| We're knocking on doors and taking a look around peoples' homes to see where your neighbours relax, hang out with their pets, and create! It's an invitation to snoop, but we're staying away from their medicine cabinets.Photos: @art3fact |
Our Host: Alessandra Quaglia
Who's that? Owner and Operator of Provence Mediterranean Grill and Provence Marinaside www.provencevancouver.com
Beverage Offered: Vancouver’s finest tap water (very refreshing after a hot bike ride to get there!)
If someone wasn’t able to see your house, how would you describe it to them?
There’s only been one owner before us and they built the home. It’s very different. We went modern but it’s not uncomfortable modern – West Coast Modern.
When you first walk in, there’s a very old fashioned door, which I’d like to change. There’s some lovely (I think she has mixed feelings here!) rosewood paneling on the wall in the living room. When we first bought it, it was completely covered! Every wall on the main floor! So we took it out and we just kept two feature walls. There’s a beautiful Italian marble fireplace which we kept. But I love the slanted ceilings. The whole house is slanted! The top of the ceiling in the living room probably is about 20 feet. It looks out onto a beautiful golf course with complete greenery and no one living in front of us, we we just have green trees to look at.
When was this house built?
I believe it was 1975 or 76. I think the owners were very forward in their design and how they wanted to create the house. I think they created something somewhat timeless, but after 35 years it needed to be updated!
Do you use the living room a lot?
We use it more in the winter because we have a fire almost every night. We'll sit in there and play games and read or just relax. If we have parties, we’ll do cocktails in there and the fire is just really really nice.
Do you do a lot of entertaining?
We do! Most of friends are restaurant friends, so we all go through cycles, but we like to entertain. We could probably seat between 30-40 people between the patio, the kitchen, the dining room.
Do you take what you’ve learned running a restaurant and apply it to your entertaining?
We always want to make people feel as comfortable as possible. I think it’s more about our sense of welcoming our friends. People will come and stay, and stay overnight. We’re just a central home for a lot of friends.
I was at a party at your house, that’s how I met you and there was a lot of dancing going on…So tell us about that room!
The house is on a split level and there’s not an actual basement, you just walk down a few stairs and into this really interesting room. They used it as a playroom and I just saw it as a dance studio right away. It’s about 400 square feet of hardwood and a really cool 70s looking bar and I put a big wall mirror up and we just crank the tunes and I put a disco ball and there you go! It’s a party room ready to go!
You’ve got another pretty unique room.
Yes, that’s the little sun room/solarium. It’s enclosed. In the evenings it’s lovely actually to sit in there and have dinner. It’s been somewhat of a party room for the teenagers.
How does the kitchen work for you and your 2 boys?
The house is about 4500 square feet and that 500 square feet is all we need. We practically live there and I’m not joking because the boys sleep in there sometimes. As I’m cooking, people are sitting around watching. We spend 90% of our time in there. It’s got the TV, the seating area and our big table that fits probably twelve.
What do other people think of your place?
People always say it’s a very welcoming home and they’ve always enjoyed spending time here. I’m really not much of a stickler for neatness. I just want people to do what they like to do in their own homes. The food’s good, we’ve always got some good music going and I love to dance. We just like having a good time!
