Aging in place doesn’t always sound very appealing, but here is one way to do it with style and intelligence.
This new custom-built house was envisioned by a knowledgeable owner who plans to live here forever, enjoying a full life, maximum safety and some “wow factor” too.
The owner, who asked not to be identified, is not into bling or extraneous “stuff,” but she does appreciate art, European antiques and the many treasures collected during her career as a health expert, travelling as far afield as Europe and New Zealand.
A self-proclaimed reno fanatic with multiple renovations under her tool belt, she wanted to build a home from scratch just for once, and the timing was right as she is now 70, on her own with settled kids.
“I wanted to age in my own place, on ground level with no stairs, 36-inch wide pocket doors, accessible showers, dishwasher drawers so there is no reaching down, higher wall-mounted toilets and a flexibility that reflects my changing needs.”
Her home will age too, uniquely.
It is clad in steel panels that will weather and rust over time. They will gain a ruddy patina but never require maintenance. Already each panel is taking on its own unique shadings of colour, striations and texture — and looks like the hide of an exotic animal.
Most of her neighbours and friends love the exterior look but a bewildered stranger leaned over the fence recently and asked: “Did you actually put rust on your house?”
She wouldn’t dream of using such cladding in Oak Bay, for instance, but loves the look in her country setting, where her metal roof also collects rain water to store in a 2,700-gallon cistern.
This North Saanich resident wanted to live big in a small space.
“Who needs the work and cost of maintaining a huge house at this stage?”
She was prompted to custom build after her oldest friend was forced to leave home because she couldn’t manage stairs anymore.
“My mother died at 94 so I wanted to do some sensible planning. …COVID really reminded us we don’t want to go into care,” she said with a wince.
Sadly, most builders and designers today are creating “overblown homes to maximize lots. They say it costs less per square foot to build, but that’s not efficiency if you don’t need it.”
In her home there is a central room for living, dining and cooking, and on either side are six-metre-wide sliding glass openings to add visual space.
At one end of the room is the master suite, while at the other is a large mechanical space, her office and a flexible area currently used as a television, exercise and guest room.
When the owner stops working and needs help, this can be converted into a caretaker suite as it has a full bathroom and roughed-in kitchen.
The 2,200-square-foot rancher (including potential suite) has high ceilings, straight walls with no wasteful alcoves and large patios for outdoor living. “I didn’t want a house what was a large house that was just shrunk. I like the European practicality and esthetics of small and smart.”
She has only one closet in the entire house — “How many clothes does one person wash?” — and mostly small appliances.
She didn’t want a built-in coffee maker or microwave but splurged on double ovens. The bottom one doubles as storage for big cookie trays and roasters that usually end up on a back of a low shelf, “that you can only reach on all fours.”
Polished cement floors (with radiant heat) can handle her never-ending parade of three dogs, one cat, grandkids and mud from the garden and she looks forward to it cracking and looking old.
Her one hall is extra wide and nowhere is there a rug, because of the tripping hazard.
“I will never have to refinish hard wood again, or paint the house thanks to the cladding.”
In retirement she will live on her savings so she invested up front, while still working, to ensure a nearly maintenance-free house.
“And having spent my life in health care I’m really conscious of the challenge of trying to care for people who like their independence. I don’t want to be a burden on my children and I always want to be busy.
“Here I have things that have to be done. When I’m older and doing less, I can still enjoy the birds, squirrels and suicidal bunnies,” she joked, considering she has three dogs.
While having a sensible home, she still wanted some wow factor and fell in love with the look of rusting cladding on a new building opposite Capital Iron.
She immediately tracked down Great White Cladding’s Don White and, “He was great.”
The Corten panels come in large (4-by-10-foot) sheets and White designed irregular pattern pieces for her.
“We cut them down to small sizes to fit around windows and doors and break up the effect,” he said adding this was only his second non-commercial project.
He explained the panels look very dramatic and will only rust “up to a point and then stop.” Behind each is plywood, vapour barrier, strapping and clips that hook into a track.
While this cladding is more expensive than, say, Hardie Board, it will last much longer and achieve a “higher thermal performance.”
The owner said plumbing was a major issue and Jeff Santos at Cantu Bathrooms & Hardware in Vancouver was her hero.
“We were caught in the squeeze between supply chain delays and final inspection and I was desperate to move out of a 1985 RV that I was living in with dogs and cat. It was pouring and freezing last November.
“Actually I wasn’t desperate, I was hysterical,” but she said Santos really delivered.
Finding a simpatico designer was her biggest challenge since they all wanted to include masses of storage and closets. Instead, she was inspired by a home on the Remodelista website.
When downsizing from her previously large, traditional home her mantra was: “If I don’t use it I don’t want it… My sons will thank me.”
What triggered the move? Again it was her previously mentioned friend’s situation.
“Like me she had travelled extensively, we shared the same taste and that terrible collector habit. When she died, her daughter wanted none of it and so it all went into green garbage bags and off to charity shops.”
The owner is quick to note her life now is far from austere, in fact it is enriched since she kept only her most treasured things and uses her “good stuff” every day.
