BUILDING PARADISE NEAR THE POND
Beach walk an inspiration for cottagey home
It’s hard to imagine a more bucolic setting.
A long, hidden driveway winds through tall trees and down to a large trout-stocked pond, where a house sits near a gurgling stream, looking as if it has always nestled there, waiting to be discovered. Its architecture was inspired by a cottagey home that owners Chris and Joan Kolk saw and admired in Qualicum many years ago.
“We were walking along the beach one day and really liked the look, the shape, the roofline of a house we saw there, so we took some pictures.”
They conferred with Victoria design consultant Nina Zak, telling her they wanted to recreate the exterior appearance of that classic old house, but wanted large interior spaces, similar to those in the house they were already living in. She drew up the plans for a home in Cowichan on Vancouver Island.
“We love having a big Sunday dinner with all the family, and we like to entertain, too, so we wanted a large dining room,” said Joan.
They also asked Zak to design a home with two wings: one side featuring a ground-floor master bedroom, sitting room, dressing room and ensuite, the other having two large upstairs guest suites for visiting family, friends and potential bed-and-breakfast guests.
Joan said the results are ideal.
“This house works well for just the two of us, or when children and guests visit,” she said, adding they have three children and four grandchildren, ages four, five, six and seven.
“That was good planning on our part,” she said with a chuckle.
The grandchildren adore the property.
“They come and hunt for frogs, play on our little beach, swim or go for a ride in the paddleboat. It is a child’s dream because there is nobody around and the whole property is wooded.”
They call their home Ambraden Pond (a blend of their children’s names) and enjoy its proximity to Arbutus Ridge Golf Course and Cherry Point Vineyard.
They also appreciate the serenity and solitude of their environment, so they chose a calming, muted colour palette inside.
“All the paint colours are neutral and non-jarring, and are made by Farrow Ball,” the British company that creates clay-based and ecofriendly products.
In many of the rooms, the owners used a light grey-green tone so as not to distract from the views outside, and elsewhere they chose soft butter-cream shades or warm browns.
The home was built 15 years ago and during the three-year project, they lived in a coach house on the property, which they now rent to self-catering, long-term guests.
Joan explained that they ran a bed and breakfast in Maple Bay for a short time, inspired by a friend’s business, “and when we had a bedroom and ensuite to spare after the kids left home.”
When she inherited this threehectare property from her parents, she and her husband decided to build extra room to run a B&B if they chose to.
They incorporated many details to make it run efficiently; for instance, they created a separate sitting room in their master suite.
They also installed double pocket doors in several rooms, such as the dining room, so the home can be opened up or partitioned into private spaces.
Joan loves the versatility of round occasional tables and ordered 10 armless, slip-covered chairs in a natural linen fabric, so she can easily reposition furniture or adapt seating for large or small groups.
Outside, they designed more multi-purpose spaces for sunning, reading or sitting during the day or evening, on the dock or in an inner courtyard ringed with ivy and flowering vines. And everywhere are plantings and containers brimming with herbs, ornamental grasses, sage and lavender, “because we decided to no longer be a deer deli,” she said.
Running a bed and breakfast didn’t start out as their dream retirement project, “but we had a relatively large piece of property and thought we should justify the fact that only two people are living in a place this size.”
It has worked out well: they frequently host parents of Brentwood College and Shawnigan Lake School students from around the world when they come to visit their children or attend parent-teacher interviews or regattas. The house is a roomy 4,500 square feet.
The owners credit custom builder Cam Gray for doing a magnificent job, as well as Brian Ellison Excavating for doing all the retaining rock work along the pond bank and other places.
Chris said the home’s creation was straightforward because he and Joan knew precisely what they wanted. “For instance, we both really like shakes and we put them all up ourselves. I did all the shingle work and also set up a mill on the property, so all the cedar for the trim work, all the two-by-12s came off the property.
“We only took down trees where the house was going to be built and left the rest of the property treed.”
The two love the peace and privacy, added Chris.
“Right now I’m working on pooltable lights for my man cave, but I’ve done all the courtyard posts and beams with metal brackets, and built most of the sheds.”
They heat the house with wood, mostly off the property, and that keeps him moving and fit.
“I burn about seven cords a year. I cut up the trees that come down in the wintertime ... go out in the woods, buck it up and drag it back. I do everything by hand.”