The old chestnut about one man’s trash becoming another man’s treasure has just enough of a patina to apply to how Paul Lavoie shopped for his two-storey, 1,600-square-foot townhouse in the California desert.

Not typically one to favour vintage furniture, Lavoie made his Palm Springs pad a hotbed of mid-20th century finds. "Lots of people in Palm Springs sell their houses furnished," he explains. "So this fosters a whole consignment culture, because buyers need to get rid of all the stuff they don’t want."
Lavoie wanted it-the choice bits, anyway. The townhouse showcases one great find after another: glass vases converted into lamps, topped with red barrel shades; a black and white snakeskin stool; two zebra rugs; a set of four armchairs on wheels in original canary yellow vinyl; an ornate white lacquered mirror frame; and even a bronze bowling elephant. Yes, a bowling elephant. "I always call myself a designer," says Lavoie, "but this is my second home, so I felt I could explore just decorating."

Just don’t describe the decor of Lavoie’s Palm Springs project as "eclectic." "I prefer the word collected, which, to me, means that you’ve found things along your path and you love those things. ‘Eclectic’ sounds like you went out and bought a bunch of unusual stuff, but this did not happen overnight. This has taken me at least two years to collect."

In addition to the secondhand goods, more decor thrills came from yet another one of Lavoie’s trade secrets, the budget-friendly mass-market retailers he frequents. These include design-conscious discount chain Target (for his towels, linens and frames), Pottery Barn (a headboard), Anthropologie (antler-themed cabinet hardware), Crate & Barrel (upholstered master bedroom headboard) and Home Depot (graphic wallpaper in the foyer). "Seriously," he says caressing a set of sheets in the black-and-white themed guestroom. "These cost almost nothing, but feel the thread count! Amazing."
It all adds up to a clear departure from his simple, classic approach that’s been celebrated in Architectural Digest and beyond. Lavoie admits that he lost his typical restraint, and had fun letting go. Pointing to the birch-printed wallpaper in both sleeping quarters, which he brought from Calgary, he calls it a nod to Canada’s forests. "Usually I am against accent walls, but because I had broken all my conventional rules of design, there it is. I thought it had a nice texture."

Lavoie wanted this home in the heat to be real getaway for himself, his partner Doug and their wire fox terrier, Edward. No suggestions of work or renovations here: they do not have a home office and purposely sought out a property that required zero structural changes. The walls largely remained white, and where most of Lavoie’s neighbours laid down tiles, he opted to leave the polished cement flooring as is.

The last room on the things-to-do list was the kitchen. "We go to bars, little cocktail parties and restaurants. We’re not really a dinner party-throwing couple." Thus the dining table, which functions more as a stand for Lavoie’s oversized Queen Victoria bust, is pushed to one corner, placing the focus of the centrepiece room on the panoramic view of Mount San Jacinto, where the couple enjoys hiking and bike-riding. What comes forward is the streamlined, white couch backed by an eight-foot-tall, ebony chinoiserie screen that hides the fireplace. Finding no way to arrange the furniture around the fireplace, the only solution was to get rid of it. "Anyhow, we didn’t need it," Lavoie deadpans. "We’re from Canada."

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