A Winner in Whistler

Full confession€”I know Piers Cunnington, who’s both the owner and the architect of this home, quite well. But before you say the fix is in please consider that I’m not choosing my own house so I think my bona fides are just fine. The fact is I love this house, because I love Whistler and this home reverbs with how I imagine I’d live in the Alpine Idyll if I could. It’s clean and modern, but never lapses into harsh or stark. Also it seems functional, not just in an everything works properly sort of way, but in a I can leave it for a few weeks and it won’t go to rat shit sort of way. Low maintenance, high style€”I can think of worse descriptions for a person or a house.€”Neal McLennan, travel editor

A So-Close-Yet-So-Far Dream in Palm Springs

I’m not ashamed: I’ll pick Neal’s house as my favourite of the year. If it’s wrong for me to choose my cubicle neighbour’s Palm Springs getaway as my fave, I don’t want to be right. Maybe it’s the beautiful tiling, or the dreamy palm trees, or the bedroom fireplace; maybe it’s the fact that this 1940s remodel is a complete 180 from the (also gorgeous!) West Coast modernism we usually see in these pages; or maybe it’s the fact that I was so close to finagling an invite to visit it in-person (they tragically sold the damn thing recently€”rudely, not to me for a friends-and-family discount). Whatever the “it” factor, I’ll be California dreamin’ of this cover home for a while yet.€”Stacey McLachlan, executive editor

Colourful in Calgary

When we’re selecting homes for the print edition, we go through a delicate dance of choosing spaces that work well for the time of year, that complement and contrast each other in any given issue€”a selection of homes that give readers a great range of design and style every month. But when I saw this Calgary home from designer Paul Lavoie, I just said, “Yes! We want it!” without figuring out where and when we’d have a spot for it. We knew it deserved the cover, with its gorgeously creative use of colour and pattern, and so that meant October€”just the time of year when things are starting to get grey and brown outside, and just the time when I’m most excited to get a blast of something bold. It’s one of those homes that demonstrates the true talent of great interior design: to understand how a broad colour palette can work together, a feat best left to the professionals.€”Anicka Quin, editorial director

A Penny Floor in Pentiction

A floor made of pennies? Check. Hammocks? Check. Dogs? Check. Besides having all of the unique details, places to lie down, and four-legged friends I look for in a home, this Okanagan abode designed by Goeff Orr is made almost entirely from reclaimed materials. Inspired by the land it was built on (which was previously devastated by one of the worst wildfires in B.C.’s history), the home and three off-the-grid rental cabins give new life to old windows, glulam beams, and fir posts. Orr and his wife Katherine also constructed a “beach” outside: the ideal setup to allow for spending the day moving from bed to beach towel to hammock.€”Alyssa Hirose, assistant editor