My Houzz: Amazing 'Steampunk-Rustic-Mechanical Sorta' Style in Toronto
Toronto designer Jamie Cheveldeyoff's home requires a certain suspension of disbelief. That's because suspension itself is a common theme here. His kitchen island, lamps, bed and even the toilet paper roll all hang from the ceiling. "It’s hard to categorize my style, but if I had to, it would be a sort of a repurposed-steampunk-rustic-mechanical sorta thing," he says.
When he purchased the house, there were nicotine stains running down the walls and a fake crumbling ceiling almost 2 feet below the actual ceiling that cut off parts of the windows and walls. But Cheveldeyoff, who studied architecture and lighting design at Ryerson University and is now with Koma Designs, renovated the entire home in a year, taking great care to highlight original details. "I like when I am doing work on this house that I’m adding to a piece of work that began over 100 years ago and is still here, functioning," he says.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Jamie Cheveldeyoff and his dog, Tyrone
Location: Parkdale neighborhood of Toronto
Size: 1,500 square feet; 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
"I like mixing modern with antique and archaic items — big, chunky, rustic pieces with delicate details and strong, bold colors with subtle hues," Cheveldeyoff says.
The living room is furnished with repurposed items: the coffee table is composed of an old woodstove base and thick glass top. The old army speakers that stand in the windows are connected to an iPod dock, and the DIY sofa is made of cushions set on industrial pallets with a thick glass backrest. The side-table lamps are suspended from the ceiling.
An open staircase divides the kitchen area from the living space. The original banister remains, but has been updated with modern suspension wire. An extra seating area is tucked beneath the landing.
Cheveldeyoff's favorite recent auction purchase is this leather chaise. "It feels to me like it was hand made in Quebec or something due to its design, similar to a sleigh, and the hand stitching and hand-carved wood underneath," he says.
Cheveldeyoff stripped a thick plaster wall to reveal this brick wall that runs the length of the home. Tractor seats line a chunky beam reclaimed from Toronto's Distillery District that's set on casters under suspended mirrors.
The kitchen is a migration spot for guests, who love the repurposed street lamp that hangs over the suspended glass island.
Cheveldeyoff poured his own concrete countertops and built the cabinets. A cork flooring backsplash adds warmth and contrasts the cold concrete countertop and stainless steel cabinets.
Glass, mirrors and chrome bar stools shimmer against the brick wall and organic driftwood that hangs on a sea-blue accent wall.
The toilet paper holder "was meant to be a joke, since I suspend everything," Cheveldeyoff says. "I thought it would be funny if even the toilet paper was hanging from the ceiling. Then I realized I could make it store toilet paper as well and therefore only have to change the holder after every six rolls."
A large sliding barn door separates the bathroom from the second-floor landing that features a cast aluminum skeleton chair designed by Michael Aram of New York.
Cheveldeyoff's bedroom is in the basement of the home — the part of the original space that was most unlivable. He exposed the original stone foundation and added polished concrete floors. A warm wood ceiling balances the space. The ceiling is low, so he suspended a lot of the furniture to create a feeling of weightlessness.
Suspending furniture makes it "easier to clean and take care of the floor, but it also makes the floor area seem larger, because there’s no clutter of table or kitchen island or bed legs blocking your vision," Cheveldeyoff says. "But most importantly, it evokes a feeling of calmness. When things hang, they are floating or seemingly weightless and therefore take on their own vibration, different than everything else going on in the room."
All of the lamp shades in the home are transparent to allow the most light to pass through and illuminate the space. A pile of loose change on the floor speaks to the philosophy "Less is more."
Jamie Cheveldeyoff and Tyrone sit in the office space, tucked in the corner of the bedroom. "The part I love the most is that when I paint a wall or build a deck, I’m building it for my home, not a landlord's or someone else’s property, like one tends to do most of their lives until they own a home," he says. "And it makes me proud when people like my home and find it interesting and unusual."
