STOP EVERYTHING, YOUR FAVOURITE SHOW IS ON! ;)
Welcome back to another episode of ROOM SERVICE by Stay Here —a cheeky, cinematic guide to the best places to sleep around the city(and beyond!), where every stay feels like a love letter to local design, culture, and the fine art of room service.
Stay Here:
A modern abode perched atop a cliff, need I say more?
Tucked into the trees near Huntsville, this Scandinavian-inspired cabin blends modern design with cozy comfort. Expect a sleek wood stove, soaring ceilings, a carefully curated interior, and floor-to-ceiling views of the forest. With a private hot tub, firepit, and sauna, it’s the perfect unplugged escape for two.
BEHIND THE CURTAIN:
A peek into the inspiration, styling, and small (but mighty) production magic that brought this episode to life.
Whenever I start writing an episode, I always begin with the property—its design style, location, and standout features or amenities that could anchor the story.
The Aux Box is a modern little cabin perched on a cliff and surrounded by forest. Minimal. Architectural. Utterly serene.
Naturally, my next thought? Wardrobe.
One of the things that makes our series stand out is our attention to detail—especially when it comes to styling, which has quickly become one of my favourite parts of the process. Once I get a feel for the property, I start imagining what kind of outfits would either complement the space… or intentionally contrast it.
For the Aux Box, the setting is ultra-minimal, with deep greens provided by the surrounding trees. I knew I wanted outfits that would pop against the natural backdrop.
My first thought? The obvious: lumberjack flannel. But that felt a little too on the nose. So I evolved the vibe into “cute Canadiana country girl” instead. (Confession: I always start by styling myself and then build Ryan’s look around mine. Priorities.)
Enter: THE DRESS.
A gingham plaid sundress from Frankies—the Bella Hadid collection. Add to cart.
It was a non-negotiable. She even came with a matching head scarf… though it was sold out, so I sourced a dupe on Amazon. If you were watching my stories, you might’ve noticed the sudden appearance of cleavage—thanks to the Boomba inserts I didn’t know I needed, lol.
That dress became the anchor for the rest of the styling: my plaid bikini, Ryan’s red swim trunks from Bather, and a general theme of Canadiana-summer.
As the story started to come together, I leaned into the narrative of two “city folk” venturing into the woods: a little overdressed, a little underprepared.
One of our signature shots in every Room Service episode is the food scene aka, room service.
Since the first two episodes weren’t technically hotels, there’s no actual room service—so in each episode so far, we dreamt up our own.
For Aux Box, I wanted something…. whimsical.
Thinking about my gingham dress made think of picnic vibes.
What if… room service arrived in a picnic basket?
Wait—what if that picnic basket was carried by a bouquet of balloons?
And what if, as we pulled items from the basket, the food made zero logical sense in relation to the size of the basket—like a massive baguette, or a fully garnished cocktail that somehow survived flight? I wanted it to feel delightfully cheeky.
The biggest scene of the day was the basket floating balloon scene- and for this, we had no idea if the balloons were actually going to be able to lift up our picnic basket and we had to problem solve on shoot day. Also- as a side note, I got my period the morning of the shoot and I was sooo uncomfortably stuffed into that tiny red dress. I was dying of cramps on the way to town and we shot that opening sequence in the car like 100 times because the camera kept losing focus as we bumped along. hahaha. So the shot of me singing karaoke, I deserve a grammy for that because I was not in the mood. We also NEEDED to get the balloons but because we had to reshoot the car scenes and we were already in town, we had to stuff them in the trunk because we couldn’t show them in the car.
Ryan was confident that 5 helium balloons would float a picnic basket (???LOL) and much to his dismay- that was not the case lol.
You can watch the full balloon chaos unfold in this BTS clip:
Other notable shots?
This smore-cam scene (as Ryan would call it).. was shot at 1AM. We were COVERED in bug bites because we ironically actually did forget bug spray LOL.. I was absolutely exhausted and Ryan was adamant about a perfect s'more shot, so we did it three times. I had s'mores for breakfast the following morning lol. The last scene in the cabin where I’m sleeping on Ryan’s chest- I’m literally dead. I was wearing a blue cardigan I made specifically for the shoot that was covered in iron on strawberries and I was too tired to care if they made it into the shot lol.
The shots of the bird and the plane are real shots! After the shoot we walked down by Lakeshore and grabbed both shots on a walk when we got home.
We loved working on this episode and can’t wait for our next adventure!
WHERE SHOULD WE CHECK IN NEXT??
CATCH UP ON PAST EPISODES:
EPISODE ONE: ODE, DUNDAS WEST TORONTO
EPISODE TWO: AUX BOX, MUSKOKA ONTARIO
Do you have a hotel or a hospitality/adventure tourism biz that would want to be featured in an upcoming episode of ROOM SERVICE?
Reach out to us at: hello@autumnhachey.com
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