Hello 2026!

With the Holidays and the New Year in the rear view mirror January can sometimes feel a little flat, I however, like the change, the pacing, the fresh page, and looking at all that I want to do in the year ahead.

 In January, the weather has certainly kept me on my toes and it has made walking Reba more like an antarctic adventure at times. I pass my fellow dog owners, all bundled up and muffled, we wave our chubby insulated mitts at each other and don’t pause to chat. 

Having a dog in the winter however is a lovely thing, especially if they love the snow like my girl does. All she needs is a dusting and she’s in it headfirst, performing the dog version of snow angels and jumping around like a cross between a show pony and a rabbit. 

She makes me see the fun and adventure in it all!!

I had a lovely quiet time over the holidays, the Scottish poet Donna Ashworth refers to it as ‘’wintering” which I think is simply perfect. I left my computer at my desk and wasn’t tethered to my phone.  Instead I managed to read three books and around twenty magazines. I adore the flip of the switch that occurs when everything slows down and you can simply be, my inbox slows to a kinder more reasonable level of mail (nearly all unsolicited and not worth reading) and I love to spend more time with the printed page than an illuminated screen.

My winter holiday readings are noted at the end of this journal if you are looking for something to delve into this winter. 

But firstly my trend for this decade or maybe its simply a statement of fact in my humble opinion! 

Are Adult Women the Only People Who Now Use Coat Hangers?

There I’ve said it on the printed page, and its something I’ve been discussing with clients. No one seems to hang anything up anymore on a hanger or use a towel bar in the bathroom unless you are of a certain vintage and that never used to be the case. 

I love a good coat hanger, love arranging my closet in seasons and colour blocks from light to dark with splashes of colour in-between. But many days I feel like this way of living may go extinct in favour of folding (sometimes simply stuffing) or hanging things on wall hooks. 

I say this all without judgement just a healthy dose of curiosity. 

I first noticed it during 2020, everyone and their stuff was at home and it wasn’t pretty. 

Bedroom and bathroom floors in my clients kids spaces would be littered with clothing and damp towels. In several homes we removed the hanging rods completely from their kids closets, in some instances even the doors, and made their closet interiors look more like a mudroom – wall hooks, open cubbies and shelves.

Towel bars were removed from bathroom walls in favour of wall hooks. 

It’s just so much easier to get someone to hang something up if it doesn’t involve any friction and who doesn’t want to live a life with more ease?

I’d love to hear your comments on this thought.

 Even in my own studio especially at this time of year I tire of us all stuffing our puffy coats onto hangers and then into the closet – a wall of hooks would be so much simpler, but then I’d want that concealed behind a door so it wouldn’t feel like we were working in a locker room. 

Hanging Towels on Hooks – 5 Things to Consider!

1.

Having heated floors in your bathroom will assist greatly in the drying of your towels. Something to consider – as a damp towel in a non-heated, poorly ventilated space will simply begin to smell over time. 

2.

When purchasing towels consider ones with built-in loops for hanging. This works really well with smaller hand or guest towels which don’t always hook well. 

3.

Hand towels in a powder room that gets used frequently by multiple people, need multiple towels. This is where wall hooks work really well – hang three in a row and have an abundance of towels instead of just one.

4.

Same thought for a family bathroom with multiple people sharing, hooks allow for each person to have their own towel and we love (of course) mixing colours and patterns so each person knows which one is theirs at a glance! 

5.

A plain linen hand towel looks wonderful when pressed but a little bit awful once its been used. Consider waffle towels or those with texture and pattern to minimize the looks of creases and crunches. 

My (so far) Winter Reads!

I read the following books over the holidays & would highly recommend them all. 

1.

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

This was a selection for my book club and I loved this book, not everyone did. Split into two halves, the first is seen through the eyes of university professor Tom (he lives in 2119) and whose studies are centered around the time period 1990 – 2030, and who has an obsession on the lives of a poet and his wife from this time. 

The second half, my preferred half, is from the poets wife’s journals. 

It shows us, that even with all the technology, all the oversharing on social media, it is very hard to know the real truth and what makes a person tick. It’s also a terrifying glimpse into climate change and missiles gone awry. 

2.

Property by Kate Caley

This is Toronto writer Kate Caley’s first novel. Centered around  a street and its residents in an up and coming Toronto neighbourhood. The novel spans a day. It is a tale of no matter how well we think we know – or simply judge to know our neighbours, we never really know what goes on behind closed doors or in our big heads. Its also a tale of renovating for profit without any care or concern for the workers or the neighbourhood. 

This could all be happening on a street close to you which is what makes it a compelling read! 

3.

The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny

Truthfully this was a reread as I had purchased The Black Wolf at Louise Penny’s book event at Massey Hall last November, and I knew a refresh of where all was at was needed before I dived into her new one.

As the titles suggest this is a 2-part series although with all her books in the Inspector Gamache series, they can read individually although I think best together in sequence.  

I adore the stories of  Armand Gamache and the village of Three Pines. I won’t give anything away but this and the Dark Wolf make for an at times very unsettling but thought provoking read!

Thank You

Thank you for making it to the end of the first of my journals for 2026. 

Within the walls of our studio I am excited for what we are creating and what we will be sharing with you in print and online soon. 

We have two projects being published in print in the spring and I am excited for both to hit newsstands. There is nothing like seeing your work in print. My first project to be published was in 2001 in Scotland, not long before I moved to Canada, we also got the cover of Homes & Interiors Scotland which was a massive achievement. 

January brings IDS (Interior Design Show) to Toronto. I am hoping for lots of Canadian content and to meet makers and new industry contacts. 

Wishing you a heart filled February!  

Warmly 

Gillian 

Credits, images, musings and some more contents of my head.

Trio of header images 1. Green scarf and sand coat – sourced on Pinterest, original source unknown. 2. A very cozy bedroom by Susannah Holmberg Studios

3. Creamy Hot Coconut Hot Chocolate by Half Baked Harvest. 4. Her Majesty aka Reba. 5. A shot of a Sezane store interior. 6. Altuzarra interior. 7. Organic brass wall hooks by Mi & Gei

Book covers as linked above! Me and my girl on a snowy winter hike in Caledon.

Copyright © 2026 Gillian Gillies Interiors Inc., All rights reserved.