HOMES CONDOS

NE

W IN

ON ON2 SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 2017 SECTION H

It may be on the lower level of their home, but VitaMendolia and her husband, Joseph, have a basementthat’s been renovated to the highest levels of luxury.

“It’s a chic entertaining floor,” Vita, 48, says of thebreathtaking, 2,000 square feet of living space thatfeatures a glassed-in home gym, sophisticated loungearea, entertainment section for movie nights and akitchen/bar fit for a Hollywood bash.

Vita, a teacher, says friends are “stunned” when theycome downstairs to see the space. “They can’t believeit’s the basement. That’s not what they were expect-ing.”

For her part, she still has to pinch herself, too. “Afterall these years of having the vision in your head, to besitting there, it still it feels like, ‘This is my house?’ ”

The renovated retreat is certainly a night-and-daytransformation from the unfinished basement thathad been there since the couple built their 4,000-square-foot custom home in north Etobicoke in 2001.

For years, their 14-year-old daughter, who playscompetitive hockey, and their 18-year-old son usedthe lower level for shooting drills — the holes in thewalls proof of their dedication.

But Vita and Joseph, 56, a dentist, always knew theywould eventually transform the basement when thechildren were older and keen to entertain friends asfar away from their parents as possible.

> HOW WE LIVE

JACKIE BURNSSPECIAL TO THE STAR

NOW: Vita and Joseph Mendolia enjoy the comfort and luxury of their new basement that they had renovated late last year. RICK MADONIK/TORONTO STAR

big Scoring

THEN: Bags, racks, containers andshelves of hockey equipment were oncethe main focus of the basement.

COURTESY GEORGIAN RENOVATIONS

Workouts in the basement now involve weights and aerobic training, not shootingand stickhandling drills — and the holes in the wall are gone. RENO continued on H6

Parents reclaim hockey basement from kidsand fulfil their visionof a ‘chic entertaining floor’

RICK MADONIK/TORONTO STAR

������� � ��� ���� ���� ��� ��� �� ������������������������������� �� ������ � �����������

H6⎮TORONTO STAR SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 2017 ON ON2 V2

“They’re bigger, they’re louder!” Vi-ta says and laughs.

With their son at university andtheir daughter in high school, thetiming was right.

The couple hired Georgian Renova-tions, which specializes in luxurycustom home renovations, additionsand interior design.

Georgian spokesperson John Ver-dile says the Mendolias are part of agrowing trend of families opting forhigh-end basement renovations, nolonger content with the status quo ofhaving one big storage room.

“A lot of people want that cold areato turn into another extension of thehome,” he says.

“It’s square footage. You’ve paid forit and it’s just sitting downstairs. Ifyou’re going to do a basement, let’s doit right.”

Along with Georgian designer Ash-ley Reekie, Verdile worked hand-in-hand with the family during the four-month project, which was finishedby 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve, just intime for holiday entertaining.

Verdile says such renovations cost$200,000 to $300,000, depending onwhich bells and whistles clientschoose.

The Mendolias went high-end allthe way, opting for hydronic heatedflooring made with solid porcelaintiles imported from Italy that mimicthe look and feel of reclaimed wood.

“That’s one of the new trends were

seeing now,” Verdile says. “Porcelaintile is not just 12-by-12 inches or 24-by-24 inches, like the old days. Nowporcelain comes 5-feet-by-10 feet,just like marble, granite or quartzslabs. It’s so beautiful!” he says.

In the Mendolias’ basement, it tookthree men to lay one tile, which is 16inches wide by almost six feet long,and a half-inch thick.

Between all the materials, the hy-draulics and the boiler system, plusinstallation, Verdile says the flooring

became a $40,000 feature.Other splurges include a stunning

porcelain wall behind the $8,000elongated fireplace and a $6,000 pooltable with brushed metal legs thateasily transforms into a dining-roomtable with dark black wood.

Since the Mendolias love to enter-tain, they went all-out in the kitch-en/bar area, too, opting for abutcher-block countertop with a se-cret compartment that lifts up andbecomes a trough sink where they

can chill their bottles of wine andbeer on ice.

“I love the kitchen. It’s perfect forwhat we want to do,” Vita says.

Much of the family’s entertaininghappens in the summer, once theirbusy hockey season has finished. Atthat time, the backyard becomespool-party central.

Now, the fun can happen seamless-ly between the backyard and thebasement and it’s no longer a bum-mer when there’s rain in the forecast.

“The dream was exactly what itlooks like now,” Vita says.

She says everything came in on-budget, just as they had discussedand signed with Georgian.

“There weren’t any surprises. We’rereally happy about that part.”

Major reno came with no surprises for homeownersRENO from H1

6,000 Total square feet ofliving space, including the base-ment renovation

15 Number of years the familylived with an unfinished basement

$15,000 Approximate costof the basement’s custom-mademaximum-security door

$100,000 Typical startingpoint for a standard 1,000-square-foot basement renovation fromGeorgian Renovations

$1.5M-$3M Approximateconstruction costs (not includingthe land) of some 6,000-7,000-square-foot homes Georgian isnow working on

16 feet Sliding door put in aspart of a $650,000 main-floorrenovation for a Georgian client

22-by-10 feet Size of oneof Georgian’s luxury laundry roomrenovations

> BY THE NUMBERS

The balls are racked for a game of eight-ball on the blue-felt pool table in the renovated basement retreat.COURTESY GEORGIAN RENOVATIONS

Most people regard renovations as anice-to-have option, inspired bywhat they see on the growing num-ber of home-improvement TVshows.

But in a market that’s undergoingintensification, home renovationsare becoming a serious business.

Last year, more than $72 billionwas spent on renovations nation-wide, about 40 per cent greater thanthe value of all new-home construc-tion, according to Altus Group.

There are a number of factorsdriving this renovation surge.

In the GTA, the bulk of the de-tached housing stock is owned byboomers, and most of them don’twish to leave their homes. They’rechoosing instead to renovate.

It’s understandable when you dothe math. If an empty-nester livingin a detached home in Toronto wereto downsize into a smaller, less-expensive condominium, the costsassociated with the move could totalwell over $100,000, after factoring incommissions, legal costs, land trans-fer taxes, and moving and otherexpenses.

So staying put and renovatingbegins to make sense to manyboomers especially when the mathis mixed with family considerations.

This is one of the main reasons for

the shortage of detached homes onthe resale market. In February,active listings of detached homeswere down by approximately 40 percent, according to the Toronto RealEstate Board.

As children of boomers strugglewith ever-increasing real estateprices, many are moving back inwith their parents, making it all thatmuch harder for that unit of hous-ing to be recycled into the resalemarket.

A similar demand arises from theother end of the family’s genera-tional spectrum, with aging parentsmoving into the same home as theiradult children. In the U.S., a record60 million Americans are living inmulti-generational households.

The need to accommodate morefamily members under the sameroof is spurring the uptick in reno-vation activity across the GTA andthings won’t be slowing down any-time soon on this front.

But undertaking a reno can becomplicated and stressful, and mostpeople find they’re ill-equipped tohandle the process.

Poorly planned renos often uncov-er deferred maintenance problems,which can end up expanding thescope and cost of projects. So it’sbest to consult experts, and be sureyou do your homework and choosethe right design professional andcontractor to carry out the job.

While renovations aren’t for thefaint of heart, in a market deep inthe throes of intensification, morehousing units may be recycledthrough the renovation marketinstead of the resale market.

GeorgeCarras

Undertaking a reno can be complicated and stressful, George Carras writes.DREAMSTIME

Renovationactivity isintensifying

George Carras is president of RealStra-tegies Inc. and the founder of RealNetCanada Inc. (now part of Altus Group).His column appears once a month. Formore information, visit realstrategies.ca.

>>HOMES & CONDOS

LIVELIFEWELL

• Located in Aberfoyle, 5 min South of Guelph• Just 4 minutes to HWY 401• Only 25 minutes to Mississauga• 35 minutes to Oakville• Close to city conveniences

SALES CENTRE HOURS: Sat & Sun 12pm - 5pm,Mon -Wed 1pm - 5pm, Thu & Fri By Appointment

401

Wellington Rd 34

Gue

lph

Line

Vict

oria

Rd

S

Wel

lingt

onR

d46

Bro

ckR

d

Side Rd20

ModelHome

N

MISSISSAUGABURLINGTON

GUELPH

TAKE EXIT 299 BROCK RD S. NORTH TO GUELPHGOOGLE ADDRESS: 4512 VICTORIA RD. SOUTH,GUELPH, N0B 2J0

EXPERIENCE$1.2 to $2+ MILLION DOLLARCUSTOM BUNGALOWS& 2-STOREY HOMES ONONE ACRE COUNTRY LOTS

E.&O.E. Rendering is artist’s concept.

TOUR OUR DECORATED MODEL HOME

charlestonhomes.caE.&O.E. Rendering is artist’s concept. Prices, sizes, and specifications subject to change without notice.

519-823-1900