House for an Art Lover by Picnic Design

Inspired in part by the homeowner’s bright, bold, colourful, and extensive art collection, Picnic Design sets out to instill key design elements throughout the Wallace Emerson area home

A 1920s Toronto house with a rear extension in urgent need of structural rebuilding is transformed into a visually bold, unified, and functionally comfortable home.

In the early stages of planning for the project, the client’s extensive collection of modern and other artworks became the north star. The aim was to create a cohesive space by connecting design ‘zones’ on the ground floor using unifying elements, while maintaining a sense of playfulness and levity, and referencing the intersecting lines found in modern art.

A series of contrasting transition areas, or zones, introduce intense blocks of colour – deep blue and teal tiles in the bathrooms, earthy terracotta in the kitchen – with pleasing shifts in material or texture that elevate the interior. Framed vistas create continuity between spaces in the home, and fully exploited natural lighting, including the addition of a skylight on the second-floor hallway, adds an airy spaciousness to a formerly cramped home.

The previously small entrance area is now expanded into a five-foot-deep vestibule zone that spans the width of the house, demarcated by a dark-hued tile floor. This area incorporates Picnic Design’s signature nook – a large, picturesque window bench with storage. This also acts as a focal point for the living and dining areas. Wide-plank, muted white oak flooring in the living area creates a sharp dark-to-light contrast moving from the vestibule to the living space.

A long wall feature in thermo-fused, detailed woodgrain laminate, nicknamed the Black Strip, acts as a functional and unifying element between living area and kitchen, main house and rebuilt rear addition. Near the front of the house, the Black Strip conceals a powder room with hidden hardware and flush panelling, before segueing into seamless tall cabinets, a built-in fridge, and a wall oven in the kitchen.

The strip terminates in a white oak bench adjacent to glazed doors leading out to the back patio. A black, perforated metal, open shelving unit playfully peeks beyond the large arched frame of the kitchen entrance, mirrored by a peninsula beneath it, as viewed from the living area. This peninsula is topped by a crisp, bright porcelain slab that completes the kitchen countertop. The base of the peninsula facing the living area is wrapped in a solid white oak, half-round tambour, adding an intriguing graphical texture for a visual pause before entering the kitchen. A slim strip of window acts as a linear block of light nestled between matte grey laminate overhead cabinets and the sink.

The previously unfinished basement is now eighteen inches taller and houses a guest bedroom, bathroom, laundry closet, utility room, storage closet, and recreation room. The entire refinished basement is heated with an energy-efficient in-floor hydronic heating system.

An extra floor above the rebuilt rear addition gathers additional natural light, and a lofty master bedroom with ten-foot ceilings features a Zen-inspired ensuite bath. The bedroom’s west-facing window is capped on the exterior by a brise-soleil with louvres arranged to block high-angle summer sun and reduce heat gain and glare, while in winter, low-angle sun warms the façade with passive solar heat. Norwegian fluted vertical siding in a recycled composite of Brazilian Ipe wood wraps around the addition’s exterior façade, adding a modern, castellated profile with a narrow shadow line.

A backyard once little more than a field of weeds now features an extended cedar wood deck and trellis for partially shaded outdoor entertaining. The parking area is topped by an open post and beam carport made with structurally strong and lightweight Douglas fir. A pergola roof allows evening light to enter the house, while providing partial shelter from the elements.

With the extensive renovation infused with colour and boldness, the owner gets to inhabit a home that has become a piece of functional art.

House for an Art Lover is a winner in the Architecture Master Prize Award in the Houses Interior category.

About Picnic Design

Everything that the Picnic Design team creates has a story. They work within the spectrum of architecture, interior design, and installations. Their projects always consider the surrounding environment beyond the property lines and the spaces within the building walls, constantly moving between scales.

Picnic Design is attuned to the stories of the users, but also to the site. In shaping the story of a space, they inject ingenuity and unexpected moments, focusing on spaces that can be shared. They place emphasis on making connections, be they visual via an interior balcony, or physical with a secret passage. They ensure that the story is open ended and is designed to change, so the space will transform with the users as they grow.

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