Dimitri Chris’s loft proves classic design can help a rental feel entirely your own | Canada Voices

When interior designer Dimitri Chris and his husband, David Marinier, moved into their Toronto loft, they faced a familiar renter’s dilemma. They wanted to make the space their own, even though they didn’t technically own it.

The bones were great – 1,200 square feet of mostly open space in a converted bubble gum factory, with soaring ceilings and giant windows framing the city’s skyline. But the condition was rough. The previous owners had four cats, and a lot of the cabinetry’s yellowed veneer was scratched or peeling.

Personalization mattered in part because Chris works from home, his desk set up around a corner from the kitchen. “I’m here all the time,” he says. “And to me, a home should always reflect the person who lives in it.” Scuffed cabinets simply did not mirror Chris’s playful and creative personality.

Any changes had to be strategic. “It’s a rental property, and it’s also a condo,” he says. “You can’t move plumbing. You can’t really move anything. And you’re spending your own money on top of rent, so you have to be smart.” The owners were initially hesitant about updates, but Chris convinced them. “They saw my previous work,” he says. “And I said I would keep everything neutral enough for future tenants. I know someone will be coming in after me.”

Chris focused on low-investment, high-impact solutions. The kitchen, which now looks brand new and sits next to the dining and living areas, is actually the original. “I had a tradesperson remove all the cabinet doors and refinish them,” he explains.

The transformation took three days, which was far less disruptive than a full renovation. He repainted the cabinets in a rich, deep tone from Farrow & Ball, a colour that shifts from warm brown during the day to a restful near-black at night. “I’m so over basic black kitchens,” he says. “This has depth.”

The moody hue extends through the kitchen, the storage zone between the kitchen and Chris’s office, and the bedroom on a second-storey mezzanine. He updated the kitchen backsplash in a matching colour (it was previously a glinting, disco ball silver). “I found end-of-lot tiles on sale,” he says. “They had the exact amount I needed left.”

The rest of the loft, including the office itself, is bright white. The workspace is far from a window, and the white helps bounce the light around. “White also gives my workspace a sense of energy,” he says. “The darker areas feel more calming. They help me unwind.”

White walls also serve as a gallery for Chris’s ever-changing art collection. (A current showstopper is Les portes de l’Orient by Canadian artist Reynald Piché, which is hung behind the TV). “I’m always going into galleries,” he says. “If I see something I love, I immediately start asking: where am I going to put it?” Pieces rotate frequently; some get displayed, some get stored, others are passed along when he no longer feels connected to them.

Chris expects to feel a similar detachment when he and Marinier, a financial advisor who specializes in the needs of the LGBTQ+ community, are ready to move. “We won’t be heartbroken to leave when the time comes,” he says. “I don’t get attached to things anymore. I design it, I live in it, I enjoy it – and when it’s done, I move on.”

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