Inside the Bauhaus-inspired home of an “anti-beige activist”

By day, architect Sam Sakalaki envisions condo lobbies, concert halls and college campuses where many people pass through every day. But, at home, where he’s freed from the conventions of mass appeal, Sakalaki blends bold splashes of primary colour with an eclectic collection of high-end modern design objects in the 750 square foot condo he shares with his partner, Phil Birnbaum, and their rescue dog, Pesto.

Red, yellow and blue compose the main colour palette throughout the home. “It’s a little bit Bauhaus, a little bit ’60s modernism, and it’s great for a small space because it doesn’t feel too busy,” says Sakalaki. White walls provide a neutral canvas for the couple’s love of design to run wild, which tends to manifest in surfaces cluttered with curated objects.

Sam, who works at the firm Diamond Schmitt, and Phil, who owns the PR agency Perfect Pear, met on Tinder in June of 2019, on Sam’s second day in Toronto after moving to the city from Lebanon in search of better work opportunities. They soon moved in together, renting a small condo at Jarvis and Wellesley. After several years, they began looking to buy in 2022. “We felt tremendous pressure to get into the market because everyone was saying it was the best time to buy,” says Sakalaki. The condo they settled on was...average, to put it politely. “It didn’t look great,” says Birnbaum, “but our goal was to find something decent square-footage-wise and in a nice neighbourhood.” Soon after they closed, the market crashed, interest rates went up, and the couple realized they were locked in. So they decided to make the most of the situation.

What the apartment lacked in charm, it made up for in its ability to serve as a blank canvas, plus plenty of natural light. The pair decided to upgrade their new home’s interior as cheaply as possible, doing much of the painting themselves and sourcing high-end design pieces at discount prices—like a blue Raawii bowl Sam found online for 80 per cent off at the MoMA Design Store and Phil picked up while travelling in New York.

After they scraped off the popcorn ceiling and painted the whole apartment white, the first corner they attacked was the kitchen. The condo came with dark wood cabinets, bulky appliances and a marble granite countertop. “I didn’t love any of it, but I didn’t want to renovate it because it was too expensive,” says Sam. Instead, he painted the cabinets a deep blue and colour-matched a layer of micro-cement that covered the countertop and backsplash, hiding the kitchen’s unwanted features in a wash of blue.

The cave-like kitchen is contrasted by the brightness of the rest of the apartment. Sam is a self-proclaimed “anti-beige activist” and strives for whimsy over plainness. “We use neutrals at work because people are afraid of colour.”

Birnbaum’s eye for quirky bric-a-brac and colourful curios is complemented by Sakalaki’s sense of how they should be displayed. Birnbaum’s work in PR has taken him as far as Scotland, Denmark, New York and Vancouver, and he often picks up trinkets on his travels. In one corner sits a Bitty Pop Minnie Mouse he won in an arcade game. Nearby, a stack of books is topped with a “Hoptimist” bouncy smiling figurine he found in Copenhagen. “Everyone who comes over ends up picking things up and touching them,” Sam says. “We want the space to be fun and relaxed. Nothing in here is precious.”

Except, that is, their modular Vitsœ shelves. Designed by German industrial designer Dieter Rams in the 1960s, the units are sold individually and are famously pricey (each shelf costs upward of $200 US). “It was our splurge, and it was the best investment,” says Sakalaki, who estimates that he’s changed the configuration about a dozen times in three years. “I’ll go to the store for groceries, and I’ll come home to books piled everywhere and the shelves changed,” says Birnbaum.

Another significant expense is the lighting. “We have been slowly collecting over the years and spent more than we should,” says Sakalaki. (The figure is somewhere in the thousands.) “But, hey, it means not needing the unflattering overhead lights.” Some of his favourite pieces are the paper-lantern-like Noguchi akari lamp at the centre of the room and the Parentesi suspension lamp from Flos, which is adjustable along a thin cable anchored to the floor and ceiling. The couple’s newest addition is the egg-like Gregg Foscarini lamp that sits atop a Kartell Componibili table in the living room.

“You need to love your environment,” Sam says. “We’re homebodies. We love hosting friends for dinner or the Oscars, watching movies and just hanging out. Your quality of life improves if you’re surrounded by stuff you care about.”