David Small Designs has built its reputation across Ontario for custom homes shaped by land, light, proportion, and the way families live day to day. The firm has been recognized by
BILD and the
Ontario Home Builders’ Association, including awards for Best Custom Home, Best Overall Custom Home, and Most Outstanding Custom Home.
That recognition matters here, but not because of the titles alone.
It matters because this estate shows the kind of design discipline those awards speak to. A home with presence. Warmth. Privacy. Proportion. And a clear relationship to its setting.
“While our homes do come to market from time to time, simply because we have designed so many,” says David Small, Founder and Creative Principal of David Small Designs, “they are designed to meet a very specific moment and set of needs for each client.”
“What carries through is a sense of timelessness. Regardless of style, our homes are grounded in their connection to the land and in a balance between grandeur and comfort. Those qualities tend to deepen over time.”
Here, those qualities are present from the beginning.
The arrival is formal. The setting is private. The architecture has weight and presence. Yet the home never feels detached from the landscape around it. The trees soften the edges. The stone feels rooted. The views pull the eye outward.
This is not a home designed to overpower its surroundings.
It was designed to live with them.
A Luxury Estate Near Milton With a Clear Sense of Arrival
From the exterior, the estate carries itself with restraint.
The rooflines, stonework, windows, and porte-cochere create a strong first impression, but the experience changes once inside. The house moves from formal to intimate. From impressive to personal.
“From the front, the home presents itself as very formal and grand,” Small explains. “It sets an expectation of something almost monumental inside. But when you enter, the experience shifts completely. Instead of a vast, imposing interior, you are met with spaces that feel warm, intimate, and enveloping.”
That contrast is what makes the home memorable.
The exterior sets an expectation.
The interior softens it.
The rooms do not unfold all at once. They reveal themselves in layers. Arched openings, coffered ceilings, stone fireplaces, warm wood tones, and long views create rhythm through the main living spaces.
“That contrast, between the exterior statement and the interior comfort, is very intentional,” Small says. “It creates a layered experience that reveals itself gradually and makes the home feel both impressive and deeply livable.”
That is the balance this estate holds so well.
Large homes often impress before they invite.
This one does both.
Designed for Scale, Comfort, and Everyday Living
Much of the home’s comfort comes from proportion.
The scale is grand, but the rooms still feel human. The kitchen connects naturally to daily life. The gathering spaces feel generous without losing warmth. The dining areas have presence without feeling formal for the sake of being formal.
There is texture everywhere.
Stone around the fireplaces.
Wood underfoot.
Detailed ceiling work above.
Large windows framing the property instead of competing with it.
These elements give the home depth. They also keep it from feeling overly polished or staged. The materials carry quiet confidence. They are meant to be lived with, not only looked at.
One of the clearest examples is the three-season screened porch.
In a home with a bowling alley, theatre, golf simulator, wine cellar, pool, and sport court, this quieter space might be easy to overlook. Yet it may be one of the most telling rooms in the estate.
With its wood-burning fireplace and views into the trees, the porch offers a softer kind of luxury.
Morning coffee.
Late fall evenings.
A quiet place during a full house.
A room where the sound of the property becomes part of the experience.
It shows the home’s deeper intention. Not every space is designed to impress. Some are designed to bring you back to yourself.
A Private Entertainment Level With Resort-Style Amenities
The lower level shifts the mood again.
Here, the home becomes playful, social, and private. A two-lane bowling alley anchors the space, complete with electronic scoring and mood lighting. Nearby, a golf simulator, theatre room, games lounge, wet bar, kitchenette, recreation areas, spa room, and 800-bottle climate-controlled wine cellar create a full private entertainment level.
What makes it work is not only the list of amenities.
It is the way they belong.
The bowling alley does not feel like a novelty added to fill space. The theatre does not feel separate from the life of the house. The wine cellar, lounge, kitchenette, and recreation areas create natural flow for evenings with family, weekends with guests, and celebrations kept within the privacy of the property.
The lower level feels like a private club, but with the ease of home.
That distinction matters.
It is polished, but not performative.
Entertaining here feels natural because the spaces were designed for use.
The Owner’s Wing as a Private Retreat
The owner’s wing brings the home back to quiet.
Set away from the main gathering areas, it feels like a private residence within the estate. A chandelier-lit hall leads into a series of personal spaces designed for retreat, work, wellness, and rest.
There is a forest-facing office.
A vaulted music room.
A wood-lined sauna.
A private deck with a hot tub overlooking the trees.
A library with a gas fireplace.
Two dressing rooms with floor-to-ceiling millwork.
Private laundry.
The sequence feels calm and deliberate. It gives the home a level of privacy that becomes important when the estate is full. Family and guests have room to gather, while the owners have a place that feels removed, quiet, and entirely their own.
This is one of the home’s most thoughtful design decisions.
A house built for hosting also needs somewhere to withdraw.
Outdoor Living on Five Mature Acres
Some estates feel new for too long.
The house is finished, but the land has not caught up.
This property has moved beyond that stage.
Roughly ten years into its life, the landscape has matured around the architecture. The trees have filled in. The gardens feel established. The paths, pool area, outdoor rooms, and forested edges give the home a settled quality that cannot be rushed.
Time has added value here.
Small’s comment about timelessness deepening over time feels especially true on this property. The outdoor spaces do not feel like accessories to the house. They feel like extensions of it.
The saltwater pool with waterfalls becomes a summer gathering place. The cedar-lined pool house, with its own wood-burning fireplace, adds warmth and shelter. The outdoor kitchen, built-in BBQ, pizza oven, pergolas, fire pit, vegetable gardens, walking trails, and sport court create a property that supports many versions of daily life.
A slow morning outside.
A long dinner under cover.
A late night by the fire.
A swim after work.
A walk through the trees.
A game on the court.
The estate gives each moment its own place.
That is what makes it feel complete.
A Secondary Suite With Quiet Independence
The second floor includes an independent secondary suite with its own private entrance and dedicated staircase.
It includes a kitchen, sitting area, bedroom, three-piece bathroom, laundry, closets, and storage.
Its value is not only practical.
It adds another layer to the way the home lives.
There is space for extended family, long-term guests, adult children, aging parents, or live-in support. The suite feels separate enough to offer independence yet connected enough to remain part of the estate.
That flexibility gives the home long-term relevance.
It is built for how people live now, and for how life changes
What Photos Do Not Fully Show
A home like this cannot be fully understood in still images.
Photos show the rooms, but not the pace of arrival.
They show the features, but not the feeling of moving from stone exterior to warm interior.
They show the pool, but not the privacy around it.
They show the owner’s wing, but not the quiet of being tucked away from the rest of the house.
They show the lower level, but not how naturally it supports a night at home.
“For a buyer, the real value lies beyond what an MLS listing can show,” Small says. “It is in the way the home is sited, how it engages with the landscape, the flow of spaces, and the underlying design logic. Those are the elements that define how the home truly lives, and they are often only understood through experience.”
That feels true here.
The value is in the siting.
The light.
The quiet transitions.
The softened landscape.
The way materials age into the property.
The way the house holds both scale and intimacy.
The way each major space feels designed for use, not display.
A David Small Designed Estate Near Toronto With a Rare Point of View
13160 Nassagaweya Esquesing Townline is not simply a large home on private acreage.
It is a fully considered estate with a clear design story.
The architecture responds to the land. The interiors balance presence with warmth. The outdoor spaces have matured into the setting. The recreational and wellness spaces support a life lived mostly at home. The secondary suite adds flexibility. The owner’s wing brings privacy back into a home designed for gathering.
It is grand without feeling cold.
Private without feeling removed.
Expansive without losing intimacy.
That is the rare balance.
And that is what makes this David Small estate near Milton so unique
Estate Highlights
- 5 private forested acres near the Milton and Halton Hills border
- 16,260 sq. ft. of finished living space
- David Small designed estate
- Two-lane bowling alley
- Golf simulator
- Theatre room
- 800-bottle climate-controlled wine cellar
- Saltwater pool with waterfalls
- Cedar-lined pool house with wood-burning fireplace
- Outdoor kitchen, built-in BBQ, pizza oven, pergolas, and fire pit
- Sport court and walking trails
- Independent secondary suite
- Private owner’s wing with office, sauna, hot tub deck, library, dressing rooms, and laundry