Shaughnessy home renovation as eclectic as the family’s story

In the main living room, a fluted Masana Stone fireplace anchors a soft palette of creams and greys, with a speckled velvet loveseat by Moss Home and shearling knitting chairs arranged in a relaxed conversational grouping. Artwork from Vancouver's Bau-Xi Gallery hangs nearby. Photo by Ema Peter

Article content

In a city where renovations often go modern and open-plan, Caroline Haselden knew she wanted something different for her family’s circa-1926 Dutch Colonial.

Article content

“As much as I can appreciate and admire a West Coast modern esthetic, I knew that I wanted something to reflect more of who we are,” says Haselden. “Something a little more eclectic and mixed.”

Article content

Article content

Haselden and her family had moved from the U.S. a few years prior. They bought homes in Vancouver and Whistler around the same time, then turned to local interior designer Gillian Segal to renovate both.

Article content

Article content

“It was a really interesting and fun exercise, working with the same client on two projects in two different locations at the same time,” recalls Segal. The Vancouver house was plenty the project on its own: a 4,000-square-foot character home in the city’s Shaughnessy neighbourhood.

Article content

Article content

It was the kind of place that appealed right away to a family with a wide-ranging backstory and a soft spot for older homes. Haselden grew up in Mississippi, and her husband hails from Charleston, South Carolina. They’d also lived in New York for a decade before relocating to B.C.

Article content

In the secondary seating area, a bespoke maroon velvet sectional by Gillian Segal Design & FFab brings a sculptural edge, set against soft neutrals and anchored by a Krane pendant from Roll & Hill. Photo by Ema Peter

Article content

With millwork and mouldings painted in Farrow & Ball’s Green Smoke, the dining room pairs a Lindsey Adelman chandelier with striped Lawson Fenning chairs, set around a weighty, rectilinear table. Photo by Ema Peter

Article content

“We’ve never bought or built a new construction, and we’ve done projects in various places in the 21 years we’ve been married,” says Haselden. “I just like the character … I think it makes spaces unique.”

Article content

Segal set out to bring the home up to “modern living standards,” making it more functional for the couple and their three children plus dogs, while holding onto the character they’d fallen for in the first place.

Article content

On the main floor, that meant forgoing an open plan: the home’s living and dining areas retain their original, partitioned configuration. Also intact are original oak floors with walnut inlays on the main level. “We wanted to keep the original floors, even though they’re not perfect … [Gillian] totally got that,” says Haselden.

Article content

Article content

To contend with an unusually long living room, Segal carved out two sitting areas that suit how the family likes to relax and entertain, creating a cohesive space with “conversational groupings.”

Article content

Article content

“When you have a party and you have 20 people over, you’re not sitting around in a circle; you’re having little offshoot conversations,” says Segal.

Article content

The first cluster centres around a custom fluted Masana Stone fireplace. A speckled velvet loveseat, veined marble side table and an almost medieval-looking metal sconce punctuate an otherwise soft palette of creams and greys.

Article content

The second grouping, backing onto the first, feels more playful, with an art deco-leaning maroon velvet sectional, rose-toned accents and a swooping Krane pendant light from Roll & Hill.

Article content

In a sunlit lounge space, low-profile blue armchairs from Inform Interiors centre around a round coffee table, flanked by bay windows and softened by a mix of vintage and custom pieces. Photo by Ema Peter

Article content

The home office is colour-drenched in Farrow & Ball’s Oval Room Blue No. 85, with built-in millwork, sheer drapery and a contemporary take on a bearskin rug by Christopher Farr. Photo by Ema Peter

Article content

A sunlit lounge area extends off the living room, with four low-profile lounge chairs arranged around a round coffee table, bordered by bay windows. A custom buffet complements an antique iron garden cart — now a bar – which Segal spotted and picked up on a trip to L.A.

Article content

“Gillian loves to mix newer things with old things, and she was really good at finding vintage pieces,” says Haselden.