Reno transforms condo for family
“We would rather live small and travel versus being house poor,” Zoe Meirovici says. Kitchen walls do double duty as a young artist’s chalkboard in the Meirovici family’s condo.
Zoe Meirovici and her husband, Shawn, live by the mantra: “Smaller is sweeter.”
Meirovici, 35, and Shawn, 34, are raising their two children in a one-bedroom-plus-den condo in downtown Toronto.
“I love it here!” says Meirovici, a school aquatics instructor. “I couldn’t picture us in a bigger place.”
She and Shawn, a naturopath, bought the 700-square-foot condo near Spadina Ave. and Fort York Blvd., in Toronto’s CityPlace neighbourhood, seven years ago — pre-marriage and children. Since then, they’ve had to get creative with the space as their family expanded to include son Wesley, 4, and Penelope, 9 months.
While Shawn sometimes fantasizes about buying a house, especially when the kids are asleep and he can’t play his musical instruments, priorities always put an end to the idea.
A den and a bathroom become kids’ rooms in 700 sq. ft. downtown home
“The housing market is crazy right now,” Meirovici says. “We’ve looked at some places and it’s just not worth it. We don’t want to be in debt. We would rather live small and travel versus being house poor.”
To do that, they maximized their compact space to make it work for all four of their individual needs.
What was once the den has been transformed into a cosy, functional bedroom for Wesley, with a custom built-in bunk bed and reading nook. A faux wall was built to offer more privacy; custom shelving allows for books and trinkets without taking up precious floor space.
Wesley and his baby sister share the dresser drawer for their clothing, with the top doubling as Penelope’s change table.
The bedroom’s clean and clutter-free appearance is thanks to a minimalistic approach the family embraces throughout their condo — in large part out of necessity, but also because it helps keep their household running more smoothly.
“We taught Wesley young; if you want something, something has to go,” Meirovici says. When someone recently asked her son if he thought their home was too small, Wesley proudly replied: “If everything has a place, we don’t need a lot of space!”
While turning the den into a bedroom was a no-brainer, finding Penelope a room of her own required a little more outof-the-box thinking.
Meirovici had been rolling her daughter’s mini crib into the hallway washroom for nap times when she had a light bulb moment; remove the toilet and sink and turn the washroom into a nursery.
Friends told her “You’re crazy!” but Meirovici called a plumber and $500 later, her daughter had a makeshift bedroom.
The shower remains hidden behind a decorative curtain and doubles as extra storage space, with items easily accessible thanks to a crib that flips up and folds.
When Penelope is old enough to share a room with her brother, the toilet and sink will be reinstalled, but for now, the unorthodox Band-Aid solution is working for the family of four.
Purging and organizing may have become more fashionable recently thanks to the popularity of Netflix’s Tidying up with Marie Kondo, but Meirovici says the family has been following a strict organizational method for years in order to maintain their sanity.
When you walk into their con- do, hat racks adorn the wall and numbered shoe cupboards offer a space for each family member to keep their footwear neatly tucked away.
Much of their furniture has discreet storage space and also offers a dual purpose, including their living room coffee table, which doubles as a kids’ table and chair set.
Meirovici says her children don’t know any other life and small space living has given them a different perspective, one in which they understand they don’t need a lot of space — or things — to be happy.
The family spends hours on their terrace in the summer and the downtown neighbourhood has become an extension of their living room. Accessibility to many attractions and parks means they are constantly active together.
“I love that we can be at the beach one minute and on Queen St. W. the next,” Meirovici says. “My kids are so lucky they can go to the (Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada) all the time. We have a season’s pass to everything. We’re always outside. We’re always biking. We don’t need so much.”
The building’s amenities also provide hours of entertainment for the children; the yoga room for playing in the winter, the outdoor pool for swimming in the summer, even the communal hallways have been used when Penelope was learning to crawl and Wesley was learning to walk.
On a recent snow day, several of the condo kids even got together to have a movie playdate in their pyjamas.
“When we’re bored, we always go on scavenger hunts around the building,” she adds.
Meirovici exudes joy when discussing the merits of their lifestyle and jokes there is one major perk they just couldn’t live without, especially this past winter when her friends with houses spent hours shovelling snow and ice from their driveways and walkways.
“Underground parking!” she laughs.