A FINE BALANCE
Amid a happy blur of kids and dogs, designer Meghan Carter throws a few calming colours and unexpected curves into a blended family’s classic home.
RRENOVATIONIS AN ACT of optimism that requires trust, imagination and a million major and minor decisions ranging from the removal of a wall to the colour of a kickplate. Things get even more tricky when the homeowners have somewhat different tastes. “He has a sleek, contemporary aesthetic, while she’s drawn to a more classic, traditional look,” says designer Meghan Carter of her clients Suzanne Cowan and Andrew Clark. Suzanne is the president of the Liberal Party of Canada, and Andrew is an entrepreneur and founder of Triangle Capital Corporation, and their blended family includes Malcolm, 14, Grace, 14, Harriet, 11, Clara, 9, and their two dogs, Daisy and Sparky.
In 2018, Meghan took on the makeover of their dark and dated three-storey, five-bedroom, 4,500-square-foot
Tudor-style house in Toronto, the couple’s first home together. “The goal was to create a place where everyone felt at home,” says Meghan. Buoyed by that idea, Suzanne and Andrew left all their former furniture behind. “This was an opportunity to have a fresh start, to really create a space that worked for us,” says Suzanne.
They were both enthusiastic about incorporating one another’s styles, so Meghan set out to design cheerful, familyfriendly interiors that were a blend of traditional detailing and more contemporary sensibilities. They envisioned a modern, light-filled kitchen with a casual, hub-of-thehome vibe. It was also important to Suzanne to preserve the architectural integrity of the house.
With such disparate decorating looks, there were bound to be a few design speed bumps along the way. For instance, Andrew liked the contemporary vibe of pale, wideplank flooring, while Suzanne preferred the dark hardwood floors she was accustomed to.
Meghan became an expert at finding the common ground between them. Once the eightmonth-long renovation was done and the dust settled, it was clear that the result was a perfect balance of her yin and his yang.
Throughout the home, panelling was preserved but painted out to add a sense of space and light. On the front of the house, all the windows were replaced using traditional wood frames with proper muntins to maintain its historical Tudor character. In the formerly formal dining room, instead of a classic chandelier, a contemporary glass pendant now hovers over an unexpectedly round white table. And the original kitchen’s awkward lightblocking back door entrance was replaced by a 16-foot-long wall of sliding glass doors and panels that give the space a sunnier disposition with a view to the leafy backyard.
But good design is all about your life, not a decorating style. “We wanted a home we could
really live in,” says Suzanne, as one of the dogs stands in the kitchen and happily shakes off the remains of a mud puddle. So, to keep the home practical and carefree, all the paint on the walls and woodwork is washable, almost all the upholstery fabrics are stain-resistant, the white kitchen cabinets have a fingerprint-proof finish, and Meghan swapped the predictable white kickplates for a more durable light bronze metal that doesn’t show scuffs.
The couple also had a common goal that focused on the kids. “They wanted each of the kid’s rooms to uniquely reflect who they are, and they wanted places where the family could relax together and others where the kids could just hang with their friends,” says Meghan. Malcolm, Grace, Harriet and Clara all have distinct bedrooms, each with its own hang-out zone. Now that both Suzanne and Andrew are working at home and the kids are remote-schooling, this has proved to be a prescient use of space.
The outcome is a family home tailor-made to balance togetherness with privacy. For instance, Suzanne and Andrew’s second-floor suite is a calm retreat removed from the daily chaos of kids and dogs via a pocket door and a small vestibule. “I love it,” says Suzanne. “It’s right in the middle of everything, but you can just close the door and have your own space.”
Even though the reno is complete, there are a few lingering items on the couple’s wish list. “There’s been lots of debate about what to do out there,” says Suzanne with a smile, her gaze fixed on the backyard’s tree-lined space. “There’s talk of a hot tub, pool and firepit.” The truism is familiar to anyone who’s ever taken on a reno: a home makeover is never quite done.