Linda Wade is photographed in her favourite room, the living room in her Toronto home on October 1, 2015.Jennifer Roberts/The Globe and Mail
When she was a student of interior design at Toronto's Humber College, Linda Wade visited a Victorian row house on Macpherson Avenue that one of her classmates had transformed as part of a term project. It was love at first sight. Promising herself that she'd one day own a house just like it, for years she trolled the same Rosedale street in hopes that the property of her dreams would come up for sale. With her late husband, Martin Dwyer, Wade opened Putti Fine Furnishings on nearby Yonge Street in 1994, partly as a way of keeping tabs on the neighbourhood. She told everyone who entered what was top of her bucket list and, as luck would have it, one of her customers – Hilary Farr, co-host of the television show Love It or List It – had what she was looking for. Not only was Farr's 1895 property on Macpherson, it had exactly the same layout as the one Wade had fallen for during her student days. Before you could say kismet, Wade bought it. That was 17 years ago, and ever since, the indulgent homeowner has been doting on the interior, decorating it with Paris-inspired looks borrowed from her store. The resulting rooms are very pretty, but it's the living room that most catches the eye. "I love the light," says Wade, who rents her place out on Airbnb while on professional buying trips to Europe. "It's where I entertain when people come over."
The prints
"This herbarium was the first thing I brought into the house. My husband and I had done one up for the store using a herbarium portfolio from France from the 1800s. We liked it so much we had 24 made for the house. I love symmetry, and the fireplace, to me, cried out to have something symmetrical on the flanking walls, and hung from floor to ceiling."
The daybeds
"I love those daybeds! They are from Oly Studios in California. I found them in a showroom in North Carolina. I had only one at first, but with my love of symmetry I decided to add a second. I like how they frame the sitting area. They are made of hand-carved wood and raffia topped by a stuffed white cotton mattress. They recently became discontinued but I carry something similar looking in my store."
The mirror
"This was in the shop – and for a number of years. No one had bought it, and after I purchased the house I brought it in and found that it fit perfectly, as if I had had it custom made for the space above the mantel. It's a gilded antique French mirror also from the 1800s."
The dogs
"We used to sell these ceramic dogs in the store; I just loved them. They were discontinued and I held on to the last pair my suppliers had for myself. When I was away on a buying trip, a customer came into the store wanting two, and without realizing how very attached I was to them, my store manager, Michael Stewart, went into my house, took what I had, and sold them. I was devastated. It took him over a year of searching but eventually he found another pair for me. He had to drive down to Buffalo to get them. He gave them to me last year for Christmas. They remain among my favourite things in the home."