A complete gut job may make your stomach do flips, but for Thorpe, it was their dream come true. Working within the constraints of old construction, and finding creative ways to modernize the layout, they completely transformed this home into a transitional masterpiece. Young Glass Photography captured the charming shots you see below!

From the designer… Golden Boulevard was the kind of project we dream about here at Thorpe. Our client, who is a young entrepreneur and the kindest woman you will ever meet, came to us with a complete renovation. She had recently purchased a home in Port Dalhousie, a quaint and in-demand residential community featuring stunning heritage homes on the lake. The area, which is about 20 minutes from Niagara Falls and about an hour from Toronto, has been a real-estate hotspot in recent years and so when Cori saw the location of the house she jumped on it, but the house itself needed to be completely gutted all the way down to the studs.

Daunting as a renovation of this magnitude can often be, it afforded us the opportunity to design all the way from the beginning, allowing us to rethink and reconfigure the layout in order to best optimize the space. This ended up involving removing a central wall in order to completely reconfigure the floor plan of the whole ground floor, giving our client a kitchen, dining room, pantry and bar — creating a space that had both the brightness of an open kitchen and the charm and character of individual rooms and spaces.

Our client was inspired by bright and airy spaces and loved natural finishes including white cabinetry and natural wood. She wanted to incorporate the highest quality materials, and was open to mixing metals with brass and polished nickel finishes. She had such an open mind and was really willing to trust us – a designer’s dream.

There were two main challenges with the kitchen— the ceilings were only eight feet tall and we only had room to incorporate a three foot wide island. We needed to find a way to incorporate her vision of a bright and airy space despite these limitations. We did this by keeping the colors and tones very light and warm, selecting lighting that worked proportionally to the island, and keeping door profiles and end-panels simple yet unique.

One of the things we love most about this house is the marriage of modern and old world elements. In the kitchen in particular, to keep things modern we included elements like the McClain picture lights from our online shop, CB2 bar stools, and Dekton by Cosentino stone running up the wall behind the range. We balanced this with old world elements like the framed cabinetry style, solid brass hardware (handmade in the UK), a Perrin and Rowe bridge faucet, Shaw’s farmhouse sink, plastered range hood, arched elements and mixed metals in the Goodman island pendants.

Some of our favorite elements of this home – In the kitchen, our favorite spot ended up being the archway that connects the kitchen to the dining room. It contains a butler’s bar on one side and a sweet little pantry across on the other side. We had to stretch our client a little bit when we convinced her to go ahead with a dark paint color for the bar and pantry door, and we absolutely love how this area turned out and how the dark color brings a hidden surprise to the space. It also helps draw the eye to the archway area – a definite feature we wanted to highlight. In the living room, we love the subtle photo lights emphasizing the open shelving and the built-in cabinetry, which is painted one shade darker than the walls to create some dimension. We’re not sure we will ever forget the first time we got to walk into the finished house and take in how all the elements and features finally came together.

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Like what you see? Take a peek at the talent behind the story… Interior Design: Thorpe · Photography: Young Glass Photography · Lighting: Thorpe Collection · Hardware: Armac Martin