A Multi-Gen Home With a Basement Playground – Newz9

In the autumn of 2021, Jaclyn Sopik and her husband, Corey Bynoe, have been fortunately dwelling in Unionville, Ontario, with their three younger children. Then Jaclyn’s mom, Victoria, introduced them with a distinctive dwelling alternative: she discovered a lakeside property close to the Scarborough Bluffs within the east finish of Toronto, simply 5 minutes from the place Jaclyn and her seven siblings grew up. It had near an acre of land, beautiful waterfront views and plenty of potential for growth. Victoria proposed shopping for the home collectively and renovating it—so long as Jaclyn and Corey promised to host non-negotiable household dinners on Sundays. 

They simply agreed. The household is tight-knit: Jaclyn works with Victoria in childcare, and 4 of the eight siblings have been already settled in Scarborough with their households. (Jaclyn makes 5.) With 11 nieces and nephews close by on the time, the household wanted a gathering place the place the children might play collectively, and pooling their sources allowed them to afford far more house than they might on their very own. Corey, an IT entrepreneur, is from Barbados, the place multi-generational dwelling preparations are way more frequent. “Culturally it wasn’t weird for him to live with his mother-in-law,” says Jaclyn. 

The home was a Nineteen Fifties bungalow that its earlier house owners, who lived a lot of the yr uptown in Hoggs Hollow, used as a summer season trip property. It had been up to date in 2012 however lacked the heat and character the household craved. Plus, they needed to make it sufficiently big to incorporate a personal dwelling space for Victoria and create an open-idea house that maximized the water views on each degree.

They set off on a yr-lengthy building venture with Scott Shields Architects, the place they doubled the sq. footage to almost 8,000 sq. toes. They constructed a spacious bed room and ensuite for Jaclyn and Corey on the principle flooring, prolonged the basement to match the dimensions of the brand new house (a course of that concerned underpinning each the present house and the addition) and constructed a completely new second flooring. The upstairs now serves as Victoria’s suite, with a bed room, front room and kitchenette, plus a deck that will get dawn views over Lake Ontario. 

The multi-gen household of six lived within the housefor a lot of the renovation course of, surrounded by drop sheets and sawdust. But shortly after Jaclyn gave start to their fourth little one in early 2023, they escaped to Barbados for 3 months to let builders end the house as shortly as doable. 

Jaclyn and Victoria enlisted Justine Alexandra Design to offer the interiors a fashionable Tuscan villa vibe. The mom and daughter have complementary design senses, so that they simply landed on a shared imaginative and prescient. They went with heat herringbone flooring, evenly textured limewash partitions, arched doorways and moody marble counters in jade or burgundy—plus playful touches like daring patterned wallpaper and neon indicators within the children’ rooms. “People might question the white carpets with four kids, but we’ve done really well so far,” says Jaclyn. On the partitions are illustrations of Barbadian plants by Hilary Armstrong and an summary portray in wealthy blues by Toronto artist Jocelyn Teng. (The fridge, however, is plastered with an limitless rotation of youngsters’ drawings.) 

The household’s secret to preserving their pristine foremost-flooring house is the 1,200-sq.-foot basement, which they’ve was the final word kids’s paradise. Jaclyn and Victoria employed Emily Dragoman, founding father of Toronto firm Movement Rooms, to create a house that sparked imaginative play. At one finish of the room is a raised birch-wooden play construction, whereas the opposite facet has gymnastics rings and netted sensory swings. An indoor rock-climbing wall connects to snaking monkey bars on the ceiling, and there’s an extra climbing wall exterior on the adjoining patio. Jaclyn’s favorite is a swinging rope impediment course, which was impressed by one she noticed at a resort in Thailand. The child-centric playground has been a hit—and might simply accommodate 30 kids for birthday events. As lengthy as folks tidy up after themselves, Jaclyn and Corey let their prolonged household host no matter occasions they’d like, whether or not it’s a crew baseball get together or child bathe. 

Having three generations of Sopiks below one roof goes nicely, too. Victoria travels regularly for work, so the household nonetheless have their very own house a lot of the time. “She doesn’t want to feel like our babysitter or third parent,” says Jaclyn. As promised, each Sunday is a splendidly chaotic household gathering, with Jaclyn stocking the fridge with drinks, Corey cooking up Barbadian dishes like Bajan macaroni pie and 15 nieces and nephews sprinting across the place.

The key to their easy cohabitation was constructing two equally luxurious bed room quarters—nobody needed to sacrifice the first suite or get relegated to the basement. Jaclyn and Corey adore their house, particularly their window-backed soaker tub that feels prefer it’s nestled within the tree cover exterior. For Jaclyn, nonetheless, visiting her mom’s flooring feels much more stress-free. “It’s the one place in the house where there are usually no kids.”