
Inside a Glassy Fortress in Ontario Farm Country
After six years in their compact, 701-square-foot one-bedroom condo in downtown Toronto, Sportsnet hockey reporter Shawn McKenzie and social media creator Sydney Hoffman were squeezed for space. “I didn’t want to take two steps and be in my bedroom anymore,” says McKenzie. In 2021, the couple rented a house in Collingwood, Ontario, for a month, and the expansive space and tranquil surroundings were a revelation. “Whenever we sat out to watch the sunset, it was so quiet that we could hear the birds chirping,” says Hoffman. “It was very calming.” They were ready to leave condo life behind.

After crunching the numbers, they realized their budget could stretch far enough to buy a piece of land outside Toronto and commission an architect to build their dream home. The couple bought land in Caledon, a farming region just northwest of the city, close to conservation areas and hiking trails. They fell in love with the first property they viewed—a nearly
two-acre lot surrounded by trees—and purchased it with a handshake agreement.

McKenzie began trawling Instagram for an architect, but most cost more than the couple could afford. The first one to take them seriously was Trevor Wallace of Reflect Architecture, a Toronto firm known for sustainable and unconventional builds. “He’d designed a house with a slide in the living room,” says McKenzie. “I thought that anyone who puts a slide in a house is my kind of guy.” Wallace returned with sketches for a 2,000-square-foot pinwheel-shaped home—part fortress, part minimalist glass retreat. The home is completely private from the road, then opens up radiantly with a wall of windows onto the backyard. The design uses the sun’s position to keep the house naturally warm and cool throughout the day, so there is little need for heating or air conditioning. The couple settled into their new home in September of 2023.

Before the move, Hoffman could barely assemble IKEA furniture. Country life required new skills. Faced with almost two acres of land, she took up gardening and built her first raised bed with a rusty saw she found in a nearby shed. A few blisters later, she’s created rock paths and rock walls and cultivated hundreds of plants. “I now make the majority of my food from scratch,” says Hoffman. She not only enjoys the fruits—and veggies—of her labour, but also shares them with more than 340,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok. Her videos feature plenty of healthy garden-to-table recipes. She also posts videos on countryside living, gardening and the home-construction process.

Hoffman assumed leaving Toronto might limit her influencing opportunities, but instead, she says, her business has grown. “The natural lighting of the windows is a dream for shooting content,” she says. She launched a YouTube channel this past December, where she shares weekly slow-living vlogs and more recipes.

McKenzie’s hectic schedule keeps him in hotels around 150 nights of the year; his new home is a sanctuary when he’s not travelling. “Having a peaceful, relaxing place to come home and decompress allows me to go out and do it all again,” he says. Another bonus is that the commute to Pearson Airport is the same from Caledon as it was from Toronto—minus the headache of bumper-to-bumper traffic.

They recently welcomed a new family member too. McKenzie and Hoffman had always planned to get a second dog to keep their French bulldog, Gary, company. Just weeks after moving, a malnourished puppy wandered onto their property and began hanging around. Three days later, Hoffman spotted a coyote chasing the pup down their driveway and managed to scare it away. With the help of neighbours, Hoffman finally caught the dog. The couple adopted her and named her Dobby.
Many aspects of the home are still a work in progress. After blowing through the construction budget, McKenzie and Hoffman temporarily abandoned plans to build a garage on the property. And they’re on the hunt for green paintings to match their living-room couch and chairs. “I’m also looking into getting some chickens and building my own chicken coop,” says Hoffman.