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covet garden
inspiration grows here
victoria
a downtown home that goes with the flow covetgarden.com
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contributors
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JODI PUDGE photographer
PAUL C photographer
Jodi takes lovely pictures of pretty objects and tasty treats for magazines like Canadian Living and Style at Home. Her keen eye for detail also makes her the ideal antiquing companion.
Paul takes pictures of interiors, exteriors, eats and assorted other things. His work has appeared in such magazines as Style at Home, Canadian Living, Elle Canada and Reno and Decor.
jodipudge.com
paulc.ca
contents 4
the space
Exploring the interior landscape
28 Q & A
30 the style
Mixing it up with playful prints and hues
32 the project
Container gardening
38 the drink
Italy in a glass
40 inspiration
Stone-cold classics inspired by hot rocks
welcome This month, we’re feeling neighbourly. We’re featuring the wonderfully welcoming house of Victoria, who lives just a couple of doors up from last month’s Covet Garden home. Not only do we give you a peek inside the space, but we also supply a bit of back story to Jen and Aaron’s inspiration, which came from Victoria’s addition to her home. We also hope to show just how different two similar floor plans can be.
On the cover and this page: photos by Jodi Pudge
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INSIDE VOICE Landscape architect Victoria values wide open spaces indoors as well as out photography by Jodi Pudge
“Music is a huge part of my life and inspiration,” says Victoria.
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A painting by Peter von Tiesenhausen is just one of the appealing elements of the ground floor.
the space
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A cool credenza carved from a single piece of limestone plus a warm stove make the front room a great place to hang out in the fall.
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‘The front window has its original old glass, which is so beautiful when you look through it’
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it about 10 years ago. “I wanted a house that faced west,” she says, “and I wanted to be near Trinity Bellwoods Park.” She heard that a friend had a sister who wanted to move. “We did the deal privately over a glass of wine at the kitchen table,” Victoria says. “It was the best possible here are many things way to make a huge decision. That kind of perthat fascinate us about sonal transaction is very rare.” Victoria’s West Queen West domicile. As always, we are envious of any- As soon as she saw the place, Victoria knew she body who can keep her space so organized. And wanted to open up the back elevation to the west Victoria’s art collection is simply amazing (more facing light. Every space has creative potential, on both of these points later). But what keeps she says, but when you look for a home, “it defius revisiting this turn-of-the-20th-century home in nitely helps if there are interesting existing historiour minds is how easily everything flows—good cal details to work with.” In the case of the main food, refreshing drinks and lively conversation floor, the original builder had used plaster and are as much of the structure of the house as the lathe to make a curve where the walls join ceilings walls and floors. to help direct heavy smoke from the rooms when people burned coal to heat their homes. Some of the good vibes emanating from the house were there from the start. Victoria found covetgarden.com
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‘My work is where I focus my design energy. The house is mostly upkeep at this point’
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the space
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“I love to support the work of contemporary Canadian artists,” says Victoria. “It feeds me.”
Xenia and Steven are collectors of all kinds of things: tiles from around the world, books and board games. “Stephen has a really good eye,” says Xenia. “He’s not swayed by trends.”
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the space
‘Most stuff has travelled from apartment to We just tried to find ways to make it work.’
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One of Victoria’s favourite things is the assemblage that sits above the C’est Assez picture. “My boyfriend makes these amazing presents for me. He has a farm and picked everything that was blooming on the day of my birthday and turned it into this piece.”
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the space
‘Now that I’m working from home, I’m more aware of the space at different times of the day’
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At the same time, she says, “I don’t want my whole house to be a work space.” On our second visit, we also socialized with Victoria’s friend and fellow landscape architect, Joe. “Victoria has fantastic dinners,” he says. “In the late fall, we eat outside and move back in for cocktails.”
ictoria also stuck with simple and mostly natural materials for the surfaces and a basic colour palette. This simplicity also affects her lighting choices. “Light is an important element, and at night sometimes having my fire- “There are a lot of different rooms in this space even though it’s a big open-concept plan,” Joe place going with a few lit candles is enough.” says. “And everything opens up into the backyard.” She considers the ground floor of her home to be the public space. She works at home, teaches and is active in the community. “I like spaces that are flexible,” she says. “I had a meeting with a client here today, and we did a great fundraiser this past spring in the backyard for my roof garden project.”
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‘Designing the interior of my home was about saving the best details from the past, then opening up the space to air and light’
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ictoria emphasizes the contribution of friends to the look of the space. “I worked with some very talented designers and builders,” she says. She credits gallery owner Clint Roenisch, artist Paul Butler and the folks at Tomorrow Gallery for turning her on to many of the artists she has collected. “My parents were always interested in contemporary art, and I spent a lot of time at the AGO, where my mom was a docent.”
elements were designed and fabricated by the Toronto-based design studio, Castor. Victoria’s training in architecture also gave her an edge in finding a place with good bones, but the architect David Hannah helped her realize the addition to the back of her house.
And if you assumed that because she is a landscape architect, Victoria’s home would be more of a jungle inside, you would be mistaken. “I work These porcelain with steel and concrete and wood,” she says. teacups were a collection There is a lot of artistry in the renovation of the “Plants are important but are just one element of amassed by house itself. Several permanent carved-stone a landscape designer’s palette.”
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Steven’s grandmother.
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the space
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How did Fiona and Maciek find the cast hands in their living room? The hands found them. “We went to the Junction for a visit–strictly for coffee,”
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the space “The light that comes into this room is amazing,” says Victoria. “I love my bedroom.”
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“The shoemaker has no shoes,” says Xenia. “We have no tile.” Even though she has a studio filled with
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the space A lovely kilim is put out on the bathroom floor in the cooler months.
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pstairs the space is more private, but no less welcoming. In the front is Victoria’s bedroom. Again, the room is spare and uncluttered. We asked her for tips on how to create such a fresh space. She just shrugged and said, “This is just how I live. It kind of has to be this way.” Then she adds, “but bookshelves, storage space and a big basement help.”
and panelled closet doors. The craftspeople that helped with the renovation are now also part of the house’s story. “Our drywaller who restored the curved ceiling was amazing,” says Victoria. “He worked with stilts on. It was like performance.”
Which is another design superpower that Victoria possesses—the ability to understand that the rooms and the objects and people who inhabit them all relate to one another. In the bathroom, Here as well, she tried to preserve as many of the for example, a crimson-hued rug draws the eye building’s features, including the original floors down to the marble-edged detail of the tub. covetgarden.com
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ictoria started working from home last January. She quickly settled into her office by installing some familiar objects. The double-dropleaf desk was a gift from her grandparents. The lamp came from the Queen Street shop INabstracto. The bookshelves feature a collection of books on art, design and plants. We actually stopped to smell the pages of a 1950sera first edition of Landscape for Living, the seminal tome on early modernist California design by the
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American lansdcape architect Garrett Eckbo. And guess what? Books smell terrific! The office is part of an extension that Victoria added when she moved in. It was important that the front and back of the house employed a duality in both the built architecture and the garden design. Through the office window a much-loved catalpa tree watches over her while she works. It also provides shade and privacy. “On the summer solstice, the flowers are as big as your face.�
Opposite: A growing stack of the magazine World of Interiors sits in the office.
the space
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‘The best lesson I ever lear Believe in your own creati 22
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nother joy of working from home is having so much inspiration so close at hand. Victoria has her books nearby as well as a place to pin up inspiring photos and notes wherever she sees fit.
rned? tive intuition’ Xenia’s collection of ceramic earrings includes some she made and some created by her friend Julie Moon.
Among the projects she is currently working on is an exhibition called Gladstone Grow Op, which will run at the Gladstone Hotel from April 25 to 28, 2013. The show is a cross-disciplinary forum to explore the relationship between landscape, garden design, art and place making. “It’s a four-day exhibition of installations and events designed to expand the dialogue between landscape art and garden design,” she says. Her involvement in this project is in one way a tip of the hat to the people who have inspired her over the years. “I like to acknowledge the gallerists and curators around town who bring young artists to the public eye,” says Victoria. “They are tireless!” covetgarden.com
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Victoria’s love of natural materials is evident throughout the whole space. The onyx windowpane to the right of the kitchen door (opposite) lets a warm, golden light into the main-floor powder room.
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the space
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Victoria’s sauna: in the winter she fills a tub with icy water to take an authentic Finnish-style plunge.
hang out outside all year if she could. “It’s telling,” he says, “that she refers to the back of the house as ‘the front.’”
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he gardens are perhaps the most important rooms in Victoria’s home. The front garden’s informal feel helps it blend in with the older-style neighbourhood. In the back, a 12-footlong carved limestone table is perfect for entertaining outside. There’s a fire pit that looks like a sculpture. “We need heat to extend the season,” says Victoria. Joe vouches for the fact that she would
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Instead of a solid privacy fence, she chose chain link—an instant trellis that the flora have happily climbed up, creating a green curtain of privacy that also lets air circulate for plants and people during the hot summer months. And the pièce de résistance—a sauna built into an old shipping crate. When you’re in the backyard, it’s almost impossible to imagine that you’re metres away from a busy urban street. It’s also nearly impossible to tear ourselves away from Victoria’s company. We talked easily for hours about art and music and movies and events that we had shared. As Joe says, “The house just allows for dynamic socialization.” And it’s true—while we talked, nobody brought out a cellphone, no TVs blared in the background and we never ran out of conversation.
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who?
Victoria Taylor is a landscape architect. She has a master’s degree in environmental studies (from York University) and one in landscape architecture (from the University of Toronto). Victoria also helps with a third-year studio at the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture. The studio is directed by Andrew Levitt, who is an architect and a practising Jungianoriented psychotherapist. Together, they curated an exhibition in collaboration with No 9 Contemporary called Art and the Environment, which is up at Pearson International Airport’s Terminal 1 until December. The show features top student work from the studio over the past five years.
Victoria’s music sources
links
• The Signal
•Victoria’s website
• CBC Radio 2
•University of Waterloo project
• The Music Gallery
•Parks & Rec rooftop garden blog
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the profile
What’s your greatest strength? VICTORIA: I’m stubborn. What’s your greatest weakness? VICTORIA: I’m stubborn.
What’s the best thing you’ve ever given someone? VICTORIA: My support.
What’s your favourite comfort food? VICTORIA: My boyfriend’s soup.
Forced to choose between night and day, which would you give up forever? VICTORIA: Night, because the okra blossom only opens during the day.
What’s your favourite place on earth? VICTORIA: The beach.
What’s your favourite song? VICTORIA: Too many.
What’s your favourite place in Toronto? VICTORIA: Sunset at Parks & Rec—our roof garden over Parts & Labour in Parkdale.
What object have you kept since childhood? VICTORIA: A blue mohair blanket I inherited from my grandmother.
what are you reading?
you visit? VICTORIA: Life is so rich now covetgarden.com
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TAYLOR MADE Victoria embodies skater-girl chic and sophisticated-lady style at the same time by mixing vintage and new pieces
Indress wool coat
statement glasses
Cutler and Gross Grey Horn, $470, L.A. Eyeworks Rebar Frame in black, $375
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Mercy shirt-dress in Liberty of London leopardprint fabric, $395
the style
Vintage Patrick Kelly leopard trench, I Miss You $395
J Crew No. 2 Pencil Skirt in double serge wool in black, $150
sweet feet
Ascher London Graham Sutherland Trellis scarf in beige/ cream, $295
Stylish and sensible, Victoria favours colourful trainers like these: 1. Nike Flex Experience Run in Fireberry, $65 2. New Balance W3090 in Green, $90 3. Adidas Opticourt 8.5 in University Red, $85 covetgarden.com
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The rooftop garden grows some of the hops for local Bellwoods Brewery.
UP ON THE ROOF A visit to Victoria’s secret city garden and a few tips about starting your own rooftop garden photography by Jodi Pudge
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The team at Parts & Labour harvests produce weekly, but “we encourage the cooks to come up to get whatever else they might need.�
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the project
One
of the reasons Parts & Labour, the popular Parkdale restaurant, is so beloved by locavores is that chef Matthew Matheson harvests some of his ingredients from a rooftop garden designed by Victoria. “Parks & Rec—the name for my roof-garden project—is an extension of my work as a landscape architect,” says Victoria. As a co-owner of the building that houses Parts & Labour, she had a vision for a garden that would help feed the clientele. The result is this 1200-square-foot kitchen garden composed of sub-irrigated containers. These recycled bins grow herbs, greens, flowers and vegetables for the restaurant’s signature dishes.
Over the past three years, Parks & Rec has flourished, she says, “thanks to the amazing support from Katie Mathieu, my partners Jesse Girard and Richard Lambert, Matty Matheson and the P&L owners and staff.” The Parts & Labour contract is just one of several rooftop food projects that Victoria is working on. For example, her cousin is one of the co-owners of Bellwoods Brewery. Their aim was to brew a 100 percent local beer. Which is how the City Hops project was planted in 2011. Bellwoods rents space in Parks & Rec, and Katie keeps a watchful eye and does the harvesting. covetgarden.com
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CONTAIN YOURSELF Inspired by the planting vessels on Victoria’s rooftop garden, we have come up with four simple steps to convert a plastic storage bin (such as those by Rubbermaid) into a planter suitable for any deck, patio or yard. These bins are available in a range of sizes, are durable and are simple to convert into vegetable planters. Most vegetables need at least a 5-gallon container to thrive in, though you’ll need to use larger containers for growing multiple vegetable plants. Small containers are suitable for many herb plants and are used the same way as the larger storage tubs.
Small-Space Container Gardens: Transform Your Balcony, Porch, or Patio with Fruits, Flowers, Foliage, and Herbs by Fern Richardson. For urban dwellers with limited real estate, this book teaches design basics and plant choices that prove you don’t need a yard to garden in.
Four steps to converting a bin into a planter:
1. Drill several holes into the bottom and about an inch up the sides of your bin for drainage.
2. Line 1/5 of the bottom of the bin bottom with river rock for additional drainage.
3. Fill the bin with soil and add plant seedlings. 4. Top with mulch. Tip: Choose opaque, light-colored bins, as clear and dark-coloured ones heat up more quickly, which may damage plant roots.
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Easy Growing: Organic Herbs and Edible Flowers from Small Spaces by Gayla Trail. Save some green by growing your own foods year-round. This guide features unfussy plants and ideas for fitting containers into your existing space.
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BAVENOLICIOUS
Victoria likes to raise a glass to good friends and good times with this refreshing pre-dinner cocktail photography by Paul C
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the drink
Baveno
Victoria’s go-to sipper is named after a small Italian hill town on the west shore of Lago Maggiore. She first mixed this drink for some close friends to celebrate the summer of 2011 and three glorious days spent there on holiday. ice 1½ oz Campari 1 bottle lager ½ lemon In a 15 oz glass, add ice and Campari. Pour in a bottle of lager and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice or a lemon twist.
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stone age
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We dig all the mineral surfaces in Victoria’s house so much that we’ve mined some of our own geological treasures
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1. vaivanat Warm Gray Stone Felted Cat Vessel, $60 2. Mid West Alchemy Copper Ring with S Crystal Earrings, $25 5. Smoky Quartz III by Carly Waito, contact for price 6. Magnus Lundstrom XV Goes to Sparta chair by Cerruti Baleri, price available on request 9. Onyx Sphere lamps (10” Resin round table in White Marble, $1,450 12. Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour in Quartz, $26 13. Vi Woodstone Spectacles, contact for price 16. Lovisa Wattman Concrete Shaving Kit, $98
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inspiration
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Scapolite Crystal, $69 3. White Onyx Farm sink, $450 4. Nakia Design Black and White Quartz m Small White Marble Mortar and Pestle, $60 7. Score + Solder Quartz Terrarium, $325 8. Louis ” and 14”), $775 and $925 10. MAC Mineralize Eyeshadow in Cinderfella, $21 11. Martha Sturdy iva Terra Stone Knobs (set of 4), $75 14. Lofgren’s Parsons table with concrete top, $629 15. Rolf covetgarden.com
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