A Designer's Show-Stopping Home Wows With Warm Tones, Graphic Pattern And Lots Of Glamor!

We're in my house. This is a new-build house in the northern part of Toronto. It was completed in the summer of 2023. My husband and I worked very closely with the architect Stan Macau to put together our vision for this house. The neighborhood was built about 100 years ago in the late 1920s and we were looking for a style that fit within the genre of the neighborhood but also had more of the modern elements of the way we live today. When it came to material selections I wanted to keep things fun and not necessarily classical but still a nod to classic design. So in the front entryway I've always been intrigued by traditional black and white graphic pattern but we played with it a little bit more with a selection of semi-circles and triangles. So from afar you still think it's the checkerboard effect but up close it gives you a little bit more whimsy and movement. I was opposed to doing a coat closet. I didn't want a large drywalled box and I also didn't want the room to feel smaller so instead as a compromise we had our mill workers build a furniture piece essentially an oversized armoire that is attached to the wall that looks like a standalone piece of furniture and to add a little bit of detail we added the cane wallpaper to the front of the unit and some very decorative gold handles. Sometimes these large homes built of stone have a risk of feeling a little bit cold or institutional. We really enjoyed the trend of arches so we kept all the arches on the east-west plane of the house so as not to overdo it but also to draw the eye through the house into the beautiful backyard. Leading off of the main hallway which we kept very white and monochromatic you'll see spaces that have more color and intimate furnishings. My goal for the living room was to create a space that was formal but also approachable. I wanted to be able to sit and enjoy my time in there. I actually sit in there and have my coffee most mornings. So it has a less traditional floor plan. We actually have a small sectional rather than a formal love seat. The chairs are quite comfortable and low, open gas fireplace and a large marble table. I really enjoy this trend of warmer tones so the color of the couch is actually called wheat. It can be described as a soft golden yellow. The two occasional chairs are actually quite a modern casual design and they introduce a rust color which is something that's become very popular and it repeats throughout the house at different elements. As you transition from the living room to the dining room there is two steps down. This was an important factor for our architect as he was trying to integrate the house more into the backyard because it's a very sloped lot. There's a very interesting parquet floor that picks up on the same tones of the rest of the house but adds two new colors and then above the steps is what I call the skeleton arch. So this was inspired by a hotel lobby. It continues the east-west plane of arches throughout the house but in a little bit of a more decorative ornate way. The dining table was actually a piece of furniture I designed about eight years ago. It was in my older house. I loved the table. I actually designed the dining room around it but I wanted to bring the table forward into a more modern style so we paired it with Italian-made chairs from Caligaris for the side chairs and some custom-made end chairs using a very fun combination of leather and embossed fabric. I chose the flock of light produced by Mui. It adds a real level of whimsy to the room and I complemented it by two alabaster table lamps on the sideboard. The wood paneling in the dining room is more modern compared to traditional wall paneling but I really wanted to bring paneling in to give you that feeling of warmth and intimacy. So it carries over from the skeleton arch to the far wall and you'll notice the artwork on the south wall is hung off-center and that is because it actually conceals a secret door into the pantry. I was in the mood for green cabinetry but I wanted to put it into a space in my house that in 10 years I wouldn't regret so we tucked it into the pantry. There's a mixture in the pantry of a deep green cabinet color. The walls are a little bit more of a muted blue-green and then a Kelly Wurstler wallpaper is in the vestibule with a matching roman shade. This house tour is presented by Tanqueray London Dry Gin. This Tanqueray is made from the highest quality botanicals, a combination of juniper, coriander, angelica and licorice. Tanqueray, elevating your everyday. The back of the house is the kitchen and family room and breakfast eating area. The kitchen is located in the southeast corner which is really ideal for morning breakfast light. We really wanted to achieve an open look and I was influenced by a lot of the more Spanish colonial styles coming out of California with no upper cabinetry. So we made sure to include a lot of cabinetry along the north wall besides the fridge and the freezer. We have two full height pantry cabinets and this gave us the option of having no upper cabinets around the main kitchen perimeter. We kept the colors really monochromatic with a white oak finish on the cabinetry and a mid-tone marble quartz on the countertops. The lighting fixtures are all made by a Canadian company, Luminaire Authentique. They are in soft mauve, gray and blue tones. They pick up on the silice tile that has a distressed look to it and then in the kitchen nook the gray-blue fixture actually really just blends into the view out through the windows. I've always dreamed of having a breakfast nook. I think children love it too. They feel like they're eating at a restaurant. We have a leather banquette and the individual channel tufted pieces are actually removable so if there is any stains or damage they're easy to change. They're just velcroed. We then added two cane chairs in front of the table to help balance the other black elements throughout the house. The window frames are black as well as the legs of the bar stools at the counter as well as the coffee bar with its black silice tile. As typical in these floor plans you end up with quite a lot of space between the kitchen island and the family room so to break that up and also to give us an extra surface we created a coffee bar. So it's a curved wall that only extends about eight feet, not all the way to the ceiling. It provides for a backdrop for art from the family room and coffee and drink storage on the kitchen side. We wanted a room that was comfortable but still sophisticated enough for everyday entertaining. We do have a big comfy couch in the basement where kids can just flop but the idea in the family room was to keep things a little bit more tailored. The sofa is still very soft but it's not oversized. We then added some pops of color with a deep teal velvet side chair and the marble above the fireplace has a veining of teal and green running through it. The arched window in the family room was a real showpiece for us. You can see it from both the inside and the outside and it's a real real statement of the style of the home. Because it is framed in black again it does add more of those black elements to the room. I balanced that with the black roll steeled floor lamp. It gives us a nice intimate level of light in the evenings and also it's still pretty interesting to look at during the day. I had a lot of fun in the main floor powder room. Again we repeated a graphic floor tile, similar collection to the front entryway. The vanity is done in a fluted front and an integrated marble sink. The wallpaper is a foil floral so it's very durable but also adds a little bit of shine and pattern to the room. It was important for me for the mudroom to look good but to be highly functional. So the countertop material is a terrazzo quartz and I have it lowered down around the sink so that my children can reach the sink and wash their hands. The tile in a green terrazzo is extremely durable and all of the cabinetry is actually done in the melamine. The south side of house is the principal bedroom suite. The bedroom itself has a dark and moody feel. I wanted rich colors and warm tones and textures without it feeling too cave-like. There's pops of red velvet, burgundy, lavender and browns. I was able to squeeze in a cute little coffee nook in the area that would have typically been underneath the stairs. So I have a bar fridge, a coffee maker and some glassware and also in that space I was able to hide a closet for suitcases. Down the hallway from the primary bedroom is the ensuite with separate vanities, one for my husband one for myself, a lot of storage. I designed the vanities with oak readings. These are actually oak dowels that are cut in half and affixed to the millwork. It gives a very soft but durable feel. We repeated the same design element in a floor-to-ceiling storage cabinet within the toilet room. The floors are heated, the shower floor is heated which sets you a luxurious way to start your day and in front of the large window we have a great big soaker tub. The walk-in closet is a soft welcoming space done in a very light pink tan tone. We added a straw wallpaper to the insets of some of the cabinets for a little bit of extra texture and a light fixture that is symbolic of fabric although it's made from a metal wicker. Just off the main hall adjacent to the primary bedroom we have a study. This is where we have our piano, a desk for catching up on your work at the end of the day, a nice chaise for reading, and a small powder room. I chose a very dark rich color called dark walnut and applied it to both the walls, the trim, and the ceiling. The room feels like a warm cocoon. Now that it's done it actually feels very comfortable. There wasn't a shock for me this you know binary not living here and then living here. For me it just felt like this gradual evolution of first the ideas in my head and then on paper and then in a material spread and then within the actual house itself. So it feels very natural although I've only been in for three months I feel like I've lived in here for about three years.