Main Floor Reno Magic
March, 2019
“Our friends asked if we are in the witness protection program because we move so much,” laughs homeowner Mary Lee Keefe.
She says she and her husband, Guy Manuel, roll with life’s stages, buying and selling homes to meet their family’s needs. They most recently sold their cottage because their grown children no longer had the time to spend there. So it was important to them that this house have a cottage-in-the-city backyard with a pool.
The couple bought this 3,500-square-foot house in 2014, choosing a location close to their old west Toronto neighbourhood. “We didn’t want to move to the suburbs but wanted a bigger lot,” Mary Lee says.
They concentrated their efforts on renovating the approximately 1,600-square-foot main floor. Rather than gut the space, which had been renovated over the years, she says they chose to refine it. Glass half walls were removed to open up the space and create an easy-for-entertaining flow. Ceramic tile inserts in the hardwood floors in the 18x15-foot foyer and kitchen were removed, matching wood was installed in the two areas and the floors throughout were sanded and stained a darker brown.
Eighteen-inch crown mouldings were added around coffered ceilings in the living and dining rooms for drama. Pot lights were added in the living room.
Mouldings were attached to existing basic flat doors in the foyer (powder room, closet and door leading to the garage) because they were “not the least bit interesting,” Mary Lee says. Instead of putting mouldings the usual five or six inches in from the edges of the doors, they were placed two inches in. This trick gives the doors a feeling of grandness, says Amedeo Barbini of Barbini Design Build.
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