Almost four decades ago, Peter and Lois Mason bought an old cottage farmhouse in North Saanich for $50,000.
Peter well remembers driving up to the property for the first time and being utterly dismayed, wanting to turn around and drive away. “I thought: ‘Well, so much for that one. Let’s go.’
“We had been looking to buy a place in south Oak Bay or on the Peninsula, so you can imagine how this looked by comparison. There was nothing about the yard that was attractive and it wasn’t much to look at inside either.”
But Lois saw its potential and the young, energetic couple took on the challenge.
The farmhouse was about 1,000 square feet then, but it didn’t stay that way for long. The Masons have been renovating almost constantly since buying the property in 1977 and today the home is about 2,400 square feet.
As their family grew, so did the house and, one summer, they lived temporarily in a tiny barn on the property while their three older children rotated through a single bed.
“Two would sleep in it one night while the other one slept on the floor, and then they’d switch,” said Lois, adding the baby was in the bathtub. “We started in the summer, moved back in in October. It’s just what you did then.”
They are now renovating that same old barn as a cottage for their son, his wife and two children.
Peter and Lois, both retired teachers, have added not only square footage but tremendous warmth and character to their home, thanks in part to the artistry of Vintage Woodworks, which replaced or repaired most of the windows, doors and storm windows in the main house and is doing the same in the barn now, with installation by Precision Joinery.
“There is not much of the original farmhouse left,” Peter said. “In the beginning, we needed to do a lot of structural work and joked if people came for dinner we didn’t serve peas because they’d roll.”
Early improvements were done when they could afford them, and included the demolition of an old garage, pouring a new concrete slab there and creating a two-storey addition with a small den and nursery on the main floor, and master bedroom above.
An Italian stonemason used river stones from Sooke to create a fireplace, and Peter sold his MG convertible to pay for it. He also helped in its construction, bringing the stone from Sooke, mixing the mud “and hoofing it and bricks up the ladder for the outside chimney. It was fun to be involved. I was the grunt labour.”
Lois explained, each time another of their four children was born, “we had to figure out how to make the house grow along with the family because we wanted to stay in Deep Cove. We love the area and our neighbours, and never wanted to move.”
Some years after creating the den and nursery, when the children became older teenagers and the house seemed to shrink, they enlarged that space by taking out the wall. The combined rooms became one large sitting room, while above, the former master bedroom morphed into a small bedroom and an office.
The wee farmhouse originally had a little eating nook, galley kitchen, pantry and bathroom at the back, a small sitting room and bedroom at the front, and not many windows.
One of their renovations included demolishing that old kitchen, pantry and bathroom to create a new cooking and eating area, with windows on three sides and a covered porch.
In preparation, Peter chainsawed through the roof, ceiling, walls and floor and an excavator pulled that section off. They dug a basement, and created a solid foundation to go up a storey, creating a great room on the main floor and master suite above.
Architect John Keay was involved in the reno, which was done by their neighbour Jim Wagner. It also saw an old staircase removed, and that space turned into a bathroom, while a new staircase was built in what had been a tiny bedroom. It is now a centrepiece in the house, with two landings and gleaming woodwork.
Keay, who is involved again in restoration of the old cottage, can’t say enough about the Masons. “They are great people to work with, very informed and concerned about design.”
And he loves heritage projects.
“There’s a character and a history that often warrants respect, but it is certainly getting harder to do. Costs of restoration are outpacing the ability of many people to take things on, and new codes are making it more and more complicated and expensive.”
He said the staircase is a key element in the interior of a house and in this home it is a make-it or break-it focal point, where “there is a lot of craft expressed.”
The Masons recently added tall French doors in the master bedroom, which open onto a balcony. They too were crafted by Vintage, “and we had them do side windows as well, which really adds a lot of light,” said Lois.
“Kerry Briggs at Vintage came up with the design. Building proper paned windows is prohibitively expensive, but she thought of just putting them at the top of the doors.”
Cremone bolts — decorative brass hardware that allows a user to activate locks at both top and bottom with one handle — were installed, “like in an old European hotel.”
“We always use Vintage because they offer such quality, they’re local and specialize in heritage,” said Lois, noting Waterglass Studios, which specializes in antique restoration, did most of their lighting.
She said they always wanted a home that was both traditional and relaxed, and not trendy.
“She doesn’t like fakes. Anything fake keeps her awake all night,” Peter said.
Lois admits many of their friends thought they were nuts to buy the house, “and looking back, perhaps we should have just pushed it over,” but then they would have missed years of fun and exercise.
Now that she is just retired after years of teaching music and kindergarten, she loves to garden. Peter, who retired seven years ago after teaching math and outdoor skills, always likes being active.
He laid all the downstairs fir floors himself, using wood he bought second-hand when Resthaven Hospital was torn down. He spotted a demo sign one day and “picked up the whole lot for $50 bucks,” along with wood from other demolitions.
He did all the wainscoting too, reusing wood from his ceilings.
Soon after leaving teaching, he started a business called Pacific Rim Wellness, by which he sells pedometers online and through the University of Victoria, Front Runners, New Balance and more. He sold 300,000 to the B.C. government before the 2010 Winter Olympics, which were given away to civil servants and the public, to encourage them to walk 10,000 steps a day,
Peter has had a lifelong love affair with mountaineering and fitness, as witnessed in photos all over the house. He was instrumental in creating Boulders Climbing Gym at Stelly’s Secondary School and has taken classes up Mount Albert Edward, Mount Baker, Mount Adams and trekking in Nepal.
Fifteen years ago he helped 17-year-old Ryan Heuman, a student with cerebral palsy, reach the summit of Mount Albert Edward, with the help of 10 committed adults, 20 students and a custom sled.
There is nothing like hiking, said Peter, and no experience like building your own house. All it takes is fortitude, cash, materials and elbow grease.
“It’s been a wonderful experience,” confirmed Lois.
Peter added: “People are so mobile these days: We have a friend who has moved 18 times. It may sound corny, but this has been one long journey for us, turning a house into a home.”
