‘This view never gets old’
Couple builds 6,000-square-foot custom home in the country.
Alison Rayner’s brown Labs don’t generally make a lot of noise, so when she heard Kona and Loki’s echoing barks one day early last month, she headed to the entrance of her Strathcona County estate home to investigate. On opening the door, she stood star-struck. Where the Donaldson Park Natural Area trails end, just beyond her front drive, there ambled a young male moose.
When I drove up to her home recently, the dogs greeted me, too. Despite the 8.4 acres of land Alison and her husband Sean bought three years ago, the dogs stay close to home. “They are city dogs — people dogs!” she says with a laugh. The animals settle in close to us as we drink tea at the kitchen island. This eight-foot square slab of white granite is designed for parties, with a breakfast bar and a second prep sink.
Directly in front of me, a cool, blue, glass tiled backsplash embraces a twofoot-square, turquoise tile hand-painted with a vintage damask pattern by Panache Ceramics.
From a nearby window in the breakfast nook, aspen and poplar trunks stretch out against a backdrop of white snow and sky.
It’s a view as still as a penand-ink drawing. Framed by silk curtains whose iridescent grey-on-grey pattern recalls bark or rain, “this view never gets old,” says Alison.
It was for this seasonally changing picture that the Rayners moved from their renovated Mill Woods bungalow to the country. Alison, a freelance writer, and Sean, who owns a sheet metal shop, took their time finding the property.
Once they did, they contracted Sunny Valley Homes, having fallen in love with one of the builder’s show homes in Upper Windemere. The Rayners’ custom, 6,000-square-foot home would take almost three years to build and require seemingly endless design decisions, during which Alison often found herself at odds with the status quo.
“When you go into show homes of this size, you’ll find they’re built for people of a different age group who have different tastes,” says Alison, who is 32. “They like ornate and fancy things. I would think, ‘That’s something my parents would like.’ But I didn’t. We’re really downto-earth people. I wanted it to be as clean and simple, and as natural as possible.”
The finished design, with support from designer Yamina Ortynski of Y Design, reflects their tastes. Shaker-style cabinets, built by Tim Nelson of 1685 Kitchen Design Studio, are featured in the kitchen and the living room’s massive wall of built-ins.
Natural themes repeat on many of the finishes — trees on the chairs, waves on the living room area rug, butterflies on the wallpaper — and the furniture is also simple and natural. The entry table is a fusion of iron and roughhewn wood; their bed is walnut, with a custom-made headboard that doubles as a room divider.
Alison isn’t afraid to mix and match, though, and sparkling crystal and silver chandeliers create a playful contrast to the wood and stone.
The fireplace surround is another perfect marriage of natural and bling, with liveedge cuts of granite adding texture, weight and sparkle. In another study of contrasting styles, their breakfast table is rough barnwood atop high-gloss nickel legs.
Heavy wood pillars, stained the same espresso as the cabinets, are a grounding presence between the living room and kitchen.
They draw the eye up to the spectacular coffered ceiling, where four half-circles intersect in a unique pattern. “This is what sold me on this home’s design,” Alison says.
In the upstairs bonus room is another stunning ceiling; its coved cap — more inverted half-pipe than frown — frames the best view in the house.
Windows here catch the southeast sunshine, pitching it back into the room and down the central staircase.
Designed by Specialized Stair and Rail, this grand stairway has slick wood treads and open risers.
“They walked us through the whole process of how they did it,” says Alison. “There’s a huge curved wall with clamps and they laminate the wood together with glue and bend it over time. It was an absolutely phenomenal process.” The stairs were transported in parts and the fine sanding, espresso stain and metal rod barristers were all completed in the home.
At the foot of these stairs, I stop to admire a large canvas print of Alison and Sean walking their dogs in springtime. It is one of a four-part series that captures the seasons on their land. In the picture, the couple hold hands and laugh.
Clearly, country living suits them well.