design the house specialty - muha interiors · hood with a flared edge (a design that’s straight...

DESIGN

98 H&H JUNE 2010 SEE SOURCE GUIDE

The House SpecialtyAN INSPIRED KITCHEN, POPS OF BRIGHT COLOUR

AND EDGY HITS OF SALVAGE TOP THE INGREDIENT LIST IN CELEB CHEF TRISH MAGWOOD’S FAMILY HOME.

By JENNIFER HUGHES | Photography by STACEY BRANDFORD

Chef, TV host and cookbook author, Trish Magwood, in her kitchen with Findlay, Olivia (on stool) and Charlotte. Interior design, island design, Rebecca Muha; island construction, Jmac Productions; contractor, Toby Schertzer; stools, Studio b; black windows, Bliss Nor-Am. OPPOSITE: The home’s front door was replaced with a metal-framed door that matches the new windows. Painting the entire façade a deep blue-black unifies the brick, shingled roof, fence and lattice, and creates a dramatic backdrop for the bright green foliage. Mat, Restoration Hardware.

JUNE - Trish Magwood.indd 1JUNE - Trish Magwood.indd 1 4/13/10 4:58:29 PM4/13/10 4:58:29 PM

100 H&H JUNE 2010 SEE SOURCE GUIDE

STRETCHING THE BUDGET: WHERE TRISH SPLURGED AND SAVED• Salvage as much as possible to keep costs

down. Trish kept most of the existing floors so she could spend more on priority areas: the kitchen, bathroom and new windows.

• Customize off-the-shelf items like cabinetry from big-box stores. The lower kitchen cabinets here are inexpensive Ikea cabinets treated to a custom paint finish.

• Mix pieces inherited from family with new items for a fun, layered look on a budget.

• Put off investing in expensive rugs; have basic broadloom cut to size and simply edge-bound. When kids are older and le ss accident prone, invest in a showpiece rug.

• Keep bedroom decor simple. Minimalist arrangements of affordable furniture, vintage finds and eye-catching linens equal inviting sleeping quarters.

High Style, Low Cost

Tucked into the opening between the kitchen’s pantry wall and living room entertainment centre, this floating ash desk acts as Trish’s home office, as well as a dramatic focal point in the open-concept main floor. Interior designer Rebecca Muha convinced Trish that one oversized family portrait made a bigger impact than many small photos sprinkled around the home. Portrait by Brian Summers; stainless steel cabinets, Perfect Stainless; desk, Jmac Productions; stool, Pottery Barn; white throw, Hollace Cluny; rug, eFloors.


101H&H JUNE 2010

t’s not unusual for designers to be asked to recreate a room from a movie. But a cartoon? Now that’s a new one. While noted chef, cookbook author and mother of three Trish Magwood was watching a Disney favourite with her kids, she had an idea — you could almost see the animated lightbulb pop up over her head. “The restaurant in Ratatouille has a classic Parisian kitchen with an industrial feel,” she says. “I knew that was what I wanted.”

Interior designer Rebecca Muha, who Trish brought in to collaborate on the top-to-bottom renovation of the Toronto home, had a good chuckle at Trish’s request but took up the challenge. And with that, the four-month renovation began. When Trish and her husband, Bryce Conacher, purchased the quirky 1950s infill home in a leafy central neighbourhood in June 2008, the main floor was a cluster of small rooms. Now, with the space totally opened up, the hub of the house is the generous kitchen. It’s what you’d expect from Trish, who founded Toronto’s popular Dish Cooking Studio 10 years ago and was also host of the Food Network show Party Dish.

Despite the home’s modest 1,600-square-foot proportions, Trish and Muha managed to maximize both function and style. In the bistro-style kitchen, for example, they balanced splurges like top-of-the-line appliances, custom stainless steel cabinetry framing and a “big, honking” stainless steel range hood with a flared edge (a design that’s straight out of the kitchen in Ratatouille) with more affordable elements like

ABOVE: In the newly opened-up space, the enormous ash kitchen island acts as family headquarters.Carrara marble on the island and on the 24"-deep pantry counter is a classic French choice. The lower cabinets on the pantry wall are stock Ikea cabinetry custom-painted a warm grey-white shade. The stainless steel upper cabinets are made to look like vintage medical cabinets. Stainless steel cabinets, Perfect Stainless; cabinet hardware, Upper Canada Specialty Hardware; wall tile, Cercan Tile; range hood, BlueStar.


102 H&H JUNE 2010

Made from the same ash as the kitchen island and desk, the on-trend sliding doors on the living room’s entertainment centre are an easy space-saving trick in smaller homes. The warm, rustic finish was inspired by a piece of driftwood, which Trish displays on the mantel. Door design, Rebecca Muha; construction, Jmac Productions.


SEE SOURCE GUIDE 103H&H JUNE 2010

stock cabinetry and a restaurant-style faucet from a big-box store. The ash island was custom-built to mimic old European oak, and its finish — which is identical to the finish on the floating desk nearby and living room entertainment centre’s sliding doors — was inspired by a piece of driftwood that Muha found on a walk in a nearby conservation area.

Much of the main floor’s lofty, industrial look comes via new black-framed warehouse windows, which were high on Trish’s must-have list. To let more light flood the space, the window over the kitchen sink was enlarged to three times its size. And all the main-floor windows were raised to full ceiling height, which balances the fact that the ceilings are a rather low eight feet high and helps better connect the spaces to the outdoors.

To keep the budget down, the flooring throughout the home was simply sanded and lightened, as opposed to replaced, with the exception of new hard-wearing porcelain tile in the entry and marble in the new principal bath. In the living room, the existing maple hardwood is topped with a cosy piece of wool broadloom, cut to size and edge-bound — an inexpensive choice that will see the family through a few more years of juice spills and Magic Marker stains.

At the other end of the main living space, a banquette built into a corner offers easy seating for Findlay, 6, Olivia, 4, and Charlotte, 18 months, and drawers underneath store craft supplies, games and puzzles, and table linens. “We can really pack kids in here,” laughs Trish, whose home is often the

ABOVE: Punches of bold colour come from the throw pillows, which have luxe designer fabric on the front and modestly priced linen on the back. When Trish needed something to fill the space to the left of the fireplace, she grabbed an old chicken coop from her parents’ barn. An inexpensive Ikea coffee table has the lines of a mid-century teak collectible. Sofa, Montauk; chairs, Elte; pink pillow fabric, Y&Co; art (on mantel) by V. Tony Hauser (left) and Jackson Huang (right); black vase, pink vase, Hollace Cluny.

OPPOSITE, TOP RIGHT: Olivia and Findlay spend hours at the antique drafting table that acts as the family’s dining table. The long banquette is covered in forgiving charcoal linen, and features spacious storage drawers below for table linens and art supplies. Photograph (on wall) by Colin Faulkner; light, French Country; charcoal linen (on bench), Designer Fabrics; pink pillow fabric, Y&Co; chair, Kiosk; table, Hardware.BOTTOM LEFT: An intimate patio at the side of the house allows for private alfresco family dining and daily barbecues in the summer. Trish attaches new inexpensive indoor-outdoor fabric to the table with a staple gun each spring.BOTTOM RIGHT: Durable new porcelain floor tile in the entry mimics pricier limestone. Trish dressed up the table, which belonged to her grandmother, in glossy black paint and a pretty branch-motif pull. Floor tile, Ciot.


104 H&H JUNE 2010

Graphic bedding and velvet pillows liven up the principal bedroom. Trish slipcovered an old side table in white cotton to hide its flaws. Duvet cover, Euro shams, white throw, Lucca; rug, Angus & Co.; teal vase, Hollace Cluny; velvet pillows, Constantine; green door, The Door Store; blind, headboard, Gail Leger.OPPOSITE, TOP LEFT: The wicker chair in Olivia’s room, a hand-me-down from Bryce’s family, enhances the home’s cottage-in-the-city vibe. Window, Pollard; bed, Ikea; art (over table) by Alanna Cavanagh; wall colour, Skylight (205), Farrow & Ball.TOP RIGHT: A top-to-toe reno of the principal bath created a glam all-white space. Bands of black mosaic tile give the Carrara marble floor a lighter look. The modern tub is paired with more traditional wall-mount plumbing. Artwork, Alanna Cavanagh; tub, towels, tub tray, Ginger’s; sink, Taps; bathmat, Restoration Hardware; orange toiletries, duck, Belle de Provence.

houseandhome.com/june10

Find decorating ideas in our Bedroom Design Guide.web


SEE SOURCE GUIDE 105H&H JUNE 2010

Findlay’s room has punchy orange accents inspired by the silkscreen print of a suitably named vintage Penguin book. A headboard in charcoal grey sets off the vibrant hue. Artwork by Alanna Cavanagh; headboard construction, Gail Leger; headboard fabric, Designer Fabrics; duvet cover, Ikea.

gathering place for her own extended family, as well as Bryce’s. “Last Christmas dinner, we had eight kids seated around the island, and 10 adults at the table,” she says.

While Trish and Muha made all the stylistic decisions, Bryce — who is the founder and CEO of CleanAirPass, a carbon emission management company — made sure choices were as environmentally sustainable as possible. Plenty of vintage and hand-me-down pieces were incorporated to keep the planet in mind and the budget in check. For example, the couple chose rustic slab doors, with their original bright green paint and strap hinges, to lead into both the kids’ bath and renovated principal bath. “The old doors help avoid that shiny, all-new look,” Muha says. “We really wanted to inject some character into the space and give it a bit of edge.” Trish also brought in lots of vintage pieces, like the drafting table used as a dining table, the antique French pendant over the table, an old chicken coop found in her parents’ barn near Creemore, Ont., in the living room, and some pieces inherited from both her and Bryce’s grandparents. “There’s an element of nostalgia to using family pieces,” says Trish. “I like to work them in whenever possible.”

The entire home’s neutral backdrop is a practical choice: it can be refreshed with a handful of new accessories every few years. For now, the bright pops of colour help camouflage the kids’ toys. But despite the Disney-movie inspiration behind this home, there’s nothing resembling a cartoon character in sight — just a stylish yet truly comfortable family home.


design the house specialty - muha interiors · hood with a flared edge (a design that’s straight...

Documents