THE LISTING 226 Erskine Ave.
ASKING PRICE $1,595,000
TAXES $7,003.57 (2017)
LOT SIZE 25 ft. by 187.66 ft.
LISTING AGENT Gillian Oxley, salesperson, and Joseph Robert, broker, Royal LePage Terrequity Realty, Brokerage
A yellow stripe runs from the family room to the kitchen.
Larry Arnal/Arnal Photography
The winters in Toronto are long and grey. So Vanessa Emam, a Parisian designer who relocated to Toronto, decided to find a decorative way to help her cope: She added a thick mustardy yellow horizontal stripe to her family room.
"The winters are so cold, so I want to make the inside sunny," she said. "So it is the sunshine entering the house."
The back story
From the outside, the home resembles many other brick North Toronto houses.
Pedro Ho/Bizz Image Real Estate Tours
The yellow stripe sits in a house at 226 Erskine Ave., near Eglinton Avenue and Mt. Pleasant Road. From the outside, it looks a lot like all the other brick homes in North Toronto. But when Ms. Emam found it in 2005, she saw that it had potential.
The previous owners had added an extension off the back, with big windows and skylights, giving the house a surprising amount of additional space.
"We were really attracted to the extra volume," she said. "It gives the impression of having more space even if it's the same square footage."
After purchasing 226 Erskine, she started to redesign all of that space to give the house an interior rebirth.
The house today
A dining room sits adjacent to the kitchen.
Larry Arnal/Arnal Photography
The first phase of her renovation was opening up the main floor and adding interesting details, such as the yellow stripe. She also added a powder room and rejigged the stairs in order to expand the front closet.
The kitchen was also upgraded to a Scavolini model in 2013. Adjacent to it is a dining space and the large family room off the back.
After the first level was done, Ms. Emam landscaped the backyard and added in two areas for sitting and dining, as well as a small water feature that adds a pop of bright azure to the backyard.
"We wanted to add a little Mediterranean flare to the garden," she said.
The kitchen was upgraded in 2013.
Larry Arnal/Arnal Photography
Following that, she tackled the unfinished basement. The new design features a full bathroom, bedroom, rec room that could moonlight as an office, temperature-controlled wine cellar and laundry room with ample storage and a secondary fridge.
The upstairs, which has three bedrooms and a large bathroom, maintained its layout but the flooring was replaced at the same time that Ms. Emam upgraded the main level's flooring a few years ago.
There are a few design themes that Ms. Emam has woven throughout her home. The first is the simple, crisp colour scheme. Most of the home is white, but there are blue and yellow elements scattered throughout. Beyond the stripe, there are bits of yellow and blue glass incorporated into some windows. The colours also show up in her furniture and decor choices.
The other primary colour, red, also shows up in the home. Part of the basement is wrapped in a bright red wallpaper with a faux alligator skin imprint on it.
In addition to the colours, Ms. Emam also sprinkled touches of wood and concrete throughout the house. It's a trick she learned from her father, who was also a designer.
"He always said wood and stone or marble materials are timeless, so use them with white walls," she said.
Ms. Emam learned the art of design from her father during her childhood in Paris. "I always had my nose in his plans and projects," she said.
Her dad also taught her the value of adding handmade elements to a house.
"He was very into handicrafts," she said, adding that it was this inherited value that inspired her to create her "upcycled" powder room door.
Touches of wood and concrete appear throughout.
Larry Arnal/Arnal Photography
The door is a shimmering collage of bits of newspapers and magazines mixed with yellow, blue and pink paint.
"People don't even realize it's a door, they think it's art," she said.
It's elements like this that really surprised real estate agent Gillian Oxley when she first came to the home.
"Originally, when I saw the house from the street, I thought I was going to see the same old, same old," Ms. Oxley said. "But the inside is just eye candy … everywhere you turn to look it's interesting but not overwhelming"
The uniqueness and thoroughness of Ms. Emam's renovation was not just impressive to Ms. Oxley, it also presented her with a challenge when it came to pricing the house.
"With this home, we looked at comparable sales and there isn't anything," she said.
While there are no equivalent properties on the market, there were many detached houses that sold in March. The area saw 11 sales of during that time, with an average price of $1,786,091.
"We always try to price for the market, as opposed to going too low," Ms. Oxley said.
Favourite features
The home features a lengthy backyard.
Pedro Ho/Bizz Image Real Estate Tours
Another feature that really added to the value of the house from Ms. Oxley's perspective is the backyard.
"There's a whole other world back there," she said. "It's so unexpected."
The first thing you notice about the backyard is that it's long. There's a patio area once you step out of the house; this is where Ms. Emam installed the water feature.
The backyard features a covered outdoor kitchen and dining space.
Pedro Ho/Bizz Image Real Estate Tours
Then there's what appears to be a one-car garage. But in fact, Ms. Emam removed the back half of it and installed behind it (out of sight) a covered outdoor kitchen – complete with a counter and a barbecue – and a dining space.
That area, along with the yellow-striped family room, are where Ms. Emam and her family spend a lot of their time. But they have outgrown the space and decided to move.
"It is a bittersweet feeling to leave this house because we've put so much energy and love into it," she said.