Designers John Baker and Juli Daoust Baker are experts at integrating their love of Scandinavian design into Canadian interiors in an unforced and wholly original way.
They’re owners of the Scandi-meets-Japanese housewares shop Mjölk, a longtime Remodelista favorite, and the recently opened Detour Café and Dear Grain in Dundas, a historic town outside of Toronto.
Photograph by Juli Daoust Baker from Mjölk Made: A Canadian Cafe Gets a Scandi Revamp from Toronto’s Cult Design Couple.
A banquette in pale green (by way of Farrow & Ball paint) is paired with Austrian caned chairs.
Photograph by Juli Daoust Baker from Mjölk Made: A Canadian Cafe Gets a Scandi Revamp from Toronto’s Cult Design Couple.
A view of the dining room from the marble-topped ordering counter.
Photograph by Juli Daoust Baker from Mjölk Made: A Canadian Cafe Gets a Scandi Revamp from Toronto’s Cult Design Couple.
Symmetry is achieved with neatly spaced tables and chairs below and three copper-topped pendant lights above.
Paint
The textured walls are painted with Pure & Original Bone Fresco Paint.
The wood paneling by Sandy Todd from Dundas-based Subfield Renovation is painted with Farrow & Ball Vert de Terre paint.
The copper-topped pendant lights are Norm Architects Mass Pendant Light; $495 CAD from Mjölk.
Lighting
The green pendant lights are the W162 Dalston Pendants by Sam Hect & Kim Colin in Moss Green; $590 CAD.
The Malin Appelgren Brass Sconces Wall are hand-hammered in Sweden by Appelgren whose grandfather produced the first Royal Sconce for Swedish royalty in the 1930’s; $335 for the Small size (left and right) at March.
Furniture
The vintage Josef Hoffmann cane-seat chairs in the cafe were originally from the Toronto Public Reference Library, but designers John and Juli bought them from Williams just down the street from Mjölk.
The maple tables were repurposed from the original space.
The tabletops were finished with WOCA Denmark Master Color Oil, a tinted oil for $65 per bottle at WOCA.
Accessories
The Anderssen & Voll Min Watering Can in Copper is $475 CAD at Mjölk.
The Glass Vase Acorn is handblown by Estrid Ericson; $24 at Svenskt Tenn.
The Emma Olbers Brass Pen Holder designed for Skultuna is $145 CAD at Mjölk.
The Frama Fundament Candle Holders in Brass comes in a set of three, as shown, for $290 CAD.
By Stian Korntved Ruud, the Long Brass Candle Snuffer is $80 CAD at Mjölk.