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Domestic bliss with fabrics and antiques
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Keep your love affair with vintage fabrics and flea market finds
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By Jennifer David, photography by Andreas Trautmansdorff
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Fixing up the front of the house was Linda and Paul Livingstone's first priority, much to their neighbours' delight
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In the heart of one of Toronto's most charming neighbourhoods stands a 100-year-old cottage. Warm, welcoming and full of character, this informal image of individuality is a rare find indeed – a bonafide Beach cottage, less than a stone's throw from the lake and only minutes from downtown, that's been lovingly coaxed back to life from its once near-derelict state.
In fact, when Linda and Paul Livingstone purchased this fixer-upper 28 years ago, Linda was so concerned about her family's reaction to the house that she refused to tell them its location. The rambling, rundown building, built at the turn of the last century when the lakeside neighbourhood known as The Beach was a cottage community for city dwellers, had no fewer than 36 city work orders against it – a sure sign it was in less than move-in condition. Most people would have been put off by the challenge of renovating and refurbishing such a property, but the young couple fell hard for the home. Peering past its inadequacies they saw only its potential to become the quirky home it is today.
“When I first walked in here I clamped my hand over my mouth,” recalls Linda. “I could picture children drawing at the kitchen table.” Though she and Paul had yet to start their family, the vision proved prophetic for the couple, who would eventually raise four children under this roof, while expanding, renovating and redecorating as their needs changed and finances allowed.
First up: the home's neglected exterior. “We worked so hard on the front right away, the neighbours were really grateful,” says Linda of the project that included painting, adding custom filigree, a gingerbread door, fencing, and lots of plant material. The neighbours weren't the only ones to appreciate the couple's efforts. A Globe and Mail photographer once snapped a picture of the wood-frame house for inclusion in a story about cottage gardening. For the Livingstones, who were not aware the photo had been taken, it was quite a thrill to see the fruits of their labour splashed across half a page in the national newspaper.
Inside, however, lay a more daunting challenge: to update and restore – and eventually extend – the tired, two-storey interior. But Linda and Paul make a formidable team. Linda, a model and self-described “beach person,” is a passionate reader of home decor books and magazines, including Canadian Home & Country, which she's followed from the beginning; her instinct for decorating is unerring. Paul, who works with a large electrical mechanical contracting company, is an accomplished do-it-yourselfer. Together they transformed the house into an inviting home exemplifying the breezy warmth of cottage style, with its washes of white paint, layers of vintage fabrics, wainscotting, mismatched pieces, casually slipcovered chairs and abundance of garden inspiration.
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