This home is located in Ancaster, Ontario—about an hour west of Toronto. “It’s a beautifully established neighborhood where no two homes are alike,” says Lara Cupido, principal designer at LN Studio. “Quiet streets, mature trees, and a charming little downtown make it feel like its own world. It’s the kind of place where you can slow down a bit—and that mindset also informed how we approached the design.”
Lara’s clients are a professional young couple with two small kids who sought out L.N. Studio Inc. for the ground-up new build. “They approached it with a clear intention,” Lara explains. “To create a space that felt personal and thoughtfully designed—not just for now, but for years to come.” In the early phases, Lara collaborated with SMPL Design Studio on the spatial layout.
Together, designer and client broke down the vision into three guiding words—elegant, fresh, and tranquil—and used these as a framework to shape every decision.
“Elegant was about creating an immaculate-looking home—something crisp, timeless, and elevated,” Lara says. “Clean lines, a refined material palette, and delicate lighting fixtures were all part of that. A perfect example is the thin, linear pendant in the dining room—it doesn’t overpower the space but adds a soft glow. Every decision was about restraint and letting the architecture shine.”
She continues, “Fresh meant minimal and organized. With two young kids, they didn’t want visual noise or excess. So, we focused on integrated millwork throughout the home to give everything its place—eliminating the need for too many freestanding furniture pieces and keeping the space feeling visually seamless.” It also meant incorporating the unexpected. Walking through the house, you’ll see almost no symmetry, a decision Lara says was very intentional. “The asymmetrical lighting over the kitchen island, or the island itself, with a rounded leg on one side and a solid block of stone on the other, or the way the stair treads tie directly into the cabinetry in the family room. Small moves, but really special and incredibly specific to this project.”
Finally, the word “tranquil” was possibly the most important. “With full schedules and high-demand jobs, the clients wanted their home to feel like a break from it all,” Lara recalls. “A space that felt calm and restorative. We used natural materials, a warm palette, tone-on-tone textures, and soft, layered finishes—like the fabric of the armchairs that plays nicely against the movement of the window sheers. There’s a consistent play throughout the home between crisp lines and rounded geometries, like the hood fan, the curved skirt wall, or the softly rounded fireplace.” These shapes give the space a subtle softness and help balance the more architectural and linear elements.
This project is proof that even with small kids running around, a home can still feel grounded and serene—because it’s designed with that intention from the beginning.
