Dream Home: $7.9 Million for Modern Luxury near UBC

Address: 4843 College Highroad, Vancouver

Price: $7,998,000

Listing: R2846226

The skinny: five-bedroom, seven-bathroom, 3,823-square-feet home near UBC

The chic: Speaking of dream homes–what could be more dreamy than a modern space nestled in nature’s beauty? This three-storey home, situated on a 65-foot lot, offers more than meets the eye. It’s modern, structural exterior perfectly complements the sharp interior design, creating a clean and streamlined living space. Interior designer BattersbyHowat Architects Inc. used a combination of lighter colours–such as creams, whites and light oak accents–to make the already large home feel even more spacious. The floor-to-ceiling windows also promote the feeling of a larger space by letting in an abundance of light.

Once inside, you’ll find clean lines and sharp angles all throughout. The minimal amount of curves in the space makes the home feel more structured and put together. This play on symmetry and silhouettes is also reflected in BattersbyHowat’s other modern creations, many of which has sharp angles throughout the living space and corridors. 

The main floor in this home is divided into two sections by a staircase, dressed with vertical white planks that span all three floors. The guest bathroom and closets are tucked in one side of the house, along with a covered balcony. The other side houses the kitchen, featuring fully integrated cabinets, a built-in oven and a hidden fridge and freezer. The kitchen island offers a spot for quick dining and even more room to cook up your favourite meal! The kitchen space is streamlined using the same shade of light oak wood and white marble countertops. The interior designers added an interesting touch of colour with a forest green mirrored backsplash. On the other side of the island, you’ll find a spacious 8-seater dining table–great for large families or hosting get-togethers.

Just steps away from the kitchen and dining area is the living space with a modern fireplace. One of the most unique aspects of this fireplace is the fact that it is housed in the middle of asymmetrical, grey stone tiles. This asymmetry acts as an interesting juxtaposition to the otherwise symmetrical space. This side of the room is where you’ll find sliding glass doors that lead to the patio.

The patio is another highlight of this home. The 641-square-foot space is surrounded by perfectly trimmed shrubs, offering an extra layer of privacy. As you step further into the patio, you’ll get from stone to wooden flooring before you reach the grassy area. Think, ‘a slice of nature in the city’ vibes. Choose from sunbathing and barbecues in the summer or building snowmen with a hot cocoa in hand during the winter. 

Moving back indoors, you can take either the elevators or stairs to head to the upper level. As you enter by stairs, you’ll be welcomed by a large skylight, letting in an abundance of natural lighting (even in gloomy Vancouver).

The upper floor is where you’ll find most of the bedrooms in the house. Each of the three bedrooms is connected to an en-suite bathroom. To stay on theme with the light colour way throughout the home, each bedroom has white walls and built-in cabinets. All bathrooms have taupe-coloured stone tiles on the floor and walls, adding a hint of ruggedness to the polished place. Each bathroom also has a standalone bathtub and wide windows, allowing in lots of natural light. The primary bedroom features large windows that span the entire width of the wall. Although the secondary bedrooms don’t offer quite the same larger-than-life windows, an interesting hidden feature they do have is a built-in desk, tucked in a study nook next to still relatively large windows.  

Now, you might be expecting the lower floor to be dim and lacklustre, as many basement suites are. I’m happy to report that this is not the case. This floor is nestled in sloped gardens, so you will still be able to catch rays of light down here. You will find two more bedrooms here, each with an en-suite bathroom. What’s more, you have a utilities room with even more cabinet space and a set of washing and drying machines. This floor also houses a REC room and an extra flex room that you can transform into an extra office, beauty room, or even your own gaming room.

The hidden extras:

This spacious home offers plenty of utilities to work with, but we have been saving the best bits for last. If you’re extra observant, you’ll find a Wok kitchen hidden in a nook around the dining area on the main floor. The main purpose of this miniature kitchen is to keep heavy cooking smells from escaping around the home. This Wok kitchen offers a large, multi-purpose cooktop, made for stir fry cooking using the Asian Wok. It also has a heavy duty fan to ensure oily smells get vacuumed up quickly. This smaller, more specialized version of the main kitchen also has its own set of cabinets and sink for convenience. 

Another extra bit in this home is its extra large garage that can fit two cars with plenty of leftover room. Did I mention this home offers radiant heat and air conditioning? Fret-not during those steamy summer months!