A Multi-Gen Home With a Basement Playground

In the fall of 2021, Jaclyn Sopik and her husband, Corey Bynoe, were happily living in Unionville, Ontario, with their three young kids. Then Jaclyn’s mother, Victoria, presented them with a unique living opportunity: she found a lakeside property near the Scarborough Bluffs in the east end of Toronto, just five minutes from where Jaclyn and her seven siblings grew up. It had close to an acre of land, stunning waterfront views and lots of potential for expansion. Victoria proposed buying the house together and renovating it—as long as Jaclyn and Corey promised to host non-negotiable family dinners on Sundays. 

They easily agreed. The family is tight-knit: Jaclyn works with Victoria in childcare, and four of the eight siblings were already settled in Scarborough with their families. (Jaclyn makes five.) With 11 nieces and nephews nearby at the time, the family needed a gathering place where the kids could play together, and pooling their resources allowed them to afford way more space than they could on their own. Corey, an IT entrepreneur, is from Barbados, where multi-generational living arrangements are much more common. “Culturally it wasn’t weird for him to live with his mother-in-law,” says Jaclyn. 

The house was a 1950s bungalow that its previous owners, who lived most of the year uptown in Hoggs Hollow, used as a summer vacation property. It had been updated in 2012 but lacked the warmth and character the family craved. Plus, they wanted to make it big enough to include a private living area for Victoria and create an open-concept space that maximized the water views on every level.

They set off on a year-long construction project with Scott Shields Architects, where they doubled the square footage to nearly 8,000 square feet. They built a spacious bedroom and ensuite for Jaclyn and Corey on the main floor, extended the basement to match the size of the new home (a process that involved underpinning both the existing space and the addition) and built an entirely new second floor. The upstairs now serves as Victoria’s suite, with a bedroom, living room and kitchenette, plus a deck that gets sunrise views over Lake Ontario. 

The multi-gen family of six lived in the house for most of the renovation process, surrounded by drop sheets and sawdust. But shortly after Jaclyn gave birth to their fourth child in early 2023, they escaped to Barbados for three months to let builders finish the home as quickly as possible. 

Jaclyn and Victoria enlisted Justine Alexandra Design to give the interiors a modern Tuscan villa vibe. The mother and daughter have complementary design senses, so they easily landed on a shared vision. They went with warm herringbone floors, lightly textured limewash walls, arched doorways and moody marble counters in jade or burgundy—plus playful touches like bold patterned wallpaper and neon signs in the kids’ rooms. “People might question the white carpets with four kids, but we’ve done really well so far,” says Jaclyn. On the walls are illustrations of Barbadian plant life by Hilary Armstrong and an abstract painting in rich blues by Toronto artist Jocelyn Teng. (The fridge, on the other hand, is plastered with an endless rotation of kids’ drawings.) 

The family’s secret to preserving their pristine main-floor space is the 1,200-square-foot basement, which they’ve turned into the ultimate children’s paradise. Jaclyn and Victoria hired Emily Dragoman, founder of Toronto company Movement Rooms, to create a space that sparked imaginative play. At one end of the room is a raised birch-wood play structure, while the other side has gymnastics rings and netted sensory swings. An indoor rock-climbing wall connects to snaking monkey bars on the ceiling, and there’s an additional climbing wall outside on the adjoining patio. Jaclyn’s favourite is a swinging rope obstacle course, which was inspired by one she saw at a resort in Thailand. The kid-centric playground has been a hit—and can easily accommodate 30 children for birthday parties. As long as people tidy up after themselves, Jaclyn and Corey let their extended family host whatever events they’d like, whether it’s a team baseball party or baby shower. 

Having three generations of Sopiks under one roof is going well, too. Victoria travels frequently for work, so the family still have their own space much of the time. “She doesn’t want to feel like our babysitter or third parent,” says Jaclyn. As promised, every Sunday is a wonderfully chaotic family gathering, with Jaclyn stocking the fridge with drinks, Corey cooking up Barbadian dishes like Bajan macaroni pie and 15 nieces and nephews sprinting around the place.

The key to their smooth cohabitation was building two equally luxurious bedroom quarters—no one had to sacrifice the primary suite or get relegated to the basement. Jaclyn and Corey adore their space, especially their window-backed soaker tub that feels like it’s nestled in the tree canopy outside. For Jaclyn, however, visiting her mother’s floor feels even more relaxing. “It’s the one place in the house where there are usually no kids.”