Organic Gardening News

From hotel room vases to church donations, here's what really happens to the hundreds of bouquets the royal family receives from the public each year.

Weekly roundup of three properties that recently sold in Metro Vancouver.

864 Vedder Pl., Port Coquitlam

Type: Five-bedroom, three-bathroom detached

Size: 2,744 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $1,644,000

Listed for: $1,775,000

Sold for: $1,700,000

Sold on: March 30

Days on market in this listing: 18

Listing agent: Rod Bahari PREC at Sutton Group — West Coast Realty

Buyers agent: Kyle Lamb PREC at Royal LePage Sterling Realty

The big sell: This five-bedroom family home has a cul-de-sac setting in Port Coquitlam’s Riverwood district and a lot size in excess of 6,600 square feet that basks in a southwest-facing aspect with a fully-fenced garden complete with a sun deck, pergola, and an outdoor barbecue area. Inside, the home is described as “move-in ready” with an updated kitchen resplendent with a generous-sized pantry, granite counters, and stainless-steel appliances, an adjacent family room with sliding glass doors to the garden, a gas fireplace in the living room bordered by full-height windows, and a conjoined formal dining area with chandelier lighting. All five bedrooms reside upstairs including a luxurious primary suite, while gleaming hardwood floors and designer paint colours including accent walls complement the decor. Updates include a new roof, furnace, and air conditioning, and there is a side-by-side double garage integrated into the home.

1407 East 28th Ave., Vancouver

Type: Three-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse

Size: 1,317 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $1,172,000

Listed for: $999,000

Sold for: $995,000

Sold on: March 29

Days on market in this listing: Four

Listing agent: Cheryl Davie PREC at Stilhavn Real Estate Services

Buyers agent: Stephen Morris at Oakwyn Realty

The big sell: East Vancouver’s Kensington-Cedar Cottage neighbourhood is the venue for this duplex-style three-bedroom townhouse that is located to the rear of the Kingcrest Estates complex on the quieter side of the development. Constructed in 2007 at the intersection of East 28th Avenue and Knight Street, there are nine units that display Craftsman-inspired architecture with porches and eave overhangs. This particular unit enjoys an abundance of light thanks to a triple-aspect exposure on all three levels. It has two entrances — one through a private front door, and the other through an attached oversized single garage. The main floor features an open-plan design with adjoining living and dining rooms and a kitchen with walkout access to a patio. There are two bedrooms upstairs with a cheater ensuite bathroom, while the lower level has a third bedroom and full bathroom.

5045 10A Ave., Tsawwassen

Type: Three-bedroom, three-bathroom detached

Size: 1,675 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $1,368,000

Listed for: $1,270,000

Sold for: $1,175,000

Sold on: Feb. 13

Days on market in this listing: 17

Listing agent: Shafik Ladha PREC at ReMax Westcoast

Buyers agent: Mustafa Qaderi PREC at Royal LePage West Real Estate Services

The big sell: With a lot size of close to 9,000 square feet in the heart of Tsawwassen, there is plenty of space to consider a rebuild if desired. The current home was built in 1970 and features a functional two-level layout with the majority of the living space on the ground floor and three bedrooms upstairs served by two bathrooms. The L-shaped living and dining area (complete with bay window and a wood-burning fireplace) flows into the kitchen while the adjacent family room offers additional comfort and relaxation as well as providing access to a generous-sized laundry room with a two-piece bathroom, and an attached single garage. Cliff Drive Elementary School and Brandrith Park are nearby as well as transit and Tsawwassen Mills. According to listing agent Shafik Ladha, the property is currently tenanted for $2,400 per month.

These transactions were compiled by Nicola Way of BestHomesBC.com.

Realtors — send your recent sales to nicola@besthomesbc.com

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A home renovation may only involve a smaller project, but that doesn’t preclude incorporating a bigger design concept beyond mere functionality and updating materials. For a bathroom transformation in an older New Westminster property, the homeowner had a unique and highly specific request that defined the remodel plan: She envisioned reclining in the bath, a glass of wine in hand, while staring up at the stars.

Fulfilling that brief meant not just reworking the floor plan but making the bathtub the focal point of the space. Though an averaged sized bathroom at 80 square feet, the room felt smaller because it was long and narrow. For Rebecca Foster, principal and lead designer at Align Interior Design , the solution was to reposition the tub at the end of the room against the outside wall.

“It had just a tiny window there,” Foster explains. “We made that window bigger and centred it on the wall. There was no skylight there. We totally opened up the ceiling to make this beautiful skylight.”

To emphasize it as focal point, Foster’s concept involved adding an arch to frame the tub — an idea that came from the homeowner discovering an inspiration image of a built-in tub with an arch detail. Foster’s interpretation of the arch was finessed to integrate with the home’s mid-century modern style.

“It was a really traditional bathroom design in the inspirational image, and it didn’t suit the rest of her house,” Foster recalls. “So, we took the arched tub inspiration and modernized it in a way to make it feel a bit more transitional. The style worked with the current mid-century modern house.

“We wanted to make sure that all your attention was drawn through that arch to the window at the back and the skylight because, ultimately when you walked into the space, we wanted it to feel like natural light was flooding into the space and that bathtub just felt so inviting.”

For the colour and texture of the materials, the overreaching theme was a calming, beach vibe. Again, considering the mid-century style of the home, Foster eschewed any obvious coastal motifs or nod to seaside living. Rather she mixed textures and hues that are evocative of water and sand — a feature wall of aqua zellige tile over the natural-wood vanity and at either end of the tub, white shiplap on the wall opposite the vanity and creamy tiles on the floor accented with polished nickel hardware and plumbing fixtures.

“The back wall is just white zellige because we loved the texture of it and how it felt, very much like the flooring, like a sandy beach,” Foster notes. “We’ve got layers of texture. We’ve got the shiplap which is vertical texture. We’ve got floor tile positioned in a diagonal to give that texture.”

Foster continued the white zellige on the apron of the tub for both esthetic and practical reasons: there isn’t a visual break between the tub and the back wall, and the tile is impervious to water. Though as the tub is undermounted under the quartz ledge, which is slanted inward on the edges, the water flows back into the tub rather than the floor but remains the perfect resting spot for a wine glass.

The repositioning of the tub, while visually dramatic, also created greater functionality in the space introducing more creative storage — a built-in spot for a Kitty Litter tray — and a dedicated makeup station for the homeowner.

From the perfectly positioned window with the meticulous tile placement — no odd offcuts to break the visual flow — to the subtle mix of textures, the result is a fresh, serene space. Much of which Foster credits contractor Fifth Element Construction ’s attention to detail.

Foster says she’s pleased with the effect of all the textures play together without it being overwhelming with texture. “It just kind of layered the kind of warmth that you feel when you’re on a beach,” she says.

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Can you see them all? A record 10 private residences are featured on this year’s New West Heritage Homes Tour, showcasing styles that range from mid-century modern to Romantic Revival-era English cottage design.

Stops include a residence once inhabited by the head of the famed Hollywood Hospital, a pioneering centre for addiction treatment, and two homes designed by Vancouver architect R.A. Berwick.

Also on the tour is Irving House, the oldest intact house in the Lower Mainland. The restored home features the original 1887 metallic gold wallpapers in the parlours, which have been painstakingly cleaned to remove over 130 years of soot and coal dust. The hallway papers were redrawn and colour-matched to the original palate.

Now in its 44th year, the self-guided tour includes knowledgeable volunteers and a detailed guidebook. Details on all homes and venues on the tour can be found on an interactive Google map at newwestheritage.org .

New Westminster Heritage Homes Tour

When: May 31, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tickets and info: newwestheritage@gmail.com; 604-862-2867. You can also buy tickets online at newwestheritage.org

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