It’s a sunny late-summer evening in eastern British Columbia, and Cori Creed and her husband, Craig Cameron, are getting ready to host a dinner at their house in the Okanagan Valley. Cori, an artist, is in the kitchen preparing a galette topped with fresh vegetables, while Craig, an attorney and West Vancouver city councillor, is in the garage fashioning a makeshift serving table from wood scraps and a neighbor’s discarded slab of granite.

All the while, children and friends, including the home’s architect, Kevin Vallely, filter in and out of the house, into its central courtyard, and onto the terraced yard below, where the table will be placed beside a handmade firepit and guests will be treated to a postcard view of Skaha Lake at sunset.

Cori, Craig, and their three children (Levi, 14, Kai, 13, and Jett, 9) have their primary home in Vancouver, about four hours away, but they come here on weekends throughout the year. The couple had been friends with Vallely for more than 15 years (they share a love of all things outdoors) before turning to him as clients in 2017, so the architect and his family often join them.

In summer, Cori is here nearly full-time working on her paintings and sculpture, which have been exhibited in Canada, the U.S., and Japan. “There’s so much inspiration,” she says. “I’m always looking out at the light and watching the shadows move over the landscape.” She also put her skills to work on the house, creating, among other things, all of the ceramic mugs, plates, and pendants.

The home’s simple V-shaped layout creates two distinct realms, one public and one private, each occupying a wing of the house and meeting at the entry vestibule. The residential side has a long inner-facing stone wall—which acts in part as a sound barrier—and lower ceilings, while the higher-ceilinged public areas look out through large sliding glass doors to the courtyard, the lake, and the mountains beyond.

“The juxtaposition of the two wings is what makes the house work so well,” says Craig. “When we’re hosting friends or extended family for the weekend, the design is really conducive to hanging out together. But even when we have company, there are times I just want to go sit and read a book. I can do that. It feels like I have my own space.”

To save money—and with help from Cori’s father, an expert woodworker, and Craig’s stepfather, a former contractor—the couple fabricated much of the furniture and built-ins themselves and were creatively thrifty with materials where possible. They used ceiling beams from a demolished Vancouver department-store building, for example, to construct an extended kitchen island and bar-stool-lined counter.

“When I walk through the house, I remember putting the plywood on the ceilings, which was not fun at all. But there’s a satisfaction in having been part of that process.”
—Craig Cameron, resident

Cori and her father made a ceiling-high shelving unit that stands between the kitchen and living room and displays dozens of Cori’s ceramic pieces. The couple also made the outdoor patio table and benches, the living room coffee table, the bathroom cabinetry, and even some of the bed frames. “Craig gets a lot of pleasure out of building something well, making sure things line up,” Cori says. “My pleasure is in the textures and the artful little discoveries I make. In a project like this, you need both.”

Giving simple, inexpensive materials an elevated role became a theme. Cori and Craig chose distressed white oak floors for the interior, for instance, and Craig and his stepfather installed a plywood ceiling in the living room. When reclaimed barn wood or shou sugi ban siding proved cost-prohibitive, they spent hundreds of hours hand-scouring new cedar planks with steel wool soaked in a vinegar-based solution to create instant oxidization.

“Everything is a bit rough and ready—and that’s the point,” says Vallely, a Vancouver-based sole practitioner. “The kids can tear it up and do whatever they’re going to do. It’s a place to live life well. If you’re tiptoeing around, it’s too precious.”

The home can sleep more people than its six bedrooms would indicate. Late in the planning phase, the couple decided to follow Vallely’s suggestion and convert the pitched-roof house’s attic into habitable space. They can now accommodate more than 20 overnight guests.

Particularly since Craig has become a council member, the house has been a meeting place for a succession of colleagues and friends, sort of like a modest Okanagan Valley version of Camp David.

As that late-summer sunset gave way to the next morning’s sunrise, half of the group was up early for a game of Frisbee golf while the other half slept in. Soon most would be heading home, and Cori would get back to work on her painting. But there was still time for everyone to gather for one final meal. Cori grew up coming to the Okanagan Valley to visit her grandparents, from whom she inherited a love of entertaining.

“My grandmother was a huge role model for me,” she says. “It feels valuable to have all these people around, and the energy that brings.”

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Vallely Architecture / @vallelyarchitecture

General Contractor: Ellcar Construction

Lighting Design: Cori Creed / @coricreed

Lighting & Cabinetry Design: Cori Creed and Craig Cameron

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