JULY 2026 steel staircase, an exposed concrete wall rising 30 feet from the basement to the second floor, and transitional stonework that flowed seamlessly from the exterior into the interior. Ornella Homes also built a home theater with a starlight ceiling, a refrigerated wine room with capacity for 2,000 bottles, a concrete swimming pool with a jacuzzi, and a pizza oven. The end-result was a home that, despite its scale of roughly 4,000 square feet, felt intimate and thoughtfully composed. “It has all the bells and whistles, but it’s still a really cozy house,” Peter says. “The way it was designed and laid out, it was just really, really beautiful. It was featured in a few magazines, but more importantly the client really loved it and we’re still in touch. Last year I visited them around the holidays. That’s really the best reward.” Moving forward, Peter’s goal is to do more homes of that artistic and architectural calibre. He says that kind of creative challenge is what motivates him and his team – and what doesn’t motivate them is the prospect of growth. “We’re really happy with where we are,” he says. “We’re very grateful for the business we have. I love our team. Maybe we’ll get a little bit more office support in the long run, but for now we’re satisfied. Over the next few years we just want to keep attracting good talent and good clients, and keep delivering beautiful homes to homeowners across southern Ontario.” Peter emphasizes the importance of the ‘good clients’ part of that vision. He says projects like the Mineola residence are only possible when they have a client who appreciates creativity and wants to do something special. Those are the kind of clients they want to work with in the future. “There are people who just want a big house, and then there are people who really appreciate the intersection of art and science – where you can get truly beautiful, truly well-designed homes. That’s the space we want to play in. That’s where we really get to shine.”
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