Homes

Before and After: A Mid-Century Home Reno

A West Coast modern home gets a contemporary update.

By Stacey McLachlan /

A West Coast modern home gets a contemporary update.

It’s a tricky thing, restoring a 50-year-old home. “We didn’t want to create a museum, or a house frozen in time,” says interior designer Sherri Summers. She and partner Terry Koziel bought their G. Douglas Wylie-designed property in 2013, and over the past two years (with the help of designer Mila Djuras), they’ve proceeded to transform the retro West Coast modern home into a space that works for their contemporary needs, while still highlighting the home’s mid-century roots.The original house was designed in the ’60s, and featured in Western Homes and Living in 1963. Over the past half-decade, the original blueprints and the original magazine have been passed from owner to owner. These documents provided plentiful inspiration for the home’s renovation. “We wanted to maintain the simplicity of mid-century design and retain period features whenever possible,” says Summers.P 1The original two-bedroom, one-bath, post-and-beam design was reconfigured—with a building addition—into a three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath, but many elements remained the same. The exterior stone wall was left in tact, as was the limestone fireplace. A set of floating stairs with iron railings and a built-in planter were also restored.P 4The floating hearth was originally decked out in slate, but Summers and Djuras re-clad it in concrete to update the look. Mahogoany panels in the living room were refinished and re-installed in the upper hallway, and as many windows as possible, including the rear window wall with sliding glass doors and trapezoid clerestory windows, were retained. The result is a warm, welcoming home that gleefully celebrates ties to design history—while still making a modern family feel right at home.

Click below to launch a slideshow of this renovated mid-century home

€œIt's all in the moment, like painting,€ says McCarthy€”a certain magical quality. Whatever time of year, it's about being authentic. €œI think presentation is so essential in our life because it is a reflection of our essence,€ she says. And through this oh-so-simple yet luxurious cottage, she's distilled her family's essence as well as that of the island they call home

Sliding doors lead from the dining room and living room onto the patio, which acts as a courtyard between the house and garage. The garage itself was designed to be multi-purpose, says Summers. €œIt's a huge volume of space, that doubles as an enclosed entertaining space when we move the cars.€

This patio is repurposed concrete€”the designers broke up the patio slab in the backyard and reset it in the front.

The removal of the main floor interior walls visually expanded and brightened the home, and helped to connect all the social spaces.

Blue, Summers's favourite colour, carries throughout the home, while the wood flooring and concrete elements nod to nature€”a classic component of West Coast modernist design.

Eclectic elements like the Asian-inspired screen keep the home from feeling like a period piece.

€œInitially the concept was more colourful and more Palm Springs,€ says Djuras. €œBut it's hard to do that in Vancouver, with our climate and our colour of sky.€ Instead, the designers went for an earthy vibe (the backsplash is a great example).

The original exterior wall peeks through into the bedroom, providing texture and detail to the space.

The powder room tiles are a nod to mid-century geometric design feature in bright blue.

Stacey McLachlan

Stacey McLachlan

Stacey is a senior editor at Western Living magazine, as well as editor-in-chief of sister publication Vancouver magazine. She loves window shopping on the job: send your home accessories and furniture recommendations over to [email protected]