The renovation of a house in the northeast of Toronto in the northeast of Toronto underlines the updated English kottage character of the original design, while the extraordinary view and the leaf location are well covered from the road.
The SDA director Cathy Garrido, formerly Altius, immediately realized that the house das had been practically untouched since its first building, right down to the original powder toilet-a diamond in the rough. Features such as a steeply played roof in the handicraft style improve the cottage-in-the-city feeling and actually play down the generous size of 7,500 square meters. “From the front you can't even really say that it has a second floor,” she notes.
But this big roof was certain challenges together with some layout conventions of the 70s, which no longer make sense. On the one hand, the house was surprisingly dark, especially at the front, and the ground floor was broken down into separate, awkward proportioned rooms.
The owner, a busy manager with two young children, wanted to bring the house into the 21st century and create a sanctuary of their work and a place where both business colleagues and family are entertained. Above all, however, she wanted to take advantage of the leaves that were practically taken off from the edge of the rear deck.
In the front, the focus was mainly on the accentuation of the positive: the deep roof profile and the convenient way of lying the house in its surroundings. Slim new paving stones and landscape design improve the front yard, while modern materials such as Enviro-shake roof and ACM panels (a durable artificial material that resembles corten, or weathered steel) have an original brick. The end of Douglas Fir Laidits completes the modern Kottage look.
Garrido remembers that during a visit to the house during the renovation of the interior, she was in the go and that she was basically gutted on the bolts, randomly appeared and a hole from a ventilation pipe in the roof noticed just below the summit and beating inspiration. “I knew that we had to set up a skylight directly at this point and it would make the difference.”
The front hall was opened from the ground floor, which lay two floors up to a arched roof, so that huge skylight sends light cascades through the front part of the house. Immediately above the mezzanine on the second floor, exposed rafters give the design a touch of informality and human scale.
Lighting bodies act as a works of art as far as necessary lighting as works of art. Here in the foyer there is a number of glass balls that are hung on wires from the height of high up, gently in the breeze.
Right on the foyer is what the family calls the piano room. The instrument takes up a page on which the owner plays and the strange spontaneous performance of friends and family takes place. But that's just one of the assets of the room: with its cozy, overcrowded seats, large windows with a view of the front yard and again built-up fishing burren-brick-and-Limestone fireplace, says Garrido: “This is a very convenient space in which you can be in.
Further back, the goal was to open the inside of the house as far as possible to this wonderful view and at the same time to keep a clear, albeit less defined feeling of separation between the areas. The rear increase dominates both in the main floors and sliding doors, and almost all walls in the back of the ground floor were blown out, the better to make the view from each point a feature.
In the kitchen on the side, Rift-Sawn White Oak Cabinetry presents a clean profile that also complements the leaf scene. Its rich honey color is discontinued by part of the perfectly slept quartz, which is used as a back splash within the cooking zone and on the island box. “We must have looked at 100 different records before we chose this precisely,” says Garrido.
The team converted a former Bay window into a modest bump-out in the breakfast area, just deep enough to achieve the effect that the residents have the feeling of sitting in the forest and visible on three sides. A built -in banquet that is padded in hard blue fabric is tailor -made for young children, but sophisticated enough for adults.
The living room in the middle is brightened by another lamp that camouflages itself as art. The 86 translucent glass leaves, which were hung from Sans Souci, a lighting company in the Czech Republic, on the cable from the ceiling, were individually installed by a special lighting installer.
Both homeowners and architect wanted to separate between the dining room and the rest of the room without completely cutting it off. The solution was a massive, room -high plate made of bookseful granite, which was opened on both sides and perforated by a two -facing fireplace. The addition of an independent bar, since the kitchen is a little away, saves steps and gives the dining room a feeling of place. Comfortable Bouclé chairs and another striking lamp, this one of the stylized flower vines, add an informal but friendly feeling.
On the upper floor, the primary bedroom is clearly replaced and calm, the perfect backdrop to relax and decompress yourself after a busy working day and to meet the requirements of parents' parents. On one side there is a special sanctuary: a half -linked balcony open to the gorge, which is perfect for a few moments with morning coffee and the sounds of birds and fluttering leaves.