AT HOME WITH THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
POLYGON’S JUNIPER AT TIMBER COURT IS DESIGNED TO COMPLEMENT ITS NORTH SHORE LOCATION
At Juniper at Timber Court, Celia Dawson and her team of designers marry urban sensibilities with the lush appeal of North Vancouver’s outdoors.
“We were asked to design to an outdoors mindset, but to bring in an urban lifestyle and connection,” says Dawson, the senior vice-president of design at Polygon, who heads the developer’s design team.
They crafted a home that feels like a cosy haven, an escape from the everyday stresses of the city, and a reminder of the surrounding beauty of Lynn Valley.
Those reflections of North Vancouver’s surroundings come in the form of well-designed pieces like the dining room chandelier, its shape resembling that of a gently drooping willow tree, or a fragile lily of the valley.
“This choice, and the choices of accessories, were all in keeping with the outdoors and the one-with-nature feeling, while still giving the home an urban direction,” Dawson says. On either side of the television, mounted in dark millwork, stands a bright tower-like, sculptural touch — a harder, more contemporary contrast to the gentler, natural theme. Though two full walls have expansive windows, that contrast offers a coziness, a sense of enclosure to the living room.
“Given the mountainous, treed setting, we definitely aimed to create coziness and a calm and serenity with nature.” Furnishings and sculptural effects in the open concept living room offer a sense of airiness — and reveals Dawson’s touch for the urban — by letting the eye move in and around the decor, via the chrome legs of a coffee table and side tables; the clear glass tabletop in the dining area adds to this feeling of weightlessness. “We were aiming for a light, bright, and fresh take to the home, and given the proportions it seemed to lend to open base or ‘leggy’ furniture and glass tops to not weigh down the space.”
Many of the two-bedroom homes are over 900 square feet; larger three-bedrooms are available at Juniper, as Polygon’s responds to the demand from young families and downsizers who reside in their recently built communities in North Vancouver.
The designers used wholesale sources for the furnishings in the display home, but Dawson says shoppers can easily find pieces at stores around Greater Vancouver.
A careful search through Chapters’ curio and gift section, or Urban Barn and the Bay can yield some high quality conversation pieces that won’t break the bank, she adds.