The listing: 2 Rosecliffe Ave.
Asking price: $1,160,000
Taxes: $3,634.10 (2017)
Lot size: 22.5 ft. x 80.83 ft.
Listing agent: Lance Van der Kolk, Salesperson, and Brenda Van der Kolk, Salesperson, ReMax Hallmark Realty Ltd., Brokerage
At one time, Geoffrey Chin helped managed really big and expensive renovations. As a senior projects manager for the University of Toronto's capital projects, Mr. Chin was involved in multimillion-dollar restorations of iconic buildings, such as Simcoe Hall.
These undertakings would involve elaborate contracts, tight timelines and "a heck of a lot more consultants," according to Mr. Chin.
But a few years ago, he made a choice to begin tackling decidedly smaller renovations as a developer in Toronto's residential real estate market.
An urban planner by education, this gave Mr. Chin the chance to shed the limiting contracts and create his own visions. But this opportunity came with a catch.
"There is a little bit more freedom but a lot more responsibility," he said.
The potential
The main floor was opened up to create a seamless living and dining space.
When Mr. Chin came across 2 Rosecliffe Ave., a two-storey detached brick house in Toronto's west end, he knew right away it had all the ingredients he needed.
"Geoffrey has a great ability to walk into a space and understand how to use the original bone structure," said Brenda Van der Kolk, one of Mr. Chin's listing agents.
During his original walkabout, Mr. Chin noticed some encouraging details: Everything in the house was square, intact and level; there weren't a bunch of chopped up rooms with unnecessary walls or impossibly small bathrooms; plus it had southern and western exposure, being ostensibly an end-unit on the short avenue.
"It was your typical downtown house," Mr. Chin said. "There was a living, dining and kitchen areas but closed off with dividing walls [on the main floor.]"
"But I knew if I blew out the [walls of] main floor, I'd get a better use out of the layout," he said.
The area
The home’s simple structure and layout was conducive to a remodelling.
The other aspect Mr. Chin really liked about the home was its neighbourhood. Situated just east of Dufferin Street between St. Clair Avenue West and Rogers Road, Rosecliff Avenue is a pocket of Toronto that is undergoing a lot of change.
Steps away from Toronto's Corso Italia strip – which runs between Dufferin Street and Lansdowne Avenue along St. Clair – the area has for decades been popular with working-class families of Portuguese and Italian descent. The 2016 census indicated nearly 45 per cent of households still identify as either Portuguese or Italian; but it is diversifying, not just in terms of ethnicity but also in terms of age. In 2016, StatsCan recorded nearly the same number of kids under the age of 14 as they did seniors, age 65 and over.
The housing stock is also varied in this part of Toronto, which many detached homes (such as 2 Rosecliffe) as well as semi-detached, row houses and low-rise apartments buildings.
"When I come to drop off my daughter, Dufferin and St. Clair is probably one of the most vibrant corners in the city," Mr. Chin said.
"It's this fantastic blend of lots of traditional families … but it's all sort of renovating, gentrifying and bubbling," added Lance Van der Kolk, another of Mr. Chin's listing agents.
The transformation
In designing the home, Mr. Chin ‘thought about what my family would want.’
The renovation officially began two months after Mr. Chin purchased the home in March of this year. After doing some exploratory demolition, he and his team mocked up their designs and got city permits.
"Then we started to put the house back together again," he said.
His design started from a simple premise: "I thought about what my family would want," he said.
Beyond opening up the main floor to create one seamless living-dining-kitchen area, Mr. Chin also rejigged the layout upstairs. He expanded the bathroom a little bit in one of the bedrooms in order to add a double vanity and moved the entrance to the master suite up so that he could create a walk-in closet. Despite these changes, all three bedrooms are still large enough for a queen-sized bed and each have their own large window.
In the basement, Mr. Chin created a bachelor apartment.
"If I have space available and the separate entrance, then it's something I will always do," he said.
The basement suite features three above-grade windows.
Unlike some basement apartments, this one has three above-grade windows and Mr. Van der Kolk, who is 6 foot 3, can easily walk around without having to manoeuvre around pipes jutting out from the ceiling.
Mr. and Mrs. Van der Kolk think that basement suite – with its full bathroom and kitchen – could be listed for $850 to $950 a month. Or it could be used as a nanny or in-law suite.
"It's about giving people options to use it as they choose," Mrs. Van der Kolk said.
The space that saw the biggest transformation, however, was the kitchen. Previously, Mr. Chin said it had all of its appliances lined up on one side of the room and it was painted in an almond and off-white colour scheme.
The new kitchen spread out the appliances, which were previously all on one side.
He ripped it all out and decided to spread out its elements; separating the sink from the stove by creating a small kitchen island that faces the dining and living spaces. The off-white cabinets were replaced with sleek white units, none of which is placed above the counter. Instead, Mr. Chin used two floor-to-ceiling cabinets to allow for the backsplash around the range to extend all the way up.
"You have the same amount of cabinetry – if not more – you're just using it in a more functional way," Mrs. Van der Kolk said.
The other thing Mr. Chin added to the kitchen were some higher-end appliances including a stainless steel Whirlpool gas range and a Samsung dishwasher. This is the first time he has splurged for these kinds of accoutrements when renovating a home.
"You have to worry when you're making a business of renovating home," Mr. Van der Kolk said. "You have to watch your bottom line – you need to develop the home enough but just enough to make it beautiful but not unaffordable in the neighbourhood you're selling in."
The price
All three bedrooms are large enough for a queen-sized bed, and the master suite has a walk-in closet.
The extent of the renovation really guided how Mr. and Mrs. Van der Kolk appraised the home.
"There aren't a lot of comparables," Mr. Van der Kolk said. "For a home like this, the top-end renovated sale east of Dufferin and north of St. Clair Ave. West in this pocket was $1.35-million and when you go west of Dufferin, it was $1.1-million."
The home is located on the edge of Toronto's C03 real estate district. On the other side of Dufferin, the region becomes zone W03. And with that change comes a big difference in average price.
For example, in October of this year, the average price of a detached home in C03 was $1,880,584. For a detached in W03, it was $741,300.
Listed at $1,160,000, Mr. Van der Kolk is confident the house will appeal to many buyers.
"It's one of the last bastions of affordability in Toronto's west end," he said. "If this house was a little further south, it'd be completely unaffordable."
One of the bathrooms was expanded to add a double vanity.
For Mr. Chin, he hopes that whoever has this house next will cherish it and the neighbourhood it's in.
"I really hope they make a home of it," he said. "I hope they are able to stay in this neighbourhood for a long time."
We welcome all submissions for Home of the Week. If you would still like to submit your home for consideration, keep in mind that we require that the current owners be willing to be identified and speak to our reporter on the record. Send details to hotw@globeandmail.com.