About Canadian House & Home

Canadian House & Home

House & Home — known as Canadian House & Home — is Canada's leading design and decorating magazine, published monthly in Toronto by House & Home Media under founder and publisher Lynda Reeves. Launched in its current form in 1986 as the country's first design and decorating magazine, it has grown into a multi-platform brand spanning print, television, digital video, e-commerce and licensed merchandise, reaching millions of design lovers across North America.

Overview

The magazine takes readers inside distinctive and beautiful homes in North America and abroad, delivering design trends, product and store coverage, decorating advice, dramatic makeovers, renovation and DIY guidance, and recipes and entertaining ideas. Published monthly and edited by Emma Reddington, it is, in the publisher's description, Canada's most widely read design publication, reaching over 2.2 million readers primarily across Canada and the United States. Through digital channels, the broader House & Home brand reaches over 9.4 million design lovers every month.

The brand also publishes Maison & Demeure, its French-language counterpart featuring unique editorial content from Quebec, and special single-topic magazines that appear on North American newsstands and digital platforms.

History

The House & Home title has a long history reaching back to 1952, when House & Home, The Magazine of Building began as a monthly American architecture magazine published by Time Inc. — an offshoot of Architectural Forum sent to 100,000 subscribers, edited and published by P.I. Prentice with Douglas Haskell as editorial chairman. It covered home building, planning and building materials until its sale to McGraw-Hill in 1964; it was renamed Housing in 1978 and merged with Builder magazine in 1982.

The Canadian magazine's story begins in 1986, when Toronto interior designer Lynda Reeves purchased the title and resurrected the original name, relaunching it as the first publication in Canada devoted to design, decorating, food and lifestyle trends. Reeves — born and raised in Niagara Falls, a University of Toronto Trinity College arts graduate with a teaching degree who had been a high school teacher and guidance counsellor before becoming managing partner of a Toronto interior design firm — was inspired by the lack of available information about the design field.

The relaunch succeeded, and the brand expanded relentlessly. House & Home with Lynda Reeves became Canada's first daily design and lifestyle television series: it premiered in September 1998 as a weekday half-hour on CTV, ran four seasons there, and continued on the Life Channel, ultimately producing nine seasons and 500 episodes of house tours, decorating lessons, cooking segments and design news, with Reeves as host and executive producer. She now executive-produces House & Home Online TV, with new episodes weekly. The brand's merchandise has been licensed by major retailers — the Bay, Home Outfitters and Zellers in earlier years, more recently the TJX banners Winners, HomeSense and Marshalls — and the company has collaborated with brands including Scotties on a designer tissue-box collection. The Lynda Reeves Design Studio, her in-house firm, designs grand-prize show homes for the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation and created the 2014 TIFF Red Carpet Suite.

The magazine marked its 30th year of publishing with its November 2016 issue — 172 pages of style and décor advice — with Reeves telling the trade press that the company's strategy was to keep investing in print while expanding into e-commerce, events and television. The magazine marked its 30th year of publishing with its November 2016 issue — 172 pages of style and décor advice — presented as evidence that investing in print quality, rather than cutting it, was the path to survival. "We never sell one medium — we sell our footprint, always," she said, arguing that for home enthusiasts print remained essential: "they want to carry those pictures to the store, or to curl up with it." While other Canadian publishers cut frequencies, House & Home upgraded its paper stock, and Reeves contended that publishers who stopped investing in content had only themselves to blame when readers drifted away.

Content

The magazine's editorial content centres on homes and how to make them: house tours, room makeovers, decorating projects, design-trend reporting, product roundups, renovation guidance, DIY projects, and food and entertaining features. The tone is authoritative and inspirational, aimed at readers who want both ideas and the practical knowledge to execute them. A typical issue tours beautiful homes, surveys new stores and products, and offers decorating advice from Reeves and a roster of designers and stylists, alongside DIY projects, recipes, entertaining tips and introductions to notable new designers. Standing departments add service journalism with a travel flavour — city guides covering where to stay and eat, from boutique hotels to classic dining rooms — reflecting the magazine's belief that design lovers are travellers too.

Special single-topic magazines extend the brand onto newsstands with deep dives into kitchens, baths, small spaces and seasonal decorating, while the French-language Maison & Demeure serves Quebec with original content rather than translations.

Coverage & Audience

House & Home is a national Canadian title with significant American readership, serving design enthusiasts — predominantly women — who follow interior trends, renovate, decorate and entertain. The print magazine's 2.2 million readers and the brand's 9.4 million monthly digital reach make it the dominant design-media brand in the Canadian market, with the portfolio as a whole reaching a reported 5.5 million people across platforms.

Ownership

House & Home is published by House & Home Media, the Toronto-based company founded and led by Lynda Reeves as publisher. The independent, founder-led ownership has allowed the brand to pursue its multi-platform strategy — print, television, digital, events, merchandise — without the retrenchment that has characterized much of Canadian magazine publishing. Reeves remains the brand's public face, appearing in its online television series and as a sought-after speaker on design at television and live events, including the Interior Design Show in Toronto. She is also principal designer of the Lynda Reeves Design Studio, an in-house firm she founded to promote talented young designers, taking on select residential projects. Media databases list the title as a verified magazine of international scope, reflecting its cross-border readership.

Digital Presence

The brand's website, houseandhome.com, is its digital hub: designer and stylist profiles, dramatic makeovers, furniture and fabric coverage, H&H TV episodes, expert tips on design, renovation and DIY, plus recipes and entertaining ideas. Video is a major pillar: the Behind the Design series pairs Reeves with designers for in-depth project stories — such as a dark, dated Vancouver house converted into a light-filled family home — while designer Q&A formats and kitchen tours (including Reeves's own custom kitchen, revisited for updates) keep the channel fed. The brand maintains a YouTube channel and active accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and X, where its photography-led content reaches design lovers who may never pick up the print edition. The company was an early mover in social video for the shelter category, holding Facebook Live events for an audience of more than one million followers and building a strong Pinterest presence of close to 100,000 followers. Digital editions carry the same promise — DIY projects, recipes, entertaining tips and introductions to notable new designers — extending the print formula to subscribers on tablets and phones. E-commerce — letting audiences purchase products directly from the site — has been a strategic priority since the 30th anniversary, completing the journey from inspiration to transaction that defines modern shelter media.