The couple spent $20,000 completely gutting the upstairs bathroom to reconfigure the space in a more user-friendly way. They also replaced dated tiles, fixtures and flooring with a more modern look and feel. Some exposed brick over the vanity was highlighted and they added bright pops of colour with yellow shelving against the clean white background.
Designer Renée Gammon, co-owner of Two Birds Design, was enlisted to help make the most of the home’s limited space, with extra focus on the kitchen since Diakun is an avid chef.
“The way the kitchen was laid originally out, it was very choppy. Even looking at the before photos, the fridge just juts out into the space,” says Gammon.
“We created that tall appliance wall on the left hand side just to make everything really, really compact so we could maximize the counter space on the right side,” she says.
“By really making it as tight as possible and giving every area a function, we were able to maximize everything.”
Gammon says since the kitchen ceilings were a little bit higher than the standard, they went with extra high upper cabinets and gained an extra eight inches of storage space in the process.
Two of Diakun’s favourite features in the kitchen are the coffee nook on the counter atop the wine bar and the built-in bookshelf in the kitchen island to house all of her cookbooks.
“It was really exciting to be able to have a kitchen that is super functional and big, considering,” Diakun says. “It takes up a whole third of the house. You can have multiple people here at the same time and not be crawling on top of each other.”
And since she and Mark share a deep love of orange, they accessorized the entire house in the hue; from orange chairs, pillows, art and kitchen appliances, right down to the orange water bottle on their bedside table.
“We stay true to orange,” jokes Mark. “It’s our favourite colour.”
Gammon said the design process was extra fun because of the Diakun’s adventurous tastes.
“They’re not afraid to use bold colours,” she says. “Because we knew we were working with all of those colourful accents, that’s why we did go a little bit more neutral and bright along the walls. We wanted to go with a clean backdrop for all of their art and really cool accessories to pop off of.”
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Numbers:
$829,000: What their home was listed for
$956,000: What they paid for it
$521,000: Amount the Diakuns sold their Queen and Dufferin Sts. townhouse for in 2016
$100,000: Total cost of the renovation
$45,000: Cost of the kitchen reno
$3,700: Cost of the knob and tube removal
2: Months the couple lived with Mark’s parents during the renovation
7: Times the kitchen tile grout had to be re-done due to moisture