We loved the challenge of blending some existing furniture pieces to create a place of charm and honoring our client’s memories; we know how meaningful a treasured piece of furniture can be; its not the value of the piece itself – it’s the memories it evokes. And we wanted to cherish that.

But in all of this, the main character in this story had to be the view.

At all times and from all the principal rooms, the house was designed to ensure the view was paramount from the moment you walked in the door.

That meant we even helped with the window sizing and detailing to ensure that at no point throughout the home is your sightline interrupted by an offensive horizontal window mullion. And the deck railings on the lakeside are almost invisible.

The client had a hankering to make the house feel like it had always been there and grown over time.

So we developed a theme of time-worn and aged, to create a softness and gentle texture that would accommodate a variety of different textures and materials superimposed on it.

That resulted in the concept for the timberframe; make it look like it was reclaimed. While in this case we did not have the luxury of using reclaimed timbers, we worked closely with the timber supplier to have the new timbers heavily distressed, adzed, and literally gauged and ripped to give the impression the wood itself was old, and we developed a custom stain that was a soft brown/grey, giving an aged appearance.

From there, the palette was complimented with natural limestone plaster walls throughout the main floor, which give a soft gently uneven texture and rich matte tones, giving an almost velvet appearance that is warm and enveloping.

The natural stone masonry was selected because of its warm neutral color and block-like texture to enhance the softer palette.

The foreground colors became a bolder mix of reds, blues, greens and golds. This was a direct reference to the client’s preference for somewhat ethnic colors from some of the countries they had lived in such as Spain, Argentina and the Caribbean.

The kitchen has a dominant hit of red splashed all over the highly textured reclaimed wood island, complete with the chiseled edge countertop, which makes it feel like it could have been brought from somewhere else.

Surrounding the island are the cabinets on the perimeter of the room, done in a deliberately contrasting light color. This makes the island stand out and feel like it could have been added at a different point in time.

The views are spectacular from this room because it is on the corner of the home, and for this reason upper cabinets were very consciously limited to allow the view to become the star of the show.  Even the exhaust fan for the cooktop is concealed in the island to keep sightlines clear.

Looking back across the kitchen from the dining area, the potentially dark corner on the left was brightened up with Moorish-influenced custom made wall tiles.  And instead of traditional closed-cabinets, the owner opted for open shelves.  This works because there is ample storage in the island and perimeter cabinets, and because they don’t need a lot of storage in this kitchen;  the purpose of being at the lake is to live simply, and less dishware is just fine for them!

On the left the pantry is enclosed with a stone cladding, and the door is salvaged from a French industrial-era laboratory door, adding another layer of story and intrigue.

But surely the showstopper in the kitchen is the nook which projects outside of the footprint of the house, with windows on all three sides, ensuring that no matter where you sit, you always have a lake view.

We took special care planning this area, from sizing the windows themselves, to designing the built in benches to suit the clients own table which was purchased on their world-travels.

The overall feeling in the living room, dining, and kitchen area is one of open-ness and ease, with lots of light flooding in

On the main floor, there is a guest master suite which runs from front to back of house, ensuring both bedroom and bathroom have great light and views.

In the bedroom an accent wall behind the bed was created with butt-jointed slats to give an aged appearance, painted a soft green to allow the clients wrought-iron bed to standout.

We worked closely with the client to ensure the windows were mounted as close to the ensuite bathdeck as possible, and to create a custom cascading pebble detail in the curbless shower.

Other areas of the home contain special accents of reclaimed wood wall paneling, which was salvaged from one of the client’s old barns on their cattle ranch.

The powder room (right) is encased with reclaimed boards on all walls, with a custom wood vanity and live-edge wood top.

Decorative lighting and plumbing fixtures were selected to have a historical feel.

Interior doors throughout the home have hand-scraped V-joints and metal clavos to add historical detail and texture.

In a foyer to one of the principle bedrooms, this church pew sits comfortably against reclaimed wall paneling, and the finer, more elegant detailing of the tiffany glass chandelier stands in contrast and creates an effortless sense of a space that has been carefully curated to display a balance between chic and rustic.

In the sunroom, the epic eagle sculpture sits majestically on an equally epic piece of reclaimed wood used as the mantle shelf, with rocks found on the clients’ own land. Walls in this room are heavily plastered to create the impression of wattle and daub, and stained-glass transoms above the panelled door create sparkle

As you ascend the stairs from the entry foyer, you arrive at a light-filled loft-landing, which doubles as the den and entertainment space.

The media centre is housed on reclaimed shelving, and the barn doors on either side conceal a linen closet and media rack, respectively, keeping everything within easy access when the doors slide completely out of the way.

The upstairs master ensuite is in the trees; the tub/shower in this room was very consciously placed by the window because it is not overlooked and the evergreen canopy provides year round modesty, while allowing the bather to be inspired by the view and scent of the pines. Aromatherapy in the wild! Literally.

The most private room in the home is the principle master bedroom, and yet it is also the most simple.

It contains a bed, dresser, and blanket chest and little else, because the main element of the room is the stunning and completely panoramic views. There is no art, because the view creates its own ever-changing living artwork.

At the time they came to us, they already had most of the architectural design completed by a talented architectural team, and they had the timberframe provider secured as well as a reputable contractor.

To round out the design/construction team, they were looking for a designer they could trust with their wishes, and who could create something that reflected their own tastes and personalities. To quote one of the client’s comments upon hiring us; “you were not a pompous ass, and we saw that you could do a full range of services from interior architecture through to furnishings”.

At the early stage of interior design visioning, the homeowners were very clear about two things: They did NOT want ‘orange’ timbers, and they were not afraid of a bit of color and pattern.

Starting with the timberframe stain, it was quickly evident that the favoured shade was a rich red-brown. Since this was a structural timberframe home, this stain color would be visible everywhere inside and outside the home, and every other color and material had to be compatible to the timber stain.

We then determined that since this was a property in the middle of a city, that a slightly more urban edge could be realized if we created a strong contrast between the timbers and the tongue & groove ceilings, which were done in a white-washed effect, which reflects more light and enhances the bold patterns of the timbers.

From there, the palette developed naturally and a theme became evident; one of warm neutral ‘grounding’ colors accented with hits of aquarian-influenced blues and warmed up with coppers, with golds and the tiniest bit of red and spice tones for good measure.The theme of old and new also has a presence in the home; for example the taps and faucets throughout are finished in copper, but the fixtures themselves are more contemporary in style.

Light fixtures also have a generally more modern feel in the shape and form, to sit more simply against the architecture and not draw too much attention from sight-lines.

No where is the theme of old/new more evident than in the den and husbands office. The den is overall more modern, with the dominant linear lines of the U-shaped sectional sofa making a bold and clean statement. This stands in strong contrast to the highly rustic ‘miners cabin’ theme in the adjacent office, which is clad with reclaimed wallboards which were reclaimed from tobacco sheds in Virginia, complete with hand-forged iron nails!

A statement piece of Salish carving by George Hemeon, applied to a pair of cedar doors, artfully separates the two rooms. Both sides of the door are carved with imagery that has meaning to the owners.

The Salish accents continue in the dramatic stairwell, which contains a traditional totem, also by George Hemeon.

The open-rise stairs allow you to catch changing views of the totem as you ascend or descend. A custom light fixture was created using glass insulator caps from old telegraph poles –creating yet another piece that has a story to tell.

The powder room at the end of the hall plays on this rustic/modern theme with its hammered copper vessel sink and custom mirror created from the rim of a vintage tractor, complete with its chain for hanging it.

The master bedroom suite boasts vaulted timbered ceilings, an outdoor viewing deck, and expansive bathroom complete with custom soaker tub and floating vanity.

The copper and warm theme is carried through with copper-influenced floor and wall tiles, with rich brown carpeting grounding the bedroom.

Throughout this home, a lot of our attention was given to the way the timber ceilings are lit; in most cases the ceilings and timbers are highlighted using uplighting; we try to avoid putting any pot lights or fixtures into the wood ceilings so as to keep them as clean and beautiful to look at.

The basement continues the warm themes established throughout the rest of the home, and goes a bit more full-on with color and texture.

In the bar and wine cellar, the structural stone archway is flanked by a stone wall which has stone ledges built into it to create candle ledges. Over time, the was is left to drip down to create a sense of age and time passing.

The gothic doors were a fun find –genuine doors from a welsh chapel circa 1860. We coordinated with our suppliers to create the custom-made wood timber jamb to ensure a perfect fit.

In the entertainment room, a large slouchy sectional is enveloped in a warm embrace of copper tones; from the walls the epoxy floors, to the area rug, and creates a welcome place to sit down and rest awhile.

At the close of the project, we asked the client what they would tell others about us, and this is what they said: “We had no idea how many decisions we had to make when we started this process and we could simply not have done it without you. You steered us through the process in a very productive and efficient way. You are proactive and meticulous in detail without overdoing it, and always deliver on schedule. It was a true collaboration and has resulted in a product that exceeds our wildest hopes”.

We are blushing!And very grateful for a client who was clear with their goals for the project, who valued our expertise and allowed us to partner with them to help them reach the end successfully.

Architectural Design: McDowell & Associates
Construction: Koronko Custom Homes
Timberframe: Hamill Creek Timber Homes