An ageless beauty
By MARINA SACHT
The Lang-Morissette residence, located in Aquila Estates sits on a five acre parcel perched on the bank overlooking Kiwi Cove and the mountains behind Ladysmith. The modern home is an ageless beauty. While it features 3304 square feet of living space, it’s been designed for the occupants to age in place. All living space is on the main level with the exception of a large guest room above the garage complete with a private washroom and walk-in closet.
When Gregory Lang and Rejean Morissette contacted GNB Builders to build their home Greg Bianchini and Heidi Derhousoff were happy as they had not only made new clients but new neighbours. The commute to work was counted by driveways.
GNB Builders has never built the same house twice with this home being the most modern of them all. The high gloss blue and black cabinetry with the falling edge granite is quite a statement. The silver slate flooring was specially ordered from India which covers the entire main level living area of 2700 square feet. The flooring was chosen to allow for the cabinets, furniture and art work to stand out rather than the flooring. This understated flooring, says Derhousoff, sets the tone for the entire home.
And what a house it is!
The exterior of the home is finished in fiber cement siding with the bold colour of Benjamin Moore’s Symphony blue complemented with Benjamin Moore’s Storm grey. Bold colours for this home were chosen in order to highlight the structure and architectural lines.
Greg had fun coming up with special design features in the dedicated media room; building wall niches for movie posters and a large inset for the TV and components. The media room is painted a Vibrant Red and Symphony Blue which lead to it being nicknamed by all the trades as the Spiderman room. The five seat theatre features a sloped floor, and five comfortable chairs. There’s even a Kohler waterless urinal installed in the media room (the other is in the master ensuite) for comfort.
Another amazing feature is the huge Indian Green granite in the ensuite shower. This was the largest wall hung piece of granite that Infinite Granite had ever installed. It took five men to install this beautiful piece, says Heidi. Indian Green granite is dark green and black with specks of blue, truly beautiful. The large ensuite shower has no curb, making it wheelchair accessible like the rest of the main floor of the home. A large granite bench in the shower complements the wall and the bamboo cabinetry, a large window looks out at nature.
The kitchen is a marvel of granite, named Night Eyes it inspired the striking kitchen; they colour matched the blue specks in the granite for the cabinet colours that combined with state of the art appliances, simple clean lines and an illuminated backsplash that changes colours for some high tech fun.
This home reached the impressive Built Green Platinum certification with an Energuide rating of 84. Going green wasn’t the original plan, said Lang but it evolved that way.
“The most important thing about a house in the end isn’t how it looks, but the guts of it,” says Lang.
With both coming from a medical background, Lang is a retired surgeon and Morissette a pharmacist, aging in place was an important factor.
“While it may not look it, this house is actually built like a nursing home,” says Lang. There’s turning radius for wheelchairs in the bathroom and kitchen. The floors are rough and there’s no rugs to slip. The doorway is extra wide to get a stretcher in if the ambulance has to take you out. The showers are so wide you can easily roll a wheelchair in.
“Next thing is the coffin,” Morissette laughs. “We used to joke that the upstairs room was for the kids when they visit but it could also be for a caretaker.” The upstairs features a large bright room with a Murphy bed and could be a self-contained suite.
GNB Builders broke ground in November completing the project in nine months. The project went smoothly with an exception of several weeks of shut down due to snow.
The clients lived in Fort St. John while the construction was taking place visiting four times throughout the build. There was a deep trust that was built between them with lots of decision and choices left to Bianchini and Derhousoff.
“We thought we knew what we wanted, but they helped us figure it out. They focus on us. If we went off track they’d say, no that won’t work and this is why…and it made sense,” says Lang.
Lang and Morissette are enjoying their new house. Still to come will be landscaping and the idea of a infinity pool is floating around.
“After all the thought, preparation and building (like a nine month pregnancy); it feels like a home.”
Home for a long time to come.
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Here’s some of the trades who worked on the Lang residence.
A&A Vacuum Doctor, Auscan Plumbing, Bedrock Redi-Mix, Cornerstone Tile, GNB Builders Inc., G.W. Cement, Graf Excavating, Infinite Granite, S B Windows & Doors, Sherwood Sound & Security, V.I. Electric, Victoria Truss.
