Sale of the Week: The $1.7-million Victorian that proves unusual design doesn’t always impede a sale

Address: 235 Shaw Street

Neighbourhood: Trinity Bellwoods

Agent: Lisa Munro, Bosley Real Estate Ltd., Brokerage

The Property: A remodelled Victorian with a masculine, modern interior, located midway between the hippest stretches of Queen and Dundas streets.

The History: The seller bought the house in 2011, for $765,000. Working with designer Alison Milne, he stripped the place down to the studs and jazzed it up with dark cabinetry, distressed furniture, and unusual wall treatments. In total, he invested about $150,000 in the renovations. He eventually moved to Los Angeles and began renting the house out. Finally, he decided to sell.

The Fate: The buyer—a young, single man—isn’t planning any major changes to this ready-made bachelor pad.

The Sale: The house had been on the market for barely a day when the buyer made his bully offer, for $169,000 over asking. The seller considered holding out for a bidding war, but he worried that the house’s niche qualities would make it difficult to unload. Ultimately, caution won out, and the seller decided to go with the sure thing.

By The Numbers:

• $1,668,000
• $5,717.05 in taxes (2016)
• 3 bedrooms
• 3 bathrooms
• 2-car garage
• 1 day on MLS

The testosterone-drenched design scheme starts in the living room, with its deer head and pile of chopped wood:

The dining room has all the visual panache of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves without any of the hassle of bookshelf ownership. The ladder’s purpose is unclear:

The kitchen cabinetry is all black. The wooden countertops were deliberately burned and dinged up to give them an aged look:

White subway tile offsets all the black:

Here’s one of three bedrooms:

The master bedroom has a barn board wall:

And a massive, and extremely black, ensuite bathroom:

And here’s the backyard: