Mary Street - Hello Summer!

  • Mary Street

 

Summer is the annual permission slip to be lazy.

To do nothing and have it count for something.

To lie in the grass and count the stars.

To sit on a branch and study the clouds.

– Regina Brett

 

For me, it really starts to feel like summer as soon as the kids are out of school. After the last few years of living in a condo with only a balcony, I love that our new home has a backyard where I can spend as much time outdoors, whenever I’m home.  Our Mary Street project has a spectacular backyard. It’s like a little oasis offering our client some respite from the surrounding busy streets of historic Oshawa. It was important for our clients that this outdoor space, like the rest of the house, was designed for entertaining.

 

Photography Virgina MacDonald

 

The property already had a large deck and a lattice privacy wall, which made the perfect foundation for creating their entertainment space. Our clients had a great collection of outdoor furniture, which we worked with to create a multi-purpose layout. A place where one could recline on the sectional, and another could dine at the cast iron table or retreat in their Muskoka chairs.

The modular outdoor sectional allows for multiple combination in seating arrangements.  Photography Virginia MacDonald

 

In one of our many antique lighting hunts, we came across this vintage marble top side table which is now used  as a bar and a potting station. The large striped outdoor rug was selected to compliment the area rug just inside the doors.  The use of black and white was an intentional part of the design to help blur the lines between interior and exterior spaces. 

 

Vintage marble side table.  A great find during one of our many lighting hunts! Photography Virginia MacDonald

 

Photography Virginia MacDonald.

 

During the construction stage of the project,  the longest wall of the old sunroom was opened up to two large sliding doors and new insulation was sprayed in both of the walls and ceiling which helps to keep the space cool in the summer and toasty in the winter. 

 

These impressive doors not only provide access to the deck, but allow for vast amounts of natural light to flood into the new great room. 

 

On the exterior, a wood siding product from Maibec was used and  painted a flat black.  I really love is how the black framed windows tend to disappear against it. Two stunning large new sconces were also installed to provide a soft glow for evening enjoyment.

 

 

Minimum landscaping was done to the backyard with the exception of one of  the large trees which unfortunately had to come down. There are future plans in the works to add more landscaping, but for now my clients enjoy the new shed that was built to house all their cushions and other garden needs.

 

 

 

 

In our next post about Mary street, I’m going to share all the details of the new main floor powder room and what it took to get there. As this jewel of a space really needs a post all to itself!

 

Happy July long weekend!

C.

 

P.S.  I do realized that at the end of Part Two of our Mary Street story I mentioned  that Part Three would be about all the fun custom items that we added for functionality… but I’m going to save that for a later date when I share the 2nd floor!

 

Project Construction: Paradisaic Building Group

Windows and doors: Stone River Windows + Doors

Styling: Christine Halon