What started as a project to improve the outward appearance of the house provided a bonus – the opportunity to vastly improve the performance of the building envelope. While municipal regulations required that the multi-coloured stone be retained, simply changing the mortar colour at the ground floor softened the tone of the whole wall. More significantly, replacement of the second floor siding permitted installation of a new air barrier and insulation on the old Quebec frame walls, correcting deficiencies that had been present since the 1950s.

Attention then turned to redesign of the garden: the enclosure for an in-ground pool and storage pavilion are separated from the back of the house by a wood deck, stone patio and patch of lawn.