Couple’s snazzy waterfront retreat at Shawnigan Lake

Moving to different houses 15 times during their marriage had an unexpected payoff for a Shawnigan Lake couple, who eventually built their retirement home on a gorgeous lakefront property. After setting up homes so many times, which included renovations and a previous new build, Cheryl and Greg Johnson knew exactly what worked and didn’t work when it came to creating their dream house.

The fact they already owned waterfront property didn’t hurt, either. The couple have been coming to Shawnigan Lake for family vacations with their two children, who are now in their 20s, for years.

In fact, Greg’s own childhood summers were spent here, since his parents had owned a cottage on Shawnigan Lake since 1961. His brother and sister now jointly own a cottage where their parents’ place once stood.

The couple bought their own waterfront retreat, near the extended family’s vacation spot, 15 years ago. It was a Tudorstyle house that was dark and compartmentalized and didn’t take advantage of its waterfront views. The house looked out toward the road, ignoring the panoramic waterfront views in the backyard.

It was the antithesis of the modern contemporary house they now enjoy, which has waterfront views throughout the main floor as well as from all three bedrooms and the primary bedroom ensuite.

The new house was built in 2018 after they realized the Tudor house couldn’t be saved, since it was sinking.

“We put a lot of effort into thinking about renovating it, but every contractor who saw it said you can’t fix it,” says Greg, who retired after 36 years in the financial industry last May.

The couple agreed their priority for their new home was optimizing its location and building something that would last.

“We wanted to take full advantage of the lot and view and build something very durable,” says Cheryl, adding 56 pilings were drilled into the bedrock to ensure the foundation was solid.

Greg says another priority was having an open concept for the main floor, since family and friends would often visit and they wanted to create a better flow in the house than what they had before.

The couple’s first task was choosing an architect who could understand their vision.

That architect was David Lunt of T-Square Designs. Cheryl says they spent an hour with Lunt just walking the 1.26-acre property to determine where to best situate the house to take full advantage of its views and the light.

“The lot is not that big and you have the riparian zone, so you can’t pull the house any further down the lot. With the site plan I had to play with the angles a little bit to make it work and turned everything at a 45-degree angle so most rooms look at the view,” says Lunt.