My House - West Vancouver Waterfront
Design is a hobby I gave myself permission to indulge in years ago...this means I get to buy the latest Vicente Wolf book or spend an hour pouring through European Design Mags GUILT free. Unlike the rest of my life, nothing productive has to come of this time -it's just for ME:)
Design is a hobby I gave myself permission to indulge in years ago...this... More »
Bellevue Waterfront Design Project
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Again- designing on a narrow lot was tricky- we didn't want the garage facing the street so we created a sideways entrance - the guest suite sits on top of the garage and this gives the rest of the house more privacy. This was nice as this street is popular for running, biking and walking.
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The entryway- while not grand - I wanted layers of details that created depth but were more tone on tone and subtle. As you can see, there are more layers to come in the design..what can I say- after designing the house- I was spent. Now it is a matter of slowly adding in art that we love- it will come but is not something we want to force.
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I just about drove our architect crazy getting the scale and arc right on our windows and doors. I had fallen in love with Oliver Messel's designs on a few Mustique trips and couldn't get them out of my mind. They were so organic and beautifully balanced (to my eye)...and yet they were not fancy - the materials on hand on that small island were basic and that is what makes them appealing- they were authentic. I hate when things feel too "done" - if you have to try to hard to pull off a look it doesnt work so I use what Is inspiring to me as just that- inspiration ....a Mustique house does not belong in West Vancouver...and besides - it is hard to duplicate a house with 2 foot walls (we didnt have that kind of space luxury on our lot).
Messel was Not formally trained as an architect - he was a set designer and a crazy perfectionist so he would probably have a fit if he saw this:)
One of the tasks we put to our architect was to hide our automatic shades behind the wall so you can see a bit of an opening at the top of the windows- he did a pretty good job considering all the challenges - thanks Brad:)
Messel was Not formally trained as an architect - he was a set designer and a crazy perfectionist so he would probably have a fit if he saw this:)
One of the tasks we put to our architect was to hide our automatic shades behind the wall so you can see a bit of an opening at the top of the windows- he did a pretty good job considering all the challenges - thanks Brad:)
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Finding furniture that was comfortable and looked good for my 6'4 Lazy Boy loving husband (gasp!) was no easy task.
I have always loved John Saladino's sense of scale as an architect but started looking closely at his furniture and realized it may be the solution to my predicament.
There was no margin for error and I didn't have a trip planned to NY anytime soon so John's son Graham grabbed a 6'3 architect from their firm and had him sit in all the chairs so I could see the scale of them. We had a good time and I still laugh when I see those pictures.
The chairs that look out to the water actually swivel AND recline (all the way!) this is my the place my father in law loves best in the whole house- he and his wife spend hours here!
The African drum is cracked and rough (I fix it with shoe polish now and then- I love it though...it isn't fancy but it is comfortable in it's skin:)
The lighting by the fireplace is from Porto Romana and the oil painting is by local artist, Stuart Slind (thank you Stuart!)
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As so much of the year in Vancouver is rainy, our back deck was an important space in our design project - we used space heaters above and even heated the slab below to give us year round use...in the summer we live out here but pretty much use it every day throughout the year.
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With a sloping lot - it was tricky planning the way the house would step down to the water. I love my garden and wanted to pull it as close to the house as possible yet our choice was to have have more steps in the house or more in the garden so we chose the garden and opted for a flat main floor.
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The wine cellar - nothing too over the top - we used leather parquet on the floors for a softer flooring and blown glass for the doors so that it was not too dark but we really don't hang out much there so we left it at that.
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