- Interior
- Architecture & development
Canadian interior design studio PlaidFox Studio completed, in collaboration with Homestar, a home in Vancouver for a family with children. It became a beautiful home that takes its inspiration from a French castle and consists entirely of a wood frame construction.
The house is centrally located in a wine region in Vancouver. When the owner bought the property, it was old and dilapidated and contained only a small bungalow. Five years were spent building the castle and converting the bungalow into a pool house, with the home finally completed in late 2020.
‘My main motivation for this house was that I wanted to create a very classic home without modern elements, so I could combine that with modern furniture,’ we hear from Ben Leavitt, creative director at PlaidFox Studio. He describes the home as a marriage of classic timeless design with a modern twist and European influences. 
The home occupies two floors. ‘We wanted to create smaller, more intimate spaces in the house so that the house would be cosy. It's a combination of open, large rooms and smaller, cosier rooms.’ The ground floor houses the living and dining area, the top floor houses the five bedrooms and six bathrooms. Further in the house are a games room, a wine room and a library, and an indoor riding arena, several stables and a huge garden could not be missed.
Natural and authentic materials were chosen.
The house had to feel intimate, inviting and radiate tranquillity. This was done by layering textures, keeping the house sober and minimalist in some areas and making it seem more collected, composed and eclectic in others. Natural materials were chosen that would look more authentic over time, such as limestone, marble, unpainted brass and white oak. It was also important to keep the house as light as possible, using white oak for all the ceilings, posts and floors. ‘Often wood-frame houses are very dark and don't have large windows, so we used light tones to be light, bright and open.’
The biggest challenge was in keeping the spaces intimate, through texture, warmth and the right combination of furniture. Throughout the years of building the house, various pieces of furniture and artwork were collected. Antique pieces were mixed with modern pieces to create a curated feel versus a brand new feel.
In this way, PlaidFox Studio was able to create a real French castle that mixes modern with classic. 
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Photography by Ema Peter