Inside a restored 1880s Annex home with moody, dramatic interiors

Ran Zha’s 2,500-square-foot semi was once a neglected rental property chopped up into apartments. It had a rotted roof, mangled floor plates and wonky staircases. The house was in such rough shape that, despite its fantastic location, it languished on the market.

But Zha wasn’t deterred. As a development manager for design-build firm THMR Development Inc., she specializes in rehabbing lemons. So she bought the place in November of 2021 for $1.85 million, shaving $50,000 off of the asking price. Then she set out to build a dream home for herself and her Persian cat, Booboo. “I wanted it to feel eccentric and a bit different, but perky, with deep, dramatic colours.”

Built in 1880, the house had high ceilings hidden behind drywall and three wood-burning fireplaces, which Zha loved. The plan was to restore the home’s character while adding modern furnishings and infusing the space with a whimsical spirit. Zha hired architect Barry Goldman for the renovation and stylist Chad Burton to help with furnishing, but midway through the project, something unexpected happened: she fell in love.

In October of 2022, Zha met Bogdan, a tech consultant, on the rooftop of the Ace Hotel. By the following September, he had relocated to Toronto from San Francisco via Italy, where he’s from. Sharing the home with someone else hadn’t been part of the original plan, but Zha quickly pivoted by folding Bogdan’s heritage into the design, starting with the entranceway. It’s plastered in dusky blue pastoral wallpaper modelled after the Villa of Livia, an ancient Roman village. A profusion of old-world dentil moulding and wall panelling in the foyer, library and bathroom are also inspired by her partner’s birthplace.

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The whole project took two years. “The house was stripped back to the brick, and we had to reframe and rebuild everything,” says Zha. “I love the idea of preserving the history but also transforming the space into something modern and unexpected.” For the revamp, the layout was reconfigured to create a front hallway that opens up to a curved central staircase. Above it, double skylights illuminate limewash walls that extend up to the third level.

The third-floor primary bathroom is where Goldman’s design really shines, says Zha. The ensuite has a massive 360-degree shower covered in a teal mosaic. Treetops peek through windows. “It’s so peaceful,” says Zha. “I wanted to live in a place where you could open your windows and see tree canopies, and luckily I was able to find that.”

Hosting friends and family was also important to the couple. Bogdan, an epicure, likes to whip up pasta dishes in the kitchen, which is tricked out in a mesh of colour and texture, including vivid blue cabinetry, dramatic marble, unlacquered brass and rugged brick. The warmth of the wood-burning fireplace keeps things cozy. Zha was fixated on the idea of having a teal kitchen. “We wanted to steer away from painting everything white and doing black faucets,” she says.

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The house has proven to be the perfect pad for the couple. “It embodies everything I want: modern, rustic and cozy,” says Zha. I love the sense of discovery and mystery as you walk in. With the checkered flooring in the entranceway, we wanted to play off of that Alice in Wonderland mystique.” They chose a larger format to distract from the narrowness of the hallway.

Intricate moulding and deep-blue paint lend elegance to the library. “It took a lot of workmanship to create that dentil look, which is not original to the house” says Zha. The black marble coffee table and green velvet chairs are from CB2.  The head statue is from Housebound Interiors.

Stylist Chad Burton found this daybed at Housebound Interiors.

A kintsugi mural lines the powder room. “It’s the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold. It has pieces of copper running through it,” says Zha.

The moody blue foyer leads to an airy staircase with smudged limewash walls. Light funnels down from double skylights. A pair of plinths from CB2 draw the eye upward. The white Moroccan candle holder is from Mararamiro.

Between the kitchen and the library, Zha tried 20 different shades of Benjamin Moore paint to get the right blue. She ended up choosing two different colours: Galápagos Turquoise, in the kitchen, is greener, and Champion Cobalt, in the library, is more blue.

A wood-burning fireplace in the kitchen adds a cozy touch. The floors are white oak from Relative Space.

There’s a lounge on the second level. “Bogdan is a gamer, so he can play here while I chill in the library downstairs,” says Zha.

Zha’s home office is her refuge. “It’s a nice nook to light a candle, put the fireplace on and be in my quiet space with the tree canopies,” she says.

As a luxurious embellishment, Zha added a strip of marble to the fireplace’s hearth in this second-floor bedroom. It also matches the one in the kitchen.

Zha likes hunkering down with a book in this nook in the primary bedroom. “I like that it boxes you in so you feel extra cozy,” she says.

Here’s another view of the primary bedroom.

The shower is the centrepiece of the ensuite bathroom. “I have to give credit to architect Barry Goldman,” says Zha.