A 1906 mansion’s doorway opens to their upscale 2022 Condo – Toronto Star

“We’ve moved about 4,000 times!” Rachael Taylor Hannah jokes to her mother, celebrated architect, developer and interior designer, Dee Dee Taylor Eustace.

But this time it’s different for the two world travellers. Their new home on the main floor of a renovated 1906 Edwardian mansion is the product of their combined interior design talents.

Mother and daughter teamed up for the project after Dee Dee’s firm, Toronto-based Taylor Hannah Architect, transformed the red brick building into a light-filled triplex for modern living.

While their 3,100-square-foot suite is filled with Dee Dee’s furniture and artwork collected from around the world, the “purposeful placement” of accessories, artwork and finishing touches was executed by Rachael.

“It’s very much still my mom from top to bottom (but) you’ll find me everywhere,” says Rachael, who launched a Gen Z-driven product line of luxury home products called Taylor Hannah Curation last year.

After Dee Dee bought the Yorkville-area mansion in 2017, she created three, luxury three-bedroom condos, each on its own floor. (One of the two remaining suites has been sold and the other goes on the market in September.)

While retaining the original architecture, the designer added living space, private elevators and high-end finishes. She also dropped the main floor by four feet to create 12-foot ceilings.

“I love the fact that we walk into a 1906 doorway … and into a 2022 space that opens up completely,” says Dee Dee. “It’s like a great piece of music (with) lows, highs, louds and softs.”

The spacious, bright interior is an ideal showcase for her furniture. “It’s a collection of a lifetime … pieces I’ve had forever,” she explains. “I buy what I love.”

Rachael’s take? “She has an obsession with buying furniture!”

Dee Dee’s assemblage includes pieces from overseas, Toronto stores, and antiques and vintage items from the 1930s and ’70s. But she insists her collecting days are coming to an end.

“My rule is I’m really not allowed to buy much more but I can accessorize.”

And that’s where Rachael and TH Curation come in. Drawing from her still-growing selection, she provided bedding, candles, acrylic boxes, trays, placemats, tableware and more. Some items are imports — “we always visited the coolest neighbourhoods” on trips abroad — but Rachael is committed to supporting “amazing” local artists and artisans.

TH Curation is all about purposeful and sustainable pieces, she says.

“There’s a huge shift in the luxury market today,” with consumers moving away from mass-produced items to what she calls her generation’s “antiques of tomorrow.”

“I might purchase one beautiful piece per year, whether it’s a coaster or side table,” says Rachael, a 22-year-old recent graduate of Queen’s University where she studied global development.

TH Curation’s locally made offerings include coconut and soy wax candles for $42 and $66, $850 counter stools crafted by a furniture maker from fallen trees, and marble side tables for $2,500.

Dee Dee, a TV personality who’s appeared on HGTV, CBC and the “Oprah Winfrey Show,” shares her daughter’s views on sustainability and mindful consumption.

“Forget the idea of disposable furniture,” she says. “Rachael’s generation approaches interior design in a new way.”

Blending her beloved collection with Rachael’s carefully curated complements has given their new home a “very fresh” look, according to Dee Dee. Perhaps now the pair will stay put.

Editor By Carola Vyhnak

Article was updated Aug. 05, 2022- Toronto Star