Amaranth House

Amaranth House is a newly built vacation home on a broad country property north of Toronto, designed specifically to bring a large extended family together under one roof. Rather than gathering at the family’s city house, the clients built this home as a dedicated family retreat, with enough room for three adult children, each with their own family arriving from different parts of the province.

The property is open and generous, a wide field stretching south toward the horizon. The house is not large by the standards of what it hosts, but it is efficiently designed and offers something better than square footage: a variety of places to be. From lively shared spaces to quiet corners away from the group, everyone can find their place.

Amaranth House is a fully all-electric home, designed for durability and ease of maintenance. The focus throughout was on making the house as functional and welcoming as possible, a place that feels effortless to occupy and simple to run.

The house is organized as two offset bars, creating corner windows at two key moments in the plan: at the staircase and at the living room. These expanded views bring more light and spaciousness to the interior.

The two volumes are differentiated by height and program. The single-storey wing holds the public spaces, with an open great room that runs the full length of the south-facing side, leading to a screened porch at the east end. A long counter at the edge of the kitchen zone functions as a breakfast buffet, giving plenty of space for eating, gathering, and food preparation.

The two-storey wing holds the more private program. On the ground floor is the primary suite, accompanied by a den, office, laundry, and cloakroom at the main entry. Arriving guests can bring their luggage straight upstairs, a small but meaningful courtesy in a house designed to receive many people at once. A secondary rear entry, leading to the vast gardens, connects to the same central heart of the home.

Upstairs, a loft serves as a shared common room, a place for retreat that is not a bedroom. Together with the ground-floor den, the house offers two distinct “away” spaces for those who need a moment outside the main gathering. Adult bedrooms face south toward the view; opposite, two bunk rooms and two shared bathrooms serve the younger generation.

Amaranth House is designed to be enjoyed without fuss, in any season. To support this goal, materials are durable and low maintenance throughout, and mechanical systems are all-electric. The driveway loops around to form a courtyard between the house and the garage, which is sized for parking but can fully open for covered outdoor use in rainy weather.

Photography: Kira Noel Photography
Builder: Retreats Inc
Structural: Contact Engineering
Mechanical: ReNü Engineering