Artist's Lofts

I've been looking and drooling recently over decor blogs which feature "hard" lofts with naked cement and soaring windows. I commented on Solid Frog, that these lofts are almost impossible to find in Toronto. Everything's been converted, plastered, hidden, covered in the North American Ticky-Tacky that we're supposed to love. And once everything has been covered in plasterboard and painted "Builder's White" (except for that one industrial-looking tube - they're de rigeur) the realtors still advertise them as "Artist's Lofts".


An example. Up the side-street from me is a warehouse dating from 1907. I think it was originally a candy warehouse and then a baseball glove manufacturer. It's not bad as far as loft conversions go - they actually left the plaster off a couple of exposed walls. When we first arrived in the area the building was populated with trapeze artists, painters, musicians, photographers - people with pin-ball machine collections, people who trekked to Burning Man. Out back was a communal garden and a fire-pit. Then one day, these residents were told they had to move from their apartments because their living-spaces were being renovated into Artist's Lofts.  Oh the irony.

Photo from B&B Italia via Mia Linnman at Solid Frog