Most homeowners like the convenience and space-thrifty efficiency of overhead cabinets in kitchens, but Judy and Alex Brayden are into counter culture.
They prefer the horizontal lines of countertops and lower cabinetry alone, and are so fond of the look they carried it right through from their kitchen into their living area, ending in another horizontal element, an L-shaped window seat.
鈥淲e love the Tuscan kitchens where you see lots of flat surface, not banks of overhead cabinets,鈥� said Judy, who added they built their Cowichan River house in 2006, a year after travelling to Tuscany.
When on holiday, they always collect interesting architectural and design ideas, and both enjoy visiting art galleries and museums, said the artist and interior designer who owns her own firm.
鈥淲e loved the large kitchens we saw in Italy, with all the open areas to work on. It makes a space more inviting.鈥� She made this home鈥檚 long expanses of counter interesting by varying the elevations, by creating bookshelves and display areas underneath and even tucking a fireplace in one section.
鈥淲hen you see overhead cabinets you think of a traditional North American kitchen, but in Europe there is that lovely feeling of expanse,鈥� said Judy, who made up for the lack of overhead space by maximizing storage in other places, such as window seats on both floors, and three-metre high closets, with extra shelving on top.
鈥淚 have lots of stuff but you don't see it all at once because in my kitchen, everything is put away.鈥�
When visiting clients, Judy often notices people are overwhelmed by clutter, inundated by belongings. 鈥淚t鈥檚 as if they are victims of their stuff. It鈥檚 great to have lovely things, but we don鈥檛 have to share them all the time. I rotate things.鈥�
And, naturally, she has a mini stepladder to make those seasonal changes easier.
Because the great room is large, she chose two richly contrasting wood tones and designs for the maple cabinets. The five-panel shaker styles have a clear finish, while the bubble profile are stained a deep cherry.
鈥淲e have a lot of cabinetry, so it would be overwhelming to have it all the same,鈥� and she painted the walls a soft shade of late summer wheat, with creamy vellum trim.
There鈥檚 nothing frilly about this kitchen.
鈥淎nd that鈥檚 the trick,鈥� said Judy. 鈥淎 room doesn鈥檛 look elegant if it has too much in it. It you want people to pay attention to something, don鈥檛 distract them. For instance, the focal point in this room is the stone wall, upstairs it鈥檚 diagonal windows.鈥�
The kitchen ceiling is high and in a couple of areas the owner created what she calls 鈥渟ecret鈥� storage. 鈥淭hese cabinets don't stand out because they're part of floor-to-ceiling built-ins,鈥� she explained, pointing to the coffee/wine bar and the wall of ovens as examples.
The butler鈥檚 pantry off the kitchen has floor-to-ceiling cabinets on one side, linen and china storage on the other and a narrow closet for a vacuum, 鈥渨hich people so often forget.鈥� Nearby, the laundry room has deep drawers, rather than baskets, and a built-in ironing board.
Judy designed the 2,600-square-foot house, which was built by Brian Childs & Co. Construction, and she and her husband did all the landscaping.
They鈥檝e owned the property since 1993 and previously used to camp there in a small cabin, built years before. 鈥淲e always enjoyed coming here on weekends and turning on the old hurricane lamps, even though there was no plumbing and we had an outhouse,鈥� said Alex, who added they decided to build a permanent home on site when they retired.
He said their dream was to have a warm winter house, so they sited it for winter sun and installed heated floors on the main level, with porcelain tiles throughout. They like the feeling of continuity flowing from room to room, without a lot of carpet to break up the look.
鈥淚 also wanted a home with lots of natural light, high ceilings, open spaces and wide stairs for easy movement,鈥� said Alex, who said the design works very well.
鈥淚 like having the master bedroom on the main floor where I can wake up and walk right into the kitchen and make a coffee,鈥� he said with a chuckle.
鈥淥ur builder Brian Childs was incredibly generous with his time and advice, and when you live in the country you find all kinds of people with skills. Neighbours arrived with backhoes and other machines to help us out, to give us plants to start a garden鈥�.
鈥淲e absolutely love the Cowichan Valley,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I enjoy our garden鈥檚 balance between natural vegetation and landscaped parts, although nature always wants to grow in and take over.鈥�
Their garden brims with rampant plants and is interwoven with curving paths. The owners added a small patch of grass and a gravel turnaround, 鈥渁s a visual resting place,鈥� explained Judy, whose business is called All Facets of Design.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a long, narrow lot 鈥� 100 by 400 feet 鈥� and we keep it as natural as possible with the addition of vegetables and perennials.鈥� It is filled with Indian plum, native elderberry (鈥渇abulous because it grows eight feet a year,鈥� she said), white fawn lilies, clouds of white oceanspray, day lilies, erethronium, begonias, fig trees and much more.
They have lots of things in pots, because that鈥檚 the only way they survive, thanks to shallow soil and aggressive natural plants that continually try to take over. 鈥淲e spend a lot of time tending nature 鈥� pretty much all our waking hours, from March to October, but it鈥檚 such an honour to live by the river
The property feels like paradise to them, and everywhere are touches of Judy鈥檚 creativity. The graduate of fine arts at Malaspina College (who won the Governor General鈥檚 award for interior design) has even decorated their old outhouse as a kind of garden folly.
While the garden overflows with plants, the home鈥檚 interiors are spare.
The master bedroom has scant furniture and the bed sits in the middle of the room, with a 鈥渉allway鈥� behind, bordered by lit display boxes set into a wall under the stairway.
Paint colours are matte finish everywhere except the bathrooms. Upstairs they are restrained shades of tan and grey, while downstairs the colours are deliberately vibrant and strong, as in the tomato red library or dark green powder room.
The library doubles as a guest room and has glass pocket doors opening onto the front hall, creating an expansive entry with the flexibility of being curtained off for visitors.
Judy explained she and Alex wanted a warm-hearted home similar to that evoked by artist Thomas Kinkaid, who painted idyllic, pastoral scenes in slightly surreal pastels.
鈥淲henever I work with people I ask them, what do you want to feel in your house? For us it was a warm winter home, with gables, a warm glow inside and a roof covered in snow.鈥�
