‘IT WAS A DIVE’
When Melanie Kushner attended an Oakwood open house that others were calling a teardown, she could see that plenty would have to go. But there were a few charming details she couldn’t help but keep
Melanie Kushner was at an open house halfway up the main staircase when a conversation stopped her in her tracks.
“The other couple who were there turned their noses up and were like, ‘We’re going to tear this house down,’ ” says Kushner, the interior decorator behind Melanie Kushner Interiors. To which Kushner responded, “You can’t. It’s so beautiful.”
With its old-timey spindles and solid oak construction, the staircase — though nicked and heavily varnished — was a beauty in disguise.
In its entirety, the 1,900-square-foot dwelling in the St. Clair and Oakwood neighbourhood was in rough shape.
“It was a dive,” admits Kushner. “I only bought (the) house because of the staircase.”
Ugly floor tile ran through the main level. And too many walls cut off any natural light from filtering in, making for a sombre ambience. The extension in the back contained a kitchen with drab, brown ’70s-era cabinetry.
Still, Kushner was undeterred and stuck to her initial assessment that the house was indeed beautiful.
“My husband (composer Rob Melamed) told me, ‘You’ve got this,’ ” says Kushner. He gave her carte blanche to revive the century-old house for their family, which includes their daughters, Nylah, 12, and Vivienne, 9.
There were challenges. “We didn’t realize that the entire back of the house and foundation needed to be redone,” says Kushner. “It caught us off guard both in respect to our budget and timeline.”
The gut renovation took Kushner a year to complete. “Ultimately we had to (change everything) and are grateful today to have a solid foundation, insulation and updated electrical throughout.”
The addition — formerly a mess of wonky triangles — is now simplified. “We built a clean rectangle, which added a third bedroom on the second floor. Also this extended the kitchen and added loads of natural light,” says Kushner. It was, as she describes it, “a massive undertaking.”
To create better flow, Kushner blew out all of the walls on the main floor, giving the tiles their walking papers. Modern wide plank white oak engineered flooring now runs throughout. Together with the new white kitchen and den off the rear of the house, the space feels bright and inviting.
Placing furniture in an open plan can be tricky and make a house cluttered, she says. But putting up walls would have made the main floor feel narrow.
The trick is to tightly delineate each area. “The furniture acts as a guideline to creating the spaces,” says Kushner, who often moves around pieces for the fun of it. She’s found it’s best when the couch — a tufted grey number — acts as the divider between the living and dining area. A pair of rust orange barrel chairs sit pretty under an arched window by the front of the house. “We kept the arch to honour the house’s heritage,” she notes.
In an open-concept space, it’s especially important not to overstuff it, she says. The CB2 Heaven shelf, a popular item on Instagram and Pinterest because of its minimalistic good looks, only holds her besties.
“I like to layer in sentimental artifacts,” says Kushner. “If you’re going to have open shelving, have things that make you feel happy.”
For Kushner, that’s a yellow vase that was her grandmother’s, a white bowl that was her mother’s and “a teal vase I picked up in Paris while travelling with my sister 16 years ago.” An Annie Leibovitz book, meanwhile, “is also inspiring.” Even the glass and Lucite coffee table has a history: it sat in her parents’ house for years. Kushner guesses it was made in the ’80s.
Art is also close to the decorator’s heart. “I love supporting Canadian artists. I bought that Alanna Cavanagh piece for myself for my 30th birthday,” she says, gesturing to the illustration of the men’s jacket in her living room. “Everything has a story in my home. The vivid bouquet of flowers in the dining room is by the Israeli artist Avi Ben-simhon, purchased in Delray Beach, Florida.”
Kushner’s second-favourite thing in the house is a squat silver jug meets vase that was a gift at her wedding. “It wasn’t even on the registry and I absolutely love it,” she says. It’s living its best life under her still-most-favourite item onsite, those refurbished stairs.