A dream home in Quebec's Eastern Townships

Kathy and Peter’s previous renovating experience was particularly useful in the design of the bright, farm-style kitchen. “I learned that I need to be very close to things,” Kathy says, and so the kitchen is in the centre of the house, open to the dining area, which has French doors to the veranda, and with views out three different sides of the house. The starting point was a pair of carved architectural brackets they found at an auction; Kathy asked Peter to “build the kitchen around them.” He placed them upside down over an antique bar, once part of a church altar, creating a unique pass-through from the prep area, and painted the piece a warm white.

The couple share a love of antiques along with a collector’s joy in the find. Kathy says Peter buys “good” antiques, while she likes pieces that look well used. “Peter’s style is Quebec primitive, which I like,” Kathy says, “but the really good pieces he buys tend to end up in his office.” She shows a strong appreciation for workmanship too, noting a collection of antique leather collar boxes with silk drawstrings: “I can’t believe how much work went into making them.” Yet she says she’s not a connoisseur. “I like something a farmer would have made for his wife because she needed it.”

Unusually for a collector, Kathy professes a strong minimalist bent. “I like a lot of styles,” she says, “but for myself, I like continuity, and I like things to be quite plain. I don’t like walking from room to room and getting a different feeling.” Her colour palette is consistently reds, greens and yellows, against warm whites — a fall palette, not incidentally. “My favourite time of year here is fall,” says the country girl. And as much as she enjoys her acquisitions, they are never all on display at once. Rather, she tucks pieces away and changes them around at least every season, to be enjoyed all the more because they have been under wraps for a while. The constant evolution suits her hands-on style: “Everything in the house is a work in progress.”

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