Kalu Interiors transforms a Vancouver townhouse into a serene retreat

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Phyllis Lui started a recent project with a British Columbia destination as her design inspiration: Kitoki Inn on Bowen Island. Her clients had visited and fallen in love with the local retreat, built in the style of a traditional Japanese spa, or onsen.

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“They loved the natural feel of that space so much, so they tried to replicate what they could in their own,” says Lui, principal of Kalu Interiors.

Lui’s overarching mission was to infuse personality into a new townhome in Vancouver’s Cambie corridor, which the owners had purchased in pre-construction. “The townhouse was done very nicely, but it lacked character,” she says.

Rather than a literal take on the onsen esthetic, the couple set their sights on Japandi, a minimalist merging of Japanese and Scandinavian styles that brings together function-focused and organic elements.

The design brief had one other ask, too: purple touches — for one half of the couple. “She tries to sneak it in wherever possible, even though he’s not really on board,” says Lui with a laugh. Lui obliged, though, incorporating the shade in the powder room, kitchen and office, subtly mingled with the characteristically Japandi wood-on-white palette.

To create a centrepiece in the dining room, Lui began with linen wallpaper in a pattern that evokes an abstract mountain mural over several panels. A custom banquette snugged up to the wall protects the treatment and maximizes seating in the small space. Complementing curvy bouclé-upholstered dining chairs, a rectilinear oak dining table sets off-white accessories to keep the palette calming.

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A modern bar cart houses the couple’s spirits and Japanese whiskey collection, while around the corner, a built-in oak hutch offers more bar storage. Along with extra space to display collectibles and pieces from their extensive Lego collection. “They have a bit of a Lego hobby,” says Lui. “It’s really fun, and the shelves let them change it out here and there.”

A slatted oak wall treatment bookends the mountain mural. It serves as a visual link to the living room, where it also appears, creating a design counterpoint to clean-lined furniture — such as an entertainment unit by Article.

In the home’s renovated powder room, purple comes out to play in large-scale wisteria wallpaper, making the space feel like it’s been transported inside a painting. “She loved the watercolour feel of it,” says Lui.

Lui opted for wallpaper as a feature in several other spaces, too, over paint or other options: “Paint is usually not enough on its own, so you have to add artwork on top of it and do some layering,” she says. But that wouldn’t have communicated the right vibe or the simplicity they wanted. “I feel like wallpaper is an easy way to add something to a space. It’s also durable and fairly easy to change up if you get bored with it,” adds Lui.

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The principal bedroom, for instance, features wallpaper in a pattern resembling soft grey watercolour lines.

In the redesigned office, the centrepiece is a dramatic watercolour-cloud wallpaper with lavender tones, which covers one whole wall and part of the opposite, framed by a built-in storage unit. The extra storage here gave the homeowner much-needed space to house and display her copious shoes and handbags, alongside more toys and Lego.

“She’s a realtor, and she wanted her office to be a unique space that was just hers. Also, she needed more closet space because the bedroom closet was too small,” says Lui. “You can tell they’re a very young-at-heart kind of couple.”

Topping off the project is a large rooftop patio with a dreamy swath of North Shore mountain views.

“Still keeping in that Japandi theme, we wanted something that they could truly entertain in. A lot of outdoor spaces seem big, but they’re not. Theirs was actually the whole rooftop,” says Lui.

As a result, she was able to fit a full-sized sectional, sling chairs, a lounger and a dining table with seating for six, along with a barbecue and fire bowl. And yet, it doesn’t feel crowded, even when the couple is hosting outdoor dinner parties. With all the seating options, they can take guests from pre-dinner mingling to a sit-down dinner and then sink into comfy seats with post-meal drinks, never retreating inside.

In retrospect, Lui has a favourite space in the home: “I love their dining room the most — it just feels so serene,” she says. And her client has two: “After we did all that work in her office, she still opts to work in the dining room or on the rooftop.”

Interior design: Kalu Interiors

Millwork: Luminous Cabinets

Wallpaper Installation: Jade Walls

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