A peek at Colin and Justin's Toronto penthouse
September 25, 2010
Colin and Justin
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
From the moment we stepped into the downtown Toronto penthouse that would eventually become our comfy home, we knew we’d found the perfect place in which to spend our tenure on North American soil. Perched 39 floors high in a downtown condo (with the CN Tower and lake views to die for) it possessed all the makings of a beautiful nest. Though, as our before shots depict, it had been assembled by a style offender with the decorating prowess of Coronation Street’s Mike Baldwin.
We admit to being somewhat shocked when our realtor showed us the 1,650-square-foot space, and, to this day, are baffled as to why its owner appeared to be trying to capture the spirit of a suburban bungalow. For us, penthouse living should be light and airy and imbued with an urban vibe that flies in the face of all things suburban. Hmm. Clearly our predecessor had different ideas. We mean come on — just look at those multi-coloured walls and that preposterously thick berber.
But our, ahem, masterful vision allowed us to see beyond the toffee toned melee and its attendant mahogany and brown leather furniture accents. As our style apparitions tumbled forth, we imagined a pared back scheme with elements of Bauhaus and a touch of farmyard detailing for juxtaposed measure. It’s lovely, you see, to mix styles and, if done properly, the substantive parts will marry to create magical results. But don’t rush or your scheme will look ill conceived, even haphazard. Rather take your time and add things gradually as and when you find items that “speak to you.”
And of course we counsel with personal experience: we haven’t galloped to the finishing line chez McAllister Ryan Towers. We still have bare walls where art will eventually hang and we have corners still to be occupied with finishing items and shots of colour. And we’ve yet to even start redesigning our bathrooms, both of which, for the record, are homogenous beige with standard fittings typical of condo construction from 10 years past. Guess we’ve simply been too busy redesigning your homes to tackle every inch of our own. But there’s always next year . . .
In the meantime, let’s wander the zones where we have made a difference. In our living room, for example, having stripped away the previous owners’ vision, we specified seamless ebony flooring and painted the entire space purest white. With permission from our condo board, we spray finished the window frames jet black to disguise their standard aluminum origins and installed gauzy black Hunter Douglas roller blinds to provide adequate light baffling on even the brightest days. We’ve thus far resisted any kind of secondary curtaining although, with winter approaching, we may eventually succumb and add panels of textural charcoal fabric. For now, though, we remain committed to uncluttered lines that in no way obstruct the fabulous views to Billy Bishop Airport and the Toronto Islands, which lie beyond.
To provide a focal point we designed custom ebony shelving which serves as the perfect space upon which to store books and other carefully selected artifacts we’ve picked up on our travels. A collection of naïve tree root (discovered in HomeSense while sourcing detail for a project in Halifax) lines the top area, while a vignette of Jonathan Adler ceramics and Frank Gehry “Rock” vases for Tiffany & Co. (gifts by our close friend Cheryl from Home Heist) sits to one side at a lower level. Centre stage is a large flat screen TV, bought, courtesy of the oak and granite kitchen that once occupied the far end of the room. Rather than ditch it, we popped it on Craigslist and used part of the $5,000 we achieved to raid the aisles of Best Buy. Did we mention we’re Scottish? And that we’re simply not constructed to waste an opportunity?
Across from the jumbo wall installation is an equally enormous grey sofa, manufactured to our design by Silva, one of Canada’s best upholsterers. The good news is that custom specification isn’t an act of avarice: it’s actually an affordable way to create bespoke results and it couldn’t be any easier. If you can convey (by either drawing or picture) that which you hope to achieve, then a good upholsterer should be able do the rest.
Beside the sofa is a Jonathan Adler coffee table, picked up in HomeSense for ninety bucks, while dotted variously around is a concoction of naïve wooden tables, hauled from curio stores and garage sales in Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg. If we see something we like — wherever we are — we’ll find a way of getting it back to base. Under the table sits a soccer-pitch sized rug, composed of contrasting grey and black berber. Designed by us and custom assembled by Millennia, it’s a lovely extra layer atop the stark ebony floor. These guys will cut, bond and seal pretty much any carpet type as long as piles have a similar length and twist style. Isn’t it about time you got creative rather than simply opting for off the shelf product?
Our food prep zone, hand built by Altima Kitchens, is a flat fronted sea of glossy white designed to sit comfortably alongside living room function, without overpowering the combined space. We aspired to an aesthetic that would be more “cocktail bar” than kitchen, and can happily tell of countless martini-fuelled soirees gathered with friends round the grey marble cantilevered bar area. But, crucially, our careful redesign didn’t forgo function for form. We’re all about integration and our “cocktail bar” actually boasts a massive larder fridge and double height freezer, both by Thermador, as well as a Fisher & Paykal dishwasher, tons of storage and even a discreetly positioned microwave. And we certainly didn’t forget the fun factor: a simple decal depicting the London sky line is a quirky reminder of Blighty.
Next door is a large dining room with ample seating for eight or more friends. This area was originally configured as two bedrooms but we figured we’d have more people for dinner than we would overnight guests so it made sense to create (again, with condo approval) a large open concept space. A solid oak hutch from Stacaro accommodates booze and books while another black and grey rug anchors a secondary seating area. Topped with grey linen nickel buttoned chairs, this wee zone is the perfect fallout point for dinner guests to relax, intercourse. Opposite, an outsize dining table is flanked by ebony Windsor chairs and, with Glade candles twinkling (our favourite affordable brand with lovely enduring aromas) this stage has been the backdrop for countless Bacchanalian feasts. Hey, we like to think Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones might have been as comfortable here as his modern day vocally talented Welsh namesake. Our hedonistic candle lit suppers, you see, are the stuff of legend, and in fact many endure till the wee small hours, leg of mutton in one hand, bottle of red wine in the other.
In the bedroom, we lavished Graham & Brown paper across all walls and it serves as the perfect backdrop for another C&J design: a cream button tufted headboard, inspired by classic wing-backed chairs. As well as dealing with the team who made our living room sofa, we also do a lot of work with N’shape Designs, another Canadian upholsterer who in this case transposed our sketched dream chair into wonderful three dimension reality. To keep nightstands clear we arranged faux antler chandeliers above, and these flood the room with ample illumination, adjustable via remote control. Windows are dressed with crisp white Hunter Douglas Luminette blinds and their overlapping textural construction keeps the room feeling fresh and invigorating.
So there you have it: Home sweet — home away from — home, Colin and Justin style. We hope you’ve enjoyed this first sighting — we reckoned it was only fair to give you guys a peek in our pad before letting anyone else drop by with their probing lenses. Sure, the muted grey, white and black palette may come as a surprise (especially from two boyz who’ve so eagerly coloured the Canadian landscape) but if you follow our counsel — in print or on TV — you’ll know that, aside from making ordinary homes extra ordinary, we also make each of our projects client relevant. And these particular clients just happen to love understatement. For the moment, that is. You see, somewhere in our style laboratory is a Benjamin Moore paint chart that’s simply begging for attention. Yup, we feel a few slabs of colour coming on. Aye, with an accent wall here, and a decorative feature zone there, we just might be about to take our condo to the next confident level. Watch this space!
Next week: How to create an Indian vibe at home without being overly thematic.
Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan are the hosts of HGTV’s Colin & Justin’s Home Heist (Tuesdays at 10 p.m.) and the authors of Colin & Justin’s Home Heist Style Guide, published by Penguin Group (Canada). Follow them on twitter @colinjustin or on Facebook (ColinJustin). Contact them through their website, www.colinandjustin.tv.
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Everything in moderation ...
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Dining out on a kitchen facelift
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Shopping on the virtual high streets
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Alice lands in Wonderland
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Modern country? You bet!
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60 minutes equals one BIG makeover
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Let the sunshine in
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Bringing justice to a crime of design
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Black and white and red all over
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A
room recipe that's tasty to the max
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Making
a grand entrance
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A
walk on the wild side
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A
very big garage gamble
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Make
room for baby
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Nantucket
inspired bedroom
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The
great outdoors
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Dressing
room rehabilitation
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It's
a miracle of garage-sized proportions
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Delicious
dining
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New
York state of mind
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A
master stroke in the master suite
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Treasures
from the trash
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Happy
Days are here again
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Head
towards the light
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Crisis
relief for a design disaster
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Design
on a dime
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Sleeping
with Colin and Justin
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Freshly
squeezed style
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Extravaganza
in orange
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Blue
and white make it right
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Baby
blue strikes the right chord
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Taking
it up a notch
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Well-planned
kitchen really cooks
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Asian-inspired
glamour
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Reaching
new heights
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Tweaking
for a new decade
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Crazy
for Canadiana, eh!
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Create
a holiday affair to remember
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Please
pass the mustard
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Hallelujah!
Designer salvation
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Mauving
right along