Decorating & Design
March 29, 2022
See How A Formal Home Is Transformed With Pops Of Color And Vibrant Art
As a former small business owner, Kirsten Torokvei had amassed an impressive number of commercial and residential properties but, for her dream home, she looked at hundreds of houses before landing on the one — a classic two-storey red brick house built in 2007 on a tree-lined street in Lawrence Park, one of Toronto’s most coveted neighborhoods.
Despite looking faded, the 6,000-square-foot formal home was blessed with good bones and obvious assets (five bedrooms, 10-foot-high ceilings and seven bathrooms). The house was ripe for reincarnation and Kirsten knew it wouldn’t feel like home to her husband — a former pro soccer player — and her children, Logan, 11, and Carter, 8, until they shaped it to suit their young family’s lifestyle. Kirsten envisioned a more modern, less formal home, one that was clean-lined and casually comfortable. “We wanted a design that would give us all space and privacy when we crave it, and big, comfy gathering areas when we want to be together,” she says. “I wanted a home that feels lived in, where every inch of space is purposeful. I didn’t want that fancy room that nobody goes into.”
Scroll down to see how she reimagined the space to become her dream home!
Alex Lukey
Katelyn Hermant and Sarah Siwik