Nicola and Chris Flint didn’t have to look very far to find the property of their dreams.
In fact, Chris grew up on the sun-soaked site they now own on the waterfront just north of Sidney.
It had been in his family since his parents bought the property in 1968.
“My parents moved out 13 years ago and it was rented for many years and there was a lot of asbestos to deal with. The halls were also narrow and there was no ensuite,” Chris said.
When the couple had the opportunity to buy the home from Chris’s parents, they determined the cost of renovation was greater than the home’s value, and opted to tear it down and start again.
“The biggest thing for us was that the home was not designed to take proper advantage of the view and the bylaws had changed since it was built, so other houses were 30 feet ahead of it.”
The new house is now in line with the neighbours’ house. By shifting it forward, the owners were able to build a triple garage where the old house once stood. Connected to the house by a cloister, this building frames one side of the long, narrow property, creating a welcoming entry and enclosing a sunken courtyard at the front — a protected spot on windy or cool days.
“There are only two of us living here, so we didn’t want a mega house,” said Chris, adding that the couple has a grown son.
“It’s still huge, but it’s manageable and all the rooms have high ceilings and windows to take advantage of the views, so a lot more light comes in than in the old house.”
The main floor has a bright, open plan with sliding doors that glide back to reveal a broad deck just a few metres from the water. The overall effect is of a romantic and relaxed Nantucket-style beach house in an idyllic setting.
“We didn’t want anything too over-the-top and we built the house for just us, not for resale.”
They also wanted their home to be energy-efficient, so they installed high-quality insulation, gas heat and on-demand hot water, which has reduced operating costs by more than 50 per cent.
“It made a huge difference moving from electricity to gas, and because of where we are, we didn’t need an HVAC [for cooling or air circulation]. There is always an onshore breeze in the afternoon to cool it off.”
Their previous Brentwood Bay home used to roast in the summer sun — “It was a heat sink,” he says — and while their decision to relocate from the Peninsula’s sunny west side to the east might surprise some, Chris said he and Nicola don’t like as much sun as they used to.
“As you get older, things change.
“My wife is a keen walker and she can walk to work every day from here, and while I spent a lot of time [water] skiing in Coles Bay years ago, I now enjoy the sunrises on this side,” said Chris, who is a financial executive, former competitive water skier and former tri-athlete who loves to swim and cycle.
Both he and his wife, who co-owns 2nd Street Studio Hair Design in Sidney, lead an active lifestyle. She got into race walking several years ago and enjoys taking their dogs for long distances.
Nicola said the house is roughly the same size as their previous one, but they like it much better, as the former house had three storeys and lots of stairs.
She loves this home’s engineered hardwood from Island Floor Centre. The eight-inch oak planks have a matte finish, so there is no glare on sunny days and the look is casual and welcoming. “We wanted it as barn-y and rustic as possible.”
Nicola added that living in their new house is like staying in a cottage all year.
“We don’t need to go away anywhere. We get up and step out onto the deck for our morning coffee … the only problem is it’s hard to get work done, sometimes.”
She also appreciates the open layout because it makes entertaining fun.
“We moved in last December 27 and had 16 people for dinner the next day. My husband loves to cook, I like to bake and we both love to entertain.”
They opted for a large kitchen and smallish dining room. “In the previous era, there was a lot more sitting,” she said, but few people want to host formal, sit-down dinners now.
Her five-metre-long island offers plenty of room for guests to mill around, as well as drawer storage galore, with no need for overhead cabinets that would block views.
Long-time family friend Matthew Smith, at Inner Vision Design, designed the home. “We sent him lots of pictures and had very few revisions from the original plan, except the first plan was too big for us at 4,000 square feet,” said Chris. This house is just over 3,000.
“It’s really not a big house, just three bedrooms, and the lot is not wide, but it is nice and deep,” said Smith, a residential designer for 14 years who specializes in custom homes, renovations and additions.
The project went smoothly because the owners gave him clear directions.
“It is in an amazing location with great exposure and views, and obviously they wanted to take advantage of that.”
Smith added that the shingle-style house has an attractive covered entry and the garages are not front and centre. “They don’t scream: Here’s my garage, and oh, by the way, there is a house here, too.”
He said the reason the design works so well is because of the details: the exterior mouldings, wide casings and trim, lintel boards, horizontal belly bands running around the building, generous overhangs and corbel brackets at the tops of posts.
“It’s like the frame on a picture … these things make all the difference,” said Smith, who grew up in a large, rambling 1912 rancher and learned early on the value of such elements.
When designing kitchens, he likes to bring windows to the floor, to draw in more light and help marry the inside to the outside while expanding sightlines and visual living space.
Because the builder raised the ground on the water side of the house, the deck is only a couple of feet above grade. A gracious overhang adds to the appeal.
“A covered sun porch is an important detail in a waterfront house, because we live in rain country, and this feature also helps break up the height and volume of a house, as do the gables on each side, front and back.
Smith has a simple philosophy: Whenever you have to put in something structural that is going to be visible, make it an architectural feature. “If you can’t hide it, enhance it,” he said.
Mahoe Properties built the home and company president Mark Marley said it was a great project because the owners were “fantastic” and so were the local trades.
“Our site superintendent Rob Bertrand was a saving grace, and Matthew was great to work with. He is easy to get along with and was really good about coming down and checking on things.
“It’s one thing to draw something on paper, but when you get into the dirt, there can be issues.”
Marley said it’s sometimes difficult to get trades to show up on time, especially when there is a building boom, but Malibu Drywall was “outstanding, always quick to respond, and on task doing a really nice job.”
The home’s exterior cedar shingles, from Coulson Manufacturing in Port Alberni, were another plus. “They are a neat system of pre-stained panels that interlock.”
Marley noted that many of the bathroom fixtures, some doors and other materials from the old home were recycled and reused, and the whole site was backfilled with cleaned sand, so there would be no contaminated runoff onto the beach from any building materials.
“On some projects, things just click and this was one of them.”
