This Calgary Home Gym Has the Ultimate Ensuite Bathroom

A fitness-focused homeowner and a local designer team up to create a home gym ensuite bathroom, straight out of an exclusive hotel spa.

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This Calgary Home Has a Pastel-Hued Ladies’ Lounge

The homeowner worked with local interior designers to transform a masculine space into a refined ladies’ lounge, perfect for a peaceful escape.

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This Springbank Home Underwent the Ultimate Backyard Renovation

A grassy field was transformed into a luxury vacation-level backyard family resort with an infinity pool, a sunken fireplace, a mini-putt course and more.

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An IKEA Plant Pot Inspired the Colour of This Calgary Kitchen

A blush-toned island with rounded edges is the standout feature in this Point McKay townhouse’s kitchen.

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This Parkdale Heritage Home Was Lovingly Restored by a Calgary Design Company

Studio North’s Matthew Kennedy shares how he updated this Parkdale home while maintaining its historic integrity.

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Inside a Calgary Home That Blends Japanese and Scandinavian Minimalism

The couple behind Calgary restaurants Shiki Menya and First Avenue Corner Store created a calming, welcoming space for their family.

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Inside a Currie Barracks Condo Filled with Personal Artifacts and Cohesive Textures

The homeowner worked with Lush Interiors to transform a bare-bones space into a thoughtful and elegant home.

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The post 7 Stunning Homes Featured in Avenue This Year appeared first on Avenue Calgary.

If you love a great antique find, this (sort of) new pop-up has arrived in Calgary.

Wu & McHugh is a vintage wholesaler in Calgary that focuses on curated furniture and home decor pieces from China. Originally started by owners John McHugh and Miki Wu as a brick-and-mortar store in 2014, Wu & McHugh shut its doors during the COVID-19 pandemic and shifted to an online wholesale business model.

But until the end of January 2026, Calgarians can shop Wu & McHugh’s stunning collection and experience the vintage store in-person again at its new pop-up shopping experience at Lake Bonavista Promenade.

The pop-up features a variety of pieces from China that were curated by Wu herself, and is mostly focused on items like vintage elm benches, elm stools and unused pickle and soy sauce pots, as well as a few other decor items. A larger selection of pieces can still be found online.

During the pop-up, all items are on sale for 50 to 80 per cent off. The store is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Tuesday to Sunday, but appointments can be booked outside of operating hours.

The pop-up store is located at unit 169, 755 Lake Bonavista Dr. S.E., 403-710-9885, wuandmchugh.com

The post Calgary Vintage Wholesaler Wu & McHugh is Hosting a Pop-up Shop appeared first on Avenue Calgary.

Calgary Coffee Print

Calgary’s vibrant coffee scene takes centre stage in this fun print. Created by local printmaker Ritual & Fern, the artwork features takeaway coffee cups from many of Calgary’s most popular coffee shops like Monogram Coffee, Rosso Coffee Roasters and more. $12.49.

ritualandfern.com

2026 Wild Flowers Modern Risograph Wall Calendar

This risograph calendar by Calgary’s Mezzaluna Studio features vibrant wildflower prints on 13 double-sided pages, each with a calendar section that includes space to jot down important notes. Printed on a Japanese risograph printer using eco-friendly ink, each page has a soft matte finish. When the year is over, turn the flower prints into framed art. $46.

mezzalunastudio.ca

Tin Tacker – Retro Rainbow

Cabin Brewing Company was just named Brewery of the Year (along with Ol’ Beautiful Brewing Company) at the 2025 Alberta Beer Awards. Add a touch of the brewery’s retro spirit to the walls of your home with this tin plaque. $50.

Cabin Brewing Company, 505 36 Ave. S.E., 403-244-3331, cabinbrewing.ca

Handmade Chiseled Wood Bowl

This hand-chiseled wood bowl’s dark umber stain makes it both a statement piece and a functional item of dishware. The food safe bowl is the perfect home for nuts, dried fruit or other small snacks. $56.

The Curated Home, 1004 9 Ave. S.E., 403-620-9613, thecuratedhome.ca

Nattbad Bluetooth Speaker

A bluetooth speaker that doubles as a piece of home decor? Say no more. This compact speaker brings a splash of personality to any space and is available in yellow, pink and black. $59.99.

IKEA, 8000 11 St. S.E., 866-866-4532, ikea.com

Sandwich Rug

Calling all sandwich fans! This quirky rug is the perfect statement piece for any room in the house. Its bright colours bring a slice of fun and liveliness to any space. Plus, it’s slip-resistant. $68.

Steeling Home, 1010 17 Ave. S.W., 403-245-0777, steelinghome.ca

Renenutet Mouth Blown Recycled Glass Vase

This handcrafted vase from France combines sustainability with elegance. Made from recycled glass, the carafe’s short neck, flared rim and rounded body allow for a great pour of water, wine or juice. It can also act as a vase for a fresh bouquet. $72.

Faire Living, 1226 B 9 Ave. S.E., 250-951-3663, faireliving.com

Octopus Ink Yarn Bowl

Each handmade yarn bowl by Calgary’s Starfishly Clay Works is unique, with tricoloured bubbles that are handblown onto the clay to resemble watercolour splashes. A thoughtful gift for the knitter or crocheter in your life. $109.

starfishclay.com

Hand Knitted Weighted Blanket

Decompress under one of Silk & Snow’s hand-knitted, cotton weighted blankets available in five different weights ranging from eight to 25 pounds. The blankets bring a cozy and aesthetically pleasing touch to any space with colours like terracotta, tempest blue or oat. $190 to $320, depending on weight.

Silk & Snow, 825 17 Ave. S.W., 403-456-0111, silkandsnow.com

The post 9 Home Decor Gifts to Give This Holiday Season appeared first on Avenue Calgary.

When homeowner Jim Hughes first moved into his Currie Barracks condo, he saw “a plain, stark white box.” Despite its barren starting point, the open-concept main floor offered a promising blank canvas for the ideal living and entertaining space that Hughes wanted. To realize its potential and integrate his own personal flair, Hughes turned to Charlene Threatful, designer and owner of Lush Interiors.

Threatful describes Hughes as a “real renaissance man” and an avid traveller who appreciates the finer things in life. Hughes wanted to integrate his travel artifacts and art pieces into the design, swapping clutter for curated displays. That way, “they can remind one of different times, places and experiences,” Hughes says.

Besides serving as fond memories and personalized conversation pieces, these elements helped shape the design. The striking area carpets are a good example. “The floors were just bare wood, and the rugs were important to help define and delineate spaces,” Hughes says.

Both homeowner and designer agree that one of the main floor’s strongest suits is its open, three-part layout. “You’ve got the kitchen in the centre, and that’s typically where people migrate to when they’re entertaining,” Threatful says.

Hughes adds: “It also can encourage guests to move around and engage.”

To enhance the open-concept feel, Threatful prioritized flow in her design. Bookended window treatments and velvet textures throughout the space added elements of consistency, while running a cork wallpaper through the main floor “created some continuity between the dining room, the kitchen and the living room.” The wallpaper’s charcoal-coloured sheers created a welcome balance that honoured Hughes’s unique sense of style, too. “I wanted it to be masculine, yet tasteful and stylish,” Threatful says.

All in all, the use of cohesive décor, thoughtful design and personalized elements not only creates a seamless flow of this main floor’s spaces, it offers a beautiful and functional reflection of who Hughes is.

The lighting

Newly installed black-and-gold-accented light fixtures create visual ties throughout the room — a warm contrast from the original design’s bright-chrome overhead lights. Threatful credits these fixtures with providing “an overall ambiance in the space that you didn’t have before.”

The bulkhead

The silver-foil cork wallpaper along the room’s bulkhead — the protruding arch framing the back wall — elevates a builder-grade element into a custom feature.

The homeowner’s collection

Hughes’s art, area carpets and travel artifacts shine in this space. With framed paintings orbiting the dining room’s credenza and kitchen-side nooks for European plates, Threatful intentionally peppered the whole space throughout with Hughes’s personal belongings.

The fireplace

As Threatful notes, Hughes craved the feel of a more formal entertaining room. The fireplace that serves as the living room’s centrepiece in place of a TV is a welcoming addition, especially for holiday gatherings, encouraging unplugged togetherness.

The post Inside a Currie Barracks Condo Filled with Personal Artifacts and Cohesive Textures appeared first on Avenue Calgary.

Jenny and Koki Aihara, parents of two boys and owners of local restaurants Shiki Menya and First Avenue Corner Store, searched for a home with a calming and minimalist vibe for their busy, growing family.

In 2021, the couple found a corner lot in Mount Pleasant and decided to custom build their ideal home with the help of Suzanne Tetrault, owner and principal interior designer of Studio Felix. Together, Tetrault and the Aiharas set out to capture a mix of Japanese and Scandinavian minimalism, and did so using neutral tones and clean lines while incorporating colour, warmth and coziness through furniture, art and plants.

“They’re a fairly young family, so we wanted it to look chic, and we also want it to be completely livable for a family of four,” says Tetrault.

The home was finished in 2024, complete with lots of windows and natural light — a priority for Jenny.

“We added a window literally everywhere that we could,” she says.

The Aiharas wanted an open kitchen and living space that would encourage family time and accommodate entertaining.

“Because we are in the restaurant industry, … [it’s] really important for us to have a place where we could be good hosts,” Jenny says. “Even the small touches — like a built-in bar where we can bartend or serve coffee, a spot to play our vinyl collection and a kitchen island that lets us cook, serve and have conversations with our guests all at once — help create a hospitality-focused, welcoming space.

“It’s subtle, but I definitely think it mirrors the rhythm of a restaurant, where interaction and flow are key.”

That said, the couple also wanted their home to be a calming, minimalist space where they could “recharge from the busyness of our work and family life,” Jenny explains.

The home is peppered with nods to their restaurants, from the kitchen’s green metal stools from First Avenue Corner Store to the framed Shiki Menya posters hanging in the dining space. A particularly meaningful piece is the Shiki Menya rug a customer made and gifted to the couple for the restaurant’s 10th anniversary, which the couple put in their bedroom.

Overall, the flowing, open layout and natural light provide the functionality and comfort that the Aiharas wanted in a welcoming and soothing family home. “We didn’t set out to replicate any part of the restaurants in our home design,” says Jenny. “But, looking at the spaces, you can definitely see the similarities, simply because it’s our natural style and design taste.”

The Piano Room

The piano, which Koki has had for almost 30 years and the whole family now plays, is showcased through custom glass and powder-coated metal doors by Edmonton metalwork company Forge 53°.

The Kitchen

The kitchen embraces the home’s neutral palette with white cabinetry, while incorporating unique elements like wood pulls on the fridge and a matching tiled backsplash and range hood.

The Bar Nook

This space, between the kitchen and living room, makes it easy to whip up drinks while showcasing the family’s books and record collection.

The Living Room

The open flow between the kitchen and living room, along with the low furniture and seating, makes it easy to gather with family and friends while preparing a meal, playing games together or reading.

The Primary Bedroom

A handmade Shiki Menya rug adds coziness to the bedroom, along with a piece above the bed that Jenny and Koki created by attaching a Blacksaw wool blanket to a piece of wood left over from building the home.

The post Inside a Calgary Home That Blends Japanese and Scandinavian Minimalism appeared first on Avenue Calgary.

Matthew and Melanie Kennedy had just returned from their honeymoon when a phone call sparked what would become a seven-year home renovation and preservation journey for their growing family.

A partner and principal at Calgary design company Studio North, Matthew and his team had previously restored two heritage homes in the Parkdale neighbourhood. So when the Jones family was looking to preserve their home — where they had lived for 46 years and raised eight children — Studio North came to mind. The 1,700-square-foot home was built in the early 1910s and was one of the first residences in Parkdale.

After seeing the house for themselves, Matthew and Melanie decided to buy it. The Jones’ agreed — on the condition that the home would be designated as a historic residence. After the house’s historic designation, which was about a six-month process, it became known as both the Grant (Jones) Residence and the Founder’s House.

“These walls have been here for the last 100 years,” says Matthew. “All the people who lived here, and all the great memories that would have happened here — including births and deaths — it’s the walls that hold it all in.” Indeed, two of Matthew’s three children were born in the home.

They began restoring the home, which Matthew says occurred in two phases: a two-year renovation that removed the home’s outdated sunshine ceilings and updated the kitchen and basement, followed by a “slow renovation” that finessed the house over the next five years.

Along with keeping the original plaster throughout the home, the original upstairs flooring and the original downstairs windows that fill the home with dreamy light, Matthew made intentional updates to the space that incorporated a contemporary aesthetic while maintaining the home’s integrity.

Notably, the upstairs windows are all single-hung heritage replicas. In the primary bedroom — Matthew’s favourite space in the house — the windows extend along the ensuite and feature a lower panel of reed glass for privacy.

“When you’re in the shower, or you’re brushing your teeth in the morning, you’re staring at the neighbours’ tree canopy and you still have privacy,” says Matthew. He adds that another highlight in the primary bedroom is the operable skylight, which provides airflow.

Downstairs, the kitchen leads into a garden room, which has large glass doors that open up the south-facing wall to the backyard, creating an indoor-outdoor flow. The detached garage complete with clerestory windows serves as Matthew’s workshop.

In the front yard, the covered veranda and picket fence are design details Matthew feels should be a bigger part of contemporary home design.

“It’s a magical space the way I reimagined it,” says Matthew, who added a swing to the veranda. “That front picket fence acts as a collector. We’ll be out there and have a collection of neighbours in the frontyard, with kids playing around us. It’s this really simple design move that they nailed 100 years ago.”

Now, as the Kennedys prepare for their next chapter, Matthew notes that a new family will be moving in soon — another story to be added to the history of the Grant (Jones) Residence.

The post This Parkdale Heritage Home Was Lovingly Restored by a Calgary Design Company appeared first on Avenue Calgary.

“Behind every product is a person.”

This is Faire Living’s core belief, a sentiment that guides the home goods store’s commitment to beautiful, ethically-made and artisan-crafted products.

After four and a half years in Qualicum Beach, B.C., this mother-daughter-owned business is starting a new chapter in Calgary. Owners Rebekah and Catherine Robertson have settled the new store in Inglewood, drawn to the neighbourhood’s vibrant community of independent businesses.

Housed in the historic Rutherford Building that dates back to 1901, Faire Living is a one-stop lifestyle shop for naturally dyed fashion, handwoven textiles, small-batch porcelain tableware, nursery goods and more.

Faire Living began as a 450-square-foot shop in B.C., originally focused on handmade accessories, jewellery and self-care items. As demand for meaningful home goods grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, the store expanded into curated homeware, art and a now substantial nursery line. It also eventually launched a sister shop, Known Origin, for slow fashion.

Now, for the first time, all three collections — Faire Living Home, Known Origin Womenswear and Faire Nursery — are under one roof.

Rebekah and Catherine understand the potential for connection that lies in every handmade good. They previously worked in bridal accessory design for internationally recognized shows, including New York, London and Shanghai Fashion Weeks. Their background as makers informs their belief that transparency in production is not only ethical but also fosters more meaningful purchases.

“I think when you have that connection, as the purchaser it gives you the opportunity to really cherish the products a bit more,” Rebekah says.

For Rebekah and Catherine, fair practices are rooted in transparency. Featured alongside their store on Pamela Anderson’s TV Show, Garden of Eden, their commissioned collection of handwoven atta grass purses take six to eight weeks to make. The purses are crafted by Indonesian grandmothers in between caring for children, providing an important source of additional income to their communities.

“We make sure we get every detail we can about the production. That can be a very long, very time consuming back and forth between us and the brands,” says Rebekah, “It’s not just about supporting artisan craft. It’s about supporting the artisans as humans.”

1226 9 Ave. S.E., faireliving.com

The post This New Lifestyle Shop Brings Together Beautiful Home Goods, Fashion and Nursery Products appeared first on Avenue Calgary.

Calgarians looking to refresh their home interior have a new destination for high-quality decor and furnishings.

This past spring, Canadian brand Silk & Snow launched its first standalone storefront in Calgary, bringing its selection of eye-catching bedding, bed frames, mattresses, sofas, nightstands and more to 17th Avenue S.W.

The 3,000-square-foot retail space covers all your bedroom needs from the mattress and pillow you lie on to the nightstand you set your glasses on beside your bed. Silk & Snow is also particularly known for its bed sheet selection, which comes in materials like percale or Egyptian cotton, flax linen, muslin or waffle. There are a variety of neutral yet eye-catching colours ranging from eucalyptus to misty rose, depending on which material you choose.

But you won’t just find bedroom decor here — the store also features the brand’s new expansion into modular sofas, which you can try out for yourself in the showroom.

Whether you’re looking to do a full bedroom redesign or to freshen up your space with a new duvet cover or weighted blanket, there’s no shortage of stylish options at Silk & Snow.

825 17 Ave. S.W., 403-456-0111, silkandsnow.com

The post Inside Silk & Snow’s First Calgary Store appeared first on Avenue Calgary.

Daniela Sanchez confesses that it took a little convincing to get her husband on board with a pink kitchen.

“I’m obsessed with pink,” she says. She would have happily splashed every surface with it, so the blush-toned kitchen island in her Point McKay townhome was a compromise.

This particular hue was discovered while wandering through IKEA: “I found a pink plant pot, and I was like, this is the shade,” Sanchez says. For the team at Amanda Hamilton Interior Design, the humble pot served as the perfect inspiration.

“It’s great to start out that way,” says creative director Amanda Hamilton, noting that Sanchez’s request for soft, rounded edges also informed the kitchen’s standout feature — the island. It flows through the space beautifully, and there was a practicality to the silhouette, too.

“Because we have kids in the family, it was really important that the island was curved from a safety aspect,” says Sanchez. “I’m super clumsy, too,” she adds with a laugh. The island is also functional for cooking the foods of Sanchez’s Venezuelan roots — many an arepa has been expertly stuffed on the white quartz counter.

When the family first purchased the townhome the kitchen was dark, dated and in need of a major overhaul. “Like most older homes with traditional floor plans, everything was broken up into different spaces,” says Hamilton, who started by demolishing the wall between kitchen and dining room.

Open white-oak shelving brings both warmth and airiness to the kitchen, and a curved hood fan complements the rounded island. Hamilton notes that open shelving isn’t something all her clients are, well, open to.

“But, I have found that for families or people who love to entertain, open shelves are way more convenient,” she says. The exposed shelves are artfully stacked with the family’s most-used dishes and pretty glassware, while hefty drawers provides space for everything else. The low drawers also make it easy for Sanchez’s daughter to help out in the kitchen and get involved in what’s cooking. “It’s an environment where we can get messy and have fun,” Sanchez says.

The island

A half-inch reveal separates the island countertop from the pink-lacquered MDF, so it almost appears as if it’s floating. “It’s a really nice detail, because it gives each material an opportunity to stand alone, and have a little bit of breathing room,” says designer Hamilton.

The dining area

The original layout of the townhome separated the kitchen from the dining area, but the Amanda Hamilton Design team opened up the wall to create a more open-concept space — something Hamilton says resulted in a “lighter, fresher and brighter” vibe.

The sockets

It’s all in the details: plugs integrated into the kitchen island are a whimsical take on the standard electrical (“they almost look like happy faces,” says Hamilton). The fitting-free sockets are well-placed for a stand mixer, blender or charging a laptop.

The storage

The kitchen was designed with lots of drawers within reach of little hands, so basic dishes and pantry items can be easily obtained by the household’s smallest member. “We want our daughter to be independent, so she has access to everything that she wants,” says Sanchez

The post An IKEA Plant Pot Inspired the Colour of This Calgary Kitchen appeared first on Avenue Calgary.

A glamourous infinity pool, an enormous sunken fireplace and a complete outdoor kitchen aren’t typical features of a Calgary-area home. But, for a Springbank family of five, that was exactly the point. “They wanted it to look like The Four Seasons,” says Jenn MacDonald of DWK Interiors, which designed the project with landscape designer/builder VisionScapes.

Katie Rioux, DWK’s founder and lead designer, says the backyard reno began during the COVID-19 pandemic, and travel restrictions inspired the grandiose vision. “The thinking was, ‘If we can’t go away to a resort, why don’t we bring the resort to us?’” Rioux says.

The homeowner describes the original outdoor area as “a clean slate” — an overgrown field of nothing but grass and potential. The reno began as a fairly modest endeavour, but as the family, DWK and VisionScapes worked together, and the uncertainty brought by the pandemic continued, the project grew. A humble pool became a sizable showstopper with dramatic fire bowls. A small water feature became a dreamy stream surrounding a huge outdoor sunken living room. An outdoor cooking area became a total gourmet kitchen with built-in storage, leathered granite countertops and a pizza oven, direct from Italy.

The homeowners’ style leans modern, so the design team embraced high-contrast elements and colours. The materials are beautiful, but also functional. “Aesthetically, it looks really nice, and it’s very easy to maintain,” says the homeowner. The sunken fire pit, for example, is made of concrete, with cushions crafted from weather-ready, simple-to-clean fabric.

Though travel is now back on the table, the family (and their many guests) is more than happy to check-in at their private oasis instead. “On any given weekend, we have 20-ish people over,” the homeowner shares. The stunning backyard retreat is like going on vacation, right outside their back door.

The fire pit

Thirty or so people can fit comfortably around the sunken fire pit, which the homeowner says wasn’t originally planned to be so large, but the more, the merrier. “We just went from zero to 100,” she affirms.

The deck

Furnishings from Bernhardt make the upper-patio area totally lounge-worthy, and, thanks to screens and accordion doors, it’s a year-round hangout spot.

The dining area

A pretty pergola and wow-worthy industrial chandelier make the dining table its own special moment. “It’s my favourite spot in this whole design,” says MacDonald.

The extras

On top of the beautiful lounge spaces, the backyard also has a mini-putt course and a full sport court. “Our home is a hub for family and friends, and the space is grand enough to accommodate it all,” says the homeowner.

The post This Springbank Home Underwent the Ultimate Backyard Renovation appeared first on Avenue Calgary.