De-cluttering guru Marie Kondo counsels people to reduce their possessions to the bare minimum by keeping only what gives them joy.
But what do you do if everything in your home creates happiness?
Nancy Buan is a charming and attractive woman who has an equally charming and attractive home in Mill Bay brimming with personal items, artworks, ceramics, sculptures and fabrics — all lovingly collected over four decades with her husband.
“They all mean something and bring me joy,” she explained, and obviously, she chose wisely in the first place, because they still delight her.
Buan’s husband died 10 years ago, but in the library, she still cherishes a bookcase of his favourite books.
Her walls, occasional tables, floors and cabinets are decorated with paintings, glassware, weavings, carpets and fascinating objets d’art that the couple brought home from as far away as Croatia, France, Spain, Egypt, India, New Zealand and even Samarkand — one of the great cities of Central Asia, where humans have lived since the late Palaeolithic era.
“My home does look a bit like a gallery,” she admitted with a chuckle. “That’s because for years, every time my husband and I went on a holiday we would come home with a piece of art as a souvenir.”
She has continued the tradition. “I’m a good travel companion and there are many opportunities to go on trips because so many single women still love to travel.”
Many like her have been widowed, but still crave expanding horizons.
Buan recently bicycled with friends along the Moselle River between Germany and France and also visited several of the “stans” — including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
“Not Afghanistan or Pakistan,” she was quick to add, but she did explore ancient sites along the Silk Road, a route between China and the Mediterranean that linked western and eastern cultures.
Buan’s parents had retired to Mill Bay in 1972 and she and her husband, then living in Vancouver, loved the idea.
They, too, settled in Mill Bay after he took early retirement, and they began building their dream home a dozen years ago. Sadly, he became ill and died, “but we did have two wonderful years in the house.”
Ben oversaw construction of the waterfront home that stands high above the ocean on almost one hectare of sloping land, and while living on site she wrapped up her career in Vancouver and commuted. (She taught high school English before having a family, then took her masters degree and worked with Vancouver school boards.)
The home, which was the first they created themselves, was designed by Grant Biggings of Vancouver and built by Duncan contractor Martin Shewchuk.
“Ben was not a handy man and didn’t naturally know how to fix things. He was the kind of guy who’d get a headache if he picked up a hammer, but he enjoyed the whole process,” she recalled.
“We had a wonderful contractor in Martin who is a very fine person… they had similar temperaments.”
Her husband, a retired lawyer and businessman, lived in an old, small cottage on the property, “and our contractor didn’t mind him snooping around.” Ben also envisioned many changes to the property itself, and added several terraces.
The house is built on a slab with heated concrete floors that allowed him to move around in a wheelchair in the latter stages of his illness.
“It was Ben’s idea to have concrete floors on a slab because we wanted a home where you could age in place, with wheelchair access, where there were no stairs and a seamless transition to the outside.”
She loves the indoor-outdoor flow and worry-free aspect to concrete, “except everything you drop gets broken.”
Among the home’s many distinctive features are its custom Loewen windows. Statement pieces in their own right, they not only add warmth and atmosphere with their burnished wood but they also allow masses of natural light to stream in.
“Ben just loved these windows.”
Other aspects include the stainless steel counters in the kitchen and behind the stove. She likes the hygienic quality and also thought granite would be too much with an all-granite island. She didn’t want a backsplash either and has windows right down to the counter.
They originally thought of having a pantry off the kitchen, but built a large sideboard instead, with a pantry “tower” on either side.
On the other wall, over the range are antique French copper pots and pans while over the island are contemporary ones. She cleans them once a year in January — usually while watching television, although she is actually a huge booklover and belongs to four book clubs — one of which was started in Mill Bay by her aunt 25 years ago.
Also in a Bible study group, she plays bridge, volunteers with the local hospice to raise money for a garden and helps look after a Syrian family in Duncan.
In addition she is a keen member of Roots of Empathy — “a wonderful program started by Mary Gordon to teach children empathy” — and does all her own gardening including cutting the extensive lawns.
“It’s good occupational therapy, better than going to the gym.”
A favourite pastime is exploring second hand stores and in her library are two pale toffee-coloured leather chairs that she found at St. Vincent de Paul that match one she already had.
“I threw them in the car and drove away in a rush. It was that ad: Start The Car!”
Buan noted sadly that it was evident once she and her husband moved into their new house that he would not live for long.
“But he loved it so much and wanted to create a beautiful place in these beautiful surroundings….” and she continues to appreciate all its special elements — especially its human scale.
“I read a design book once that create that by making sure there is a place where you can reach up and touch the outside eaves.”
She admires the parallel principle of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School of architecture that decrees a home should look as if it grew organically out of its environment, which means access at ground level into the garden.
And she continues to treasure all the pieces she and her husband collected: “I don’t ever want it to be junky, but if I love something I will always find a place for it. And I will enjoy these pieces until I find them a burden.”
