Welcome to ROOM SERVICE by Stay Here — a cheeky, cinematic guide to the best places to sleep around the city.
This series has been years in the making— and today, we’re finally checking in.
TBH, 2025 feels like the year of dusting off all the ideas that have been living rent-free in the back of my mind — and finally making messy moves.
I officially launched Stay Here in 2020, after years of running a personal blog where I became known for sharing the best places to stay. Over the years, Stay Here has taken many forms — from brand strategy to interior design — but at its core, it's always been about sharing inspiring places to stay.
The idea to create a hotel video series first sparked way back in... 2017? I even remember reaching out to a local videographer — but at the time, the production costs made it feel completely out of reach, and it wasn’t something I could pull off on my own.
Fast forward to 2025: after two years together, Ryan and I made the decision to rise together and go all in on the next evolution of Stay Here — this time, as a duo. A big part of that? Creating and producing our own original content. (For ourselves and for others!)
We’ve already launched two new series — gasp!city: The Cool Girl’s Guide to Toronto and Coffee Cult — which I’ll be giving you a deeper behind-the-scenes look at soon. (Fun fact: both were produced in collaboration with Streets of Toronto.)
And today — I couldn’t be more thrilled — because we’re officially kicking off the very first episode of ROOM SERVICE by Stay Here: a cheeky, cinematic guide to the best places to sleep around the city, where every stay feels like a love letter to local design, culture, and the fine art of room service.
Boutique hotels have always felt like tiny portals into another world — where thoughtful design, branding and a little bit of escapism collide. We wanted to create a series that captures that magic: cinematic, playful, stylish, with a major emphasis on local gems with great design.
Without further ado, please enjoy our first episode!
Stay Here:
1417 Dundas St W, Toronto
Nestled on Dundas West, Ode is a bold, boutique stay that serves up old world romance with a modern wink and a smile. Expect bold stripes, punchy colors, and delightfully playful design — the perfect backdrop for shamelessly living in a robe, ordering dinner for two (spaghetti and meatballs, if you’re lucky), and treating yourself to an at-home spa night, complete with eye masks provided.
BEHIND THE CURTAIN:
A peek into the inspiration, styling, and small (but mighty) production magic that brought this episode to life.
THE INSPIRATION:
The Plot
When it came to dreaming up Room Service, I knew I wanted the series to be short and sweet and a little more cinematic than the other content we’re creating. All of our other series are shot on Iphone, but for this series we’re whipping out the big guns.
I wanted an outlet where I could have more fun with wardrobe and styling — while also flexing my muscles with writing and creating more narrative-driven content.
I started by collecting tons of videos that inspired me — analysing the shots, pacing, and energy. Pretty quickly, I realized I wanted Room Service to feel Wes Anderson-inspired — playful, colourful, a little quirky — with elements like whip pans, zooms, a storyline, oddball jazz music, and of course... a British narrator, haha.
In a recent Substack article, I talked about the power of colour analysis — and shared some seriously edgy colour combos from a creator named Kayla Roola Art who has a page called “No Crumbs” filled with all kinds of colourful inspiration.. but specifically, she has a series called: a color combination I love, a food pairing I’d hate.
Two colour pairings immediately stuck with me:
Lilac + Red
Lilac + Wasabi Green
Ever since seeing these pairings, they’ve been living in my inspo folder, just waiting to find their way into a creative project.
While filming the first episode of gasp!city at Bazaar, I stumbled upon a gasp-worthy purple ice bucket from a small shop called Bad Idea.
So when I was scouting locations for our first Room Service shoot and found Ode — with its vibrant, saturated red walls — it reminded me of the lilac purple and it felt like a match made in heaven.
That purple ice bucket became the jumping-off point for the whole video. (Which, funnily enough, once I locked in the hotel, I planned to go back and buy it... but after my video went live, it sold immediately, haha. Oops.) You can watch the video here!
THE WARDROBE:
One thing about me? I like to go all out — I would literally buy an entire house for the perfect shot, it’s a problem lol.
But this time, I challenged myself to keep it (somewhat) low-key.
For our outfits, I grabbed one of my favorite two-piece sets — a Cher Horowitz moment from H&M — and paired it with a glossy red handbag from Zara that I already owned. Docs on the feet, obviously. (A classic.)
Then came the lilac dilemma.
I originally picked up a pair of delicate purple gloves at the Toronto Vintage Show, but when I put the outfit together, it didn’t feel like enough lilac.
Enter: lilac leggings.
Cheap, cheerful, and high-impact. (The tone didn’t end up matching the gloves so I’ll be saving those cuties for a future shoot and opted for lilac nails instead!)
At first, I had planned to wear a red lacy blouse I thrifted last year. But while digging through my closet, I remembered another combo I loved: lilac and green.
I pulled a green top from Sandro and it tied everything together perfectly.
The final touch? As I was grabbing my rings, I spotted my cherry earrings from Lisa Says Gah — the literal cherry on top. 🍒
BONUS FINDS:
Since we were early for check-in, we wandered into Black Market on Queen Street — where I found an off white beret and purple sunglasses.
Instant outfit level-up.
Ryan kept it simple too. After I locked in my Cher Horowitz fit, we raided our closet to coordinate him as best we could.
We almost bought Ryan a purple leather jacket at Black Market, but the sleeves were just a little too short — and honestly, a $40 investment for potentially only one wear didn’t feel worth it.
THE PROP STYLING:
We kept props super minimal — just a little *sprinkle* to level up the vibe.
I brought along a set of swirly silverware I had purchased for a shoot and never used.
(Funny story: I only bought one place setting, so if you look closely, you’ll notice one of our plates has slightly smaller cutlery, lol)
I also brought a couple of cocktail glasses I already had from CB2.
When we arrived, there was a gorgeous balloon bouquet waiting for us from Ballooms — and we knew we had to work it into the episode. It ended up starring in the Room Service delivery shot, where we open the door to the food. (Also, the pasta shop wrote "Grazie!!" on our takeout bag, which felt very on-brand and adorable.)
By the time the spaghetti arrived, we were f*cking starving — but we still had to shoot it first.(LOL)
So we were absolutely rushing through the spaghetti scenes.
If you look closely, you’ll spot our very own Starbucks cup moment — a rogue phone tripod chilling in the background of one of the shots. LOOL. This was our first time shooting this series and we had only booked for one night so things definitely felt rushed. In future episodes we plan to stay longer to also shoot photos as this round we only had time to shoot the video.
IN OUR LUGGAGE:
Because this was our very first episode, we wanted to be conscious about a few things — mainly, not going crazy with gear. We have a tendency to over pack- and since we plan to take Room Service on the road, we approached production like a real-life carry-on challenge: minimal lighting and minimal gear.
Here’s what we used to shoot this episode:
The Gear:
One camera, one lens, one big light and one baby light!
Sony FX3 Camera
Tripod
Phone Tripod for BTS
Minimal Light Kit
And that's a wrap on our very first stay!!
I’m so proud to finally be bringing this idea to life — and even more excited about all the adventures to come.
Thank you for being here at the very beginning.
WHERE SHOULD WE CHECK IN NEXT??
Ps: We would love to work on fun video projects with cool brands!
Reach out to us at: hello@autumnhachey.com
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