Decorating & Design
April 1, 2019
This Sophisticated Family Home Will Feed Your Design Inspiration
People tend to fall in love with homes for a specific reason, but pizza rarely tops the list. It was a picturesque wood-burning pizza oven that sold Moez and Marissa Kassam on their family-friendly house in central Toronto. The Kassams, who have two daughters, will host anywhere between eight and 30 people, several times a month. While the kitchen was tailor-made for foodies, the traditional Victorian layout of the main floor wasn’t suited to the way the couple entertained.
And so, with designer Montana Burnett leading the project and Peter Robinson of Sherwood Custom Homes overseeing the renovation, the house was transformed into an open-concept space ready for spontaneous dinner parties or just hanging out en famille. “Now, everyone is watching and enjoying and eating and drinking at the same time,” says Moez.
Scroll down to tour this sophisticated home that is perfecting for entertaining.
Vented cladding made of stained white oak is installed over top of the white marble fireplace, underscoring Montana’s recurring use of contrasting graphic details.
Marissa and Moez spend most of their time in the comfortable — and multifunctional — informal dining area at the back of the house. “They use it for breakfasts and dinners on a daily basis, and the space moonlights as a bar during parties,” says Montana.
The homeowners with daughter Madeleine in the hallway, where an oversized mirror reflects the sculptural pendants that animate the dining room.
In the office, an antique chair sourced at a Paris flea market, a sculptural raffia table lamp and moody artwork infuse the space with character.
A splash of saturated blue presents a painterly complement to the office’s classic wood panelling.
Designed to maximize conversation, the custom dining room table plays a central role at dinner parties. Vintage Mies van der Rohe cantilever cane chairs surround the table.
Montana likens the expansive kitchen to an open-concept restaurant.
Centrally positioned with its own ventilation system, the wood-burning pizza oven is a constant source of pleasure, whether it’s fired up for weekday family meals or used by top chefs for catered events.
Responding to Moez’s desire for color, Montana proposed a bold sapphire stair runner with a puddle-like hem that echoes the curves of the pendant overhead.
Simultaneously sophisticated and comfortable, the sitting area that leads to the principal bedroom offers an inspired refuge removed from the entertaining rooms.
Graphic wallpaper and a variety of natural surfaces in the principal bedroom illustrate Montana’s preference for combining clean, earthy elements with mid-century modern style.
While the principal bathroom was left largely unchanged (it was recently redone by the previous owners), a Moroccan rug is consistent with the eclecticism from downstairs.
Originally black and gold, the pendant over the bathtub was repainted white to tone down its presence, resulting in a more serene space.
The Kassams’ baby daughter, Mila, sleeps in this nursery filled with imaginative, crafted objects and bathed in natural light.
Angus Fergusson
House & Home March 2019
Montana Burnett