Daniel Stoffman’s living room.Darryl Dyck/The Globe and Mail
Two years ago, after several fruitful decades spent living and writing in Toronto, Canadian author Daniel Stoffman decided to move back to his native British Columbia and into a house that he and his wife, Judy, had been renting out since the nineties. The detached home, built in Kitsilano in 1907, needed an update, so Stoffman set about a top-to-bottom renovation that modernized the interior but left a number of period details along with the original facade intact. His thoughtful preservation work earned the dwelling a heritage designation from the City of Vancouver, along with a featured spot on the Vancouver Heritage Foundation's Heritage Home Tour, which takes place on June 7. Participants of the tour will be invited into Stoffman's living room, whose whimsical decor suits the home's vintage character. "It's a relaxing room," says the author of Boom, Bust & Echo and the Canadian Tire history Living the Canadian Dream who is currently at work on a new book, "a place to hang out in."
The chair
"It's a wing chair bought at a used furniture store on Queen Street West in Toronto. We reupholstered it in a checked fabric by Pierre Deux."
The mask
"The wolf mask is from the Skeena River area in B.C. , home to the Tsimshian and Gitxsan First Nations peoples. We have an interest in native Canadian art, and when I saw it I thought it was just beautiful."
The tiles
"Judy has been collecting these for years. They are 19th-century English tiles manufactured by Minton in Stoke-on-Trent. She finds them on eBay and they come in packages from as far away as New Zealand and Texas. Each one is individual."
The ottoman
"This is from Toronto interior designer Robert Wilson. It has two uses: You can sit on it or put a tray of hors d'oeuvres on it. We entertain a lot, so that thing gets used."
The map
"This is by the late artist Greg Curnoe and called America. It's Curnoe's version of North America but with the U.S. deleted. It's a satirical print and very humorous. We got it from his dealer in London, Ont."
The cushion
"Judy is Hungarian-born and she bought this in Budapest. It's typical of Hungarian folk art. I like it a lot. The love seat is a bit formal-looking and this cushion humanizes it. It gives it a more relaxed look."