Hi, I'm Dani Roche
and Welcome to my Sweet Digs. You can come inside, but beware of dog. So this unit is about 1,500 square feet and for Toronto standards,
I would say that that’s pretty amazing. I really love furniture and design, so being able to actually
have a space to hold everything feels like an incredible luxury. I live in the Queen West
neighborhood in Toronto. I really like it because there’s... a really rich community
of artists and designers. And then you have the perfect
marriage between a lot of parks nearby, as well as a lot of
cool shops and restaurants. The first room in the
house is the photo studio. With my agency, Kastor & Pollux, we do everything from branding
projects to still life photography. So this is kind of where
the photo magic happens. Prior to moving in here, I was
renting both a studio and an apartment. So when I was looking
for potentially new spaces, I decided to combine both of them and then I could get something
kind of bigger, better, more light. So I spend $3,600 currently on rent
for my studio and live-work space. Not only is this where I shoot content, but it’s also where I house
all the things that need homes. It’s a general catchall
that I don't know how to put away. Over here, it’s actually my favorite
piece which is this vintage Treko dresser, which in an ideal world would be housing
clothes, but for the studio purposes, it’s just kind of
housing junk, to be honest. Because this is a live-work space, it’s
really important for me to have an area where I can just chill and relax. So, this is my family room,
which is obviously where I watch TV, but it’s also the home to
some of my favorite pieces. This sofa is a really exciting find. It’s Soriano sofa with original
upholstery from the ‘70s. And beside it sits this
handmade concrete side table by local artists Susan Percita. And of course, over
here is my beloved mirror. I saved my money for a
couple of years to buy this one but I think it will stand the test of time. It’s an iconic design from the ‘70s and it lights up. My kitchen used to be one of my
least favorite parts of the apartment, but now that I've started
actively cooking and baking, I've grown to love it a lot. Cooking and baking are great because. it helps me become a lot more
sustainable with my choices I definitely was eating
out and ordering in a lot, but now I can kind of use
everything that’s in my fridge, and try out new recipes,
which is really exciting. And I recently got this espresso machine, so I've been learning how to make coffees. I'm not sure if they're as good as the ones that I can get outside in the real world, but I try my best. Sustainability is important to me because I want to be conscious in every
decision that I make in my life. When I was younger,
I definitely consumed a lot more. I was buying things that were temporary and not necessarily built to last. Now that I'm older,
I'm a collector of things. When I make any purchases, I'm making sure that I'm going to hold on
to that item for a long time and not just dispose of it after a year. This is the dining room and this is the table
that I both work and eat at. In an ideal world, I would
have a separate desk, but alas, the right one
hasn’t come along yet. This space was always a place where people could come in and
work and talk and collaborate. And now that I've moved
into working from home, it's definitely a lot quieter. Luckily, I got Suki, so she's the best
coworker I could ask for right now. The four chairs that I have here are
actually a Facebook Marketplace find. They're Predi DST chairs from the ‘70s and they're originally from
the Toronto General Hospital. So I think that’s pretty cool
that they're in my house now. And then over here
are a couple of my plants. I actually have 13 plants in this apartment and these two are in my favorite planters. They're made from recycled
plastic and they're from Ikea. I feel super fortunate to have a moderately big
bathroom with beautiful lights. In places that I've lived before, the bathroom was either
super small or no windows and I have the luxury of
having this beautiful window, and there's a tub. This is my bedroom, it's one of
the smallest areas in the house and really lacking storage for my clothes. That said, one of my latest
finds is this Ikea storage bed. It's called the Nordli,
it is made out of wood which is a renewable
resource and really helping me on my sustainability journey. My favorite parts of the room though are two things that are made by my friends. So on the bed is a quilt
made by my friend Justin and on the wall is a painting from Kendra. I asked her to incorporate
Suki and my cat Billy, so I think it makes it really special. For additional storage for the
room, I also have this dresser. This is another Facebook Marketplace
find and it holds just extra clothes, as well as my bags and
some beauty products. Between my design work, my fashion sense and I guess my interior design preferences, the house definitely is a lot of
space age design, a lot of colors. Sometimes it can kind of
skew in the cartoon direction but I don’t necessarily
think that’s a bad thing. Of course, trends are great, but I'm definitely more selective
with what I choose to purchase and why. Thanks so much for stopping by
and checking out my sweet digs. See you later!
