design details

I was really adamant about making our new beach house, look old. Not falling down the hill old, but pleasant reminders of an east Coast summer, shingles, bead board, and of course, windows that capitalize on the great ocean view! I had worked in Maine my first year out of college, and I wanted a house that I remembered from my jaunts along the coast. Brown shingled and gabled--white trim, window seats and french doors-I wanted them all!!! We were lucky to own this incredible property, and we wanted a house that utilized every asset the property had!

The first order of business was to decide on a design. We knew we needed plenty of room to accommodate a minimum of 10 people, since my sister and I between us have 6 kids! It needed to be able to accommodate the needs of our 90ish mother and provide privacy, yet be an open style living situation. We had a long narrow lot that sloped down to the ocean, and a town building council that wanted to make our life difficult!!

I drew up several initial designs. We had decided that, because of my design background, I would draw the initial drawings and then a architectural drafts person would do the final design as well as the structural building detail. We planned a home that gave us open areas, private areas and enough bathrooms to make living with 10 people for the summer possible!!

After the fire our contractor was given permission to remove our burned out foundation. The initial plans were to re-build our house, back on the bank. We planned to have our main living on the street level and then have additional bedrooms downstairs, along with a bonus/play room. However, the town had other plans for us, and a new ruling had been passed that no longer allowed homes to be built into the bank overlooking the ocean. We had to come up with new house plans, new blueprints and all before the beginning building permit expired!

We had never relished the idea of having our home sit on the main street level, due to privacy concerns and the fact we like being the only house sitting on the banks overlooking the Parksville Bay! We didn't want to impact our neighbors views, by becoming a two story house, but because of our very narrow lot demensions, this would be the only way possible to get the living space our extended family required. I went back to the drawing board and designed our current house. Our entire family agreed on the final design, and felt we got most of what we wanted-that would be possible, considering our budget and our lot constraints. back to the drafts person we went and finally by March 2006 we had a final design and blueprints!

Where did the Name Harbour Lights come from?

When people first walk in the front door--their first words are "Look at that view!" The view here is incredible. We are right on the beach on Vancouver Island in Parksville, British Columbia. We have owned this property since 1963, and summered here every year for June, July and August. The orginal Harbour Lights was a little 1 bedroom, wooden cottage, perched right on the side of the bank-with stairs leading down to the beach. The name Harbour Lights came with the house. At high tide, the lights from the house and the colored patio lights on the deck would be reflected in the water--plus from here we have the perfect view of the entire harbour-hence the name "Harbour Lights." Even though, our new beach house does not sit as low on the bank anymore--we can still see all the lights and be reflected in the tide, when it's high.

Summer Number 2 in our Beach House

As I sit, here on the deck, overlooking the bay--I feel incrediably lucky. It's been 4 years since the devestating fire that totally destroyed our family's beach house. We lost 2 years to red tape and construction and now we are enjoying our second summer in our almost completed home. here is a look back at the work involved to get to this point!