As a self-described architecture buff, Mimi Fortin pulled out all the stops with renovations on this home.The Print Market
12 Tetbury Cres., Toronto
Asking price: $4,999,000
Lot size: 73 by 137 feet
Property Taxes: $21,536.70 (2025)
Agent: Andre Kutyan, Broker, Harvey Kalles Real Estate Ltd.
The backstory
Few would disagree that where we come from shapes who we are: whether we are reacting to or emulating experiences from our early lives.
In 2016, Mimi Fortin and her husband decided that while they had done renovations on previous properties, they wanted their next house to be entirely to their taste and needs with no corners cut, no compromises made. As a self-described architecture buff, Ms. Fortin said the desire had been building for a long time.
“We needed to get it out of our system,” Ms. Fortin said. “We went crazy on everything because we knew it wasn’t for resale. We did everthing the best of the best. If you do it for yourself, it is a different state of mind.”
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Growing up in suburban Montreal, Ms. Fortin was one of three girls in a house with just one bathroom. The scramble in the morning for that limited resource was on her mind as she planned her own home. “This all came with the dream of having a big house where everyone has their own washroom,” she said. She also needed a pool, having grown up with one, which she says everyone in her neighbourhood also had. “It’s really a thing, a French Canadian thing. It was above the ground – in-ground would be for very rich people.” Now that she was building for herself, it had to go in-ground.
They picked their architect after touring leafy neighbourhoods in Toronto and Mississauga looking for places that spoke to them. They came to admire the work of David Small Designs and, in particular, a signature look he has used for his own home and for other clients.
“I’ll define it as natural modern,” said DSD’s senior architectural designer Valerie O’Reilly. “On the outside – on the front elevation – the three main materials are natural stone, the horizontal wood siding [Douglas fir] and dark ACM [aluminum composite material] panel. These three materials have been distributed in a very strategic way. We want it to emphasize the stone, and we also want it to feel very grounded and connected to the earth.”
That stonework was one of the corners that went uncut. Quarried in Ontario from a specific layer of rock that required multiple deliveries as it became available, it wraps all around the exterior wall, (unlike some new-build homes that go with cheaper materials.)
The house today
Another signature of David Small houses is the enormous two-storey interior volume of the main living space. You encounter that at 12 Tetbury as soon as you enter through the glass front door, which is screened from foot traffic on the street by exterior plantings. The differing ceiling heights inside – 22 feet above entry foyer and main living room – give each interior space a distinctive feel.
“One of the challenges of an open concept floor plan is it feels like one big room,” said Ms. O’Reilly. One of the ways DSD addressed that here is that as the floor plan flows to the left into the kitchen, the ceiling drops to a more typical 10 feet. “By stepping up the family room, it helps define that space.” Huge walls of windows on the second level of the family room add extra emphasis.
The kitchen ceiling drops to 10 feet, so the living space doesn't feel like one massive room.The Print Market
Huge walls of windows on the second level of the family room add extra emphasis.The Print Market
At first blush, the kitchen looks fairly typical, with white cabinets and composite stone counter. But there’s more going on: The central island’s bar seating appears to sit under a floating slab of the white Caesarstone, with storage underneath made of blonde wood millwork inside a box of stone slabs. The same wrap of stone around wood-panelled cabinetry repeats in the lower cabinets under the cooktop and also under the second sink on the pantry and coffee bar surface.
Off the kitchen is a patio with an outdoor kitchen that’s shaded by the upper floor, which cantilevers into open space. Beyond this is the pool and grassy lawn.
To get to the bedrooms you encounter another feature of David Small houses: The interior bridge that sits between the foyer and the main living room. Since you’re giving up so much interior space to the statement the 22-foot ceilings make, the bridge helps to emphasize the drama of that choice. “You have this bridge where you’re kinda forced to walk across the two-storey volume,” said Ms. O’Reilly. “It takes you on this journey through the space.” The huge Moooi chandelier hanging in the main living space is a subtle white-ish lattice globe in the day but glows like the moon at night.
Just past the bridge, the primary suite opens up from the hallway. It’s a modest space only a little bigger than the attached walk-in closet and ensuite bath. There are two more bedrooms – each with their own ensuite bathroom – and a fourth room that could be a home office, library, den, or even another bedroom. There’s also a laundry room on this level and another on the main floor, part of a large mud room space off the interior access to the garage.
Party room below
The lower level is polished concrete with some oversized aggregate that gives it a terrazzo feel.The Print Market
The basement isn’t your typical suburban rumpus room; it’s more like a multipurpose party room and guest suite with a twist.
While the upper floors have the same wide-plank white oak (except for wet rooms and the foyer which all feature tiled floors) the lower level is polished concrete with some oversized aggregate that gives it a terrazzo feel. Like everywhere else, it’s got underfloor heating. But it also has something most basements don’t have: natural light.
As you descend the floating stairs there’s an open concept living space, currently occupied by both billiards and air hockey tables as well as a sectional couch and TV area. A large set of floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors at the back open into an outdoor seating area and light well that doubles as an exit to the backyard. It’s all finished in the same stone as the house, and there are plantings and a tree that climbs up and out of the lower level toward the light. There’s also a full bar area and a glassed-in gym-studio opposite this window, pulling sunlight into the deeper recesses of the basement.
“It was meant to be its own apartment, so people could live down there,” said Ms. Fortin, who had her parents in mind as perhaps moving in for longer stays (there’s a full bath and guest bedroom just past the studio and a second windowed door to the lightwell). “When people come for parties, they will come through that space; between the pool to swim and the pool table and to the bar.”
It’s not a bad place to end up, no matter where you’re coming from.