121 Marlborough Avenue - SUMMERHILL

When a reader (thanks C!) sent this listing in last week, I wasn't sure I was going to like it.

But I love it.

Everything but the yellow wall and the pea gravel.

It isn't a huge house. The listing says it is 3+1 bedrooms, but the third bedroom is the open loft on the top floor and the +1 is the whole basement so it is either a play space or a bedroom.

There are 3 bathrooms and I love the tile. The master bedroom isn't huge but it has a ton of storage. The whole space is really bright with the massive skylight.

And the house was designed in 2004 by Yabu Pushelburg, the designers behind the furniture store in Toronto called Avenue Road...

The designers behind the Hazelton Hotel in Yorkville...

And Mark McEwan's Bymark restaurant in Toronto...

The Public Hotel in Chicago...

And the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco...

Among many, many others.

So, they have come a long way since this house, but it is clearly a great house with a great design.

(And a great couch in the basement...)

I'm actually wondering if there was some inspiration from this house for the 'Split House' at 14 Astley Avenue in Rosedale.

But with really only 2 bedrooms and a loft, is this a $1,795,000 house?

Well, it has a garage and another parking spotwhich is a big deal on this street, the design (if it hasn't been touched, though I think the bathrooms may have been) still stands a decade later, it is located in Summerhill...

And if the much smaller 13 foot wide, 2 bedroom row house at 89 Alcorn Avneue that had no parking can sell for $1,295,000...

And if the 2 bedroom semi at 125 Macpherson Avenue could sell for $1,826,000...

This should definitely be able to sell for asking. The parking alone is worth $100,000!

Of course, the downside is that it is right across from the trains, the master isn't very big, I would be more into flagstone than pea gravel, and it is a 10 year old design...

But it is a good option in this neighbourhood.

I am actually kind of surprised it hasn't sold.

Maybe it shows smaller in real life. That master bath does seem REALLY tight.

P.S. Is there a house anywhere in this city that actually has both electrical sockets protected?