DESTINATION NATURE Billinghurst worked with Baird to turn every room into a destination. By adding select bold colours in the bathrooms, bedroom and den, as well as a blue perforated staircase, which also creates shadow play on the walls, the home is lit with personality. Even the front door hints at what’s to come. “The connection between interior and exterior is so strong, you feel immediately connected to nature in this house,” says Billinghurst. “The library loft upstairs has a space for afternoon reading, naps and playing music, while still feeling like you are outside. And you never need to turn a light on in the day.” While the home required a driveway for bylaw, Baird doesn’t drive, so the team designed a broken-up pathway with greenery. They also put in a rain garden — a pond covered in foliage — to act as an overflow basin and rainwater collection space that flows downhill to the gardens. Then, of course, there are the gardens. Baird worked with Erin Renwick of Greenspace Designs to bring the outdoor space to life. Her team brought in pops of colours through a series of lupins, ferns, bushes and wild grasses. Baird later added a few touches himself: sunflowers, berries, grapes and tomato plants, fig trees, peach trees and more. “I built way too big of a house,” says Baird, with a laugh. “I spend most of my time just sitting in front of the fireplace on the main floor, or in the backyard. Being able to look out and see green from every angle in the house means a lot to me, especially as things change.”
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SPRUCE | WINTER 2023
The upper-level loft was designed as a space for Baird to find a reprieve, with purpose-built areas for reading, resting and playing guitar. It’s also a favourite hangout for Baird’s senior cat. The surrounding windows and skylights make it bright and cheery, year round.
RESOURCE LIST Architect: Coast + Beam Architecture Interior designer: Pamela Billinghurst Interior Design Builders and framer: Horizon Pacific Contracting Light fixtures: Amped Electrical Contracting Cabinets and woodwork: CSD Design Doors and hardware: Home Lumber & Building Supplies Roofing: Top Line Roofing Shou Sugi Ban: Warburton Woodworks Concrete work: Vancouver Island Polished Concrete, Horizon Contracting Flooring and tile: Island Floor Centre Kitchen appliances: Trail Appliances Countertops: Colonial Countertops Plumbing fixtures: Watershed Plumbing & Gas Stairs: NightNDay Projects Fireplace: Ark@Home Landscape design: Greenspace Designs Landscaping: Golden Appeal Landscaping