Suited to a Tee

Contemporary home beside golf course has views of manicured greens, wilderness

By Phillipa Rispin Photography | Drew Hadley Styling Jean Monet

It’s tempting to think of homes built on golf courses as architecturally staid. They’re usually part of a development offering several harmonious styles from which to choose - nothing too avant-garde. After all, you wouldn’t want to detract from the game or the scenery, would you?

This home in Morin Heights is different. Although it’s sited within a development on the verge of the Balmoral Golf Club, it was custom-designed and built for the owners. The homeowners, enthusiastic golfers, worked with an architectural technologist on the design, and the result is a contemporary home that suits their lifestyle to a . . . tee.

Choosing the location was easy. “Golf and the golf course was the attraction. That and the view,” says one of the homeowners. The view is a pleasing contrast of manicured greens and untamed Laurentian wilderness, and the house takes advantage of that with the rear wall composed almost entirely of tall windows.

The floor plan was designed specifically to indulge another of the couple’s passions: entertaining. Apart from the master bedroom and the powder room, the ground floor is wide open. The living, dining, and kitchen areas flow into each other, with large sliding doors allowing the good times to easily spill over onto the terrace and around the pool. Downstairs, there is a cinema room, a second bedroom, and a bathroom with generous laundry facilities. Only the mezzanine above the kitchen is devoted to serious work, being used as an office, but even then both the long sides are open to the view, allowing the homeowners a respite from computer screens and file folders.

“It’s a space for entertaining,” says the homeowner. “It’s also easy because it’s all on one level. The basement is kept, in general, for guests. The only room downstairs that we use is the cinema room. We have a lot of visitors, from parents to friends. In the summer, we entertain outdoors. There’s a grill in the kitchen island so it’s set up for food prep, and we just have to carry the food across the dining room to the outdoors.”

The kitchen is definitely set up for serious cooks. The large island has drawers and cupboards on three sides and seating space on the fourth. The stainless steel top has wood chopping blocks on two sides, with a handy vegetable sink set into one. Besides the grill, the gas cooktop offers six burners. Opposite the cooktop, the double-bowl sink with garbage disposal is flanked by twin dishwasher drawers. To the right of the sink, double ovens are set into the wall. To the left is an integrated drawer for recyclables, the fridge/freezer, and a compact but well-fitted pantry.

The master bedroom is equally well appointed. A wall of closets offers ample space for clothing and stands at right angles to the outside wall, which is composed almost entirely of windows, with patio doors opening onto the terrace. The vista of velvety golf greens contrasting with dense conifer forests on undulating mountainsides might be lost on sleepers, but it’s in plain view from the luxurious bathtub in the bedroom, set against the shower wall. Behind the bath, multiple-height showerheads grace the open shower accessible from two sides. Another little luxury is the laundry chute beside one of the two sinks.

The interior design is entirely the homeowners’. “We chose the colours and did the interior design ourselves,” says one. “We love doing that. We took an interior design course in Old Montreal . . . just for fun. We used neutral colours because it’s easier to choose things. We also wanted to put the emphasis on the view. The countryside takes precedence.”

It’s an interior of contrasts. The design is deceptive, initially presenting itself as all hard, sleek surfaces: the foyer with metal inserts in ceramic stone-look flooring, the fireplace set into a wall of stone blocks, the soaring windows framed in metal. But then we see warm wood accents against the stone, powder room walls with the look of cowhide, light birchwood stairs to the mezzanine, a magnificent sculpture of driftwood that delineates the foyer from the living area.

And, of course, the view outdoors. Nothing detracts from the view.