An architect's 1,200 sq ft Toronto condo with lake views

Sylvia is an architect and artist who grew up in Korea and lived in New York. She bought her 1,200 sq ft Toronto condo before construction began in 2018. COVID delayed the project by three years, and she moved in only in mid-2025. Two months later, a fire next door set off the sprinklers and flooded her unit. She lived in a hotel for two months. She used the repairs to replace the flooring she liked least.

To cut waste, she kept the builder's working kitchen and bathrooms. She added Japanese cherry blossom wallpaper in the hall, a reminder of the wallpapered homes she grew up with. A velvet curtain at the entry restores the pause she wanted on arriving home.

Sylvia has collected mid-century furniture for 20 years, starting with one Eames chair she saved for as a young architect. Her newest piece is an LC4 lounger, where she drinks her first coffee and watches the sunrise. Her windows look out over Lake Ontario. She drove four and a half hours for a Marketplace table that later turned up at auction for $4,000. She paid $200.

She sails, so seascapes by Canadian artists fill the walls. Her own dog portrait won a grand prize at the Museum of the Dog in New York.