The cedar-shingled stone house set in a wooded landscape may seem typically English, but the location is actually the countryside of southwestern Ontario. And the house is nearly brand new. But the settled look of it all, the comfortable gathering places indoors and out, and the lush perennial gardens all evoke the best of country manor life, whatever accent you might detect.
Indeed, the homeowner's voice does retain a trace of her native England. And her casual combination of light walnut antiques and large-scale velvety sofas, the Persian rugs, flagstone floors and the quintessential mud room suggest that her roots are still close to her heart.
The owners bought the property in 1989 and moved out to it in 1996 while the new house, designed by architect John Vanstone, was being built. The wife, who has retired, became the contractor, seeking out special finishes and architectural embellishments. “My goal was to make a new house look old.” She was also the decorator, scouring antique and salvage shops in the city and country, and arranging for custom pieces of furniture and cabinetry. The result is warm and personal. Overall, there's a certain sophistication.
“I'm always looking through magazines,” she says, “and I enjoyed taking the time to find the right pieces. We were on a budget, though – my husband and I had weekly budget meetings.” Budget, for example, determined the flooring for the kitchen. When samples of old-world-style flagstone from New York proved prohibitively expensive, the homeowner thought – why not use outdoor flagstone and seal it? Problem solved. She couldn't find an antique hall bench for love or money, so her resourceful cabinetmaker created one to suit.
PHOTO SHOWN: The professional Garland range has a suitably grand scale for the big country kitchen, and boasts a griddle that sees frequent use. The panelled cabinets are finished in a celery tone with a glaze that looks as if an old coat of blue paint had been almost – but not quite – scraped down. The blue-finished display cabinet breaks up any sense of uniformity. The blue tiles on the island and backsplash, which came from France, have a watercolour finish that creates a sense of depth.
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