There’s no denying the property a Victoria family bought to build their dream house seven years ago was worth the wait.
The 14,000 sq. ft. lot backs onto a forest area, has beautiful arbutus trees out front and is in a quiet neighbourhood within walking distance of the ocean, shops and the University of Victoria.
It’s also the perfect place for their teenage children, ages 16 and 13, to enjoy a spacious backyard with an outdoor living room/barbecue area, fire pit, trampoline and chicken coop, painted in the same sage green as the house.
The kids were six and nine when their parents first bought the property but there were some “stops and starts” along those years before they were finally able to build their two-storey modern home in 2021.
The family moved in last August and credit builder Chris Lacey of Bowcey Construction with making the year-long construction project as easy as it could be, despite building when COVID’s supply chain was causing havoc. Construction material was often not readily available when needed at the height of the pandemic.
“We thought Chris did an amazing job. He’s easy to work with, honest, reliable and competent,” says the husband, adding Lacey was on site every day of the project and ensured supplies were purchased long before they were necessary.
He points out they were told the more than 40 windows they needed would take four weeks to arrive but they took 10, and the solid, wood doors would take six weeks to arrive but took 12 weeks. However, all of the building materials were on site when they were required.
“He knew all the tradespeople and we just had to make the decisions on the materials. There’s a ton of decisions you have to make so that everything falls into place at the right time,” adds the wife. “You can definitely get decision fatigue.”
Lacey, a Red Seal carpenter, started his construction company in 2008 and prefers to keep his business small doing about three to four custom homes a year as well as major renovation projects in order to give clients better service.
Unlike many bigger companies he also works as the project manager on all of his projects
With this Cadboro Bay house there was a limited budget and not all of the costly, custom architectural details were able to be achieved. However, he worked with the couple to still get the same look by simplifying the design.
“We had to find an economical way to get the high end design look but with standard products instead of custom,” he says.
For instance, instead of using copper roofing on the gables a metal roof was painted to mimic the copper look, he says.
The couple also hired Lorri McCrackin, of Lorri McCrackin Designs, who made most of the interior design choices and some of the exterior, such as paint colours and outdoor lighting fixtures.
“I met with Lorri at the flooring, lighting and plumbing fixture stores and it gave her an idea of what style I liked and from that she picked everything and presented it to us,” says the homeowner.
“There were only a couple of light fixtures I changed, but she seemed to know what I liked and put everything together in a cohesive way.”
The house has a traditional, symmetric exterior but its interior is similar to a mid-century modern home with an open concept living/dining/kitchen with french doors on either side of the living room’s gas fireplace to the outdoors. The backyard has a courtyard feel to the home, which is often a feature of mid-century modern house’s indoor/outdoor way of living.
The natural stone fireplace has a wood mantle, a look that was repeated in the custom kitchen hood fan that was designed by McCrackin.
The living room has 19-foot ceilings while the second floor has nine-foot ceilings.
He says they also followed the advice of their friend and the architect for the project, Gary Van Dijk, of Studio V in Vancouver, which was to have the door heights line up with the window heights since it is more pleasing to the eye and adds to the symmetrical feel of the house.
Van Dijk met all of the couple’s requirements for a home, such as having the garage off to the side of the house since they didn’t want it to be a prominent feature of the home’s exterior. Other requests include one from their son, who asked that his bedroom have a loft and for the couple it was ensuring there was enough space for the family to be together and entertain family and friends.
They also wanted a guest room since they often host international students and they wanted lots of storage space throughout the home.
The couple also built the house looking ahead to the future when their children eventually move out. Their bedroom is on the main floor as well as the husband’s office, who works from home as a software engineer. Those private spaces can be closed off from the rest of the home if they are travelling and want to rent the house out.
The laundry room looks initially like it could be a second kitchen thanks to the abundant cupboards throughout the room. There’s also plenty of cabinets in the kitchen, including under the kitchen island.
“I have a spot for everything,” she says.
The kitchen has shaker cabinets, painted in Benjamin Moore OC-19 seapearl and attractive champagne-colour Tudor style cabinet pulls from Marathon. However, what really stands out is the five by five inch handmade-look backsplash tiles and the while quartz countertops that have a faint veining running through it.
The engineered oak wood flooring is consistent throughout the house while a hexagon tile flooring is used in the mudroom and laundry room. Penny tile is used on the laundry room’s backsplash.
“We’re super happy with how it all turned out,” she says of their four-bedroom home.
“I love the fireplace. It’s a definite feature. And I love my kitchen. I like to cook so we put a steam oven in there as well as a gas oven range.”
The couple splurged on appliances and selected Miele.
She says the best part of the kitchen is the fact it’s open concept so she is with family and friends when cooking.
“The layout is really good and people can sit at the island while I’m cooking. I’m not away from where people are - I’m still feel like I’m part of the action.”
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