Pattern, Personality, and a Playful Point of View in Toronto

Home Tours / October 21, 2026

Pattern, Personality, and a Playful Point of View in Toronto

“We wanted the personality of the home to be apparent the moment you step inside. The foyer is enveloped in deep burgundy, with a skylight overhead and a custom-designed French-inspired tiled floor. Rather than treating it simply as a passageway into the condo, we gave it its own identity and sense of occasion. The custom floor tile is from Studio Antica, with custom millwork by DADO and lighting from Hudson Valley Lighting and Light House Co.”

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“April has a large book collection, so we incorporated extensive shelving and made the books part of the room rather than trying to conceal them. The wood-burning fireplace became a natural focal point, with a custom stone mantel and surround, and the furniture combines custom upholstery with more contemporary pieces.”

“We love rooms that reveal something about the person who lives there, and the books, artwork and collected pieces really give this space that feeling.”

“The dining room has a fun inspiration story. April and our team all loved a particular room from Only Murders in the Building, and its wallcovering and architectural detailing became a jumping-off point for this space.

We used Kravet wallpaper and introduced custom architectural corbels to give the room a sense of history and character that wasn’t originally present in the condo. A custom stone pedestal adds another sculptural element to the space.”

“The kitchen is one of our favorite rooms in the home. In one of our very first meetings, April told us that she wanted a blue kitchen, and we really embraced that idea. It’s not every day that a client is excited to go bold with cabinetry, and that gave us permission to create something with a lot of personality.”

“We paired the blue cabinetry with Moroccan zellige tile and incorporated a gallery rail for artwork, which helps the kitchen feel like another decorated room rather than a purely functional space.”

“We originally considered marble countertops, but April wanted something with less maintenance, so we selected a porcelain surface that gives us the soft, feathery veining of Calacatta without the same upkeep.”

“The den is one of the most layered rooms in the home. We used matching wallcovering and drapery to completely envelop the space and then contrasted all of that pattern with green millwork. One of our favorite pieces in the entire project is the custom sofa. We chose the fabric very carefully to relate to the colors in the wallpaper and drapery, and spent a lot of time perfecting its vintage-inspired shape with our fabricator.”

“Throughout the home, we used a palette that includes Farrow & Ball Brinjal, Oval Room Blue and Lichen, along with Benjamin Moore Balboa Mist. The colors allowed us to give individual rooms very distinct personalities while maintaining a sense of connection throughout the condo.”

“The principal bedroom is a little softer but still very connected to the rest of the home. We created a custom arched entry and incorporated a sitting area so the room feels like more than simply a place to sleep. Sandberg wallpaper adds another layer of pattern, alongside custom millwork and a custom sofa.”

“In the ensuite, we continued the mix of traditional references and playful details. One of our favorite elements is the café curtain. It’s a relatively simple detail, but it adds so much softness and charm to a room that otherwise has a lot of hard surfaces. We paired it with custom cabinetry, patterned tile and more traditional lighting and plumbing details.”

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Interior Design by Olivia Botrie, Sharlene Tsokas, and Adam Charles, Dart Studio

Photography by Niamh Barry

Styling by Ann Marie Favot

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“Our client, April, was entering a new phase of her life and wanted this home to feel truly her own,” says Olivia Botrie of Dart Studio. “She came to the project with a love of color, pattern and English cottage-inspired interiors, as well as a wonderful collection of family heirlooms, books and art that she wanted incorporated throughout the home.”

Located in Toronto’s Casa Loma neighborhood, April’s 1,500-square-foot penthouse condo features two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Originally built in 1984, the space was ready for a complete transformation, and the Dart Studio team was tasked with reimagining it from top to bottom. “From the beginning, the goal was to create something colorful, quirky and deeply personal rather than a typical neutral condo,” Olivia explains.

One of April’s early requests was for a blue kitchen, a clear indication that she wasn’t afraid to have a little fun with the design. “There are definite English cottage influences, but we didn’t want the home to feel like a reproduction of a particular period,” the designer notes. “We mixed traditional architectural details and patterns with contemporary pieces, vintage-inspired forms and unexpected color.”

As the project took shape, the designers embraced an increasingly layered approach, introducing wallpaper, saturated paint colors, decorative lighting, custom millwork and vintage-inspired furniture. “Subtle references to flora and fauna also began appearing throughout the home,” Olivia recalls. “Interestingly, that wasn’t something we deliberately established as a theme at the outset; it emerged organically as we layered the materials and patterns and became one of the threads connecting the rooms.”

Of course, renovating a condo comes with its own set of logistical challenges. “You can design the most beautiful piece of furniture in the world, but if it doesn’t fit in the elevator, you have a problem!” the designer laughs. “We were very careful with dimensions throughout the project, making sure larger pieces could fit in the elevator and be maneuvered through the building and into the suite.”

Another challenge came courtesy of one of the penthouse’s greatest assets: its abundant natural light. “The large windows are beautiful and fill the home with natural light, but they also generate a significant amount of heat,” Olivia explains. “We spent a lot of time developing window treatments that felt integral to the design while still allowing April to effectively control the sunlight and heat when needed. During construction, before the window treatments were installed, we were amazed by just how hot the condo could become even with the air conditioning running at full blast.”

In the end, both challenges spoke to what they were trying to achieve throughout the project: creating a home that feels highly personal and decorative but also functions beautifully for everyday life.

The result feels as though it has evolved and been collected over time. “More than anything, we wanted the finished home to feel collected, individual and unmistakably April’s,” Olivia explains. When she saw the completed space for the first time, she was overwhelmed with emotion. “This home represented much more than a renovation for her,” Olivia continues. “It marked the beginning of a new chapter in her life. Seeing all of the color, pattern, artwork and personal pieces come together in a space that felt so distinctly her own was incredibly meaningful. She felt that the finished home captured her personality beautifully and set exactly the right tone for this next phase of her life.”

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