WL HOMES // welcome, christmas
Personal Touch The boldly colourful dining room acts as the jewel box—and main entertaining space—in the home. The sideboard (right) was one of the first pieces Ward and her husband purchased for the house. And a barrister’s bookcase (below) hosts souvenirs of their world travels.
If
Sarah Ward’s house is inviting year-round, it’s entirely irresistible during the holidays. After all, if a host actually wanted her visitors to leave—ever—would she park a basket of soft blankets beside the sofa? Or hang fluffy boughs of fir, light candles, pull delicious homemade things out of the oven, encourage a lapdog to curl up beside them, and stoke the flames of seasonal nostalgia? Nope, she wouldn’t. We hate to presume, but we’re certain Ward will be disappointed if your December visit to her home in Calgary’s Bankview neighbourhood is anything short of languorous. Ward is a master of conjuring warmth and elegance out of unlikely spaces of all sizes. You can see her magic touch in full effect at Donna Mac, a one-year-old upscale diner on the ground floor of a new building in Calgary’s Beltline neighbourhood. The restaurant pivots on shareable, small-plate comfort food; Ward’s bright, human-scale design manages to both capture the coziness of family-style dining and respect the establishment’s shiny new digs and fairly experimental menu. “I love that Donna Mac has a 14-foot ceiling, but it feels intimate in that room,” she says. “I used a lot of wood and natural materials
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