Fraser Commons 725 Southeast Marine Drive 363 homes in the complex by Serracan Properties
A Fraser Commons Interior designer plays all the traditional shapes and angles to give rooms a refreshed look
Mary Frances Hill
The Province
Fraser Commons
Where: 725 Southeast Marine Drive
What: 363 one-to-three-bedroom homes
Residence sizes and prices: Remaining homes include two – and three-bedroom units ranging from 738 to 1,066 sq. ft; starting at $772,900 for a two-bedroom and $984,900 for a three-bedroom
Developer and builder: Serracan Properties
Sales centre: 725 Southeast Marine Drive
Sales centre hours: noon — 5 p.m., Sat — Thurs, or by appointment
Telephone: 778-737-3178
Fraser Commons is a project from Serracan Properties in Vancouver. (Note that image can’t run prior to project profile on March 24, 2018.) [PNG Merlin Archive] PNG
When interior designer Cristina Oberti took on the design of the display space for Fraser Commons, a condo project slated for Fraser and Southeast Marine Drive, its eventual occupants were uppermost in mind.
“The design and development of this project was first and foremost about the people who will live in it or in its surrounding area, and to me this was an endless source of inspiration during the design process,” says Cristina Oberti, principal of Cristina Oberti Interior Design, which worked with Serracan Properties on the development.
It began with a detail as simple — and as significant — as the hexagonal tiles on the kitchen backsplash.
Oberti’s team was inspired by the exterior diamond pattern that covered the Blue Boy Motor Hotel, built by the Wosk brothers in the 1960s at the Fraser Commons’ site.
“It was a way for us to celebrate the present while remembering the past,” she says.
After the great popularity of subway tiles in kitchen and bathroom spaces, creative designers like Oberti love to present classic items in refreshed designs.
“The backsplash is the focal point of a kitchen, so what you choose to do with this surface can have a big impact on the overall look and feel of the dining and living room areas,” Oberti says. “The hexagonal tile, though traditional in its shape, is very current and speaks to the tastes of today. In its familiarity, the shape feels surprisingly modern and new. We used the shape of the kitchen backsplash tiles as a graphic inspiration for the display suite designs. ”
Where kitchen tiles make an impact with small details on a grand scale, Oberti chose huge tiles for the bathroom to create a spacious, seamless space.
“Large tile formats have a lot of benefits in the bathroom. From a functional perspective, less grout means less maintenance for homeowners and less work for the installers. From an esthetic standpoint, the larger tiles create the illusion of continuity. The tiles make the bathroom feel as though it was carved out of a single slab of stone.”
Oberti created an interesting open-concept space by pairing and contrasting shapes. The pendant light over the dining table reflects the contours in the living room artwork and appears to soften the lines and angles of the furnishings.
“Too many angles can make a space feel stiff, so adding in a few curves is essential to maintaining a welcoming environment,” she says. “Next to raising comfort levels, the combination of hard and soft edges makes those accent angles pop all the more.”
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