(Welcome to Abby from Toronto, one of the bloggers trying out for a place on the Apartment Therapy editorial team as a House Tour Contributor. Enjoy her work - comments welcome!)
Name: Amy, Stéphane, and their dog Henry
Location: Toronto
Size: 1800 square feet
Years lived in: 1/5 years
From the outside of their Victorian era semi-detached home that lies wedged between the slightly scruffy Parkdale and the über-hip, artist-filled West Queen West neighborhoods of Toronto, one would never guess what sort of curious surprises, beautiful vignettes, and inspired surroundings await visitors the moment they enter Amy and Stephane's otherwise humble abode.
From the tiny vestibule where the hex tiles announce their house number, to the carefully arranged industrial tables and plaster dog, the attention to detail belies the haphazard scavenger approach this actress and graphic designer take in creating their home.
Part well-curated oddities shop, part clean-lined, vintage modern inspiration, Amy and Stéphane's home is perfectly suited for the performance and design oriented duo. When they bought less than two years ago, the kitchen and bathrooms required major rehauling, but care was taken to retain the integrity of the space. While open concept renovations are au courant, these two knew that preserving the original layout worked better in the space. In the kitchen, modern Ikea cabinets and stainless steel appliances mix with aged exposed brick and vintage accessories like the aqua blue garbage bin and antique sugar bags, while in the bathroom hex and subway tiles live next to sleek new fixtures.
This mix of old and new reigns throughout the house, where antique pieces found, purchased, or gifted merge with Stéphane's own cheeky wire sculptures. Cozy and comfy couches and chairs and colorful textiles punctuate this mix, adding textural interest to it all (as does their curly-haired pooch). Some of their treasures were found amidst dinginess and dust, but placed on top of an industrial metal shelf, polished wooden cabinet, or minimalist glass and chrome table, these objects bring fresh air and whimsy to their happy home.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My/Our style: Minimalism meets hoarding
Inspiration: My grandmother's cousins' house in Montreal that was always full of cool objects and collections on display. It was my favourite place to explore as a kid. They also had squirrels that they had trained to come into the kitchen from outside to be fed - we decided not to be inspired by that part.
Favorite Element: The character of the house. It hasn't been gutted like most of the houses in our neighbourhood. We still have the original hardwood floors and separate spaces for the living and dining rooms, which we prefer.
Biggest Challenge: The kitchen renovation was a long, drawn out ordeal. Our first contractors were incompetent, wasting our time and money. They also didn't install the floor tiles properly, so they are uneven. We've learned to overlook (and in some cases enjoy) the quirks of the house.
What Friends Say: "You guys collect a lot of junk."
Biggest Embarrassment: Our basement. It's full of renovation left-overs, boxes, bikes, old clothes. It's hard to find a path to walk down there. Only a select few have ever been invited down.
Proudest DIY: The "29" design in hex tiles in the front vestibule... Designed at scale in Adobe Illustrator!
Biggest Indulgence: The hanging Noguchi ceiling lamp in our bedroom
Best advice: Go out for a walk the night before garbage day - you're sure to find cool stuff. A lot of our furniture and many objects (including the 100+ year old wooden camera in our living room) were found at the curb.
Dream source: Queen West Antiques, Toronto
Resources:
VESTIBULE:
hex tiles from Ciot - www.ciot.com
FRONT HALL:
Large Basquiat subway poster: 5 euros at the Musée Maillol, Paris. Framing was not 5 euros.
Small table: found in the garbage
Art deco ceiling lamp: Sam the Chandelier Man, Toronto
KITCHEN:
appliances: Kitchen Aid and GE
Cupboards, range hood: Ikea
Barrister's bookcase, chairs: Queen West Antiques
Countertop and floors: Honed black slate (NOTE: never buy a honed slate countertop. It chips and stains far too easily and requires regular oiling)
Lamp, step ladder, Garbage can: found in the garbage
Redpath sugar bags: $5 each at an antique store
LIVING ROOM:
Sofa: Club Sofa from Style Garage - www.stylegarage.com
Red armchair: found on Harbord street in 2004
Coffee table: from Caban (now defunct)
Cameras: Put out on the curb by our former landlords when we lived above the Art Photo Studio on Queen Street W.
French license plate: A gift from my Parisian cousin.
Large coin print: An enlargement of one of the coins in my grandfather's collection. I scanned it at a super high resolution and my ex-boss had several printed.
Arnaud Maggs prints: gifts from my uncle.
Moon globes: bought off Craigslist
Two semi-creepy portraits: bought for $5 at an estate sale.
DINING ROOM:
White storage unit: Ikea - doesn't everyone have one of these?
"Y" letter: found the garbage pile of a neon sign company in Montreal
"...MACY" sign and "FCO" letters: Half of the bottom portion of the Factor's Pharmacy sign and some letters from the main part of the sign. I noticed the old shop had closed and the amazing sign was gone, so I went to the alley behind the building and found some of the large stainless steel letters and half of the base of the sign.
Table and chairs: Swedish teak from the 70s. It was my grandmother's table.
Candle sticks, runner: from Habitat - www.habitat.fr
ceiling lamp: Ikea
Eames chair: Found Design, Ottawa - www.founddesign.ca
POWDER ROOM:
tiles: Ciot - www.ciot.com
towel ring and toilet paper holder: Restoration Hardware
Toilet: Toto
GUEST ROOM:
Hand-woven baskets: Bought on our recent trip to Rwanda
Wood bed: A gift from my aunt
Pillows and duvet cover (which are wrinkled, I know): King and Queens, Toronto - www.kingsandqueens.ca
BEDROOM:
Noguchi Akari ceiling lamp: Quasio Modo, www.quasimodomodern.com
Noguchi table lamps: MoMA, New York
(Thanks, Amy & Stephane!)
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Comments (58)
very cool house!
Oh it's just BEAUTIFUL.
Sorry, I'm usually more articulate than that, but I'm really quite blown away by how very much I like it. This is probably a sign that I should take a closer look and see how I can incorporate some of the elements from your space into mine.
I really love the use of modern elements with found objects - as well as mixing of materials. Nicely done.
Love this house so much.
Gorgeous! I love all the shades of gray. What paint colors did you use?
Ooh, could we find out what are the paint colors that are used throughout the house (on the walls...)? Thank you.
This was a really fun tour. Great attention to detail in this home.
Lovely home!
Love the wire sculptures too!
THAT was awesome. Best use of shadow in home decor - the 'lamp' AND the kitchen containers.
And the wrinkles add charm and make the bed look so inviting.
I can totally relate to Minimalist Hoarding.
ME:...blah,blah, because I'm a minimalist.
MY FRIEND: Uh, no you're not.
ME: YES, I am. Do you KNOW how many books I have about minimalism...oh. Point taken.
Now I've decided to be a Well-Edited Maximalist. But this house makes me wanna pare back a tiny bit more.
Great tour.
An excellent House Tour - this house is so beautiful, and so harmonious!
I love the art, and those globes....and may I ask what kind of storage unit that is holding the audio system?
beautiful home! love the hegagonal tiles and the creepy portraits are a great find!
love how simple and muted it is, and a creepy portrait never hurts. :)
ooh i love it! the gray brick looks wicked.
Love it! Every room is just right. Well balanced. My favorites are the bedroom with the lucite nightstands, the entry way and the powder room.
Wonderful house tour! Definitely bookmarking it as one of my favorites. Love how you mix modern, vintage and trash finds to create a lovely and harmonious home.
Terrific home! I love your stuff, and your scavenging ethic. That blowup of the French coin is awesome!
Absolutely love it!
Lovely home--great balance of modern without arguing with the architecture. Also, it's beautifully photographed. One note on the accompanying text: it's a good idea to mix sentence structure. There are several really long sentences that could easily be paragraphs on their own.
Downtown Toronto's trash days are fantastic for furnishing your house. I often replace store-bought housewares with found objects because it's so much more fun.
Not usually my sort of style, but I'm really liking this. Nice job!
I love it. All the pieces work well together and are seemingly affordable to someone like me on a budget.
Especially love the hex tile entryway -- beautiful.
Oh, and please find out what paint colour they chose for the living room (and the bedroom, too?)!
This is stunning! I love the melding of old and new (Eastlake bed and Lucite tables...), and the careful yet not contrived display of objects. Many of these objects are rather humble in origin, but your display really makes them special (framed sugar bags). You have a great eye.
The wire sculptures and drawings are fabulous -- are these done by the same person? And I LOVE the image of the coin over your fireplace -- just brilliant.
The hex tile and natural wood is selling this on me - love the fixtures as well. The kitchen is nice, but the cabinets don't seem to reflect the spirit of the home as much.
saer
http://cravenmaven.wordpress.com
Gorgeous and warm. My favorite aspect is the beautiful carven wooden bed in what I assume is the master bedroom. What a great job on the kitchen remodel, too!
Incroyable!
I love the paint color in the kitchen - what is it? I have exposed brick in my living room (currently white) that I want to paint gray, but I'm not good at picking colors.
Oh! When you write about a place painted with such lovely colors, telling the paint colors should be required! :)
Very pretty home!
The sentence structure became a bit thick in a few places, but the photos are lovely.
So effing cool. Love the entertainment area especially- I'm always at a loss as to how to display the ole' record player in a honorable way.
I love the giant French coin. It suggests that elsewhere in the house there's a vending machine the size of Saskatchewan.
Lovely!
You guys have a great sense of style ! I love it , just wonderful... there is so much character .
Very nice. Many of the things in this house are things I would never thought of incoorporating in my own home, but the mix was just great.
Love it. Creative yet totally unpretentious or forced. From the entry hall on I felt like I wanted to own or hang out in this space. Super nice balance of hoarder/minimalist.
I too had the very same comments as queenbee1230 about the writing. (Needs variety in sentence structure and too many run-ons.) The writing seemed forced and lacked a bit of personality, which is funny because the survey answers and photos seemed so personable and relaxed.
I like the guest room and kitchen! Love the barrister's bookcase and framed sugar sacks.
The house is gorgeous, naturally, or we'd not see it on AT!
And for Abby, some positive comments (I'm fortunate enough to be have a 9-5 job as an editor)
Easy things to fix and you'll immediately see an improvement in your writing.
Your prose is too long. Sentence length should be 20 words or less. Read it aloud - if you have to take a pause, it's too long.
Then, vary the sentence length. Shorter, then longer...
Aim for more vivid language - a variety of sensory language and specific nouns
My oft repeated advice to my authors:
No author dislikes to be edited as much as he dislikes not to be published. ~Russell Lynes
and....
All prise goes to the person who has the courage to write the first draft. Correcting something is always much easier than creating the original!
Keep at it, you're heading in the right direction!
I think what makes it all work together is the color scheme. Two to three neutrals (brown, grey, white, beige, black) with only one bright color in a room. Living room had red, the kitchen had blue, etc..... All of the old and newer pieces had straight clean lines.
If it were curvy items with clean lucite and 7 colors in a room it would be a mess.
If you love this but it's "not your style" then maybe you should see what you like and rethink your "style"
jencampbell123 - prise or praise? *snigger* I have editor friends, they always blame the proof reader.
Very inspiring. They're so lucky to have family who gift them with great art and cool stuff, and they have used it all with panache.
I totally assumed the vestibule tiling was original - well done!
Where is the small bathroom sink from? I love it - and the whole house!
SWEET! Great space, Great post. Would love to see more of the house. Love the Calder-esque wire sculptures. Wonderful!
Hi, and thank you for the comments!! I would love to hear from anyone interested in the wire sculptures. For privacy reasons, the artist has requested that his contact info. not be posted here but if you email me at abby.cook@gmail.com I will forward it his way and he will be happy to respond.
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all the positive feedback! Here are some answers to your questions:
1) The paint colours... I will check the cans in the basement and get back to you with the names/numbers.
2) The storage unit in the living room (with the record player on it) is an Eames 251 C Storage unit. I don't think it is currently available anywhere. It seems to be a discontinued configuration.
3) All the wire sculptures were done by me (Stéphane). If you want more information about them, please get in touch with Abby (the writer of the tour) and she'll put you in touch with me.
Totally nice place - warm but with space between things. I love the use of minimalist/modern elements but without the need for a modernist setting.
And jencampbell123, it seems whenever I point out my editorial skills it is also when I make obvious mistakes/typos (ie, "I'm fortunate enough to be have a 9-5 job as an editor") I recently criticized someone's "sentance" structure:)
You had me at the hex tile with house number. I don't see hoarding anywhere here though--it all looks clean and lovely.
love it love it love it--clean and elegant despite hoarding caveat
Beautiful home--absulutely love the colors and the charachter of the home. I just wish homeowners would take more pictures of full rooms instead of so many close ups!! We want to see it all!!!
Sorry-I mean *character*!!!
Fantastic house, and I love seeing things in Toronto, as I can actually shop at the sources listed!! The tile with the door number is gorgeous, as is the wire art. Who made the art? More Toronto Please!!! :)
I love the mix of old and new here - I think that can be such a hard balance to strike, but they do it beautifully. I adore the red sofa (and the wonderful pillows on it!), and my other favorite element is the amazing bedroom - what a cool bed! I also love the portraits - which I don't think are creepy at all, I was sure that they had to be grandparents or something, they are so charming. I'm a huge fan of trash days & curb finds in my neighborhood, as well.
Lovely!
Anxiously awaiting the names of the paint colors as I am getting ready to pick out hallway/stairwell and guest room colors as I write this!
Everything is very well done - though I would echo the cries for less vignettes and more long shots of the rooms in house tours. Even though its all good eye candy.
This looks like a beautiful space, though the shots were a little too close to get a good feel for the overall design of the house.
I was also a bit winded from reading the first paragraph/sentence out loud. Just a couple of things to work on.
Paint colours:
Living / dining room light grey: Snazzy Dresser (Para Paint)
Living / dining room dark grey: Film Festival (Para Paint)
Kitchen light grey: Universal Grey (CIL Dulux from Home Depot)
Kitchen dark grey: Grimmy's Grey (CIL Dulux from Home Depot)
The other paint colours I'm not sure about. They came with the house and I can't find the tins... sorry.
I love it, especially the oft-mentioned juxtaposition of the heavy wood bed against the lucite night tables.
travislessness: I once corrected a despised cousin's improper use of "there" instead of "their" while using "your" instead of "you're."
Great design! Any chance you'd be willing to share the brand and color of the paint on your walls- most esp the colors on the walls in the room with the fireplace?? In search of the perfect french gray that will work throughout the house but change with the lighting and accessories. Thanks much!
Opps, just ignore me- I see the paint was divulged... waaaayyy at the bottom. Thanks.
I love so much of what they've done...the letters, the colors. Yum. However, and this is more a general AT comment than just for this post, but I wish more posters took the time to add captions to their photo slide shows. It really adds a lot to be able to know what you're looking at (room wise, how it relates to the other rooms/the design philosophy of the owners, or where a particular piece came from)!