Does the ‘Unexpected Red’ Theory Actually Work? Step Inside This House to See
The interior designer Tommy Smythe was thrilled when a young Toronto couple asked him to renovate their 1880s row house and fill it with vibrant color. But he was also a little bit hesitant. “ ‘We love color’ is something that I hear from clients often, but they are rarely serious,” Smythe observes. “Two red pillows in an otherwise neutral environment is often what they really want.”
But the homeowner, Katherine Konn, and her husband really did seem to mean it. “We don’t like to hold back,” says Konn, a graphic designer. “We lean into the bold.”
So Smythe embarked on an experiment. “I suggested a red dining room right out of the gate,” says the designer, who then waited for a reaction. “They responded, ‘Sounds perfect,’ without hesitation,” he says.
Smythe was off and running, paint and fabric swatches akimbo.
Certainly, they had come to the right place. Smythe, a partner in TOM Interior Design Studio and a television personality in Canada, is known for creating interiors that are livable but also infused with playfulness and a sense of style (he also designs stores for the womenswear label Smythe, co-founded by his sister Christie). True to form, he set the tone for this vibrant project right at the front door. It’s painted red, of course, and leads to a vestibule where the ceiling and top of the walls are covered in a bold Ikat grasscloth, above paneled walls hung with Victorian coat hooks painted turquoise. The floor was retiled in an English-inspired scheme of black-and-white tile placed in a diamond pattern, and extended into the entry hall where the stairs are covered in a striped runner that Smythe found in a basket at his favorite antiques shop, The Door Store. “It was only a couple of hundred dollars and has so much personality,” Smythe says.
The color story continues into the living room, where visitors are greeted by a palette of rich mid-tone blues, greens, and magenta. “The effect is of a soft, shadowy, moody space at night but it’s bright and exuberant in the daytime,” says Smythe, who collaborated with his TOM colleague Colin Baird on the project. “It changes with the seasons and times of day because the colors are right in the middle—bright but not too bright, dark but not too dark.”
Exterior
The front door of a restored 1880s row house in the Cabbagetown neighborhood of Toronto is painted in Benjamin Moore Rapture.
Vestibule
Designer Tommy Smythe set the tone in the vestibule, with ikat-patterned wallpaper by Pierre Frey on the ceiling and upper walls, and cast-iron Victorian coat hooks from The Door Store repainted in Benjamin Moore Teal Ocean. The owl artwork is by Inuit artist Ningiukulu Teevee.
Entry Hall
A vintage striped runner and diamond-patterned white and black floor tile add dynamism to the stair hall. A painted line in Benjamin Moore's Twilight creates a visual separation between the walls and wainscoting, both in Farrow & Ball's School House White.
Design Duo
Toronto designer Tommy Smythe, right, and his TOM Interior Design Studio collaborator on the project, Colin Baird, in the entry.
Dining Room
The dining room's paneled walls make a statement in two tones of red by Farrow & Ball: Rectory Red on the walls, and Preference Red on the trim. The Biedermeier-style table is surrounded by 18th-century Italian chairs recovered in a Pierre Frey jacquard. The Venetian chandelier is from Artiest.
Living Room
The living room's original Victorian fireplace was relocated to the second floor office/den and replaced with a mantel in Calacatta Viola marble, a mirrored breast, and a custom copper surround from RT Facts. The Jaime Hayon swivel chairs from Avenue Road were recovered in a Schumacher velvet, the brass chandelier is from the 1970s, and the rug is an antique Persian Bakshaish. The seagrass wall covering is by Cowtan & Tout and the ceiling is painted in Farrow & Ball's Pink Ground.
Kitchen
Cabinets in Farrow & Ball's Verdigris Green contrast with pink tile from Saltillo Tile. The sink fixtures are by R.W. Atlas for Waterworks.
Home Office and Den
Homeowner Katherine Konn in her home office, which doubles as a den. The custom Parson's table and the ceiling are painted in Farrow & Ball's Pink Ground, the rug is by Madeline Weinrib, the window treatments are in a Penny Morrison fabric, and the walls are in Farrow & Ball's Down Pipe.
Primary Bedroom
A floral wallpaper by Osborne & Little makes the primary bedroom feel like a garden. The bed is by RH, Restoration Hardware.
Guest Room
Farrow & Ball's ocher Babouche paint wraps the small guest room in warmth, while the 19th-century tester bed adds to the cozy feeling with a canopy in a striped fabric and a coverlet and draperies in a paisley print, both by Schuyler Samperton. The vintage lamps are from Around the Block Consignment in Toronto.
Primary Bathroom
The primary bath's Acritec soaking tub is a refuge on chilly Canadian nights in the wintertime. Smythe warmed up the space further with walls in Farrow & Ball's Setting Plaster. The vintage George Nelson stool has a new seat in an Osborne & Little velvet.
The couple loves to entertain so the living room, while petite, had to have plenty of seating. To make the most of the space, the designers placed a custom banquette opposite an antique French Empire daybed. That left room for four additional chairs: “two contemporary ones, huggy and comfy, and two more formal period Louis XVI armchairs,” he notes. Dominating the space is a large fireplace. “It takes up a lot of space but was at the very top of the clients’ wish list, so I had the whole thing mirrored to help it disappear.”
Gutsy color choices abound in the project, from the pink and green kitchen to the home office where a pink Parson’s table and red-and-white zig zag rug pop against chocolate brown walls. Another subtle touch are the ceilings, most of which have been painted a pale pink (Farrow & Ball’s Pink Ground). “My mother always had them, and I observed from an early age that they are soft and flattering and lovely,” Smythe says of the design choice.
In a home filled with color statements, the dining room—with its crimson walls framed in moldings painted a deeper shade of red—stands out as one of the boldest. Rather than hold back, Smythe piled on the glamour, furnishing the space with a Murano pendant, Biedermeier bar, and 18th-century Italian dining chairs covered in a multihued jacquard. It's a showpiece and a feast for the eyes, like every room in this vivacious house. “All the colors, pattern and textures make it such a happy place, especially during Toronto’s winters,” Konn says. “Even if it’s gray outside, I come inside to so much color and warmth.”
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