Tour a Rustic + Chic Canadian Timber Frame

"Urban chic" meets "rustic retreat" in this Canadian timber frame.

On the home’s exterior, Douglas fir timbers are paired with custom-milled, solid-wood siding that features a “similar aesthetic to chinking,” says designer Kevin Gray. Cedar shakes stained a custom gray/green tone paired with fascia boards and window
battens in a steel blue bring muted
color to the home’s exterior.

Photography by Sean de Lima

For some, building a custom home means living the dream worlds away from everyday life. For others, that dream is realized right in their own backyard. “My clients wanted to build two houses — one in the mountains and one in the city,” says Kevin Gray, owner of Kevin Gray Interiors in Calgary. “But after looking at costs, they couldn’t take on two projects without sacrificing many of the elements they desired, so we built their mountain home in the city.”

The three-level, five-bedroom house that backs up to a river in downtown Calgary, embodies the “urban rustic” theme the owners and their team were striving for. They wanted traditional timber-frame elements, but a richer, darker look, so that was the jumping off point for the entire design, explains Gray.

“We didn’t want it to look like it was plucked out of the forest and placed in the city,” he says. “Instead, we wanted it to have an urban sensibility; a sophisticated look with eclectic notes.”

To accomplish just that, Gray started from the outside and moved in, creating contrast in colors, texture and themes. Reclaimed materials are found throughout the house, from the floors to the walls, and they’re paired with surprisingly modern touches, including copper fixtures, slate countertops and sleek lighting fixtures. Combine these furnishes with the rich furnishings in copper, gold and teal, and the result is a lesson in mix-and-match perfection.

“A timber frame project like this is always challenging because there are more details to coordinate between design and construction, which you don’t get on conventional homes, but the reward is worth it,” says Gray. “We love having happy clients who talk glowingly about their home, which is certainly the case here.”