Inside the Graphic Family Home of a Photographer (and Her Famous French Bulldog)

Rachel Simpson lives in this 1,200-square-foot apartment in Toronto’s Roncesvalles/High Park neighbourhood with her fiance, James, her young son, Oliver, and her French Bulldog, Violet (who has an illustrious career as an Instagram celebrity). After living in a condo, and debating buying a home, Rachel and James jumped at the opportunity to rent the second floor of this older home. “It was a really easy process, we got really lucky! The same week that I found out I was pregnant, we learned that this apartment had opened up. My best friend’s dad owns the building, and my friend lives in the building. There hadn’t been a vacancy in eight years! The rooms are huge, we have two balconies. It’s like we’re living in a house.” They called this beautiful space home for the last two and a half years.

Rachel’s son Oliver is now two, and while the graphic designer/photographer (who shot her space for HGTV.ca) has styled her home to perfection, she admits these photos are a far cry from regular day-to-day living. “Honestly, most of the time it doesn’t look like this. It’s covered in toys, it’s a mess. I try to keep baskets out to store toys and clutter. We’ve also tried to find a few pieces for Ollie that are stylish. They show that a kid lives in the house, but they still work with the decor!”

Rachel’s spacious living and dining rooms open up to one another, so she ensured the spaces were cohesive. You’ll notice Rachel sticks to a primarily white and black palette, but the graphic designer isn’t afraid of colour, “Being a graphic designer, I design a room in the same way that I’d want it to look on a page, filling in different spots with texture or colour. It’s definitely an evolving process.” Rachel was so sure of what she wanted for her home, when she took in an empty wall in the living room, beside the fireplace, she took it upon herself to paint a piece that would fit and balance the space perfectly. “I knew I needed a painting there, because I have photos on the other walls, and needed to mix it up. So I picked out the colours and painted it myself. Ollie helped out a little, and now he tells people, ‘I made it! I made it!'”

A ladder shelf in the living room is home to Rachel’s prized collection. “I have a collection of old cameras. The one on the mini tripod was my grandfather’s Rolleiflex, he was a casual photographer. So many friends have gone away on trips and found vintage cameras to add to my collection, so all of those are there. I’ve been taking pictures for so long, before I actually even became a graphic designer, so many people have given me camera trinkets over the years, and I like to keep them all on display.”

Rachel was kind enough to style her coffee table for our shoot (she has the most impressive collection of coffee table books we’ve ever seen!) but typically it’s kept clear for Ollie’s colouring. “The photography book collection grows every year. It’s all nicely styled, but I can never have that stuff out!”

The graphic designer knows just where to add a bright accent of yellow or pink. With a neutral base, a fresh bouquet can dramatically change the look of a room, depending on the colour.

The spacious dining room is one of the coolest areas of the home and, not unlike the living room, is filled with sentimental items.

Toronto condo dwellers, can you believe the size of this dining room? Rachel was right, the spacious rental makes buying a tiny box in the sky, or a gut-job semi less and less appealing.

Rachel typically spends her time behind the camera, but this sweet photo of the mom and her son Oliver hangs in her dining room, over a low vintage armoire.

From the dining room, Rachel’s living room is perfectly featured through a wide door frame. The spaces flow easily between each other, thanks in large part to a few key colour accents spotted in both spaces.

One of the most eye-catching features in Rachel’s home is a portrait of Harry Houdini, painted by her uncle, Craig Welch, a well-known Canadian animator. The piece looks like it was made for Rachel’s house, but it once hung in her childhood home. “My uncle painted it for my parents as a wedding gift (Why Harry Houdini? We have no idea!). We had it in the hallway of our home for my entire childhood, and years later, when my parents were moving and couldn’t use such a big piece, I jumped for it, and ever since, it’s been with me.”

“The portrait is so striking and graphic. I use black and white a lot in my spaces, but I also love to add in colour too, so I love how it’s black and white and a really soft pink.”

The kitchen in Rachel’s apartment hasn’t been updated in a few years, but she’s made the best of it with cheerful elements, mixing modern lighting with vintage furniture. The pièce de résistance though is definitely Oliver’s kitchen, a passion project of Rachel’s. “Oliver’s kid kitchen is from IKEA, but it was plain and white and boring. So I added a marble backsplash, and added knobs and painted it, and I got all the matching accessories and scoured the city to find things that would match. We don’t have a huge house where Oliver can have his own playroom, so everything that’s out has to work with our space and match with our furniture and décor. And he loves it!”

A pop of red was exactly what Rachel’s cupboards needed, and when the opportunity to get personalized Coke cans arose, she couldn’t pass it up, even if it meant waiting in line for 40 minutes. “They were doing the Coke campaign two years ago and it was a 20-minute lineup for two, so I went through the line two times to get them all!”

Now for Rachel’s favourite room in the whole apartment: Ollie’s bedroom! Rachel designed the graphic and whimsical space following the same principles used throughout her home: a base of black and white, with touches of grey and a signature colour, not to mention an animal or two!

Oliver’s room is filled with incredible DIY projects, like this corner canopy, that Ollie uses as a reading nook.

“When Oliver started daycare, he was sleeping on a cot, instead of a crib, and once he slept on the cot, he never wanted to go back in his crib! He’s been in a bed for a long time now and he loves it. He reads in it, he thinks it’s so much fun. He turns it into a fort.”

A French Bulldog lamp sits on Ollie’s bedroom dresser, and the motif can be found all throughout Rachel’s home. A portrait of Rachel’s dog Violet sits above the fireplace, also painted by her uncle, Craig Welch, and she also commissioned an artist to create the illustration of Violet that sits on Ollie’s shelf (featured on the next slide!).

Rachel filled Oliver’s room with fun and playful prints, lots of happy animals and a few of his favourite things, like his very own camera that hangs from his shelf. “Ollie knows he’s not allowed to touch my cameras, so when he saw this wooden one in a toy shop one day, he was so excited and started saying, “CAMERA, CAMERA!” He was shaking he was so excited! It was a $70 wooden camera for a child, but he wanted it so badly! A camera is so forbidden to him.”

Like the rest of Rachel’s home, Oliver’s room is filled with keepsakes that tell incredible stories about Rachel and her family. “In Ollie’s room, on the top shelf, there’s a little statue of an elephant that has a baby elephant underneath it, and it belonged to James’s [Rachel’s fiance’s] mom, who died when he was a teenager. James’s brother gave it to me when I was pregnant. On the elephant is her hospital bracelet from when she was a baby, and my mom’s bracelet from when she was a baby.”

Rachel shares her home office with her French Bulldog, Violet. “I love sharing my office space with Violet. The woman who makes the dog teepee has a crazy following, like 400,000 followers on her dog’s account, Piggy and Polly. She started the dog teepee line, and she sent it to me as a congratulations when Oliver was born.”

Everything in Rachel’s office, right down to her pencils and pens, was selected to work with her furniture and decor, and maintain a clean and simple aesthetic. “I don’t want too much going on in my home. I need it to feel clean and not too cluttered or I’ll feel anxious. It’s not relaxing.”

A classic Stendig Calendar hangs over Rachel’s desk.

Along with a living room filled with gorgeous, lush plants, Rachel hung tropical curtains in her office, and keeps a little cactus on her desk. “Plants are so calming and it’s nice to have an element of outdoors inside, especially because I’m inside all day working.”

Rachel’s bedroom is a sweet and simple space, with a big, cozy bed and perfectly styled nightstands. Gauzy white curtains and a sheepskin across the end of the bed give the room a dreamy quality that the busy parents of a toddler surely appreciate.

We couldn’t resist the opportunity to ask Rachel, a woman known for her incredible taste, about her neighbourhood and what she loves most about it. “We literally live a block from High Park, so having a dog and a young child, it’s amazing. We’re there at least twice a week. We know every route. We always go to Pizzeria Defina and they’re so great with kids! It’s such a good variety, it’s not just pizza, they have amazing salads too. There’s also a really cute toy store in the neighbourhood called Scooter Girl, and a new one called Hey Kiddo.”

Rachel’s home balances masculine and feminine elements, but her bedroom vanity gives way to a few glamorous touches, including a stunning photograph of her mother, and a collection of perfume bottles.

As if living steps away from one of Toronto’s most beautiful parks wasn’t enough, Rachel has a balcony that she’s transformed into an incredible outdoor living space. Bamboo walls provide privacy, and make the area feel cozy and intimate, while varying levels of plants and colourful outdoor cushions bring the space to life. We could easily envision an afternoon spent entirely on this balcony!

Rachel, your home is the perfect representation of your impeccable style and your fun and happy family. Thank you for sharing it with HGTV.ca!