rooting. It will also help you get that true garlic flavour when you harvest next summer.

We are all looking forward to planting our fall bulbs soon and replenishing will encourage them to root more quickly and flower more prolifically next spring.

I’m worried about the amount of damage done by the heat and lack of water to so many trees and shrubs. Replenish will slowly, but surely, aid in their recovery by invigorating the soil. When you do water, or when we get some rain, your soil will begin holding more moisture as well as releasing food to the roots.

Organic gardening has been a way of life for much of the gardening community for many years and there are many great organic based nutrients on the market. Replenish Nutrients 1 is unique in the fact that it is so easy to apply and provides great value in terms of coverage, and as regenerative gardening gains momentum, this product provides an effective and immediate source of organic nutrients.

Made in Alberta, it is quickly appearing in garden stores across the country. Folks are beginning to notice the difference it is making both on farms and in home gardens. From the results we are seeing, it is well worth applying in your gardens.

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Throughout history, displaying original works within a space has been a form of documentation, storytelling, and personal expression. And now, when disposable and even AI decor options are in abundance, hanging human-made originals is becoming recognized as a sustainable design solution.

Deanna Geisheimer, art consultant and president of Vancouver’s Art Works Gallery , has helped clients source pieces for their spaces for 46 years. She says she’s witnessed how interest in collecting has ebbed and flowed with the economy. “I’ve seen people spend $30,000 on a couch and then they put up a $500 print. That couch in five, 10, 15 years is either going to be recovered or replaced because it’s out of style. But the artwork, if it’s selected well, will last you a lifetime,” she explains.

While works by established artists have long been viewed as an appreciating financial asset, Geisheimer has seen her clients invest in paintings for the “joy dividends” they will pay over the years. She cites a customer who gave up their annual vacation, instead opting for a painting they knew would make them happy every time they glanced at it. And art exposure can bolster your physical health, too, with studies showing art appreciation can lower blood pressure.

When it comes to sourcing pieces for the interior design projects Geisheimer consults on, pulling from local artists is also a decidedly sustainable decor choice. Recently, she worked with interior design firm Form Collective on the art selection for Canada’s first certified zero-carbon home, Phoenix House. Located in Abbotsford, the five-bed five-bath 3,500-square-foot multi-generational residence was reconstructed after the original residence was destroyed in a fire, leaving only its foundation.

Josephina Serra, principal interior designer and partner at Form Collective, says Phoenix House is a leading-edge project designed to achieve International Living Future Institute (ILFI) Zero Carbon Certification. The first of its kind in Canada, it’s caught the attention of BCIT and UBC, which conducted case studies on the home.

The residence, which features solar panels, heat pumps and a rainwater collection system, is also the first building in B.C. to use a spray-on membrane for the building envelope. Salvaged materials, triple-pane windows and high-performance Miele appliances also help to ensure every gigajoule is accounted for. “Everything from the pavers to the concrete was carbon considered. We worked with an energy consultant who calculated everything we put into the home, from windows to walls to exterior cladding,” Serra explains. The result is a structure that, through energy modelling, is designed to achieve less than one third of the energy annually compared to the average Canadian residence.

It also provides an exciting sustainable building blueprint for future projects.

When it came to decorating and selecting the artwork for the home, the design team sourced local pieces from Art Works’ collection, aligning with the home’s sustainability mandate since the pieces were shipped locally. In the light-flooded terracotta-hued dining room, the team opted for a dramatic 63-inch oil on canvas with bright layered florals by Gibsons-based artist Todd Clark. “That one piece on that huge wall really grounded that dining area and separated it from the living room,” Serra explains.

There have also been instances where Form Collective’s client’s own collections have informed a home’s design. “We designed a kitchen wall for a beautiful painting of a brown bear for a client moving from Bowen Island to Coal Harbour, ” says Serra, who opted for walnut-panelled millwork and an art light, creating a light background to make the animal pop.

And then there’s the case when a home inspires a new painting: “That same client hired an artist to do a commissioned piece of the view from his previous home for his [new] entryway because he missed his old house and the view that it gave,” Serra explains.

For DIY decorators selecting pieces or renovating one part of home around a specific work, Geisheimer has a few tips. “Spend a little bit of money and make sure you’ve got the proper lighting, whether it’s track lighting that you can position towards it, or a pot light that washes the wall properly,” she says.

And artwork should always be hung at eye level, the general rule being the centre of the piece should be approximately 60 inches from the floor, “with the exception of if you’re going to be viewing it seated and it’s going above a credenza,” she continues.

Geisheimer also says it’s important to question the urge to hang a mirror, when a piece of art might be more appropriate. “Always think, ‘what are you reflecting back?’,” she says, remembering an incident where a mirror was hung behind a dinner table, reflecting back the heads of diners.

For clients who have existing works they think are too dated for a more modern home, Geisheimer says the solution can be as simple as a classic, timeless frame that won’t date itself, or refurbishing a piece that may look worn.

But besides the technical advice, Geisheimer says art selection is best done from the heart. “Get a piece that speaks to you … something that not only enhances your home, but causes you to think a bit more, interact a little more, see something different, or enjoy.”

Architect: Nick Bray, nba architecture+design

Home Builder:Best Builders Ltd.

Energy Advisor: Elisabeth Baudinaud, Carbon Wise

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Weekly roundup of three properties that recently sold in Metro Vancouver.

801 — 919 Station St., Vancouver

Type: Two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment

Size: 926 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $876,000

Listed for: $830,000

Sold for: $790,000

Sold on: July 31

Days on market in this listing: 20

Listing agent: Adam Pospischil at Engel & Volkers Vancouver

Buyers agent: Cheryl Davie PREC at Stilhavn Real Estate Services

The big sell: This two-bedroom-plus-den condo enjoys a sub-penthouse position within the Left Bank, a nine-storey concrete loft building that was constructed in 2005 within an eclectic Strathcona neighbourhood that will soon be home to the new St. Paul’s Hospital. This north-west-facing corner home boasts panoramic water, city and mountain vistas and has been designed for entertaining with an open-plan layout with soaring ceilings, polished concrete floors, expansive window walls, and two oversized garden terraces that extend the living space outside. The kitchen features stainless-steel appliances and a breakfast bar, the bedrooms are separated, and there is a pantry for additional storage, as well as insuite laundry. The home comes with a parking stall, and a monthly maintenance fee of $703.18, and both pets and rentals are permitted.

1664 58 St., Delta

Type: Four-bedroom, three-bathroom detached

Size: 2,268 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $1,514,000

Listed for: $1,549,900

Sold for: $1,500,000

Sold on: June 19

Days on market in this listing: 100

Listing agent: Brent Lee at Sutton Group Seafair Realty

Buyers agent: Adam Chahl PREC at Oakwyn Realty

The big sell: Tsawwassen’s Beach Grove district is the venue for this four-bedroom family home that comes with a turnkey mortgage helper in the shape of a one-bedroom basement suite with its own entrance, laundry, and patio access. The house itself has a split entry with internal stairs leading up to the main accommodation where the sleeping quarters are positioned at the rear of the home and the principal reception rooms are at the front to take advantage of a westerly aspect as well as having a sizable (350 square foot) south-facing wraparound deck in which to entertain and relax. In addition, there is a recreation room on the lower floor and doors that lead to the attached double garage. The established garden has been carefully cultivated by a professional gardener and offers raised beds, storage sheds, a children’s playhouse, and a hot tub.

1601 — 290 Newport Dr., Port Moody

Type: Two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment

Size: 1,061 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $850,000

Listed for: $829,900

Sold for: $795,000

Sold on: July 7

Days on market in this listing: 22

Listing agent: Michel McDermott at Macdonald Realty

Buyers agent: Rod Bahari PREC at Sutton Group — West Coast Realty

The big sell: This 16th floor corner home is located in Newport Village’s Sentinel building, a 23-storey development with 133 units that enjoy myriad conveniences nearby including shops, restaurants, health care services, Rocky Point Park, the SkyTrain, and the Port Moody Recreation Complex. This particular home has a northwest position and bathes in Burrard Inlet and North Shore mountain vistas. It has generous-sized rooms inside with a kitchen that overlooks the dining and living areas, a large walk-in closet off the primary bedroom, tiled floors in the entryway, a covered balcony, and expansive windows that flood the home with natural light. The building offers amenities such as an exercise room, a hot tub, sauna and steam room. This unit comes with parking and a storage locker, and a monthly maintenance fee of $418.19.

These transactions were compiled by Nicola Way of BestHomesBC.com.

Realtors — send your recent sales to nicola@besthomesbc.com

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At first glance, Monos’s new Mount Pleasant headquarters could easily be mistaken for a beautifully considered apartment or boutique hotel. Not your workday office.

Launched in 2019, Monos has grown from a luggage company into a travel lifestyle brand, with collections that include bags, wallets, travel accessories and sunglasses, seven retail stores across Canada and the U.S., fashion collaborations and, most recently, a move into hospitality with Postcard, a café and listening lounge in Chicago.

As the company has expanded, so has its need for a place to bring people together. Rather than create a conventional corporate office, Monos turned to Vancouver-based Ste. Marie to design something more fluid.

Mount Pleasant, with its mix of light industry, arts, design, fashion and technology businesses, is the perfect backdrop, says Ste. Marie founder Craig Stanghetta.

Postmedia sat down with Monos co-founder Hubert Chan and Ste. Marie founder Craig Stanghetta, whose studio designed the space, to chat about how it came to be.

The starting point for Ste. Marie was a home vibe.

“We were interested in creating somewhere that felt personal and lived-in. An apartment became a useful point of departure because it naturally accommodates different rhythms of life,” says Stanghetta.

A place where people can sit quietly, work, talk, eat or socialize without necessarily moving into a room designed for one particular purpose.

The interior itself is restrained. Polished concrete, natural oak, neutral textiles and diffused light provide a quiet backdrop, while different seating areas and more intimate spaces soften the openness.

For Chan, how their headquarters feels is just as important as how it functions.

“We wanted our HQ to be somewhere people actually enjoy going to — a place that feels more like a home or luxury hotel than an office,” he says. It also needed to shift easily between daily work and much larger occasions, including dinners, tastings and events.

Investing heavily in an office when many employees work remotely might seem counterintuitive, but Chan sees it differently.

Monos has always operated as a hybrid company, with employees now spread across Vancouver, Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere, and their headquarters isn’t intended to reverse that, he says: “As a hybrid company, we don’t expect everyone to be here all the time. The point is to make the time we do spend together more meaningful.”

He describes their new headquarters as “a centre of gravity for the company.”

Rather than requiring people to be at a particular desk every day, the space is designed around the things that are difficult to replicate remotely: informal conversations, shared meals, product development, collaboration and simply spending time together.

“For a creative company, it isn’t simply somewhere to perform work that could otherwise happen remotely,” says Stanghetta.

“Ultimately, it’s a place where Monos can practice being Monos.”

Central to the design of their new HQ is a long communal table.

It can function as a workspace in the morning, a surface for product development later in the day and the centre of a dinner or launch that evening.

The result is a workplace where furniture, communal areas and more intimate spaces provide choices rather than rigid divisions.

Chan says that reflects the way Monos operates internally too:

“We wanted our HQ to be an expression of not only our design philosophy, but also our culture and way of working,” he says.

“There are no individual offices here — we all work, eat, and socialize in the same space because we’re one team, constantly communicating and working together.”

The headquarters also reflects a company thinking more broadly about what the Monos brand can encompass.

Chan describes travel not simply as getting from one place to another, but as a way of moving through and experiencing the world. This is reflected in Monos’s expansion into fashion and hospitality, alongside a growing interest in food, design, community and the rituals around travel.

Ste. Marie’s brief was not simply to design somewhere for employees to sit and work, but to create a setting where those ideas could develop, says Stanghetta:

“It’s less a finished office, more a place for discovery, like travel itself.”

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When a house is built on stone, it seems only natural to call its community Stonehaven.

Situated in the Garibaldi Highlands area of Squamish, this five-bedroom, four-bathroom two-storey home sits “on a boulder so the foundation is very solid,” says listing agent Angie Vazquez of Engel & Völkers Squamish-Whistler.

“And because it’s in the highest point of Squamish, there are spectacular panoramic views of ocean and mountains from nearly every window.”

Vazquez says the home, one of six in Squamish’s only gated community, at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, backs onto biking and hiking trails that lead into the forest and to Alice Lake Provincial Park with its four freshwater lakes for swimming and fishing.

The home’s large, wraparound patios and decks feature a barrel sauna with an ice-water plunge, a hot tub and pool. The owners didn’t want an overly large pool, but they still wanted a watery workout. So they installed a countercurrent system that lets them swim against the current while remaining stationary.

“Construction of the foundation for the pool was a small engineering marvel as it’s built aside a steep granite cliff,” says Vazquez. “Geotechnical and structural engineers solved the problem via a cantilever design. The landscaping, too, was a sizable investment along with redoing the entire decks and patios with flex stone. Given the property has a full 360- deck, that was a significant undertaking.”

The yard is braced by retaining walls built with a gabion system using locally sourced rocks. The yard also includes a four-tiered vegetable garden along with mixed fruit trees, blueberry bushes, raspberry canes and a variety of herbs, all on an irrigation system.

Although there’s a double-car garage, there’s also parking for five other vehicles, as well as a space big enough for the current owners to store their Airstream.

Vazquez, who also lives in the area, says the community gets regular visits by deer, bears and eagles. “I was showing the property one day when a bear cub wandered by.”

What’s inside

Wide-plank white oak flooring covers the main areas of the home, while the door, posts, beams and window frames are made of Douglas fir. Vaulted, 16-feet high ceilings with an oversized wood-burning fireplace give the home a feeling of grandeur, says Vazquez.

The current owners, who invested roughly $500,000 in renovations for the decks, kitchen and bathrooms, say it was important to honour the home’s original design and retain the warmth of the exposed wood and slate while bringing in the modern elements of today’s homes.

Italian-made Scudo Saraceno gold classic glass lamps with metal ring by Fortuny infuse the living and dining rooms with extra warmth.

Kitchen appliances are by Fisher & Paykel while the dishwasher is Bosch. Composition quartz countertops ensure high durability and uniform colour and pattern, with ample wine storage below. Lower cabinets are solid wood while upper cabinets are laminate.

Bathroom fixtures are from German designers Duravit and Blanco, with slate countertops in two bathrooms.

Stairs leading to the lower level feature maple leaf etchings commissioned by former owners that enhance the West Coast mountain feel of the home.

Part of the media room sits on exposed granite. “The foundation was built atop the granite and instead of blasting the entire property flat, some of the granite formations were preserved as a visual feature,” says Vazquez.

A unique swinging daybed, designed for the room, stays with the house, as does, possibly, the gym equipment. “The installation of the Hoist fitness system, with all its cables and weights, was one of the most complex undertakings,” says Vazquez. “It has a good home here and I don’t think it wants to be moved.”

The home uses eco-friendly geothermal in its heating and cooling.

“Though this is a small detail, the backyard lighting that surrounds the pool, barrel sauna and hot tub, truly comes to life when it snows,” says Vazquez. “Looking up from the hot tub with the snow falling and seeing the lights strewn throughout the branches of the trees makes it feel truly magical.”

In the neighbourhood

A variety of schools — elementary, secondary and private — are a five-minute drive away, as is Capilano University. Shopping and restaurants, including a very good Mexican restaurant, according to Vazquez, who admits she could be biased, are a 10-minute drive away in downtown Squamish. A handful of golf courses are in the area, including the Squamish Valley Golf Club, five minutes away. Britannia Beach is 10 minutes away, the popular eagle gathering community of Brackendale is 11 minutes away and, of course, in 40 minutes you’re in Whistler.

“In the Highlands, you feel like you’re somewhere else, with views of the mountains and ocean, which is rare,” says Vazquez. “Where else, other than the Swiss Alps, can you go skiing, swimming, kite boarding and biking all in the same day?”

She says the median age of residents in the area is 38 with young families. “Many are entrepreneurs of startups who sold their company and want to call Squamish or the Sea to Sky corridor home,” says Vazquez.

Location:4-40781 Thunderbird Ridge, Squamish

Listed for: $3,495,000

Year built: 2003

Type: Five bedrooms, four bathrooms

Size: 4,635 square feet

Realtor: Listed by Angie Vazquez, Engel & Völkers Squamish-Whistler

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For 11 days this month, Vancouver’s design community will open its doors, inviting visitors inside studios, buildings and spaces usually inaccessible to the public.

Running Sept. 17 to 27, Design Vancouver Festival (DVF) brings together 43 Open Studios and more than 50 events spanning architecture, interiors, landscape, furniture, product design, craft, food and public space.

It’s aimed not only at architects and designers, but students, design enthusiasts and anyone curious about how the design scene in Vancouver comes together.

“Vancouver is a design city. DVF is about making that more visible and more accessible to the public,” says festival director Becki Chan.

Launched in 2024 through Open Format Arts & Culture, the festival grew out of the community surrounding PechaKucha Vancouver. This year’s theme, BUILD, looks at how Vancouver can build more sustainably, reuse what it already has and create places that adapt as the city changes.

Open Studios remain at the heart of this festival, says Chan.

Visitors can step inside architecture, interior, landscape, furniture, ceramics, photography and multidisciplinary studios rarely open to the public. Some include Patkau Architects and Patkau Studio, Revery Architecture, Measured Architecture, Propellor Studio, Studio Roslyn, Hapa Collaborative, Janaki Larsen Studios and Bocci.

“They are the easiest way to see Vancouver differently because they let people step inside the places where design actually happens,” says Chan.

Design Districts offers people the chance to view studios and events by neighbourhood, such as the Armoury District, Granville Island, Gastown and Mount Pleasant.

Chan recommends choosing a neighbourhood rather than racing across the city.

“Pick a neighbourhood, walk between studios, talk to people, and leave room for surprise,” she says.

One space open to visitors this year is Addapt, a prefabricated prototype home by Leckie Studio.

Addapt asks what happens if a home can change as the people living there do. The project explores adaptable, resilient and high-performance housing that can evolve with different stages of life, household structures and urban needs.

Housing is one of several future-facing threads running through this year’s festival, alongside mass timber, adaptive reuse and material innovation.

“The future of Vancouver design is not only about beautiful work. It’s about care, repair, public participation, and a stronger relationship between design and everyday life,” says Chan.

The AFBC Downtown Walking Tour and AFBC False Creek Walking Tour encourage visitors to slow down and look more closely at familiar buildings, streets and public spaces.

For those interested in how the city may be built in future, TWIG Tours: Mass Timber — Design to Occupancy explores mass timber through completed buildings and active construction sites, connecting architecture with engineering, sustainability and material innovation.

Reuse, Don’t Build, presented by Dialog and UBC SALA, asks what designers can achieve by intelligently working with buildings that already exist rather than automatically building something new.

For those who love architecture, Chan highlights the Arthur Erickson Home and Garden, along with Behind the Design of the Chinese Canadian Museum and Merrick Architecture Ltd: Four Decades. Multiple Landmarks. One Legacy.

“These are the moments where the festival becomes more than a schedule. It becomes an invitation to enter the city through design,” she says.

Here for Now transforms an unexpected Vancouver space into a temporary destination combining installation, dinner and social experiment.

“These kinds of events remind us that design is not only in building. It is also in how we gather, how we move through space, and how an atmosphere is created,” says Chan.

Beyond the Menu: The Making of Touski explores how food, interiors and graphic design combine to create a restaurant experience, while Architecture of Dessert invites participants to apply principles of form, function, colour and composition with award-winning pastry chef Kenta Takahashi.

For students, design lovers and the public, Chan recommends Saturday, Sept. 19 in the Armoury District. Start with Open Studios and walk between architecture, landscape, interiors, furniture and craft spaces before continuing east for more events.

Industry visitors might choose Friday, Sept. 25, combining Interior Design Show Trade Day with Downtown and Gastown Open Studios before the OBJ: OBJ Opening Night Party.

Or begin with DVF Opening Night — PechaKucha at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Sept. 17, bringing together voices from architecture, jewelry, ceramics, photography, type design, food and First Nations art.

Design Vancouver Festival runs Sept. 17 to 27, 2026, at locations across Vancouver. Many events are free or low-cost.

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Sebastien Panouille, founder and principal of specialist lighting design studio ThinkL , turns his talents to a range of projects from residential homes to large scale installations, but his core philosophy remains the same: good lighting should be accessible, intentional and controllable.

Ahead of his participation in this years Interior Design Show (IDS) at the Vancouver Convention Centre West (Sept. 24 to 27) where he is curating Illuminate, a collection vignettes presented as a “lighting village,” and co-moderating a seminar “Lessons from FIFA: How the PNE Amphitheatre Reshaped Everyday Lighting Design” on Sept. 25 with Victor Quezada, principal and architectural lighting team lead at AES Lighting, Panouille shares his thoughts on aspects of light and how illumination has evolved over the 15 years he has been working in home Canada.

The lighting industry was not his original career choice and, but for a visit to a career fair in Lyon, France, Panouille would be practising medicine. Instead, he swapped the dream of a stethoscope for a spectrometer and after completing a degree in home automation he focused on lighting.

After some years working in France, including at the Louvre and the Châtelet les Halles train station in Paris, Panouille relocated to Canada in 2013 and now is principal of ThinkL with offices in Vancouver, Langley and Toronto.

Panouille says the big change in the lighting sector has been not so much on the quality or the efficiency of light but the control of the light source.

“Ten years ago, it was very hard to bring an LED light source to a very, very low light level without having any disturbances like flickering or buzzing, where in today’s era, not all manufacturers, but a good 50 to 75 per cent, can deliver a very nice solution that can replace a halogen light source,” he says.

With a portfolio that ranges from boutique retail and hospitality spaces to corporate workplaces, presentation centres and wellness environments, Panouille says regardless of the size of the project the core principles of good lighting design should apply.

These are: intentionality: to avoid generic lighting grids — every light source should serve a specific purpose to prevent over-lighting; user control and operability — users must be able to adapt lighting levels to their specific tasks; and, a “lighting match” — trusting the process and making sure people involved in the project can advise on accurate needs and costs, balance quantity and quality and focus on thoughtful placement and quality fixtures.

Panouille believes professional advice is valuable for projects of any size and budget, from small home renovations to large commercial offices, and that lighting decisions should be carefully considered and integrated into a project early.

While many people who move into homes accept the existing lighting and often don’t make any changes, Panouille suggests there are several simple upgrades that can make a difference to the quality of light.

“Ninety per cent of the people who move into a new condo will most likely have overhead lighting, eventually they will install a decorative lighting luminaire above their dining table, and they always have decorative lamps,” he says. “It’s always more interesting to enter a space where there [are different light sources]. If there are no layers of light, then the ambience can feel flat.”

Panouille says installing dimmer switches is the most cost-effective way to tailor light levels to activity while combining overhead lighting with other light sources like decorative table lamps and floor lamps create visual interest, depth, volume and contrast.

Jared Cranwill, showroom sales manager, B.C. at leading retailer Robinson Lighting & Bath in Vancouver says customers visiting the showroom who are looking for table lamps and light fixtures are gravitating toward a mix of portable, rechargeable lighting and more sculptural fixtures that feel like art pieces in their own right.

“Rechargeable lamps such as the Suki Lamp by Visual Comfort and Marset FollowMe are popular because they offer flexibility — you can easily move them around the home depending on how you’re using a space,” he says.

“At the same time, we’re seeing strong interest in more expressive fixtures, such as the Gambosa by Marset, where the fixture itself becomes part of the visual story of the room rather than simply serving a functional purpose,” says Cranwill.

Panouille also points to the way geography shapes our experience of light.

“We live in Canada and North America, so our latitude exposes us to a type of daylight that’s particular to the Northern Hemisphere. If you go to the Southern Hemisphere or even closer to the equator, the population has a completely different experience of light,” he says.

In North America, for example, daylight varies considerably by season, with longer days in summer and shorter days in winter. Closer to the equator, the length of day and night remain much more consistent throughout the year.

Those differences in natural light may also influence what people find comfortable indoors.

“In the Northern Hemisphere, we are more sensitive and more comfortable under warm lighting, whereas close to the equator, people are usually exposed to much brighter daylight, so they don’t really mind having brighter and whiter light,” says Panouille.

Selecting fixtures also personalizes and enhances a space, he says, adding that pendant lights and chandeliers can be statement pieces. Key considerations include matching the scale and esthetic of the room, ensuring appropriate light distribution and understanding that higher-quality manufacturing justifies higher price points.

Local materials, traditions and architectural trends (such as Pacific Northwest influences or Scandinavian minimalism) shape fixture design and lighting preferences.

“If people are more minimalist, they will use Scandinavian styles like [those of] Louis Poulsen,” he says. “Or according to their preferences they may turn to crystal and glass or Italian style. I think it’s the statement that reflects a lot about people’s personality.”

Cranwill agrees there is a lot of interest in lighting that does more than illuminate a room and he is noticing a growing interest in fixtures with character, craftsmanship and a sense of individuality — pieces that contribute to the design of a home rather than simply providing illumination.

Natural materials, particularly alabaster, travertine and other natural stones, have been very popular with Robinson Lighting & Bath customers in 2026, says Cranwill.

“There’s something appealing about the individuality of these materials — no two pieces have exactly the same veining, texture or character,” he says.

Fixtures like the Calcolo from Lib & Co. showcase the natural variation of stone and allow the material itself to become a focal point, says Cranwill.

“We’re also seeing customers gravitate toward lighting with more organic and sculptural forms rather than fixtures that feel overly uniform or purely functional.

“It contributes to the personality and character of the space. Customers are looking for fixtures they feel proud to display in their homes, almost like a piece of art or sculpture,” he says.

An example is the Flock of Light from Moooi .

“It has a strong presence even when it isn’t illuminated, so the fixture becomes an important design element within the room. I think this speaks to a larger shift toward homeowners viewing lighting as an opportunity for self-expression rather than something that simply needs to blend into the background,” says Cranwill, also noting a growing interest in customization, particularly among design clients.

“I think we’ll continue to see more personalization, natural materials, sculptural forms and lighting that can adapt to the way people actually live,” he says. “Rechargeable and portable lighting will continue to grow because it gives homeowners more flexibility, while customization allows lighting to feel much more personal and intentional.”

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