Decorating & Design
Inside a North Toronto Home’s Travel-inspired Renovation
Published on February 16, 2022
When Samantha Goren and her husband, Noah Goldstein, found their unrenovated North Toronto house in late 2019, they knew it was a good fit. “I wanted a house where nothing had been updated,” says Samantha. “The house was a blank canvas.” At 4,000-square-feet, it had plenty of space for the couple and their three kids, and the dated kitchen and tired living areas were ripe for a reno.
The couple hired friend and designer Ali Budd, whose work they had long admired. The project started as a kitchen renovation but quickly morphed into a radical transformation of the entire main floor. The finished space is a perfect blend of Samantha’s classic country, southwest style and Ali’s signature aesthetic. “Even though Ali tends to be more modern than I am, she’s so good, she can do anything!” says Samantha.
Samantha drew inspiration from places she has been that she felt connected to. “My grandparents live in Arizona, and I grew up spending a lot of time there,” she says. “When I visited recently, I started to think about my own house, and how I could incorporate some of the elements I saw.” One such motif is the arch. Graceful archways punctuate every passageway on the main floor, and exposed wood beams — salvaged from a 150-year-old barn in Ottawa — add country character. Then, Ali and her team brought in their trademark swagger. “Our design was a little out of Samantha’s comfort zone,” says Ali, “but she just needed a little push.”
Scroll down to see this renovated North Toronto home!
While the kitchen footprint remained unchanged, the rest of the main floor was reorganized. The plan called for removing the traditional living room located at the front of the house. That space would be used to extend the dining room into one huge area for big family dinners. The designer also created two pantries, one for prep and one for storage, which now separate the kitchen from the dining room. “I don’t like making museums for people,” says Ali. “Formal living rooms are often unused spaces. What’s more useful are large pantry areas and a big dining room. This was a big ‘trust me’ moment.”
Floral wallpaper and pink cabinets in the butler’s pantry add a pretty dose of color. As it turns out, the new butler’s pantry is one of Samantha’s favorite places in the house. A registered dietitian and founder of FoodHome Co. with a sideline as a food and lifestyle blogger, she appreciates the storage space, and the extra oven is perfect for cooking large meals for extended family. She’ll often serve buffet-style, spreading dishes out on the oversized island in the kitchen.
The original stairs were a dated red oak; they stained the treads black and painted the risers in crisp white.
“Because we got rid of the living room, I asked Ali to make the family room cozy but also sophisticated,” says Samantha. “That’s where we’ll entertain in the future.”
A large arch separates the kitchen from the family room. “It’s not just how a room feels that’s important,” says the designer, “but also how it looks from different vantage points.”
The kids usually gravitate to the banquette area, while the adults head to the very grown-up dining room. The dining table was custom-designed to fit the expansive room. “Scale is so important in terms of how a room feels,” says Ali.
Then there was the matter of the wallpaper. Ali is known for her high-impact use of color and pattern, but the graphic wall coverings in the pantry and on the dining room ceiling were fairly bold leaps for Samantha. She’s glad she was led down a more adventurous path, though, particularly in the dining room where, set against the two oversized pendants, the look is entirely unexpected. “The dining room almost feels like a restaurant, like you’re in a different place,” she says. Samantha immediately fell for the graphic, peach-hued Kelly Wearstler wallpaper destined for the powder room.
With its mix of pattern, color and textures — from the Arabescato Corchia marble on the fireplace surround to the wood panelling to the brick arch above the range — this house is anything but cookie-cutter. “I loved the opportunity to do something that felt like my firm but is exactly what Samantha wanted,” says Ali. The oversized island is ideal for serving buffet-style meals when family comes over.
Alex Lukey
House & Home January/February 2022
Ali Budd