After four generations of family summer vacations spent at their cottage in Roberts Creek, British Columbia, Bill and Carol Page understood this area on the Sunshine Coast is where they’d build their dream home after retirement. The environmentally conscious bunch worked with Montgomery Wood Architect to the majority of the design, using local timber and high tech sustainable attributes where they could. The Pages retained all of the cut-off material during construction and are now using the bits in handmade furniture. Inspired by the Arts and Crafts age, their home design is a lively mixture of fresh, contemporary lines and simple craftsmanship.
at a Glance
Who lives here: Bill and Carol Page
Location: Roberts Creek, Sunshine Coast, British Columbia
Size: 1,600 square feet; two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, office, workshop, spacious garage
That’s intriguing: Rainwater kept in a cistern under the sun deck is used for irrigation and a koi fish tank.
Ryan Nelson Photography
The few took advantage of their long, narrow lot by placing the house to the back and opening the bright front to get a garden, a driveway and a deck.
Carol’s bent for growing and her experience working at theDevonian Botanic Garden at the University of Alberta helped turn their front garden into a lush oasis. She also planted a lively mixture of hydrangeas, Russian sage, elder, montbretia,Euphorbia, daylilies, Kinnikinnick, clematis,honeysuckle, bamboo, daisies, black-eyed Susan, dogwoodand showy stonecrop — among many different plants.
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Rather than interfere with the sun deck at the front, the homeowners put the door to the side of this lot and let the entryway into bisect the dwelling and private areas of the house.
The local cedar siding was hand-dipped in a stain by a local painter to protect the timber from weather and boost the color’s longevity. Painted a forest green, two trim accents were utilized: rough-cut Douglas fir and stained vertical-grain Douglas fir, which carries on inside the house.
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Front deck wraps around the face of the house.
Ryan Nelson Photography
The main living room opens onto the sun deck and the kitchen; windows make good use of this whole lot’s southwest orientation.
The design highlights the progression from backyard to deck into dwelling spaces and then private locations. Clean and simple buttery walls match the warmth of this timber siding outside.
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The big central island serves as a prep and dining space.
Ryan Nelson Photography
The spacious floor plan, the vaulted ceiling and the skylights make an airy feel in the living areas.
Freshly cut hydrangeas in the backyard are an instant centerpiece.
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Glass doors connect the home’s interior with its lawn.
A furnace that is efficient, on-demand hot water and in-slab heating keep the house warm in the winter. However, strategic window placement along with the insulated thermal mass of the concrete flooring mean heating is seldom required.
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Steel spindles from a Vancouver company were a successful design experiment.
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The upstairs home office overlooks the primary roof and provides an opinion of the Georgia Strait.
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The upstairs bathroom is straightforward and pragmatic, with a huge tub and dual-flush toilets.
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Carol’s upstairs sewing area also looks out to the front of the house and the Georgia Strait.
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Efficient multipurpose spaces promote circulation into different areas of the house. The laundry area area also functions as the back hallway, leading to the downstairs storage area along with the garage and shop areas out the back. Large light wells on each side of the space welcome light to the home’s deepest areas.
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The lower patio is enveloped by Carol’s backyard — a refuge secluded in plain sight. Carol maintains an edible garden with a wide selection, including beans, lettuce, raspberries, cucumber, squash, swiss chard, kale, chives and leeks.
The couple is responsible for all of the landscape design, plantings and built structures. Many of the plantings are heirlooms from different families’ homes around British Columbia and Alberta, and lots of the new plantings are native species.
Ryan Nelson Photography
The cottage style of Roberts Creek lends itself well to a massive setback site, instead of a tight urban cloth. The house almost blends into the woods. Carol and Bill’s home is now a destination for future generations of their family to enjoy annually.
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