A cheat sheet for levelling up at home | Canada Voices

As we stare down several more months of winter, staying in has become the new going out. Coupled with the rising cost of both lifestyle pleasures and consumer staples, the at-home economy is poised to thrive. Middle-income Canadians are cutting back on discretionary spending – trading down on restaurant visits and nights out and opting for more accessible indulgences.

The comfort (and cost savings) of hanging out at home has its upsides. Our cheat sheet suggests five small, simple and slow pleasures that elevate the everyday.

The breakfast tray

Brunching out with friends less often? Swapping out a few pantry staples makes breakfast at home something to look forward to – especially since you get to avoid the brunch-rush lineup. On pancakes and waffles, we like the small-batch nut butters from Montreal’s Logan Petit Lot. Peanut butter sea salt is the brand’s hero, but don’t sleep on limited-edition seasonal variations such as pecan maple butter ($10-$19, loganpetitlot.shop). And our childhood after-school snack staple gets a grown-up spin while still packing a ton of nostalgia with Kanel’s organic cinnamon toast spice blend ($13, kanel.com).

The bathroom

Every spritz of Persons of Interest’s eucalyptus aromatherapy shower mist fills the room with an invigorating, spa-like atmosphere. A bottle lasts dozens of showers and is cheaper than a single visit to sauna and cold plunge hot spot Othership. The cult Toronto fragrance brand is the passion project of Dino Caracciolo, the fourth-generation barber behind men’s grooming brand Crown Shaving Co. ($48, personsofinterest.ca). On a similar note, Saje’s shower steamers are small but mighty pucks that slowly release essential oil aromatics and ambience ($8, saje.ca).

The bar cart

Invest the bar tab of a night out into elevating an ingredient in your favourite cocktail at home. To take a classic martini from bar rail to top shelf, try a higher-quality vermouth. Val Caudalies Lab Sec ($24.95, saq.com), the first Quebec vermouth, is made from Frontenac gris and blanc grapes and gets its personality from bitter herbs as well as green olives. Esquimalt’s dry vermouth from the Vancouver Island award-winning vermouth and apéritif distillery has picked up multiple prizes ($32.98, esquimaltvermouth.ca), and in Vineland, Ont., Tawse winery’s Riesling-based dry vermouth ($22.95, tawsewinery.ca) is brightly floral, certified organic and biodynamic.

Each delivers its own subtle spin on herbaceous dry martinis, but unlike premium imports such as Noilly Prat or Dolin, they come with bragging rights about complex regional terroir that’s homegrown.

Bedroom

When a weekend getaway isn’t in the budget, bedtime can still be lofty. The softly heathered 100-per-cent cotton flannel sheets from Simons Maison’s private label collection are designed at its home decor studio and made in Germany by a company that’s been producing flannel since 1885 ($50, simons.ca). Add one of Hôtels Le Germain’s Duveteuse feather and down pillows ($95, simons.ca) and enjoy nights of deep, peaceful sleep.

Entertainment room

To trim back on entertainment spend and monthly streaming subscriptions, up your analog, dust off that DVD player and get a library card. In addition to the trove of physical media – books, CDs, movies and series box sets – in their circulating collection, many public library systems also offer free access to a wide variety of high-quality online programming through partner platforms.

Medici.tv includes not only classical music concerts, operas and ballets but the full Naxos Music Library, one of the largest classical music streaming platforms available. Library streamers such as Hoopla and Kanopy boast docs, classic films and the latest from Criterion and Kino Lorber (many major new studio releases are available to stream for free on Hoopla while they’re still on video-on-demand elsewhere). And don’t forget about free streaming platforms, including Plex and Tubi.