Interior design: “Texture, simplicity and warmth” 

The modern steel steps of the staircase are counterbalanced by a soft, deep-pile carpet runner.  Photo by Doublespace Photography

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A professional couple with two teens had their family home built in Kitchener 10 years ago. It was attractive for its time but, as the years passed, they found themselves feeling ready to “turn over a new leaf.”  

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“When it was first built, they hadn’t had a clear sense of their own design voice or what they really wanted,” says Merike Bauer, co-principal of Reigo & Bauer, the firm they hired to guide their renovation. “In terms of design and function, the house no longer aligned with their lives.” 

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This time, they wanted a contemporary design that was quietly elegant but not so fancy that they wouldn’t feel comfortable putting their feet up on the furniture or welcoming in friends and family for informal gatherings.  

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Italian limestone clads the fireplace surround. Photo by Doublespace Photography

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The first time Reigo & Bauer visited, what stood out most was a series of pillars in the living room clad in facing stone. In the context of the original house, with its dark stained wood and bland off-white drywall, the pillars gave off a heavy 1990s feeling.  

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But they could sense the pillars’ potential, given the right context, and the owners were fond of them and wanted to retain them if possible. The trick was to find a way to bring out what made them work. 

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“Normally that kind of split-stone cladding isn’t something we would choose,” says Bauer. “But the idea was to balance the rough, tonal textures of the pillars with soft, neutral and minimalist surfaces and materials, then make everything else crisp and clean.” 

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Creatively designed steps connect the sunken living room and the family room. Photo by Doublespace Photography

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Throughout the home, the key to the redesign is the recurring use of contrasts: rough and smooth, curved and rectilinear, dark and light, soft and crisp. Whether you notice it or merely sense it, it creates an air of artistic, unstuffy comfort; it’s elegant without being intimidating. 

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It begins in the front foyer, where a curved staircase winds to the upper level. Previously, this had been one of those slightly awkward, double-height spaces ubiquitous in foyers a decade or so ago. “Usually, all you can do in a space like this is to put a table in and maybe top it with a vase of flowers,” says Bauer, whose firm handled the interior design as well. “We wanted to do something more interesting.”  

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Hard lines in the renovated kitchen and living room are balanced by furnishings that are soft and curved; in the family room, an oversized ottoman does triple duty as seating, coffee table and a place to put feet up. Photo by Doublespace Photography

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Now the architecture of the foyer “holds the centre” of the home: the jagged line formed by the steel stair treads is sculptural, twisting upwards towards the second floor, contrasting subtly with a soft brown, deep-pile carpet runner.  

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The kitchen, says Bauer, combines warmth and functionality just as smoothly. At one end, fully concealed appliances and striking stainless-steel countertops are pure minimalism. A backsplash made from three slabs of natural quartzite clads the back wall, forming a backdrop for a plaster-finished range hood. A three-sided fireplace at the other end, near the breakfast table, is similarly finished and forms a link with the sitting area just beyond.