A decisive brief and a collaborative process yield a crisp black-and-white interior softened by tactile finishes<\/p>\n
Roselawn Avenue isn\u2019t known for showboating. The homes here keep their polish understated in comparison to some other homes in Forest Hill\u2014at least from the street. Step inside this 2,100-square-foot renovation by IAh Architects, though, and it\u2019s clear that a quietly traditional shell has been tuned it into something sharper: a modern family home where the kitchen is the command centre, colour is used strategically and nothing feels fussy.<\/p>\n
The project\u2014led by principal architect Sonia Ramundi<\/a>\u2014was commissioned in 2022 by clients who knew exactly what they wanted. A new kitchen. A finished basement. Smarter storage. And furniture that reflected their style. \u201cThey knew the scope, trusted the process and had great taste,\u201d says Ramundi, \u201cso we could push materials and ideas without hesitation.\u201d That trust meant she and team could bring in their go-to balance of clean geometry and tactile finishes built to last.<\/p>\n In the kitchen, white cabinet fronts\u2014soft to the touch and subtly high-tech\u2014meet a countertop and a slim-lined, textured backsplash. A black-stained oak island, topped in black Fenix, delivers contrast and durability in one move, lit by a minimalist linear pendant. Integrated appliances vanish into the millwork so the room\u2019s crisp proportions read uninterrupted. \u201cThey wanted modern, simple\u2014we did too\u2014but again, how do we provide warmth and texture with that directive?\u201d says Ramundi.<\/p>\n The IAh Architects team didn\u2019t gut the house indiscriminately. Instead, they worked with the existing bones, choosing when to hide traditional trim and bulkheads and when to let them stand. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to strip out all of the existing character,\u201d she says. \u201cThe goal was to make the new interventions feel like they belonged.\u201d<\/p>\n The basement now runs on warmth\u2014literally\u2014thanks to natural cork floors. A black-stained cork wall down here reappears upstairs behind the TV, a quiet design echo between levels.<\/p>\n If the architecture is disciplined, the furniture loosens its collar. A rust-toned sectional sprawls across a striped rug, a choice that came straight from the clients. \u201cWe don\u2019t usually chase trends,\u201d Ramundi admits, \u201cbut here we leaned into what they loved and built a cohesive story around it.\u201d The colour ripples through the home alongside cobalt blue accents\u2014sparked by a dining pendant the clients adored\u2014which reappear in a sculptural side table, an Eames<\/a> Hang-It-All in the foyer and a horizontal artwork above the sofa. Black details\u2014chairs, fixtures, side tables\u2014anchor the palette room to room.<\/p>\n Lighting upgrades were strategic rather than wholesale. Existing pot lights stayed, but a clean bar fixture was added over the island for task lighting, and the cobalt-detailed dining pendant became a visual lynchpin for the rest of the interiors. \u201cIts subtle texture and colour gave us a thread to pull through the entire main floor,\u201d says Ramundi.<\/p>\n The end result is a home that demonstrates how discipline and personality can happily co-exist. Here, IAh Architects work holds a steady line\u2014pared-back forms, a restrained palette\u2014while the furnishings and finishes supply texture, warmth and moments of surprise. It\u2019s a composition that feels anchored but never static.<\/p>\n More importantly, it\u2019s a space built for real life. The kitchen\u2019s durable surfaces invite everyday use without losing their crispness. The basement\u2019s cork floors absorb the chaos of family living. Accent colours are used sparingly enough to feel deliberate, but with just enough playfulness to keep the rooms from reading like a showroom.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the kind of renovation that offers a quiet lesson: a forever home doesn\u2019t have to be about keeping everything the same for decades. Instead, it can be a framework\u2014architecturally clear, materially enduring\u2014that leaves room for the people inside to keep shaping it over time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A decisive brief and a collaborative process yield a crisp black-and-white interior softened by tactile finishes Roselawn Avenue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":["post-75561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}