In the chic downtown neighbourhood of Rosedale sits a townhouse built in the early 2000s. When interior designer Sam Sacks first saw it, it ‘felt very dated,’ she recalls. ‘The overall vibe was very grey – think cheap Carrera tiles and little to no personality!’
The owners – a family of five with three girls who are back and forth from university – reached out to her eponymous studio, Sam Sacks Design, as soon as they purchased it. Their immediate brief was to tackle the kitchen, but the scope quickly grew to include the entire house.
Sam felt perfectly placed to help them begin a new chapter in their lives; ‘As a recent empty nester, I have a new theory about this period of life being ultra chic,’ she explains. ‘I’ve actually relabeled the empty nest, the party years. This is the period of time where you can have a dinner party on a whim, have a full bar that’s not being drained by teens, use the nice linen…’ Determined to make the house ‘super cool,’ she looked to Brooklyn, London and NYC townhouses for inspiration. ‘The look was urban, elegant and refined.’
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While the home was large, a structural wall dividing the dining/living area from a sunken kitchen and family room at the back of the house made the space feel disconnected. ‘We didn’t want to reengineer the space, so we instead moved the opening so that it was in line with the living and dining room,’ says Sam. This brings light in from the back of the house, and a set of custom steel and glass bifolding doors allows for privacy when formal entertaining is in play.
The original design of the home was boxy and missing architectural details, so Sam and her team added them in with high traditional baseboards, custom plaster moulding in the living and dining room, and a low-profile beamed ceiling in the kitchen and family room. Massive steel and glass doors at the back of the house lead on to a small city garden.
The kitchen is designed to accommodate two serious cooks (mother and daughter) with a prep area and wet bar that can be hidden away when not in use. The massive island is anchored by a Fibonacci light from Blueprint lighting.
One powder room was a big risk, with a pedestal basin in hammered brass with Venetian plaster surrounding it. ‘I held my breath until this was installed,’ says Sam, laughing. A dated staircase was replaced with a sweeping, continuous white oak rail and sleek powder-coated metal posts.
When it came to developing the material and colour palette, rusts, warm creams, velvet, veiny marbles and deeper-toned woods were on the menu; ‘I can’t tell you exactly why, but it all felt very grown-up to us in just the right way,’ says Sam.
On the second floor, there is a main bedroom with custom oak closets and an ensuite in white Volakas marble paired with Venetian plaster and zellige. Also on this level are two girls’ bedrooms, each with their own ensuite, and a laundry room. On the third floor is another bedroom with an ensuite in lime green marble.
One of the home’s loveliest design details is the Versailles pattern floor in the living and dining room; Sam says ‘I adore it. This was my first time using this pattern, and laying it out was stressful, but the pattern and the deep, warm wood tone are perfect.’
As for the family, Sam says they are thrilled with their reimagined home which feels ‘urban, elegant, and refined’ – a cosy nest for the chicks to return to, while their parents party on. samsacksdesign.com
