Design tips: How to make a 10,000-square-foot house feel like home

“I want to be these dogs!” deadpans Andrew Black, partner of Alair Homes Forest Hill.  

The four pampered pooches Black is referring to reside in a manse in Markham’s Cachet Country Club Estate community. In addition to a marble-accented dog shower, the four-footers — three small breeds and a German Shepherd — can languish in their Nordic-style dog houses. Or, while the owners are enjoying some alone time — while searing a steak, say — they can salivate from behind a retractable glass baby gate that elegantly divides the kitchen from a hallway.   

Alair Homes Forest Hill overhauled the 10,000-square-foot house, which sits on 1.5 acres and was originally built in the 1990s. The interior design is by Eva Healy, principal of Avenue Design. 

“Technically it’s a renovation because we didn’t rebuild 100 per cent of the home,” says Black. “But it’s effectively new. We kept the foundation and some of the main-floor walls.”  

The young couple who live alongside their pets fell for the upscale Cachet community near Unionville with its stately dwellings on spacious lots.  

While the setting is pretty, the couple’s house had a dated interior that didn’t jive with their youthful, well-travelled style. She prefers bright, airy spaces and a dynamic mix of vintage and modern furnishings.  

The home also had a white kitchen that was passable but boring, while the foyer was overshadowed by an upper landing so it felt compressed and didn’t offer a sense of arrival, a must-have design feature on her list. The ceilings also weren’t high enough on either of the floors, and the small windows impeded outdoor views.  

Most egregious was the water issue, says Black. “The Cachet area is all septic. There is no real infrastructure — it’s a bunch of controlled river and ponds. The water table is extremely high.” Black believes the previous owner abandoned the project because making the basement habitable was an enormous undertaking.  

“When we took the roof off, we were exposed to the elements, and the water table was higher than the basement floor, so we created multiple exterior sump pump pits,” he says. “This is is commonly referred to as a ‘dog house,’” he says of the underground concrete bunker that houses two large pits and pumps with generator backup. “Those sump pumps will always be running. They are hooked up to notification systems so if one fails, there is backup,” he says. The team also vaulted the ceilings on the second floor, which are now 11-feet high, creating that airy feel the owners wanted. A 21-foot sliding-glass Nana Wall system on the main floor, meanwhile, create a seamless indoor-outdoor effect. 

Some of the sexier features include a vitrine-cum-wine cabinet that cradles bottles like an art installation; monumental stone fireplaces, some with seating perches; and the artful lighting Healy layered throughout. Even the powder room is a thrill: instead of a faucet, the water spills into the sink from a long pipe that travels down from the ceiling. 

As for the white kitchen, it won’t be missed. Its replacement contains a quantity of Calacatta Viola marble, including on the wall above the range, where an integrated display niche holds pottery.  

“The clients cook and entertain and we wanted to ensure there was lots of milling space, so we extended the kitchen,” says Healy. “We did this by creating this huge slab island and breakfast table that cantilevers over the island, which elongates the kitchen.” 

Healy was after warmth, which is sorely missing in many large-scale homes, both in terms of finishes and furniture.  “The kitchen is natural and organic. There’s depth and movement to it,” she says. “Lighting-wise, we wanted sculptural, architectural moments throughout,” she says. Bocci lights, for example, float like clouds over the island, contrasting the hard stone.  

Healy’s staircase design has major impact over the traditional version that previously stood there. Open risers on the Y-shaped structure — dead-centre stairs hit a landing before branching off left and right — offer sightlines to the backyard, in an entranceway that now soars 20 feet.