House of the Week: $1.9 million for an Islington home with lush landscaped gardens

BRAGGING RIGHTS: The home was designed by one of the principals of Van Elsander Carter Architects, known for the light-filled Sidney Smith Café at U of T and the recently shuttered but still beautiful Ford Models Canada space.

BIG SELLING POINT: Walls of windows look onto a peaceful backyard with a rock sculpture waterfall, 15-foot bamboo walls and a veritable arboretum, including apple trees, southern evergreen magnolias and Japanese maples.

POSSIBLE DEAL BREAKER: Unless you, too, have a Noguchi coffee table and Barcelona chairs, your interiors may not look as polished.

BY THE NUMBERS • $1,880,000 • $7,873.93 in property taxes (2012) • 5 bathrooms • 4 bedrooms • 3 fireplaces (2 gas, 1 wood) • 2-car garage • 1 cold storage room • 1 whirlpool bathtub