A semi that’s fresh, bright, clean - and sound proof

Romance doesn’t normally factor into the plans when architects Nancy Chao and Luc Johnston take on a major renovation project, but these weren’t normal times. In the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, with construction under way, their bachelor client Jeremy Mandel met Shorey Andrews – at a distance, of course. (The first date was in High Park, on separate picnic blankets.) As the relationship progressed along with the reno, and Ms. Andrews moved into Mr. Mandel’s social bubble, the focus shifted to creating a dream home for the couple and their antisocial cat.

Under lockdown constraints, Ms. Chao and Mr. Johnston upgraded and modernized the interior of the Victorian semi while preserving its stately exterior. Mr. Mandel was living in an apartment three doors up the street when the property came on the market in 2019. The century home was showing its age, but he loved the location in Toronto’s eclectic Ossington Village community. The house was dark and narrow, the floors were sagging and the walls were so thin that neighbours on either side of the common wall could hear each others’ conversations. “I didn’t know anything about home renovations. Zero. It was a steep learning curve,” Mr. Mandel, a software engineer manager, said during a recent tour of the beautifully transformed home.