Jennifer Roberts/The Globe and Mail
Toronto-born and raised architect Lorne Rose put his skills to good use when designing the Lytton Park home he shares with his wife, Marcie, and their two teenage sons. He based his plan for the four-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot home on an English Tudor style he had spied and fallen in love with in the city's Forest Hill neighbourhood. But the two-storey family room, outfitted in 100-year-old knotty-pine wainscotting, was entirely his own invention. "I had always wanted to do it for a client," Rose recalls. "But when I told my friend and interior designer Lori Morris, she just laughed and said, 'Well, why don't you just do it for yourself?'" The room is now his favourite in the house, and not only because it's filled with some of his most beloved pieces of art. "It's beautiful and lavishly detailed, but still cozy," he says. "It's good for entertaining, and also for watching TV. It's a room that works."
The couches
"They are by Lori Morris, and there are two. They are tuxedo style, clean but cozy. I love falling asleep on them."
The redhead painting
"I have always wanted a redheaded daughter. I love redheads. I was once a redhead, but you can't tell because I'm now going grey. Then we ended up having two sons. So, when we were looking to buy paintings for the house, I saw this in a Toronto gallery, the old Gallery One in Yorkville, and I had to have it. It's by Yury Darashkevich, and it's titled Passing By. She's my redheaded daughter."
The pine wainscotting
"The work was done by Crisstar Cabinets, Inc. It's all hand-carved. The wood was sourced from old barns in Ontario. It's warm, it's got character, it's got history. It makes me happy."
The table
"It's from Joan Eiley in Toronto. It's a big table made of glass and metal, but visually it doesn't look big. It's great for entertaining. My wife and I like to cook and we entertain a lot."
The sculpture
"It was given to me when my grandmother passed away. It was done by a great-aunt of mine, Faye Halbert. It's two people and made of bronze."
The black and white art
"This is by Frank Stella. It's called The Fossil Whale, State 1. It's ink on paper with a number of impressions. There are some architectural elements in it that I love: a column, a bird, a guitar. I never tire of looking at it. But it's funny: I am typically all about symmetry and when people enter the room, they always ask me why the piece isn't centred. This was Lori's idea, and at first I wasn't sure. But I now love the tension it creates."