Wanda Ely Architect Inc.

Home Improvement Professionals , Architects & Building Designers , Accessory Dwelling Units , Home Remodeling , Home Additions , Universal Design , Basement Remodeling
51 Reviews
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Wanda Ely Architect Inc.
51 Reviews

Givins

This project transforms a semi-detached home in Toronto’s Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood from two units into a single family home. The design seeks to achieve a level of modern sophistication appropriate for a well-read and well-travelled couple — a bioethics scholar, and a film / tv producer — by retaining classic features of the original house that become reinterpreted within new, bold, modern spaces of the home.
Project Year: 2016
Country: Canada
Zip Code: M6J 2X5
The living room wall is dedicated to a built-in library, to store the couple's sizeable collection of books. Seating is centred around a wood burning fireplace that gets frequent use through the cold months of the year.
Givins
Built in shelves are thoughtfully composed to accommodate various sizes of volumes, while maintaining particular alignments throughout the room.
Givins
Givins
Givins
The couple's collection of vinyl records and CDs are stored below the turntable in a custom, built-in piece that occupies the front bay window of the home.
Givins
Givins
Bookshelves stretch from wall-to-wall, and floor-to-ceiling. Since the library is a working collection for the client, a bioethics scholar, a ladder rolls along the full length, to enable access to the uppermost shelves.
Givins
Givins
Givins
An office nestled just off the living room is separated by a wood partition and pocket door, and receives abundant natural light.
Givins
Integrated drawer pulls, milled from solid walnut drawer fronts, are a subtle, elegant detail
Givins
Givins
Upon entry to the kitchen, the black tin ceiling immediately distinguishes the space from generic, white, modern kitchens; its rich texture harkens back to another age, yet remains crisply framed within a modern renovation.
Givins
The rear of the house was radically opened up in the renovation to create a spacious room for cooking and entertaining, with plenty of natural light from south facing windows, and views to the rear yard.
Givins
Givins
The kitchen and dining room are combined into a single space, and draw inspiration from old-world bistros with a bold palette of black and white cabinetry flanking one wall, and an original tin ceiling painted black over the dining table.
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Givins
Givins
Givins
Givins
The ‘mud room’ is integrated within the kitchen, without seeming out of place. Thoughtful consideration is given the transitions from wood flooring to tile to demarcate a zone connecting the side and back doors for a different kind of use than the working kitchen on the opposite side of the island.
Givins
The side door is reimagined to become the family’s everyday entrance; a blue patterned tile wraps up the wall, defining a ‘mud room’ zone within the kitchen, with walnut closets on either side. The couple collaborated with a local typographic artist to design the custom text applied to the glass...
Givins
The powder room off the corridor by the library/living room, features tile reminiscent of crumpled paper running floor to ceiling; the proportions of the space are emphasized by a slender vertical mirror hovering just off the wall.
Givins
A refined palette of materials and fixtures is minimal without being sterile, and welcomes the thoughtful curation of the couple’s unique objects from their travels.
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Givins
Givins
When opened, the pocket doors reveal a vibrant blue wall tile that evokes a rich tapestry, and appears to runs continuously through both rooms of the ensuite.
Givins
A vertical channel is cut out of the ensuite doors, the deepest portion detailed with oil rubbed bronze, to act as an integrated door pull.
Givins
Givins
When the ensuite doors are closed, the custom pull detail provides a subtle, elegant relief within what appears to be a flush wood panel wall.
Givins
Pocket doors to the ensuite bathroom are meticulously detailed to appear as a single, flush wall panel when closed.
Givins
Givins
Inspired by a boutique hotel, a white oak headboard doubles as a screen dividing the master bedroom from the couple's lounge / TV-watching area.
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The bed frame appears to float above the floor.
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Bedside tables and lights, built into the screens, are located at either side of the bed, providing convenient storage.
Givins
The kids bathroom features a bold contrast of black and white, a classic old-world palette interpreted in a modern space, with an eclectic edge.
Givins
The kids bathroom features a bold contrast of black and white, a classic old-world palette interpreted in a modern space, with an eclectic edge.
Givins