Bayview Dreams

This 2.5 storey, custom home on Centennial Beach was the realization of a dream for a South Delta family after years of planning and searching for the right waterfront property. They love being outdoors and on the water, and their wish list included wide-open views, entertainment areas in the front and back yards, a fish-cleaning sink in the garage, and a second-level deck with hot tub off the primary bedroom.

Lentel Construction has built a number of homes in the Boundary Bay area, so we knew that one of our first challenges would be to navigate the development process for our client and find the best building solutions for this narrow beachfront lot, including:

• Construction of a concrete seawall to which another metre of height could be added in the future
• Raising the building site to the required height for flood plains, while meeting the City’s height restrictions for the home’s roofline
• Using an environmental consultant to ensure that no damage was done to the foreshore during construction

Throughout the project, our team applied a forward-thinking approach. For example, neighbouring properties are not protected by seawalls, so we extended the home’s seawall with a concrete wall that wraps around the house on either side, gradually stepping it down in height as the property approached the road.

We also knew that homes in the area are subject to harsh winds and blowing sand. To give our clients a maintenance-free exterior, we used solid PVC shakes–only the fourth builder in Western Canada to do so. The PVC shakes mimic the appearance of cedar shakes so closely that they have to be touched to discover they aren’t wood.

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Custom touches elevate this beachfront home throughout

The four-bedroom, 4-bath home features custom touches throughout—after years of waiting for their waterfront haven, the owners knew exactly what they wanted.

Outdoor entertaining areas at the front and back of the house offer cozy spaces from which to watch the sun rise and set. The front porch is protected by a louvered roof with sensors that close the louvers automatically when it begins to rain.

The homeowners wanted a seamless effect in the open plan main floor, which offers sightlines from the kitchen, to the living room, and into the stairwell and lobby. Wood tones anchor the design, with engineered white oak floors providing a breezy backdrop for the drama of large slabs of black granite and prefabricated lightweight concrete panels in the living room.

The thoughtful detailing continues with a walnut-backed cabinet in the dining room, and custom-made lighting over the table and in the open column of the stairwell. Tall kitchen cabinets reach to the ceiling, their upper doors controlled electronically to make opening and closing them an easy task. The laundry room features both an upper drying rack and a pull-out drawer where damp sweaters can be laid flat to dry.

It’s common to hold the panels on glass stair railings in place with metal tabs, but the homeowners preferred a clear view, so our team designed slim posts with slots to hold the panels, and anchored them with a pin from underneath, instead of using a base plate.

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Stunning ocean views take centre stage on the second floor

On the second floor, the primary bedroom and ensuite bathroom offer stunning views of Mt. Baker through large, energy-efficient windows (Innotech also manufactured the large sliding glass doors for this project.) The fluted wood oak headboard was custom-made on-site, while the fluted walls in the bathroom are made from PVC for water resistance.

The third floor, with its TV lounge, powder room, and guest room, presented an engineering challenge for our team. The crew realized during construction that standard-depth beams on the top floor would raise the roofline over the City’s height limit, so we adjusted the structural engineering to use equally strong, but narrower, engineered beams and steel, which allowed us to preserve the top-floor ceiling height.

We’re proud of our work on this beachfront beauty with our design partners and suppliers—it required all the skills and creativity of our team. Most of all, it’s been a joy to bring the dreams of long-time family friends to life in such a spectacular way!