Green. Contemporary. Minimalist. The neighbourhood of the Beach (or Beaches) isn't known for its cutting-edge architecture, but new residents Lee and Angie wanted a modern house. So they decided to go for a major redo of whatever they bought.

"The agent showed us the house next door, and I asked about this one--because I saw the two door garage." It wasn't the parking that interested Lee--as an industrial designer, he wanted to use the garage as a workshop.

One of my favourite books is How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand, and this High Park home is a great Toronto example of that learning process--the way a house can change and evolve as we live in it.

Terry and Suzanne bought this house in 2000; the lot is wide, but despite its substantial appearance from the street, the house was only a total of 1800 square feet. By 2006, with two young kids, they realized they needed a different kind of house. "We really needed Mom and Dad space," says Terry. But they loved their neighbourhood and they didn't want to move. The solution? Teach their old house new tricks.

Our city is losing the traditional division of living versus working spaces; alongside the increasingly anxious real estate ads for "live/work" spaces, there are all of our actual live/work spaces--some zoned for strictly for industry, where people live illegally alongside their studios and small businesses, but most zoned for residential use, where we squeeze work into spaces designed for living rooms and bedrooms and kitchens.

"I don't really need to separate my work and my life," says Abigail, a fashion and music photographer has managed to fit her working life into an ordinary apartment building on Adelaide East.

The Candy Factory on West Queen West has the sweetest moniker of any condo in the city. The building has legendary status as the first real Toronto loft conversion, in part because of real estate maverick Harry Stinson's struggles to get financing for his renovation vision. Nearly a decade after the building opened for residents, the lofts are holding up pretty darn well.

I used to be crack-addicted to fizzy Rockets, and I like to imagine the candies being produced in this very loft when the Ce De Candy Company was in operation here. Jodi doesn't disabuse me of my fantasy, but she says was initially interested in living here not for the building's sweet past, but because of its location and light.

Last month the news broke that film guru Reg Hartt may be forced to move Cineforum from his Bathurst street address because the landlord's son has put the building up for sale.

"It's crazy to try to sell it in this market," says Hartt, who started showing films at 463 Bathurst Street, just below College, in 1992. He converted the living room-dining room of his typical Victorian house into a black-walled screening room. No popcorn-sticky stadium seating here: audience members sit on comfy office chairs and are encouraged to bring their own food and drink.

Our homes need to rejuvenate and soothe and energize us - exactly the contradictions that make up everyone's lives these days. But how to do all that without scads of cash? Our city has become infamous for its high rents and unsympathetic landlords, so it's encouraging to know there are still a few deals out there.

Rachel found her amazing rental on Craigslist two years ago, and it was only the third place she looked at. "I knew I wanted to be in this neighbourhood because my son was already in school nearby," she explains.