Cabin in Fitch Bay, QuebecScandinavian Exterior, Montreal
Jean Longpré
What Houzz contributors are saying:
9. Play with exterior paint effects. Just like a dark interior wall, a darkly painted exterior brings out other elements. This farmhouse in Quebec, Canada, almost disappears into the vegetation. The chimney and balcony still stand out to give indications of human life, but the underlying structure seems designed to hide behind the real stars of the property, the trees.
In an interview with me, King says he suspects the trend is not limited to The City by the Bay. “I would suspect that it happens in any city where people want to live in older neighborhoods, but they also want to be modern and edgy,” he says. He describes the paint-it-black strategy as adding instant cool. “You make a building black, and it instantly becomes a place for people wearing black. It’s a way of saying, ‘Aren’t we a hip place? Come in and buy a $12 cocktail.’”King notes that he has seen and heard of new or newly painted all-black buildings in places such as New York City and Austin, Texas. “I started noticing them three years ago,” he says. “But in the last two years, the numbers have increased.”
Inspired by the architectural styles Longpré admires, the cabin is designed to resemble a traditional New England saltbox, with a very simple structure and steep, sloping roof. The horizontal pine planks are stained black to give the house a dramatic, Scandinavian feel. A Juliet balcony affords a gorgeous view of the surrounding landscape.
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Katie May Pribonic