Second Act House

The interiors comprise a simple palette — warm white walls and naturally finished white oak floors and millwork — to provide a consistent, unified aesthetic and a flexible backdrop for art, objects, and furniture, such as in the study on the main floor. Here, our custom-designed millwork not only houses a library of books, a television, and small artworks, it also establishes a datum that extends throughout the room, with wall panelling that reinterprets original details characteristic of this space. The reveals add a subtle texture, creating a container for the family’s heirloom pieces: a colourful rug, a bouillotte table, a USM credenza, old books. We designed pocket doors and window drapery to give our clients options: they can leave the space open to the house and the street-facing window or close it up when they feel like cocooning and cozying up with a good book or TV show in their Le Corbusier lounge chairs.

The living room and dining area flow into each other yet remain defined by their respective focal points: a fireplace above a cantilevered limestone-clad bench and a contemporary dining table and light fixture. Generous in scale, these combined spaces are ideal for hosting and open directly onto the garden through large sliding glass doors, which provide passive ventilation in the warmer months, as well as slender glass egress doors on each bookend. We were able to achieve this adjacency to the outdoors by strategically pulling the kitchen back towards the centre of the house, all while maintaining sightlines to the landscape for those cooking or sitting at the island.

The kitchen occupies the heart of the home, reflecting the importance of this functional space to our clients, both of whom love to cook and entertain. Divided into two sections — an open cooking area as well as an adjunct prep space and pantry that can be closed off by pocket doors — the kitchen features anodized aluminum-clad cabinetry, white Corian countertops, a white back-painted glass backsplash, and a modern custom-designed hutch that floats off the wall. With a generous Corian countertop and a second sink, the adjunct space facilitates food prep and clean-up; the white lacquered cabinetry houses a fridge, dishwasher, and trash.

The prep kitchen is on the same axis as the home’s side entrance — a quiet and elegant moment away from the bustle. Sitting a few steps down from the main floor level under a large new window, this secondary vestibule includes a leather-upholstered custom bench and white-oak key drawer cradled within a mirrored nook.

The central staircase is a sculptural statement that responded to the clients’ desire for a distinctly contemporary design that matched the scale of the home. Made from rift-sawn white oak, the guardrails overlap and unfold like origami across four floors, with peekaboo slits that allow daylight to penetrate and slide across the floor. Antique pieces of furniture appear at each landing, anchoring the updated interiors in objects that tell the story of the family’s past.

The principal bathroom on the second floor overlooks the ravine. Pale pink marble floors, shower walls, and vanity counter combine with the soft white hue of the Corian-clad tub to create a “seashell” experience. Repurposed side tables featuring matching marble tops introduce history and gentle curves into an otherwise modern and rectilinear space. A blind affixed to the bottom edge of the extra-large window allows bathers to raise a covering in the colder seasons after the surrounding trees have shed their foliage.