RETIREMENT RETREAT
Refresh for a country home
On a very private five-acre lot in the southern Laurentians sits this 1937 country home. It was created by a Montreal builder who used it as a cottage. According to the current owner, it offers superior bones and has a fully poured concrete foundation, a rare characteristic given its age.
Extensive indoor renovations have been carried out since the owners purchased the property in 1979. In 1985, they had the privilege to buy the land surrounding their property. Because of this incorporation, they now enjoy a swimming pond fed by a mountain stream. They both retired in 2014 and moved in full time last June.
They introduced a circular gravel driveway in the 350-foot frontage to the street. The tall fir, close to the home, was cut down recently. I agreed with the owners about enlarging the humble size of the porch overhang, which they had added in 1980. The angles looked too weak compared with the sharp slant of the main roof.
For a more cohesive approach, the pitch of the new porch roof will replicate the roof slant of the two dormers. This more substantial overhang framework will look proportioned with the building. This transformation will entail replacing the shingles. I propose cedar-style shingles in various shades of medium grey, which will instil depth and texture. All metal flashings must mirror the roof colour and should be in a matte finish. Strong square columns enveloped by simple trims at the base will offer adequate scale to the new structure. On the facade of the overhang, wide planks will contour and separate the triangular figure.
The owners didn’t care for white coloured stucco. I would love to see the walls painted in a subtle soft blue. In this tint, a hint of beige, grey and a drop of green will prevent the colour from looking too pastel. Using a specialized product for stucco in a matte finish is imperative. The foundation, the dark strip above it and the vertical gutter pipes will echo the same blue colour.
The new casement windows’ medium-grey shade is picked up from one of the shingle tints. The top will show exterior lattices. Because of its abutting position on the corner of the left porch wall, the larger window frame is non-existent on that side. To correct this, this new window should be slightly smaller in length to allow white framing on all sides. Along the base of all window casings, custom-made cedar boxes will be fashioned with
drainage holes and opaque stained in grey.
The grey wooden path will stay, although the lower step near the drivewayshouldberedoneproperly. In the same material, hugging the foundation, a new levelled platform will start from the corner next to the left post and extend to the edge of the basement window. In front of this seating space, an irregular patio made of flagstones and mosslike ground cover will be flanked by a bordered concave curvy planting area on the left. It will be filled with unevenly placed boulders, colourful perennials and shrubs. Several compact shrubs will adorn the right side of the patio.
Like in a fountain, ornamental grasses will seem to shoot up from inside the circular raised bed. Around these perennials will overflow cascading shrubs, softening
the heavy attributes of the concrete blocks. At the base, the appearance of the surface of the yellow perennial ground cover gives an impression of bubbling sea foam.
Several herons, ducks and other species of birds return yearly to the pond. A fox, rabbits, muskrats, gophers and deer are also regular visitors of this watering place. Deer, when very hungry, will nibble on almost any plants. This is why this new landscaping renders some of the least attractive snacks for these lovely creatures.
VEGETATION (LEFT TO RIGHT):
Viburnum Harvest Gold (shrub, white blooms, yellow foliage turns lime in summer, reddish in fall, exterior left corner of house)
Rhododendron Rosy Lights (persistent shrub, dark pink blooms,
green foliage turns red in fall, front left corner of house)
Heuchera Berry Smoothie (several perennials, pinkish blooms, bright pink foliage turns darker in fall)
Lamium Aureum (persistent perennial ground cover, pink blooms, yellow foliage, curvy edges of left bed and raised bed)
Impatiens (white bloom plants and pink ones, flower boxes, low fertilizing)
Hedera helix (cascading ivy, bring indoors for winter, flower box)
Astilbe Vision in White (several perennials, white blooms, humus rich humid soil, yearly compost, around boulders)
Aranaria Aurea (perennial mosslike ground cover, tiny white blooms, yellow green foliage, between flagstones)
Weigela Minuet (several shrubs, pink blooms, green and purplish foliage, corner between main path and foundation wooden patio)
Stephanandra Crispa (cascading shrubs, white blooms, green foliage turns orangey then purplish in fall, top edge of raised bed)
Calamagrostis Karl Foerster (ornamental grasses, cut back in early spring, inside top of raised bed)