Designer wants to create boutique hotel look in her own home

Belinda Albo works as a designer for residential, commercial and hospitality projects, including Winnipeg’s iconic Fort Garry Hotel. When she bought an outdated 1930s semi in Toronto after becoming an empty-nester, she wanted to create a boutique hotel style look and feel in her own home. Would it work? “I’m in the mature state of my life, but was not ready to go into a condo,” she says.

“I still liked the idea of parking my car and going in the front door. I like being part of a neighbourhood and community.” Albo wanted to finding an affordable home in an affordable neighbourhood, a place she could renovate to suit her vision.



The small semi, which had changed little since it was built almost a century ago, fit the bill. She knew she’d be taking down walls between its small rooms “because no one lives like that anymore” to create an open-concept layout. The home is just 800 square feet on the main floor, with three bedrooms upstairs.

“The challenge was trying to do it quickly, as I had plans for my kids to visit,” Albo says. “I wanted to create a hotel vibe and wanted it to look like you have you everything need, but nothing you didn’t. You can have purposeful design and still have style, comfort and elegance.

” Fort Garry Hotel has been a long-time client and she applied what she has learned there to create a luxe hotel feel in her home. She has used a neutral palette of black, white and brown throughout, with black and gold accents. Not all rooms in a house have to look different, says Albo, and changing just one little thing can distinguish one from another.

She’s used the same vinyl plank flooring throughout, and the same area rugs in two of the bedrooms. For a bathroom, she always buys white towels, as their colour won’t fade with multiple washings. “I find, when a house has flow, there’s a magic to the whole look,” she says.

Another hack for creating a hotel vibe is using fragrance, and her go-to is a Pomegranate Noir scent diffuser. Her house is modern in style with some nostalgic elements, and she offers this advice: “You should never ..

. do two styles equally. It should be 90 per cent one style and 10 per cent of another, just enough that it gives some personality.

”.