A Bijou Waterfront Home Designed for Sensorial Living

Within the world of architecture, the notion of luxury can differ wildly. For some, it might mean a residence encompassing extensive space, or lavish materials. Others may simply dream of creating a truly unique place of one’s own—somewhere wild and remote, awash with the vivid colours of nature and lulled by the gentle cadence of waves upon the shore.

The Seabright Residence is one such home. Named for the sleepy coastal community it forms part of, nestled along Nova Scotia’s ocean-lapped Lighthouse Bay, this bijou house rises from a stunning piece of waterfront land shaped by thickets of spruce and fir trees. Though modest in size, it is rich in vistas, overlooking a jewelled lake that flows into the Atlantic Ocean via a tidal brook. Designed and built by Halifax-based firm Peter Braithwaite Studio, the private residence offers its owners a refuge of tranquillity and creativity, where everyday living is shaped by the rhythms of nature.

Magnifissance caught up with the studio’s eponymous founder and principal to find out more about this idyllic home.

A fortuitous discovery

Seabright Residence’s story is rooted in serendipity; its owners first stumbled across the far-flung site by chance, during a scenic hike near St. Margaret’s Bay.

“Our clients were a couple who lived in Toronto; one an academic and the other an artist,” Braithwaite explains. “They already had a connection to the beautiful landscape, because they would come to Nova Scotia when the artist had a residency at Peggy’s Cove, and swim in Arnold’s Lake nearby.”

After falling in love with the peaceful setting of their future home, the couple tracked down the family that owned the land, opening negotiations with a gift of blueberries before eventually acquiring the plot.

“They had a strong love for Nova Scotia and being close to the ocean,” adds the architect. “They wanted to build a house where they could slow down and eventually retire to—a full-time residence where they can live ‘off the grid’, away from people.”