COLONIAL REVIVAL
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: PATRICK BILLER
Location: Lawrence Park, Toronto, Canada
Striking the right balance between gracious, somewhat formal proportions and family living in the present takes a sensitive and scholarly touch. The lively couple living here needed to feel grounded by their ever-growing collection of English antique furniture, but not be stuck in the mud with it. Enter Kate with her arsenal of fine textiles, and contemporary colour sense. Classic patterns and techniques mingle with crisp glass and metallic moments to provide just the right kind of tension. Traditional furnishings can be incredibly dynamic when tossed into unusual and unexpected assemblies. Here, an Italian chest hosts a collection of Inuit sculptures beneath a moody 18th century landscape and it all works brilliantly, and that’s just the upstairs landing.
The dining room is virtually alive with foliate wallpaper, blending the line between its verdant vines and the actual city garden just beyond French doors framed in fine fabric. The layout of this house features a stately living room that with Kate’s guidance is anything but formal. Contemporary lamps, tables and sofas harmonize with highly honed hardwood – and windows clad in zig-zagged silk surround glimpses of the garden. The end result is a home with all the sophistication its architectural cues demand, but none of the stuffiness.
Project Creative Community: Kate Stuart.
