{"id":55532,"date":"2025-09-10T16:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T16:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/55532\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T16:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T16:36:09","slug":"a-toronto-semi-immersed-in-japanese-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/55532\/","title":{"rendered":"A Toronto semi immersed in Japanese design"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The tatami room in Sonia Jog and Patrick Dolan\u2019s home in Christie Pits, Toronto, has been renovated with a heavy infusion of Japanese design.R\u00e9mi Carreiro\/Remi Carreiro<\/p>\n

Even a perfunctory online search for \u201cJapanese bathing ritual\u201d will immediately make clear the differences from North American bathroom etiquette. A dirty body does not enter the tub. First, it is washed under a shower or while seated using water from a bucket made from Hinoki wood. Then, one enters the tub \u2013 deep enough to sit cross-legged in \u2013 to soak, meditate and wash away the cares of the day.<\/p>\n

After that, it\u2019s not a bad idea to take that state of mind into one\u2019s tatami room (tatami are mats made of woven straw) to reflect further, or perhaps take a well-deserved nap. <\/p>\n

That, at least, was the jumping-off point of the renovation undertaken by Sonia Jog and Patrick Dolan of their Christie Pits semi-detached. \u201cThe clearest thing in our idea was: let\u2019s call it the Japanese wing. With the divided bathroom. With some sort of deep tub. And then moving the tatami room, which was upstairs,\u201d says Mr. Dolan.<\/p>\n

Ms. Jog, whose mother is Japanese, had discovered some years ago that a room on the third floor was almost the right size to hold six tatami mats, so her four-person family (there is a 13-year-old and an 11-year-old) had been enjoying those therapeutic benefits already. After a conversation with neighbours and friends Joanne Lam and Eric Martin, owners of architecture and interior design firm Picnic, it was decided that any renovation would have to include a room designed specifically for the mats \u2026 right down to the millimetre. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The imported wooden tub has a dedicated faucet and a linear drain to catch overflow. On the opposite wall is a conventional shower and a low faucet for filling a wash bucket.R\u00e9mi Carreiro\/Remi Carreiro<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife\u2019s grandmother\u2019s house [that] we lived in after university, every room, like the dining room, was a tatami room,\u201d says Mr. Dolan as our little group steps lightly onto the soft mats, now lovingly located in a custom-created room on the second floor thanks to Picnic. \u201cThis is a traditional Japanese futon. We have a couple of them, and you just [put them] on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the air in here seems even cleaner (perhaps that hint of straw?) than in other parts of the house, it should be noted that Mr. Dolan and Ms. Jog use the room for many things: an occasional change from their conventional bedroom; a morning yoga room; and even a sort of squash ball court for a game their kids invented. <\/p>\n

Beside the tatami room is the divided bathroom. One room contains the toilet and double sink \u2013 the pale pink, textured porcelain tile is divine. The other room contains the imported wooden tub with a dedicated faucet and a linear drain to catch overflow. On the opposite wall is a conventional shower as well as a low faucet for filling the wash bucket.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s built to order,\u201d says Mr. Dolan about the ofuro tub by Bartok Design, which came in at close to $10,000 when all was said and done. \u201cGenerally, in Japan, they\u2019re kind of square-ish like this. Two people can comfortably bathe in it, and it\u2019s quite deep so you really soak all the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The kitchen features bench seating on which the children can quickly slide in and out.R\u00e9mi Carreiro\/Remi Carreiro<\/p>\n

Effortless, timeless and with soft light falling upon minimalist details, it\u2019s a beautiful room that looks as if it has always been there. But it took a great deal of effort, says Ms. Lam, who worked in Ghana and Jordan before founding Picnic with her husband: \u201cI had to Google a whole lot of Japanese bathing rituals, and there were a lot of diagrams of how you actually position your body in the tub.\u201d<\/p>\n

How an Ontario firm designed modular housing to feel airy and cozy \u2013 and not at all drab<\/a><\/p>\n

The renovation, which allowed the couple\u2019s two children to get their own rooms on the third floor, didn\u2019t stop at the second. No, going almost whole hog, Picnic assisted the family with a falling-down front porch and an old, ramshackle addition at the back \u2013 quite common with old Toronto houses \u2013 that was transformed into a solid, insulated and handsome space (which allowed for the tatami room above). In addition, the rooms in between have all become usable, open, airy spaces with generous circulation. More Japanese design principles came into play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was trying to make an entry that is more intentional, more defined, and then give an area for all the stuff you have when you enter and exit \u2013 coats, shoes, keys, hats,\u201d Ms. Lam says with a laugh as we stand in the foyer. <\/p>\n

The foyer is also now a genkan (the traditional Japanese entryway for a house), says Mr. Dolan: \u201cThis is the dividing line,\u201d he says, pointing to the spot where the tile stops and the wood floor begins. \u201cThis is outdoor; you can wear your shoes to here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around the corner from the foyer closet is a lovely little sitting\/TV room, which opens to the large dining room. As one might suspect, walls were removed and changes in floor height were levelled to achieve this. Just before entering the reconfigured kitchen, a new powder room offers a visual exclamation point via hot pink Gucci wallpaper.<\/p>\n

Not to be outdone by wallpaper, the kitchen announces itself with a bank of teal cabinets, complete with an espresso station, that leads to a wonderful, custom bench and informal dining table. By upholstering the backrest and not the seat, family members can \u201cslide in pretty quickly,\u201d says Mr. Martin. While seated here, one can consider the outside world via the new sliding door to the backyard, or a window tucked behind a set of shelves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I like to do when there\u2019s a window and you try to work with it,\u201d continues Mr. Martin. \u201cIt really works to show off whatever glassware you have \u2026 let light through without wasting the space.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s safe to say there\u2019s no wasted space in the Jog-Dolan residence 2.0. Nope, whether considering the earthy tatami room, elegant tub room, playful kitchen, or the harder-to-quantify photons now painting everything in natural light, this made-to-measure Toronto house stands as a lesson in how good design makes life better. <\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: <\/strong>This article has been updated to correct the age of one of the family members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The tatami room in Sonia Jog and Patrick Dolan\u2019s home in Christie Pits,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[40261,365,362,363,364,366,18,117,19,17,1361],"class_list":{"0":"post-55532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-architourist","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-real-estate"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}