A Collected, Color-Forward Toronto Home

For designer Cynthia Ferguson, the project was also shaped by a particularly collaborative client relationship. She and the homeowner, both entrepreneurs, developed a level of trust that gave the design team room to take risks. Rather than creating a home that felt overly polished or showroom-perfect, the goal became something more personal: layered, joyful, collected, and full of pieces that feel as though they have been gathered over time.

Design: Cynthia Ferguson Designs | Photography: Lauren Miller | Styling: Cynthia Ferguson and Morgan Marlowe

A Living Room Built Around Old and New

The living room captures much of what defines the home as a whole. Vintage European furnishings sit alongside custom pieces and newer finds, creating a space that feels considered without feeling overly coordinated.

At the center is a custom marble fireplace, one of the more technically involved elements of the renovation. The team wanted to preserve the original wood-burning firebox, which required an extensive retrofit to meet current code while achieving the cleaner architectural look they envisioned.

The finished room sets the tone for the rest of the house: traditional bones, stronger moments of color and pattern, and plenty of character brought in through art, lighting, antiques, and collected objects.

A Dining Room Made for a Little Drama

If the living room is about layering, the dining room embraces drama. A large-scale mural wallpaper wraps the room in pattern and creates a striking backdrop for the homeowners’ antique furnishings.

Many of the pieces were sourced by Ferguson during travels through Europe, giving the room a sense of history that would be difficult to recreate using entirely new furnishings. Rather than matching everything to one period or style, she allowed those pieces to mix naturally.

It’s a recurring theme throughout the home. Pattern, vintage finds, and more contemporary elements are used together freely, creating rooms that feel evolved rather than designed all at once.

Bathrooms That Take the Bigger Risks

Some of the smallest spaces became opportunities for the boldest choices. In the powder room, Voutsa wallpaper covers both the walls and ceiling, creating a completely immersive effect. Crown molding was intentionally left out so the pattern could move uninterrupted around the room.

The principal ensuite takes a quieter approach but remains one of Ferguson’s favorite spaces in the project, with elevated finishes and custom details giving the room a more luxurious feel.

Even the basement bathroom became a standout. Rather than treating it as a secondary space, the team leaned into stronger materials and unexpected design choices, reinforcing the idea that no room in the house needed to feel like an afterthought.

Designed to Feel Collected, Not Perfect

Throughout the home, Ferguson returned to the same idea: creating rooms that feel personal rather than prescribed. Layered rugs, imported European lighting, vintage furniture, custom pieces, and expressive wallpapers give each space its own identity while still allowing the house to feel cohesive.

That approach was made possible by a client willing to let the design evolve. What started as a list of practical updates became a chance to rethink almost every finish, fixture, and furnishing in the home.

Completed in just nine months, the renovation preserved the architecture that was already there while giving the interiors an entirely new point of view. The result feels sophisticated without taking itself too seriously—and, most importantly, unmistakably personal to the family who lives there.

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