White this way  | National Post

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A modest budget doesn’t always put a serene and stylish interior out of reach, as Brandon Lange’s design for a young professional couple in the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood shows. 

The house offered one major asset right at the start: it had already been nicely renovated by the previous owners, leaving Lange and his clients to focus on bringing in their own personal style. “It was full of light, with clean white walls and high ceilings,” he recalls. “The previous owners had put in these high clerestory windows in several rooms, so it had a lot of natural light.”   

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 The only trouble was, all that light and those big white walls made the home feel a bit blank and featureless. “So it was really about importing the couple’s personality into the space, and making it work for them,” Lange says. 

Much of the work took place during the COVID shutdown, which meant that sourcing furnishings and other pieces was an ongoing adventure, Lange recalls. But in the end, it was only a minor setback: the online portals of companies like CB2 and Etsy ended up providing many of the unique pieces that give the decor its artistic, slightly Bohemian charm. 

The first step was to re-stain the dark flooring, which didn’t suit the couple’s clean, contemporary preferences; lightening it set the stage for building in the more relaxed look they were after. The wish list, Lange continues, included a built-in media centre in the living room, and a place to indulge the husband’s love of fine wines. While the project was underway, he adds, a third item was added to the design brief: decor that would suit having a new baby in the house. 

The transformation began in the living room, where sunlight pours in from a frosted-glass front door topped by a transom, and a front window that stretches from the ceiling almost to the floor. To offset the tendency towards coolness in this all-white, sunny room, Lange’s approach was to add warmth back in through natural materials, especially woods, and soft textures.  

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One wall is devoted to the new media centre, consisting of rich medium-toned oak cabinetry at floor level and running up one side, with a single open shelf high up for display items and books. Then playing off the room’s somewhat rectilinear architectural lines, he chose gently rounded, natural-toned furnishings: a nubbly off-white swivel chair and sink-into-comfy sectional upholstered in greige linen, and a little three-legged wooden side table and rounded black coffee table from CB2. “It’s less about bold colour than interesting shapes,” he points out. 

 A smaller room at the main floor’s rear proved to be something of a puzzle at first, Lange confides. It was too small for a formal dining area, and superfluous as a separate breakfast area. After some debate, he and the clients decided to turn it into a second, more casual seating area, for listening to music, relaxing with friends (which includes tipping the occasional wine glass) and enjoying the sunshine from the French doors and transom.  

While the sitting room feels more casual than the living room, the two rooms complement each other in their furnishings: as in the living room, furnishings here feature rounded silhouettes and upholstery in soft, tactile fabrics like microsuede, bouclé and linen. The CB2 coffee table made from two black, footed round shapes is not only striking but practical: the two halves can be moved apart to provide an extra side table for a guest, or just the right spot to put one’s feet up. 

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Especially in rooms with very high ceilings, lighting can have a strong effect on mood. In the living room, pot lights provide illumination at night, but can be cold; the addition of an articulated task light in the front window adds extra light for reading or chatting, and makes the room feel cozier. In the rear seating room, the solution is almost as simple: a spidery light fixture combines brass touches and exposed wires for an artsy, modern look. 

The upstairs hallway is a great design lesson in how to add personality to an otherwise transitional part of the house. With its high clerestory windows, the hallway enjoys a great deal of light, making it the perfect setting for a family art gallery. Lange and the homeowners had a series of favourite photos printed the same size, then put them in matching off-the-shelf frames from CB2. The result looks much more expensive than it really was, and gives the owners pleasure every time they pass by. 

In fact, artwork played a huge role in bringing the clients’ personalities into the house; many of the works on display were chosen by them. A painting of surfers in the sitting room adds its dusty, moody colours to the tonal palette; and in the principal bedroom, a rich abstract-like canvas of an island catching the last rays of evening sun before nightfall became the inspiration for navy, white and dark grey bedding. Tiny side lamps have a slightly nautical look, in keeping with the mood of the painting. 

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The most sophisticated room in the house is the principal bath, whose high white walls, abundant natural light and marble tile wainscoting give it an almost Japandi spa feeling. Lange updated it with dark grey counters, light fixtures and faucets in a mix of metals, and the charmingly rustic addition of a handmade branch ladder and small wooden stool. A vintage Etsy rug adds another cozy texture. 

 “I really like that we were able to achieve such a calm, relaxed aesthetic in the home. It feels warm and natural, but not at all boring,” observes Lange. “All the accents, art and other touches help to make it feel relaxed and yet refined. And it feels like them.” 

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