Warm-weather images – sunshine on water, sailcloth, meadows in flower – translate with ease into a simple decorating palette. Clean whites, cool blues and bold yellows instantly lift a room into summer. Generations of cottagers know this instinctively, reaching for cans of white paint to give old wicker furniture a fresh coat, gathering bunches of daisies by the roadside, bringing the odd piece of blue and white china from the city to the country kitchen.
For Montreal designer Donald Christopher, a lighthearted colour scheme is the perfect complement to his weekend home. For 27 years, he has owned an 1880s boathouse on Lake Memphremagog, just over an hour's drive from the city. “In the late 19th century, there were only a few summer residences on the lake,” says Christopher. “People travelled to them mainly by boat.” Christopher's boathouse is a grand-scale structure, 45' by 45', built to harbour vessels belonging to the owners of a large house nearby. It was not merely a utilitarian building: children and guests of the family slept on the upper floor, where a Boston grand piano remains; the maids and chauffeur had rooms on the floor below.
With great sensitivity to the boathouse's history and character, Christopher renovated the structure, straightening the crooked foundation and introducing several bay windows to bring in the light. He removed old tongue-and-groove panelling before insulating the walls, then carefully replaced it. In the kitchen, the original cabinets are still in place, beside a few faithful reproductions to increase storage space. The floorboards of the front and back verandahs were a cerulean blue; the designer has kept up the tradition.
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