Downtown BasementA home that begins the moment you come down the stairs.

Location: Toronto, ON
Project: Basement renovation
Where: Living, kitchen, bedroom, bath
Palette: White, light wood, and grey

Finished room in a downtown Toronto basement renovation, with white walls, light wood floors, and grey upholstery.

The ask

The clients wanted this basement renovation in downtown Toronto to live as a small home, not as leftover space under the house. Somewhere to sit, cook, and sleep. A basement can go dark and closed in. Their instinct was the opposite: keep it light, and let it feel like a place you would choose.

The plan

We treated the main room as one open plan. A grey sectional, the kitchen peninsula, and the dining table share a pale wood floor, so the suite reads as a single place rather than a string of small rooms. White shaker cabinets and a light counter keep the kitchen from closing the view. Round mirrors and a framed gallery give the long living-room wall some depth without adding weight. The bedroom steps the mood down: a pale wall, white bedding, and wood nightstands. The bathroom stays in the same family, a white vanity and grey tile.

The walk-through

What you walk into is a bright room. The sectional faces the television and the sliding door, the kitchen is a few steps along the same floor, and the dining table sits between them. The bedroom is where the suite closes, and the bathroom is a short sequence of vanity, toilet, and shower. Light wood and white millwork hold the rooms together. The grey upholstery and the darker lamps keep the white from going blank.

Rooms