712 PORTSMOUTH AVENUE - SOLD

The Essentials

A detached two-bedroom midtown home spread over three impressive floors, with a long list of renovations, a waterproofed and expertly-finished basement, and a garden studio.

The Bigger Picture

I was putting some flowers on the coffee table at 712 Portsmouth, arranging (artfully?) some throw-cushions, and pushing snow off the edge of the elevated deck as if it had done me wrong. At one point I was at the top of the driveway, looking in from the road. The house is set back more than you would think possible when you conjure that thoroughfare in your mind’s eye, and the white driveway cuts between banks of greenery in such a fantastic, Nordic sort of way that it felt like a scene lifted from a fairytale - a snow-white house in which you might quite reasonably have expected to discover some sleep-sick princess, some lost and hobbled king.

It’s otherworldly, in other words.

Once inside you might as well be middle of a forest, so quiet does it seem. The elevated deck and deep, pretty garden behind the house only enhance the effect. The woodstove does its bit too. But there is also a distinctly urban feel to the house with its custom kitchen (stainless appliances, gas stove, hexagonal tile floor, quartz counters, subway tile backsplash) and the way that room is open to the rest of the ground floor. It feels a little like a penthouse condo, only without the elevator ride and the monthly maintenance fee. There is a bedroom on this level too, and a splendid four-piece bathroom.

Upstairs is an office or perhaps it’s a family room, I’ve seen it set up that way too, with exposed rafters like the rib bones of a whale, and then the second bedroom with its own ensuite.

The double garage behind the house has been insulated and drywalled. A plug-in heater keeps it comfortable all year. There is even a stage in the corner for you to perform with your band or your more dramatic friends. More likely these days is the creation of a secondary suite back there, a luxury pad for the in-laws.

Even though you can’t hear the buses, they run past the house regularly. You’re convenient to both the west end shops as well as the downtown lights. St Lawrence College and the university’s west campus is just a mile down the road.