A home is so much more than a house. Even before its transformation by local firm SHEEEP, the humble property of Nick and Chris in Toronto’s Little Portugal has long served as a cultural hub with a tacit mi casa es su casa open-door policy. It’s the favourite hangout for a group of friends that gather regularly to watch movies projected onto the home’s back wall on summer nights, to share meals and just to “crash.” The 130-square-metre abode is itself something of a social creature: It’s situated in the middle of a set of row houses dating back to the late 1800s on a lot that was cheaply built up, possibly to accommodate rail workers.
When they bought it over eight years ago, the couple split the residence into two apartments — one...
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