Inside a Light-Filled West Vancouver Waterfront Home Built for Serious Fun

Nina and Kang Tang had everything just about figured out for their dream home. They’d purchased a lot in West Vancouver in 2017 (one that was a bit tricky—there was a creek to cross over, and a dogleg into the property—but it rewarded you for the effort with an incredible waterfront). They’d confirmed their ideals: three bedrooms for their three boys, a principal bedroom and guest room, and plenty of space for social gathering. (He comes from a big family, and their home would be centre stage for their annual summer party.)

Within a year, architect Katie Hlynsky of Hlynsky and Davis Architects had it all mapped out for the family. But well-laid plans can still have surprises. “They showed up at our office in 2018 and Nina said, ‘I’m having another baby—we need another room,’” Hlynsky says with a smile.

Some quick shuffling of rooms and dimensions followed, and space was made for baby number four. Interior designers Robert Bailey and Massimo Lanaro of Robert Bailey Interiors, landscape architect Paul Sangha of Paul Sangha Creative and the team at Bradner Homes came on board to help bring the new dream home into reality. The unusual lot meant that permitting and design was a long process—environmental development for the creek area; foreshore work on the ocean side of things. Then, once building began, the pandemic arrived: from there, the homeowners could only be reached remotely as they were in lockdown back in Hong Kong.

But the design team and the family persevered. The creek itself offered both challenges and opportunities. The riparian area around the creek is protected, so both the Tangs’ house and that of their neighbours had to be set back from it, which has the benefit of allowing for privacy for both. Hlynsky’s team oriented the kids’ bedrooms to the back of the home, with a courtyard view that bleeds into the neighbour’s riparian area. “It’s all treed and very green and private,” Hlynsky says.

“It’s a long, skinny lot, so you could get dark spaces in the centre—but by moderating the roof planes, we’re able to bring in light.”

Guests enter the home onto a landing, which extends into the home office. And each floor transition is always limited to no more than a half-flight of stairs. “It allows the home to tier down the lot, and allows all of the floors to have a lot of natural light,” says Hlynsky. “It’s a long, skinny lot, so you could get dark spaces in the centre—but by moderating the roof planes, we’re able to bring in light.

Bailey and Lanaro worked collaboratively with Hlynsky to bring elements from the architecture throughout the interiors. “They were looking for a really functional house,” says Bailey. “It’s very much a house to be lived in—it’s not precious.”

The colour and materials palette of blues, greys and pale woods was chosen to echo and complement the water views rather than compete with them. “You get so much colour from the ocean—you don’t want to fight it, you want to embrace it,” says Bailey. “A warm palette could be quite jarring against it.”

The space is designed to transition easily between indoors and out. On the lower level, a covered outdoor kitchen (beautifully blue with glass backsplash tiles that wink in the sunlight) means that hours by the pool don’t have to wrap up before dinner. The adjoining lounge area—featuring an Edra Pack sofa that’s lovingly referred to as the “bear sofa” thanks to a soft, movable backrest that’s reminiscent of a polar bear—is Nina’s favourite, as it’s perfect for taking in the water view. And if it’s more of a movie- and-popcorn kind of night, a moody-feeling home theatre nearby features a custom smoky blush sectional from Bloom Furniture Studio that could easily host 15 for a great night in.

READ MORE: 5 Envy-Inducing Outdoor Kitchens

Upstairs, the primary bedroom offers a soothing retreat for the homeowners, including a stunning floor-to-ceiling millwork and fabric inlay that Bailey designed for the wall behind the bed. “I like a bedroom that is quite quiet—visually and acoustically,” says Bailey. “It provides a softness, and the whole bedhead wall becomes a headboard.”

It’s a welcoming space that’s meant to be fully lived in, from the stone bridge that Sangha designed—which now allows easy crossing of the creek—all the way out to the terrace over the water behind the home.

And that annual summer party is now regularly in full swing. The outdoor kitchen gets a workout, where crabs from local traps hauled in earlier in the day become crab cakes at night. The kids run relay races in the courtyard, a live band takes over the main living area and guests—along with Nina herself—step up to take the mic.

“They were looking for this multi-generational house,” says Hlynsky. “It’s really become this house for people, food, friends and family—it’s a very serious home, but it’s for serious fun, too.”