Three innovative backyard spaces that make the most out of the entire lot

What: A laneway-suite art studio Who: Lia Maston Where: Chinatown Size: 600 square feet

1 When by-laws changed to allow for laneway suites, Lia Maston, who was working as an architect at the time, wanted to build one for her sister, an artist who needed a workspace. Their father owns a Victorian townhouse in Chinatown with a tiny backyard, so Lia took a 350-square-foot patch and turned it into a 600-square-foot split-level laneway suite. It has a living space that can double as a gallery, with a bedroom, a bathroom, and a basement kitchen and dining room. Two skylights bring more natural light into the space, and double-height ceilings in some areas make it feel larger.

To connect the suite to the outside, she built a walk-out to a walled-off sunken courtyard, which she calls a secret garden. She installed a gravel pit underneath the surface to act as a natural French drain and added a teacup-shaped central fountain as a water feature. “There are parts of the secret garden where you can’t see anybody,” Lia says. “It feels really secluded.”

What: An open-concept backyard studio Who: Jessica Knox; her partner, Mark; and their two kids Where: Danforth Village Size: 415 square feet

2 When Covid hit, Jessica Knox and her partner, Mark, were living with their two kids in a 1,200-­square-foot, three-bedroom semi in Danforth Village. Mark, who works in IT software sales support, began working from home, using one of the kids’ bedrooms as an office, while Jessica worked at the dining room table. By 2021, they started brainstorming ways to create more living space.

They had a dilapidated garage in their backyard that they were using for storage. With the help of architecture and design studio Creative Union Network, they hatched a plan to tear it down and hired Green Room Contracting to build a 415-square-foot multipurpose space in its place.

By the summer of 2023, their single-room, open-concept studio was complete. It has an ash wood and corrugated metal exterior and two walls of opposing bifold doors that can be fully opened in warm weather. There’s a kitchenette with a sink, fridge and cupboards; space for a dining room table that seats six (and doubles as a desk); and a couch, plus exterior storage.

Nowadays, Jessica and Mark alternate workdays in the studio and stash monitors and office equipment in the cupboards when they’re entertaining. They’ve hosted dinners for friends and family here, as well as neighbourhood potlucks with 20-plus guests that spilled out into the backyard, six-person meetings for Jessica’s all-remote team and World Cup viewing parties for Mark’s soccer-fan friends. “We always laugh when we have guests over because we say, ‘Come to our garage,’” says Jessica, “and it’s so much more beautiful than our house.”

What: A backyard fitness studio Who: Sabrina Kalemkiarian Where: Upper Beaches Size: 108 square feet

3 In the spring of 2021, personal trainer Sabrina Kalemkiarian worked with Wundershed to build a 108-square-foot fitness studio in the backyard of her semi-detached home in the Upper Beaches. Since the space fits only three people at most, Kalemkiarian pivoted from group training to one- or two-on-one sessions. The shed is designed for airflow: two of its walls have sliding doors, and a roof overhang provides rain protection for the outdoor space.

The build itself took only a week from start to finish, followed by the interior design, and cost about $40,000. Kalemkiarian added a full wall of mirrors, rubberized flooring and wall shelving to keep everything off the ground as much as possible. She also installed ceiling anchors for TRX training. Now that she has her own space, Kalemkiarian runs up to seven sessions a day, five days a week. Compared to her pre-pandemic routine, which had her hustling between studios and clients’ homes, her current schedule is significantly less hectic. “It’s a win-win because my clients get the best of me,” she says. “I’m not caught up in the rush, and I’m less distracted.”