- Welcome back to Houzz TV Live.
I'm Rick Spence and with me today is Diana Bastone
of the Greater Toronto area, doing amazing work
and we've got a real special treat.
It's a contemporary home but with some vintage items.
It's so beautiful in Toronto this time of year, by the way.
It was just so awesome seeing the leaves
and the change of colors and you see
the crispness in the air and I could just see
coming in from sort of a cold day,
coming into this nice cozy home.
So let's go into the family room kitchen.
Give me an overview of this space
and what some of the key decisions were here
and what you did with materials and all that good stuff.
- Yeah, so this is a family room that we did
for this young family with two young children.
We selected fabrics that were performance fabrics,
so that it was easy to maintain.
The rug has a little pile.
That's a custom sofa, so we made it comfortable.
We use a lot of plush pillows and fabrics
and throws just to make it cozy.
So we combined high and low.
So although certain things were more expensive,
there were other items that were not so expensive
because it is a young family.
The wall unit we did open, they can put their photos
and they do like to collect vintage pieces
so I'm sure that that's gonna go into the wall unit soon.
This is a smart home.
Some of the things that can be controlled with an iPad,
their audio system, their cameras, their drapery,
their blinds, it can actually be automated
whether remotely or within the home.
We did put a lot of attention to detail.
- Really nice.
All right, let's hop into the kitchen.
This is sort of the meat of the project.
So much happened in here, really beautiful.
I don't normally start with bar stools,
but those look like crazy, amazing, comfortable bar stools.
- Yes, yeah.
So the bar stools are actually very comfortable.
They're leather and so again,
easy to maintain for a young family.
The pendant lights, we kind of coordinated it
so that the leather on the pendant lights
and the black, it's a nice connection to the two elements.
It's a large island and just where the stools are located,
we did some hidden storage, so this could be
for overflow of anything that does not fit in the cabinetry,
but they have lots of cabinetry.
Everything has its place.
By the cooktop, it was very important to have your spices
on either side, at your fingertips,
as well as the utensil and cutlery drawer
is also on either side.
We also have the pot filler,
which is great to have for boiling water.
And so we made it all very convenient.
And the faucet is touchless,
so everything is at your fingertips.
- So low maintenance surfaces in the kitchen.
- Correct. So it's a manmade material.
It's quartz, which is easy to wipe down.
We continued with the slab to go up behind the hood.
Right next to the kitchen is another space
and it's referred to as a servery.
So this is even an extension of the kitchen,
and in the servery is where all
their small appliances are located,
and we had some fun with tile in there.
- There's so much beauty in this home.
I don't know if we could even do it justice
in this one video, but I wanna go to the primary bedroom.
So tell me about the primary bedroom.
What was the motivation behind it and how we arrived here?
- We wanted it cozy but we wanted it airy and light,
so I think with the colors that we chose
the textures that we chose,
I think we created a very comfortable,
warm but bright space.
We kept the paint color throughout the home
all to be the same neutral warm white,
Simply White, and it's from Benjamin Moore,
and just creating interest on the walls
with some sort of a detail of paneling
elevates, I believe, The rooms.
- [Rick] Yeah.
- We did an electric fireplace.
We didn't feel the need to have a gas fireplace.
With the cabinets on either side of the fireplace,
we did it open so that from the hallway,
you can actually see the objects
that are on display if the door was left open.
So this cabinetry can be seen on the outside
as well as within the room. So it's airy and open.
- Would you say one of the keys to your approach
to design is not only the spaces,
but this, you kind of touched on it,
the sort of holistic approach to,
no matter where you are in the home,
you're experiencing the continuity of the design.
- Yes, so that's important to me
that when you are in a space,
there are certain focal points within the space,
but I like that you can also see it throughout the home.
So whether it was in the bedroom
that we did these open cabinets,
the same holds true with the staircase,
beautifully seen from different angles within the home.
- [Rick] Wow, they really took advantage
of all that verticality, and the steps,
beautiful, lighter colored wood.
Tell me about the stairs
and why you went with what you went with.
- [Diana] Yes, we love the stairs.
It's like a focal point, although it's off to the side
of the home, but you do see it in every room that you're in.
We like the airiness of the open risers
and the glass panels.
It just makes for a very modern vibe.
- Wow. Just a gorgeous space.
So now tell me a little bit
about this beautiful bathroom in here.
I imagine on a very, very cold winter,
taking a nice warm tubby has gotta feel
really nice, looking out at the snow.
- [Diana] Yes, so this bathroom,
it has a very casual vibe, modern.
At the same time, se used materials
that elevated the space and gave some warmth, heated floors.
Every shower, I always like to include a niche.
In this case we made it a focal point,
so we made it large and very linear
and they can put all their soaps and brushes and whatnot,
and we did a floating bench.
- [Rick] Tell me about the chunky countertop in there.
- [Diana] Yeah, so again, that's a solid surface,
easy to maintain, and it's just a design detail
where we made the apron of this countertop large.
When it comes to cabinetry, we did drawers.
So I always prefer drawers versus doors
for vanities, for easy access.
- Really nice.
So you've been 30 years
in this- - 30 years.
- Which is, congratulations on that. That's awesome.
And you've won a lot of awards on Houzz,
at least 10 that I know of.
Five-star reviews, phenomenal.
How do you like to work with clients?
How has, I guess, how has Houzz impacted your business,
and how do you use it to work with your clients?
- Yes. Well, Houzz has been instrumental with my business.
I use it in many ways.
I can do all my invoicing
and mood boards and purchase orders,
so there's one element, but also marketing,
and I get a lot of leads from from Houzz,
but I also had my website done through Houzz.
They did a beautiful job.
They captured everything that I wanted
with all my professional pictures.
I sent it to the designer and we worked together
and we have now this beautiful website.
So Houzz has been instrumental in how I run my business.
- [Rick] You got time for one more space?
- Sure. All right.
- So what I love about this home is it's very now, right?
It's a modern home, it's got the smart features,
cozy, but modern, and of course in the era
that we live in now, a home office is so important.
So let's go to, and this is next level,
like everything else.
So let's go to this home office.
How do you design a home office in the modern age
that still looks really beautiful?
- [Diana] So this home office is the room that you see
when you first walk into the front door
and we wanted to make it spectacular.
It has high ceilings, but we made it warm and inviting.
He works from home, the homeowner,
and he does a lot of Zoom calls and whatnot,
so we wanted to make the backdrop beautiful and interesting.
We have open shelving for, again,
some of the vintage pieces, his typewriter,
old typewriter, old dial phone,
but the juxtaposition of that is that we had a robot,
it can write on its own.
So the juxtaposition of old and new
and we have layers of lighting in that home.
So we have drop ceilings, so that we have hidden lights,
task lighting, pot lights.
The layer of lights is also what elevates the space.
- [Rick] Again, you've got a texture to the back wall too.
- Yes, and that texture to the wall is again,
another nod to what we did throughout the home
with these linear slats.
Again, to give some texture.
- Well, every space is really beautiful.
Diana, thank you so much.
We gotta have you on again.
So I hope this was fun for you and we'll do it again.
- Yes, thanks Rick.
This was a lot of fun.
Thank you for allowing me
this opportunity to share this home.
- Fantastic. All right, we'll be in touch.
- Okay, take care. Bye-bye.