City Homes
January 4, 2022
Step Inside A Cool, California-Inspired Home In The Heart Of Toronto
Toronto-based designer Montana Labelle had a very specific vision for Project Pears, a semi-detached home on Pears Avenue on the edge of Yorkville. She wanted to create a calm, west-coast design that was minimal yet comfortable. “The clients love traveling to California, and they wanted to bring that feeling to Toronto,” says Montana. “We wanted an almost hotel-like feeling; to make it their oasis in the middle of the city.”
The roughly 1800-square-foot Toronto home has four narrow floors, and hadn’t been updated in years. The clients asked Montana and her design team to give the home a much-needed refresh. “Most areas were cosmetic, with some structural work on the principal floor in order to reconfigure the layout,” says Montana. “As with many projects, the initial plan was a bit smaller scale, but as we continued the process we layered on more and more, essentially renovating the house from top to bottom.” The walls of the house are covered with a beige venetian plaster, making it feel like a serene urban retreat.
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The original kitchen was very disjointed from the rest of the home. To open it up, Montana and her team created a tonal, light-filled galley kitchen with seamless push-to-open millwork. “For homes this narrow, a galley kitchen is a great way to open up the space, while also maintaining functionality,” says Montana. One side of the kitchen features an integrated appliance wall that includes a hidden appliance cupboard for smaller accessories. On the other side, they swapped upper cabinetry for a floating marble shelf that spans the length of the kitchen. This helped create the appearance of more space and height, while still offering stylish yet functional storage.
The clients are a couple with no kids who love to entertain. They often host dinner parties and wanted each room of the home to flow effortlessly into the next. The edge of the dining table can be seen above. It is the connection between the kitchen and living room, and they use it for hosting dinner parties and working from home.
The kitchen is one of Montana’s favorite spots in the home.”The palette for the house is very earthy, so we wanted to continue that feeling with a very special blue ocean travertine for the countertops and shelf. It really doesn’t feel like a typical kitchen, but more like an extension of the living space.” says Montana.
Montana and her team found a hidden fireplace behind an old built-in when they began the demo, and they decided to integrate it into the design of the room. “We create a curved wall feature that acts as a focal point of the living room,” says Montana.
The furniture is all vintage. “We always include vintage in our spaces, as we find it brings personality to a home as well as a lived-in feel,” says Montana. Due to the home’s smaller size, they wanted the furniture to be multi-functional and easy to move around when necessary. Instead of one coffee table in the living rom, they used several nesting side tables from Montana Labelle Lifestyle (Montana’s shop). “The clients often move these around when entertaining. The couch and other furniture are also easy to move,” she says.
Beige venetian plaster continues through to the second-floor bathroom. The shower features waterproof microcement — a coating that mimics concrete — which matches the walls seamlessly. “We love using this material as it’s a unique alternative to tile, is super minimal and can be made to fit the rest of the space – plus no tiles needed or grout to deal with!” says Montana.
An arched shower ceiling creates an exquisite focal point. “Given that the bathroom is not too big, the arched shower allowed us to bring the ceiling height up and create the appearance of a larger room. It’s always important in smaller spaces to look for unique ways to make each room larger. It is also an opportunity to take risks and be creative,” she says.
A custom green marble floating vanity features two drawers that are clad in marble. “In a large space, this likely would have been out of budget, but because we were working with a smaller space, we were able to spend on something really special using less material,” says Montana.
Lauren Miller
Montana Labelle Design