Done right, a themed house makes a bold statement about the homeowner’s tastes and experiences. Done poorly, it can be garish and date quickly. This was the challenge of the complete overhaul of an 8,000-square-foot home overlooking Edmonton’s river valley: how to make a Tuscan-themed dwelling timeless enough to fit the vernacular of its mid-century neighbourhood, bold enough to translate to today and demure enough to admit its existence on the 53rd parallel.

The big plans actually started on a very small scale when Patti Swanson and Fay Papanikolaou were called in to consult on a kitchen renovation. But at that first meeting, the homeowners’ desire to recreate the warmth and spirit of Tuscany emerged, and Swanson and Papanikolaou were eager to show their clients what they could do.

“We knew that the kitchen had to be the heart of the home,” says Swanson, the architect half of the two-woman team. “So we relocated the stairs and reworked the front entry to create a vista-like view straight to the island in the kitchen. It isn’t Tuscan, but it has that importance of the family centering on the food. All over the home, we tried to symbolically represent those things without copying a Tuscan villa.”

The house had been remodelled in the mid-1990s when Santa Fe style was the rage. The pink popcorn stucco and faux columns were a reminder of how quickly trendy styles show their age. Outside, the textured stucco was replaced with an acrylic in neutral shades. A stone façade was added to the exterior of a small, curved room below the entrance, tying it in with existing stone elements like the stairwell and a fountain bed.

The stonework continues indoors, where it comes up in many forms (polished, split-faced, honed and hammered) to continue the sense of warmth. Swanson and Papanikolaou also used the play of light on stone to great effect. “Wherever there is texture, it tends to be a little bit lighter and wherever there is a polished finish, it has a darker colour,” Swanson explains. Hardwood flooring throughout is hand-stained, dyed and waxed to look invitingly time-worn.

The wine room is a showcase for a passion of the homeowners, avid wine collectors who bring back fine vintages from all over the world. The original storage space was little more than a walk-in closet tucked away behind ordinary doors, where wine still sat in its original cases.

Designer Papanikolaou says she wanted to give them “something that they could bring their guests down to enjoy.” Now the room’s stone walls suggest a cavernous Tuscan wine vault. The hand-pressed herringbone tile flooring is reminiscent of the cobblestone in Italian piazzas. The sculpted light fixtures give the subtle impression of rustic torches.

What better way to complete the Tuscan experience than with the addition of a summer kitchen? In Italy, an outdoor cooking area would be used when the heat of the day made it impossible to cook indoors. In deference to Edmonton’s summers, the cozy space (nearly 20 by 20 feet) has sliding doors with screens on three sides that let breezes in and keep bugs out. A wood-burning pizza oven, barbecue, prep and sink area, and a big family-style table provide the elements for preparing an Italian feast.

Though the vineyards and olive groves of Tuscany are a long way from Edmonton, a little bit of Italian spirit exists here, one that takes the best of the old country but lives in the new world.

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