From Nunnery to Family Home

The Concept

We created this concept to reflect our clients' need to have both a beautiful space for entertaining guests, as well as an open layout to provide greater visibility for when their kids are playing in the other room.

Our goal was to bring nature in and allow for an indoor-outdoor space that allows our client to expand their space beyond traditional boundaries. Having a cohesive concept, enabled us to bring a fresh yet functional home that our clients were seeking.

One very special consideration to this design was our clients' desire to create a space to honour their 9-year-old daughter who had passed away from a rare blood disorder (Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis).

We designed a picture ledge to display all of Abbey's adventures as a special way to remember the great memories that they shared. Many of the displays and artwork used around the house were created by Abbey, and we embedded those pieces as part of the design story. You can support Abbey’s Goal here.

Keeping family at the forefront without sacrificing style, this design concept was able to easily accommodate our clients' every need.

The Blueprints

The total project budget was 500K, so we had to find creative ways to stretch this budget while tackling all of our clients' needs and dreams.

To bring this open concept design to life, we needed to install a large steel beam to run across the entire length of the home to provide the necessary structural support. Pairing that with larger window cutouts, we were able to create a 10ft wide bi-folding wall to open up space even more.

The main level design and build out, took us well beyond the 345K mark, leaving us with roughly 155K to reconfigure the entire second level. We still needed and managed to include a main bathroom and a full master ensuite. We also added an additional bedroom bringing this simplistic Junction home into a 5 bedroom home instead of the original 4 bedroom layout.

We utilized entire second level in a more efficient manner to achieve a desirable flow, and by doing so, we were able to provide a main bathroom for the kids and a large master ensuite with an 8ft long shower (it was a very specific ask from our client).

The Build

We fully customized the entire kitchen to include lots of storage - including designated sections for baking, pantry, garbage and recycling, cleaning supplies, and more.

It was important that we maintained a high-end look, so we went with built-in appliances - concealing both the fridge and dishwasher to create continuous lines.

In the living room, we built the fireplace wall to be the central statement piece - something you could immediately notice when you first walk in. The slatted wall acts as both a sculptural piece while also concealing the TV - creating depth and a three-dimensional area of focus.

At the staircase, we kept one of the original stained glass windows as a nod to the former design of the house. It now serves as a beautiful piece of art that brings in light and creates fun shadows on the steps on those sunnier days.

Our favourite part is creating grand moments like a large kitchen island, an open concept that makes the main level feel so fast, a custom fireplace feature wall with shelving and lastly the large shower that has an ultra spa-feel.