WHO: Kingi Carpenter, 45, owner of Peach Berserk Fabric & Fashion Shop and Silkscreen Workshop (for more information, see www.peachberserk.com) and her daughter, Digby, 8.

WHAT: A hundred-year-old converted warehouse building on Queen West, now a four-storey shop-front apartment with a store on the first floor, a screen-printing workshop on the second and living quarters on the upper two levels.

THE STORY: As you step behind the scenes of Peach Berserk, walking through the store and screen-­printing studio, paint pots lie scattered around and silkscreens lean up against splattered walls. Inspired by the art collections displayed in old Victorian houses, pictures of different styles and subjects tessellate over sky-blue sponge-painted walls. Portraits of Carpenter and her father painted by family friend and Toronto artist Brenda Bury sit alongside graphic-style linoleum cuts by her friend Frederica Thomas. Some paintings are arranged by theme, like depictions of Parisian coffee culture, or playful female nudes. Carpenter explains how, like her business, her decor has evolved naturally, without following rules adding, “There’s a joie de vivre here.”

The functionality of the room also feels like it has evolved. Tables and seats are scattered around rather than arranged to form a conventional seating area, incorporating coloured glass tables from the 2000-2001 One of a Kind Shows and a dusky pink Victorian style sofa from her parent’s family home. Carpenter perches on the claw-foot bath (which she got from a wrecking yard for around $100), while explaining matter-of-factly that the area beneath the stairs in the living room was simply the only place to put it. “Even if someday I’m rich, I’ll always have the tub here.” Her bed is prominently displayed as well, something some people might find too intimate. Carpenter shrugs, “I wouldn’t want to live in a place with rooms. I want to be able to look at all of my cute stuff at the same time.” 

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