EPISODE 11: UNDERPINNING OUR BASEMENT - RENOVATING MY VICTORIAN HOME

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Lots of progress has been made sine our last episode including the completion of our navy blue kitchen renovation!

Renovating my Toronto Victorian Home - Episode 11!

What a trip around the sun it has been! This time last year Adam and I were nearing the end of our Toronto home renovations and putting the finishing touches on our Toronto Victorian home. Since then we have moved in, planned our destination wedding, and got married in Tuscany at the beautiful Abbazia di San Galgano Abbey before jetting off on our Croatia honeymoon.

To add a cherry on the figurative cake, Adam and I came back from our honeymoon to find out I was pregnant!

It was a little to early to share our big news with everyone here and on social media, and with Christmas around the corner, we decided to wait to tell our families first before sharing this amazing news with all you.

With that being said, this new discovery motivated us to start preparing for phase 3 (the final phase of our home renovation) - basement underpinning!

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We had to clear the front yard of our house (which included the removal of our beloved smoke bush) to prepare for phase 3 of our renovation, underpinning the basement. Don’t worry, I have plans to bring the smoke bush back!

What is underpinning?

Underpinning a house is when you reinforce or strengthen the foundation’s structure by excavating small, spread-out, portioned-out sections, before filling them back in with concrete. House underpinning can be required for a number of reason like:

  1. When the original foundation is no longer strong enough to hold the house and is in need of serious repair.

  2. If you want to increase the capacity of the existing foundation to support another story.

  3. To dig out the basement so as to lower the basement floor and achieve a higher ceiling height (as in our case).

How much does basement underpinning cost?

The cost of underpinning varies depending on the state of your current foundation walls, the square footage of your basement, how deep you want to go with the underpin/how much you want to lower your basement floor and how much additional work (i.e. waterproofing, installing radiant floors, main drain replacement/lower, additional plumbing rough-ins) is required.

We received a range of quotes for our basement between $55,000 - $80,000 but in generally, it is said that you should budget for $80 a square foot (as an average) to underpin and dig out your basement two feet.

In order to set ourselves up for success the first thing we needed to do was call our Toronto structural engineer Ken Davis. Having previously worked with K H Davis Engineering on the first two phases of our Victorian home renovation, we knew he was the perfect man for the job.

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Our Toronto Structural Engineer Ken Davis doing a site inspection during the underpinning of our basement.

Since 1999 Ken has worked on over 3000 residential projects and has a great reputation for helping homeowners and contractors alike achieve their design and renovation goals. From new builds to additions, laneway home and garden suits, K H Davis Engineering can do it all. He has also worked on many century homes in Toronto, including many Victorian homes like ours, which has provided him with a knowledge base we are always keen to leverage.

A couple site visits and a few measurements later, we were well on our way to finalizing revised plans! In the meantime, we had enough ironed our to start reaching out to contractors that specialize in basement underpinning and waterproofing in Toronto to solicit quotes.


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Our kitchen from Domani Design Group is finally complete after the installation of our range vent cover and under floating shelf lighting!

As we waited for underpinning quotes to trickle in, we were able to turn our attention over to finishing off the kitchen.

Since the last episode of our home renovation series we still had two items to check off before the kitchen was FINALLY finished. The first was get our electrician back in to install the last of the lights, and the second was to install the range vent cover. Thankfully we were able to complete both items with a month to spare before Christmas which meant Adam and I could get familiar with our new stove and practice our menu before hosting our family and friends for Christmas dinner. Having now spent a few months putting it to the test, Adam and I are so happy with our kitchen from Domani Design Group. Not only is it beautiful, but very well made. Every door and cabinet is soft close, I have more storage than I know what to do with, the layout is designed with functionality in mind and we absolutely love how much counter space we have!

Needless to say, celebrating our first Christmas at home was absolutely magical. Adam and I splurged on a 9 foot Fraser Fir and rented tables and chairs for our 20 person Christmas dinner. Not only were we able to show off our newly renovated house for the first time to many of our family members, but we were also able to share our pregnancy news with them, which made the whole season even more enchanting.

Following the holiday season, we received a call from our structural engineer Ken Davis to discuss our architectural drawings for the basement. It was concluded after a soil test that we would need to take a hybrid approach to our basement renovation that would involve underpinning about 75% of our basement and bench footing the remaining 25%. Given the sandy consistency of our basement and the fact that our neighbours house on one side is only 6 inches away (and their basement was slighting shorter than our current basement), there was a concern that underpinning that 25% section could undermine our neighbours foundation wall. To ensure everyone’s safety and the integrity of both houses, going with a hybrid underpinning and bench footing approach was the best option.

What is bench footing?


Unlike underpinning where you have to dig under the foundation wall, a bench footing is another way to support a foundation wall and lower the floor in your basement by creating a ledge or ‘bench’ out of concrete that sits along the existing wall. The downside to a bench footing approach is that it encroaches on your usable space. In our case, we have plans to build storage cabinets over-top of our bench footing as a way to not only hide the bench but make use of the space above it.

In addition to the hybrid underpinning / bench footing approach we also decided to turn one of the existing windows into an egress window. This would allow us to have a safety exit, should we ever need it and although we don’t have plans to rent out the basement or put a permanent bedroom down there, it’s good to have in case of an emergency. Given we are in the midst of doing a big renovation as well, there is probably no better time than now to action installing one.

What is a basement Egress window?

A basement Egress window provides a quick and safe emergency exit for your home, and an unobstructed opening from which someone can escape from. This means that a window, large enough for a human body to fit through (see Egress Window Size specifications based on your municipality code) must be able to open from the inside so that an escape can be made via an Egress window well or clearing in front of the window.

Once we were all in agreement regarding the best course of action, Ken was able to submit our architectural drawings to the city and get us our permit within two week! Remarkable!

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Allow me to introduce our Toronto Basement Underpinning & Waterproofing Contractor - ICYReno! #Partner

Meet our Toronto Basement Underpinning & Waterproofing Contractor

As we waited for our underpinning permit to be approved, Adam and I settled on an underpinning and basement waterproofing contractor in Toronto. Enter ICYReno, a fully insured and licensed waterproofing and underpinning company with over 10 years of experience. Not only have they helped homeowners across the GTA lower their basement floor but they are pros when it comes to interior and exterior waterproofing, back water valve and sump pump installation, drainage systems, concrete work, and more. They also came with an impressive endorsement from our structural engineer who had overseen a few of the basement underpins they had worked on in the past and was impressed by their quality of work. And if that wasn’t enough to seal the deal, their price was also one of the most competitive!

Within a week of receiving our permit, ICYReno began work on our basement. Before they could begin underpinning the foundation, they first had to demo the remaining drywall, stripping back all the layers until it was bare bones. Once complete they divided up the basement into small sections and began excavating and reinforcing each section, pouring new concrete footings before moving on.

Now, two weeks into our Toronto basement renovation it’s clear that ICYReno not only runs a tight ship with well organized bin drop offs and concrete pouring schedules, but their crew is highly trained and hard working. Having completed 50% of the underpin in just two weeks, it’s clear that they need no micro managing and can take care of everything from scheduling site visits with our structural engineer Ken Davis to booking appointments and sharing progress photos with our city inspector. They also sometimes work on Saturday, and given that I’m currently 7 months pregnant and ICYReno promised a 4-6 week timeline for completion, I appreciate their outstanding work ethic! Time is of the essence after all and at this rate they may even be done early! *fingers crossed*


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Meanwhile, I have been gathering inspiration for the basement. Given that we have to move our upstairs office into the basement to make room for our future nursery, we plan to divide the basement up into three major sections, a closed off front office that could double as a spill over bedroom should we need it, a larger open concept recreational room with a wet bar and perhaps a small play area where we can attempt to keep all the kids toys contained, and a conjoined bathroom-laundry room at the back where we can finally install our washer and dryer (which have been sitting in our living room for almost a year now)! YAY!

FUTURE FINISHED BASEMENT INSPIRATION

A few additional things we were able to check off our ‘To Do’ list since the last episode was install some new light fixtures on the main floor, finish off the powder room, make progress on the upstairs hidden linen closet and order new windows for the basement.

Next up on our list of things to tackle: prep the nursery for the baby’s arrival (I have plans to install a feature mural on one wall and paint the other walls), finish the underpinning, rough-in drains for the basement bathroom/laundry room and wet bar, install weeping tile and complete interior basement waterproofing, install radiant floors, dig and landscape for a new basement egress window, pour a new concrete slab floor and install a new basement egress window. Hopefully while this is all happening I can also source some tiles for our future basement bathroom!

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Basement renovation in progress….

Although Adam and I are not putting any pressure on ourselves to finish the basement before the baby arrives, it would be nice to have it as a functional space to work from and do laundry in. As much as I love visiting my parents every weekend to do laundry, it’s only going to get tougher once a newborn is in the picture. Anyways, that is all I have to share with you in this episode and blog post. If you have any questions about renovating a Victorian home, what it’s like to live in Toronto or need recommendations for Toronto contractors, hit me up in the comments below!

Before I sign off, I’d also like to say a big thank you to K H Davis Engineering and ICYReno for partnering with me on this project. I’m so excited to be working with such reputable companies on our Toronto basement renovations but want to reiterate that, like always, all opinions remain my own.

Until next time,
- Soheila



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EPISODE 10: IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING - RENOVATING MY VICTORIAN HOME

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We finally installed the Victorian mosaic tiles I ordered from Winckelmans in the powder room!

RENOVATING MY TORONTO VICTORIAN HOME - EPISODE 10!

I know it’s been a few months since I last released an episode of my home renovation series but that is not because Adam and I have been relaxing and enjoying the summer, quite the contrary! Since moving back into the house and getting ourselves settled in, we have had to put our bigger renovation plans on the back burner and switch gears to concentrate on planning our wedding and getting married in Italy!

If you missed our big news, this past September Adam and I got married in Tuscany at the beautiful San Galgano Abbey. We kicked off our trip with a whirlwind weekend in Florence with friends before heading to Tuscany to check into our wedding villa where we would be hosting the majority of our wedding event. On the first night we hosted a large welcome dinner under the stars for all our guests before getting married the following day in front of all our family and friends. It was such a beautiful wedding and reception - a total dream come true! After one week in Italy, Adam and I headed to Croatia for our honeymoon where we spent a few days at a luxury boutique hotel in Hvar before sailing around to a few Croatian islands and finishing up in Dubrovnik for the last couple nights.

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My dreams of having Victorian Tiles in my house have finally come true!

Installation of My Victorian Mosaic Tiles From Winckelmans Tiles

Before leaving for our wedding, we were able to get a few things off our to-do list including the installation of our new Victorian mosaic tiles from Winckelmans Tiles that we had previously picked up from their distributor in Toronto, Deco Tile.

It felt so good to finally have my tiles from Winckelmans installed! Adam’s dad ended up helping me with the foyer install (making sure to add in some Schluter Ditra lining for extra waterproofing protection) while Duran from DuWolf tackled the powder room to ensure we could get both spaces done before we left. Although the sheeted tile format (which my Winckelmans Tiles came in) does make the installation process easier, it still takes a lot of thoughtful planning to make sure everything lines up properly and is measured and cut perfectly, so the install is no easy feat! In the end, both spaces turned out even better then I or Adam could have imagined and the black and white Victorian tiles with a matching boarder design turned out super sophisticated/elegant. I love how when you walk into the house the foyer plays off the black and white staircase in the background too which makes the whole entrance way feel cohesive and inviting.

There is still a lot of work we have to do to the powder room following the tile install on one of the walls and floor but I can already tell it’s going to look great once it’s done and the custom Victorian stained glass window I’m having made is installed. Stay tuned for the final look in the next episode!

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Our arched bar with wine storage is looking better than ever!

Installation of Our Wine Cabinet With Fridge for Our
Home Bar & Coffee Nook

Another job we were able to check off our to-do list before heading to Italy was the installation of our little arched bar/coffee nook!

Do you remember back in episode 6 when we started drywall and framed out an interior archway for a future little bar area with wine cabinet and wine fridge? Well the custom cabinetry we had ordered was finally ready for install! I went for a super simple design that played off the kitchen’s navy blue palette by having a small cubby with slanted shelves (perfect for storing wine bottles) made with a small drawer on top to hold bottle openers etc. We used the left over Calacatta Gold porcelain from the kitchen for a counter top and duplicated the natural oak shelves to add additional storage for liquor bottles and bar paraphernalia. All we had to do once the navy blue bar cabinet and shelves were installed was plug in our new dual zone wine fridge and Nespresso machine, and decorate! Adam and I saved a whole case of wine from our wedding that we are planning to stash away and open on future anniversaries so I’m really happy to have a nice space to store them. Not to mention a little area separate from the kitchen to mix cocktails for guests while hosting over the holiday season!

DID YOU KNOW the perfect wine fridge temperature ranges between 50 °F (11°C) and 65 °F (18°C) for red wine and 45 °F (7°C) and 50 °F (11°C) for white wine. Neither did I, I had to look it up. Also, needing to rotate your wine bottles every few months is a total myth. As long as they are stored on their side you’re fine! Learn something new every day! Haha!

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The plastic sheet draped over the front 2nd floor windows was becoming a huge eye sore!

Restoration of Our Original Victorian Windows

If you’re new to my channel or blog you might have been wondering why there is a big plastic bag draped across the front second floor window of our house. Well, do I have a nightmare story for you!

The evening before Adam and I were set to start drywall there was a massive rainstorm that called our attention to the badly deteriorated and rotted state of our 2nd floor windows. The water from the rainstorm was just pouring into our main floor front room and with drywall starting the next morning, we had no choice but to temporary fix it by draping a large plastic sheet of vapour barrier over the 2nd floor window as a way to keep water off of it as much as possible. This temporary solution worked very well. Amazing actually! The leaking instantly stopped but living with a large plastic sheet on the front of our house was a huge eye sore I was getting sick of looking at. So when Adam and I got back from our wedding and honeymoon, I called our carpenter and asked him to come work his magic.

Restoration of our front windows took a couple days but our carpenter quickly identify the obvious culprit. He started with removing all the rotten wood before replacing it with new wood and sealing any remaining gaps around the edges with spray foam. He did a great job replicating the original Victorian trim work and mimicking the original style just as I asked, and even primed the window with some primer paint to seal it in preparation for painting and a fresh outline of caulking.

It felts so good to not only get that plastic sheet off the front of our house but checking this off our to-do list gave me the reassurance I needed to feel confident that this window will no longer be a problem moving into the winter months.


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Giving the front of our house a little refresh!

Exterior Painting of Windows, Gable and Trim

After our carpenter wrapped up his work, Ariel and his painting crew came in to sand down and paint the front windows, gable, balcony and trim before sealing the windows off with some fresh caulking. Originally the gable, windows and trim was this dull grey colour and our front door and balcony spindles were black but none of it did anything to bring out the beautiful orange hue of the brick. I wanted something complimentary, that helped the house stand out and appear vibrant and glorious in its old age, and what better choice for that than orange’s most complimentary colour, blue! It’s my favourite colour after all!

So off I went to the paint store, with one small kitchen cabinet door tucked under my arm to find the perfect matching colour! Imagine my shock then to find out there is no Benjamin Moore colour that matches! The gentleman at the store ended up mixing the paint colour by eye and after a few small tweaks, we landed on the perfect formula! Thank god for paint snobs!

Now that the windows are restored and everything received a fresh coat of paint, the house is looking really sharp! I love how the navy blue paint accentuates the rich orange hue of the brick and how it changes colours (it sometimes almost looks black) depending on what time of day it is. To help underscore the navy blue trim we kept the front door, cast iron railing, 2nd floor balcony and eves/drain spouts black as a way to emphasize the difference in colour despite the navy appearing black at a quick glance.

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Louis stopped by to drop off the completed stained glass window I had her custom make for my powder room!

My Custom Victorian Stained Glass Window Was Delivered!

Prior to leaving for the wedding, Louis had invited me to her studio in Etobicoke to finalize the design of the custom stained glass window she was making for the powder room. It was so cool to visit her studio and learn more about the stained glass classes she offers. The pieces she was working on for me looked incredible and exactly like the mock up design I had drawn for her months earlier. During my visit she showed me some final jewel options and glass colours she had selected, and asked me to choose what I liked the best before she began the welding phase of the production.

A few weeks later, while Ariel was still painting the house, Louis stopped by to drop off the finished stained glass window! IT LOOKED SO GOOD and I was so happy to see it installed and in all its glory in the powder room!


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Our La Cornue Cornufé range was finally installed!

Installation of Our La Cornue Range

It finally happened! After months of waiting for our new vent to arrive, two weeks ago we were able to get not only get it installed but we got our new La Cornue range installed too!

Originally, Adam and I had planned to have our stove installed in May when we moved in but the inspector saw the hole for the vent exhaust and said it was too big and not to code. Pivoting as best we could, we ordered a new vent that required a smaller exhaust hole but the kicker was we had to wait 16 weeks for it to arrive. In the meantime our new La Cornue stove lived in its crate in our dining room while Adam and I cooked all our meals on the BBQ.

After months of waiting our new vent arrived and we had our kitchen cabinetry maker from Domani Design Group come in to retrofit our range hood cabinet (because of course the new vent had to be a different size than our old vent) before having a professional appliance installer come in to finish the rest of the install.

By the way, if anyone is doing a kitchen renovations and needs a vent, we still have our old, unopened, Elica vent available for purchase! Model number is EAR140S4 if you want to check out the specs!

Now that our La Cornue stove is installed, Adam and I have been cooking up a storm. We love the duel electric ovens and powerful gas range. We also later learned that they discontinued making the La Cornue Cornufé range in the navy blue colour so it’s not even available for purchase anymore which makes me love it even more. I’m so excited to continue to play around with it over the holidays and feel way more confident about hosting family and friends for dinner now that we are not limited to just the BBQ. It’s going to make things so much easier and more enjoyable not to mention it looks like a piece of jewellery!

Overall, I am ECSTATIC about all the progress we’ve made on the house since moving back in. I even bought some lights on Black Friday which I can’t wait to arrive so I can install them! Christmas is also around the corner and I’m looking forward to getting our first Christmas tree and starting to host our friends and family for drinks and dinner.

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The current state of our basement - a sandbox!

2024 Plans: Tackling the Basement & Underpinning

In the new year Adam and I have plans to start tackling the basement which is currently a large sandbox. We want to do a big underpin in hopes of achieving an 8+ foot finished basement so it’s a bit more of a functional space and we can actually install our laundry machines (which is the last thing we need to install)! Until then they will continue taking up space in our living room. YAY! * eyeroll *

In preparation for the underpin (and before the ground froze) we had to cut away the bushes and smoke tree out front. Having to get rid of the smoke bush tree broke my heart, I loved that tree! Unfortunately it was so old, overgrown and wild that it produced less blooms each year and blocked all the light making it impossible to grow anything else. We have plans to re-landscape the front in the spring after the underpinning is done but for now we needed to prepare that front area for a demo bin.

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The house after window restoration work and a fresh coat of black and navy blue paint!

Thank you so much for joining me today and for checking out my new Toronto home renovation series on Youtube. I am super excited to be modernizing a Victorian home while still keeping the charm of an old Victorian house. If you have any questions about my Victorian house renovations, what it’s like to live in Little Portugal, Toronto or recommendations for Toronto contractors, hit me up in the comments below!

Before I sign off, I’d also like to say a big thank you to Winckelmans Tiles and Deco Tile for partnering with me on this project. I’m so excited to be working with industry experts on our Toronto home renovations but want to reiterate that, like always, all opinions remain my own.

Until next time,

- Soheila

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EPISODE 8: FINISHING TOUCHES - RENOVATING MY VICTORIAN HOME

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The stair balusters after being painted in a bedroom we turned into a giant spray paint booth!

RENOVATING MY TORONTO VICTORIAN HOME - EPISODE 8!

As the finishes come to a close, it’s hard not to look back on this year-long home renovation project and take stock of how far we have come. This past year, Adam and I faced a lot of ‘firsts’. First time demolishing a wall, first time doing any structural work, first time widening a staircase, framing out new bedrooms, doing insulation work - the list goes on. It’s true, ‘anything worth doing is going to be difficult’ and renovating our 125 year old Victorian home was no exception!

For those who have been following Adam and I’s home renovation journey, thank you so much for the support this past year. You have honestly made creating these videos and sharing our experience with you such a joy and I hope you feel inspired to step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself in some way too.

For those that are just tuning in, when Adam and I purchased this property as our first home, we knew it needed some work. The house had been divided into units with a ‘new-ish’ kitchen on the second floor and a very old, very small kitchen on the main floor.

Initially, Adam and I thought we would wait before doing any renovations; settle in, learn about the house, figure out its quirks, save a little money and then start the planning process. But soon after we moved in, we realized many of our appliances were broken and needed to be replaced. This ended up being the small nudge needed to get the ball rolling and so the process of planning our Toronto home renovation begun. Seven months later (and just in time for Adam’s birthday), we received our building permit and were ready to get started!

P.s. If you are interested in seeing/revisiting what the house looked like prior to renovations, you can go check out my ‘pre-renovation house tour!

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My custom, slim shaker cabinet style kitchen made by Domani Design Group

INSTALLATION OF MY CUSTOM KITCHEN CABINETS

After over a year in the making, this past month our custom kitchen was finally installed!

Adam and I love to cook so when it came to designing our dream kitchen, we wanted to make it the perfect space to entertain. Adam’s only request was to have a large island where his friends could sit around and chat with him while he cooks. I, on the other hand, needed it to be super functional for content creation and full of natural light for photos. In the end, Adam got his large kitchen island and I got the neoclassical kitchen of my dreams. Of course we didn’t do it alone! In order to ensure the flawless execution of our dream kitchen, Adam and I turned to Domani Design Group here in Toronto.

Located in the Castlefield & Caledonia Design District, Domani Design Group is a family run business with over 40 years of experience in designing and building custom kitchens. In addition to being a distributor of luxury European brands like Pedini, Domani also specializes in custom cabinetry for both kitchens and bathrooms.

Having just splurged on a new stove, I wanted the cabinetry to compliment our dark navy blue La Cornue duel range. To achieve this I ended up going with a slim shaker cabinet profile in a matching navy blue. To me this felt both contemporary and classic, and I knew it would work well with the large ornate crown mouldings I was eyeing from Parsiena Design and the Crittall style back door Adam and I had designed for our newly enlarged back entrance. When it came to our counter tops and back splash, I choose a Calacatta Gold made of Porcelain as I knew it’s superior durability and resistance to stains would ensure it lasted a lifetime. To help bring out the caramel streaks in the veins we chose a complimenting House of Rohl faucet in a polished brass finish as well as elevated knobs and pulls.


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Master bathroom renovations are underway and for the tiled floors I went with a checkered tile pattern in blue and white with a border to match!

MASTER BATHROOM RENOVATION UPDATE

With the completion of our white oak herringbone floors from Chestnut Flooring, we began the tile work for our master bathroom. Taking inspiration from the checkered pattern seen in the hallways of Palace of Versailles and incorporating my favourite colour blue, I was able to source a suitable match locally. The trick with this space however was that it was quite small. Since the majority of it would be covered by the tub, floating vanity and shower, using the right size tile was important. If the tile was too large, the pattern would not be as apparent and feel almost like an afterthought. Conversely, if the tile were too small, it would be distracting and all that you notice. In the end I found a suitable 8x8 tile that, although was not honed marble like my inspiration, was well proportioned for the space, offered the durability associated with porcelain, and complimented the white and blue ‘marble’ porcelain slabs we chose for the shower walls. To help further pull the room together I ended up choosing a large white oak wall mount vanity, also in a slim shaker profile, with a white quartz counter top to match our shower curb. For hardware, a chrome faucets, tub filler and shower fixture finished off the rooms colour palette with a ‘polished’ detail.

While tiling for the mater bathroom was underway, Adam and I turned our attention to the cast iron tub in the basement. When we first moved in, I would never take baths upstairs in our master bathroom. To me, there was something about the bathtub that never felt quite safe and I worried that if I filled it with water as well as my body weight, I would find myself falling through the floor. Instead I would take baths in the basement where I had a beautiful claw foot cast iron tub that would keep the water warm for what seemed like ages. It didn’t take long for the basement bathroom to become my little sanctuary and when renovations began, I had no intentions of getting rid of my beloved tub. Instead, I convince Adam that the best course of action was to move the cast iron tub upstairs! Once disconnected, Adam along with the help of his brother, began its great migration. In the process, however, we learned that only one side of the tub had been painted gold, and the other half was black! To remedy the situation, we had our painter Ariel from South Hill Property Care refinish the tub and paint the outside of it silver to match the chrome hardware. In addition to the tub, we also painted the bathroom’s small cast iron radiator in the same silver colour and I think they both turned out better than imagined. Once the paint was dry and the tiling of the master bathroom was complete, we were then able to resume moving the cast iron tub to the second floor and place it in it’s final position! I still can’t believe it!

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The posts of my custom staircase after they were finished being spray gun painted!

PAINTING AND TRIM WORK

Not only did Ariel refinish my cast iron tub, but he also worked diligently on all the fine carpentry. From baseboards to installation of my new doors, over the course of a month much of the trim work was completed.

Since Ariel was also in charge of painting the house, he was able to give the new stair spindles and posts a layer of paint prior to install by turning one of the second floor bedrooms into a paint spray booth. It was so cool watching him use a spray gun and seeing how quickly he can work with his machine. Almost makes me want to buy a spray gun myself.

I also spent some time restoring some original trim that I had saved from the original house prior to the demo. I used a heat gun to remove layers and layer of paint and restore them to their natural wood material. Once bare I then sanded them down, used a little wood filler to cover up any dents and imperfections before handing them back to Ariel for re installation. I love the way these look in the corners of the window trim and doors and actually had Parsiena Design reproduce them for me in plaster so that I could introduce them in the upstairs windows as well. Unfortunately, due to the nature of plaster, they don’t fair well in moisture rich places like bathrooms but this is exactly where the old wood ones would be the best option.

INSTALLATION OF OUR CUSTOM STAIRCASE

Once Ariel was finished painting the stair balusters and posts we were able to get our stair installer back in to wrap up the stairs. Adam and I are so happy with how our custom staircase turned out and love the Victorian detailing in the ornate design of the stair spindles.


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BASEMENT RENOVATION UPDATES

Since the last episode, Adam and I have also made further headway on the basement. Once the main drain was installed we could begin concentrating on removing some of the disturbed soil from the basement and clearing out space. Adam and I plan to continue working on the basement this spring and will likely be doing some underpinning to the foundation on at least one side of basement while benching the other. More on this phase of our renovation project to come in future episodes so stay tuned!

Toronto Home renovations - victorian style home - refurbished cast iron radiators from Ironworks Radiators Inc

My refurbished ornate Victorian rads are finally ready for installation!

INSTALLATION OF OUR CAST IRON RADIATORS

As the weather started to warm up and spring was officially upon us, we were also able to get all our radiators from Ironworks Radiator Inc installed. I am so happy with how the refurbished vintage ornate cast iron radiators we got from them turned out and I love my chosen paint colours. Now installed, there is no denying the character and elegance they add to the main floor, and how well they play into the house’s Victorian heritage.

If you love Victorian style houses or are just looking to refurbish your rads at home, I highly recommend checking out Ironworks Radiator Inc in Etobicoke. They have an extensive stockyard of Victorian radiators located at the back of their shop and their inventory is always changing. They also work directly with Castrad Radiators in the UK to import brand new cast iron radiators in various styles including more modern sleek silhouettes.

Toronto Home renovations - victorian style home - custom staircase - spray gun painting

Painting of my custom staircase by South Hill Property Care

PAINTING THE HOUSE

Once Ariel was finished all the fine carpentry work, he was able to turn his attention to painting the rest of the house. We ended up going with Benjamin Moore’s ‘Chantilly Lace’ which truth be told caused him somewhat of a headache because it was so white that it took several coats to conceal inconsistencies in the walls. In total Ariel said he had to use about 4-5 coats on the walls and 3 coats on the trim to achieve a finish we were all happy with. Word to the wise, if you are thinking about painting your house Chantilly Lace prepare yourself for many coats!

Even though this is all I have to share today, there is still so much more work to be done at the house. All our appliances still need to be installed, Adam and I will be working on underpinning the basement in the spring, and our new tiles from Winckelman Tiles in collaboration with Deco Tile will be arriving soon! All this and more to come in future episodes!

Toronto Home renovations - victorian style home

My Toronto Victorian home currently undergoing a major renovation

Thank you so much for joining me today and for checking out my new Toronto home renovation series on Youtube. I am super excited to be modernizing a Victorian home while still keeping the charm of an old Victorian house. If you have any questions about my Victorian house renovations, what it’s like to live in Little Portugal, Toronto or recommendations for Toronto contractors, hit me up in the comments below!

Before I sign off, I’d also like to say a big thank you to Domani Design Group, Chestnut Flooring, Parsiena Design and Ironworks Radiator Inc for partnering with me on this project. I’m so excited to be working with local experts on our Toronto home renovations but want to reiterate that, like always, all opinions remain my own.

Until next time,

- Soheila

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EPISODE 7: A DATE WITH DESTINY - RENOVATING MY VICTORIAN HOME

home renovations in Toronto - install herringbone flooring with brass inlay from chestnut flooring

Installation in progress! My white oak herringbone dreams are about to come true!

RENOVATING MY TORONTO VICTORIAN HOME - EPISODE 7!

It’s been yet another busy month at the house as we power through more of the finishes. Following the delivery of our refurbished cast iron radiators from Ironworks Radiator Inc and the installation of our classical mouldings from Parsiena Design, Adam and I felt ready to take on the next stage of our Toronto Victorian home renovation, the flooring.

If you have been following my home renovation series for awhile, you may remember me spilling the tea on all my juicy home renovation plans. For those who are new, it has been a dream of mine to have herringbone floors! When Adam and I purchased this property as our first home together, one of the things that I was thrilled about was how old the floors were - odd I know but here me out. Down the line, I knew we would eventually do some renovations to our Victorian home, and when that time came, redoing the subfloor and installing new flooring would be a top priority. In the meantime, I made sure to plant the seed of herringbone floors in Adam’s mind by sharing interior inspiration with him on the regular. Little did I know my dreams were going to come true sooner than I had imagined!

It wasn’t long after Adam and I moved in that we noticed a few things were not as they seemed. Many of our appliances were not working and needed to be fixed, and since they were old to begin with, we debated whether that was even worth doing. In the end, the debate around fixing the appliances escalated into buying them which again escalated into widening the staircase (because 'how would we fit the washer and dryer upstairs otherwise’). All this turned out to be just the thing we needed to get the ball rolling and start planning our Toronto home renovation.

Having big dreams of what I wanted the floors to look like presented a few challenges for me. Victorian homes in Toronto tend to be long and narrow, and I wanted the pattern to be prominent and repeat several times across the width of the house. In order to achieve this look I required a smaller, skinnier plank size. Finding this very specific thing was not easy. Most suppliers I found carried a ‘standard size’ of 4-5 inch wide herringbone planks while I was looking for something slightly smaller in the 3-3.5 inch range. At one point I got so desperate, I called a restaurant with ‘skinny’ herringbone floors that had just opened to find out where they got theirs! It took me a few weeks and visits to numerous showrooms, not to mention ordering samples online from supplier in the US, to find the perfect product - but I found it!

home renovations in Toronto - install herringbone flooring with brass inlay from chestnut flooring - fireplace and ceiling medallion with egg and dart crown mouldings

The living room in my Toronto Victorian home is beginning to shape up really nicely!

CHESTNUT FLOORING #PARTNER

It was a sunny, fall Saturday when Adam and I drove out to Vaughan to visit Chestnut Flooring’s showroom. A long time Instagram follower of mine who also happened to be a flooring installer suggested I check out their showroom after seeing my stories and learning about my herringbone aspirations. Having installed many different brands of herringbone flooring in the Toronto area himself, he remarked at the quality of their engineered herringbone floors - and he was right. Chestnut Flooring not only had the size and colour we wanted, but it turned out that when compared to the other samples I had collected, their engineered herringbone floor product had a superior top wood layer/thickness. This meant if we ever wanted to refinish the floors down the line or needed to fade out a big scratch (knock on wood that never happens), we had the ability to sand them down and do just that! Perfect, right!?

We ended up having such a great experience working with Chestnut Flooring’s co-owner and showroom manager, Sherry, the first time around that as we progressed into our renovations and realized we would have to pull the second floor (phase 2) into the initial phase of our renovation they were the only showroom we needed to visit to source additional flooring. Not only do they offer a wide selection of products from both well-known domestic and international brands, including hardwood, engineered, laminate, carpet, vinyl and tile, but Sherry was able to find a match for our second floor that we just loved! A red oak, straight plank, solid hardwood that adds both warmth and durability to the second floor.


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Part of my big herringbone design dream was to incorporate a boarder with brass inlay. Luckily, a week before installation I was able to find a supplier in the Toronto area but since it was going to take a few days to arrive, we ended up starting the installation on the second floor.

The flooring installation on the second floor went quick and took maybe two days. The red oak hardwood floors from Chestnut Flooring look so warm and inviting. You can really see the natural beauty of the grain when the afternoon sun shines into the room. Adam and I ended up getting enough material for both of the back bedrooms and the 2nd floor hallway. We do have big plans to tile our new bathroom but that will have to wait for another episode!

Just as we wrapped up the second floor installation the brass inlay arrived. I was so excited that my dream was becoming real right before my eyes that I stayed and watched the process. My flooring installer did such a great job incorporating the border inlay and really took his time polishing the brass before installation. He even kindly made two examples for me of how the corners could be done so I could feel confident with my choice. After a week, my date with destiny was upon me! The white oak herringbone floors were fully installed and looking even better then I could have imagined.

CABINETRY HARDWARE AND STAINED GLASS WINDOWS

While the flooring was being installed I was also able to finalize my kitchen cabinetry hardware and begin working on a design for a stained glass window in our main floor powder room. The window in the powder room is skinny but tall and although we love the natural light it provides, it really doesn’t provide any privacy. After commissioning a stained glass artist last fall to replicate one of the small panels in the front window that I noticed was missing, I thought I would work on a larger design with her for this space as well. My plan is to incorporate the same colours you can see in the front window and some of the same motifs, while also keeping the majority of it in the centre a clear, textured glass. Can you picture it?


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Toronto Home Renovations - Victorian Style Home - mosaic tiles at Deco Tile showroom

Deco Tiles Showroom located at 142 Tycos Drive in Toronto

VICTORIAN MOSAIC TILE COLLABORATION WITH DECO TILE & WINCKELMANS TILES! #PARTNER

So, I have been keeping a secret from you. A few weeks ago I received an email from Winckelmans Tiles, a French tile manufacturer with factories in Northern France. Having been in business for almost 130 years, they are best known for their mosaic tiles that have been used in numerous hotel, commercial spaces and homes globally.

My first encounter with Winckelmans took place two years ago while designing the finishes for my Toronto home renovation. Their catalogue featured so many beautiful mosaic patterns but what caught my eye was their collection of Victorian tiles. Not only do they have the classic ‘Octagons and Dot’ pattern I was already completely charmed by but they also offer numerous classical Victorian border patterns as well. I was smitten and had to let them know!

Sometimes amazing things happen when you take a chance and put yourself out there, and I’m happy to finally be able to share that I am going to be collaborating with Winckelmans Tiles through their local distributor in Toronto, Deco Tile. Located on Tycos Drive in Toronto, I visited Deco Tiles showroom to place my order for the powder room and front entrance. I went with a classic super white and black Victorian ‘Octagon and Dot’ pattern with a border to match, and for the powder room I decided to extend the pattern and border up one of the walls. I can just picture it now, looking at your reflection in the mirror and seeing the Winckelmans’ pattern on the wall behind you, framing your silhouette. A dream I can’t wait for!

Home Renovations Toronto - victorian homes - Main Drain Replacement

Adam and I kicked off Phase 3 ‘Basement Renovations’ by replacing the main drain and installing a back water valve!

ADAM AND I KICKED OFF PHASE 3 - THE BASEMENT!

Once flooring was complete Adam and I decided it was finally time to kick off Phase 3 of our renovation. If herringbone floors were my dream, Adam’s was having an amazing entertainment space in the basement. Given all the structural work we had to do at the beginning of our renovation, our once finished basement was no more and it was time for us to pull the trigger on replacing and lowering the main drain as well as installing a back water value outside. This required us to not only demo the basement bathroom but begin breaking the concrete floor and digging a 3 foot trench. Of course with all our stuff stored in the basement, this was a big challenge but we were able to successfully knock off those first few tasks before we begin working towards finishing the basement in the spring. Now that the main drain has been replaced and the back water valve installed we can hook up the water, begin removing all the stuff being stored in the basement, and begin the cleaning process!

REFURBISHING OUR CAST IRON TUB

When Adam and I first moved into the house I would never take baths upstairs. For some reason I never felt the supports under the bathtub on the 2nd floor were strong and I was paranoid that I would fall through the ceiling if I filled it with the weight of water in addition to me. Instead I created a little candlelight sanctuary in the basement where we had this beautiful classic claw foot cast iron tub. I loved taking baths in the basement especially since the cast iron tub would keep the water so warm for so long. I knew even before we started the renovation that the tub wasn’t going anywhere and I was determined to have it installed in our new master bathroom on the second floor. Now that we were beginning to kick off phase 3 of our renovation, the tub needed to be disconnected and moved upstairs. During its ‘great migration’ we were not really surprised to learn that only half of the tub was painted gold! The previous owners had neglected to paint the back side of the tub and it was black! I did have plans to have it repainted and refurbished but having two different paints on it didn’t make that job any easier. In addition to the cast iron tub, I also had the small bathroom radiator painted in the same silver so as to match.

toronto home renovations - cast iron tub refinishing and painting

The great migration of my cast iron clawfoot tub begins but not until we have a chance to refinish and paint it!

The week following the completion of our herringbone floors we were able to prime the main floor and paint the crown mouldings. Once that was complete the kitchen cabinetry we had custom ordered from Domani Design Group was delivered and work began on the 2nd floor master bathroom. More on all of this to come in the next episode along with installation updates on our new custom staircase, phase 3 progress and so much more.

Thank you so much for joining me today and for checking out my new Toronto home renovation series on Youtube. I am super excited to be modernizing a Victorian home while still keeping the charm of an old Victorian house. If you have any questions about my Victorian home renovations, what it’s like to live in Little Portugal, Toronto or recommendations for Toronto contractors, hit me up in the comments below!

Before I sign off, I’d also like to say a big thank you to Ironworks Radiator Inc., Parsiena Design, Chestnut Flooring, Domani Design Group, Winckelmans Tiles & Deco Tile for partnering with me on this project. I’m so excited to be working with both local and international industry experts on our Toronto home renovations but want to reiterate that, like always, all opinions remain my own.

Until next time,

- Soheila

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EPISODE 2: INDESTRUCTIBLE - RENOVATING MY TORONTO VICTORIAN HOME

Toronto Victorian Ceiling Medallion

TORONTO VICTORIAN HOME RENOVATIONS

Prior to starting renovations on my Toronto Victorian home, I knew that we were going to need to do some structural work.

When we bought the house it was split into two units and there was a big bedroom located in the middle of the main floor. In order to change the layout, we were going to need to remove a load bearing wall which meant finding a structural engineer and structural contractor in Toronto.

Additionally, the staircase was original and very narrow. Its condition was worse for wear and you could clearly see it was starting to tilt to one side. Eventually, it was going to need to be replaced and if we ever wanted to get a king mattress up the stairs, increasing the size was a must.

Lastly, Adam and I also noticed that there was some serious sagging in the floors. We suspected a load bearing wall was removed in the basement and if I ever hoped to install herringbone floors, this would need to be fixed as well.

Structural work is no joke though. In Toronto, you are legally required to get a permit and getting over this hurdle meant finding a seasoned structural engineer who has had plenty of experience dealing with issues like ours as well as a structural contractor that was capable of removing walls and installing both LVLs and steel beams.


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TORONTO HOME RENOVATIONS - MODERNIZING A VICTORIAN HOME

In episode two of my new home renovation series we launch right into structural work! In total we spent over a month focusing on improving the structural elements of the house including installing structural beams, sistering joists, levelling floors, adding several new footings and steel posts in the basement and installing two massive steel moment frames that pretty much make our house indestructible!

If this is your first time tuning into my new home renovation series, make sure to check out my previous episode ‘Sledgehammer Therapy’ and keep up with upcoming episodes by subscribing to my YouTube channel!

TORONTO CONTRACTORS

Our search for a good structural engineer and structural contractor in Toronto wasn’t easy. Adam and I reached out to a handful while putting together our budget for this reno and definitely ran into a few characters along the way. Finding someone ‘word of mouth’ proved challenging, especially since a lot of people we knew hadn’t taken on a renovation of this magnitude before. Since Adam and I weren’t interested in bringing on a general contractor we instead researched potential companies, looked at their reviews/references, spoke with the owners, made sure they were licensed and insured, and scheduled site visits. Even after all that, making a decision was hard and given the gravity of the ask and the money it would require, it was imperative we make the right one.

K.H. Davis Engineering Consultants LTD has a great reputation in Toronto. During our search for construction trades, Ken Davis’s name popped up a few times. A couple of them had worked with his plans before and mentioned how thorough they were. One also mentioned how responsive he was when a question arose because it saved him from delaying his project. After meeting Ken Davis himself during a site visit, we knew he was the guy we wanted to work with. He was incredibly knowledgeable, had worked on Toronto century homes before and was familiar with how they were generally constructed. He also assured us that he could address all our issues and was happy to apply for the permit and deal with the city on our behalf. When we finally pulled the trigger and started to work with him he scheduled a meeting with us to walk us through every aspect of the plans. It was clear during this meeting that he was not only taking into account what we wanted to do in this phase of our Toronto home renovations, but also our next phase which we really appreciated. Even after receiving our permit, when we hit a snag and needed to pivot, he shared a few possible solutions with us so we could figure out a financially feasible new strategy. When you are dealing with old homes, Adam and I knew that things don’t always go as planned but we both definitely appreciated having Ken by our side to guide us.

Toronto Contractors - Home renovations - dynamic design and construction

Raouf and his team at Dynamic Design and Construction - our Toronto structural contractor

Finding the right structural contractor proved even more challenging. Many of them had experience with removing a load barring wall and installing LVL’s but installing a steal beam was a whole different ball game. We needed a Toronto contractor with steel beam experience and know how.

With over 15 years in the industry Raouf has been leading his team at Dynamic Design and Construction through numerous Toronto home renovations of varying magnitudes. He has restored century homes in Rosedale, built houses from the ground up, and has plenty of experiences removing load bearing walls and installing structural steel beams like the H beams we had in our plans. Once we started to work with Dynamic, any anxiety I had going into this next step of our Toronto Victorian home renovations subsided. Raouf was great at communicating his needs, questions and concerns so that we could prepare and avoid possible upcoming challenges. His dedication to getting the job done and getting it done right was duly noted and appreciated, along with the commitment of his hard working team. I watched both moment frames get installed and moving heavy H beams into place is no easy task. Like a conductor and his orchestra, Raouf and his team worked together harmoniously, positioning and installing 7 steel beams and a steel post in one day. It was incredible!

He also levelled my floors, sistered joists, installed several footings in the basement, widened our staircase opening, poured concrete in our crawl space, created concrete footings for one of our moment frames and installed two steal frames on the foundation walls for the other. Adam and I knew it was going to be a challenging assignment and Dynamic Design and Construction rose to the occasion with total competency and professionalism.

P.s. If you are starting a Toronto home renovation and need some contractor recommendations Adam and I have put together a stellar list of contractors and tradesman for this project! I’ll be sharing more about our renovation process in upcoming episodes and the companies we are using but if you can’t wait, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email via my contact form for a recommendation!

Dynamic Desing and Construction - Toronto Home Renovation Contractors

Roufe and his team celebrating after installing 6 steel beams that make up the two moment frames we needed to install in our Toronto Victorian home.


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Me after another day of home renovations!

So there you have it! Stage two of our Toronto home renovations is complete and we can now move onto the next step, framing, plumbing and electrical work.

While the structural work was going on we also finally receive our kitchen appliances (including our new La Cornue range) and finalized our new kitchen designs with Domani Design Group. Everything we are going to be doing in our Toronto home renovation moving forward will be preparing us for the install of our new kitchen, a large Crittall style back door and a whole new main floor layout! Plus I have some BIG NEWS which I will be revealing in my next episode, so don’t miss out and subscribe!

Additionally, behind the scenes I also started my search for tiles to replace the ones we had in our basement bathroom as well as demoed the area around our staircase, cleaned up the mechanical room and removed a large old decommissioned cast iron stack from the side of the house. If you want to see more behind the scenes you can always follow me on Instagram where I share more up to date stories of my interior design and renovation progress!

PICTURES FROM AFTER THE STRUCTURAL WORK HAS BEEN COMPLETE IN MY TORONTO HOME RENOVATIONS!


Thank you so much for joining me today and for checking out my new Toronto home renovation series on Youtube. I am super excited to be modernizing a Victorian home while still keeping the charm of an old Victorian house. If you have any questions about my Victorian house renovations, what it’s like to live in Little Portugal, Toronto or recommendations for Toronto contractors, hit me up in the comments below!

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