Victoria home reflects youthful energy
Award-winning island residence has plenty of green features and is ‘a really cool place’
GRANIA LITWIN
Victoria Times Colonist
A floating stairway, hovering cabinets, soaring windows and aerial hallway are just some of the uplifting features in this unique home in the Ten Mile Point neighbourhood of Victoria. Small wonder the house took home two golds at the recent CARE Awards — Construction Achievements and Renovations of Excellence — one for best single-family detached custom home and the other for best new or renovated kitchen.
Seaside home looks like it’s ready to set sail
Island waterfront property was blasted to create a building site
GGRANIA LITWIN
Victoria Times Colonist
VICTORIA — Is it a house, or is it a cruise ship?
Visitors to this contemporary waterfront home on Saanichton’s Turgoose Point may be forgiven if they momentarily imagine that they have stepped aboard a ship. When you walk into the great room, your eye is drawn straight across a highly polished concrete floor through a giant 30-by-eight-foot NanaWall window system and out to sea. The dramatic L-shaped deck thrusts forward like the prow of a ship, offering breathtaking views and a seafaring feeling as guests look over the rocks and out to the horizon, glimpsing hardly a hint of shoreline below.
Long-distance clients new experience for Victoria builder
Grania Litwin / Times Colonist
Building a house for long-distance clients was a new experience for Victoria firm Integral Design. “Tackling a full-house build for offshore owners was a major learning curve,” said co-owner Bob Ingram.
“We are in the change business, whether it’s a $10,000 reno, major landscaping or a $900,000 complete build. These are always very short-term, intense relationships and it always comes down to trust and communication — and in this case, more than ever.”
House Beautiful: Now that's an open plan!
Grania Litwin / Times Colonist
One of the home’s most appealing features is a ground-level terrace for alfresco lounging and dining on more than 600 square feet of covered outdoor space. The no-nonsense floor is highly polished concrete — like those inside the house — and owners and guests stay warm thanks to a trio of fire pits and recessed infrared soffit units that radiate heat that can’t be blown away by breezes.
Rounding out the lower terrace is a stainless-steel outdoor kitchen with infrared and gas barbecue, fridge, recycling centre, granite countertops and 20 linear feet of cabinet — more than most indoor kitchens have.
Lofty mission accomplished
Floating elements add airy touch to award-winning family home designed with the environment in mind
Grania Litwin / Times Colonist
Small wonder the house took home two golds at the recent CARE Awards - Construction Achievements and Renovations of Excellence - one for best single-family detached custom home and the other for best new or renovated kitchen.