Houzz Tour: Off-the-Grid Island Home Circles a Sunny Courtyard

It was something like 25 degrees below zero one February in Winnipeg, Canada, when Holly McNally picked up the National Post newspaper and flipped to the travel section. A full-page story raved about Sidney Island, part of the Gulf Islands off the coast of Victoria and just south of Vancouver. Everything about it — the remoteness, the scenery — seemed to fit with Holly and her husband, Paul. “We got on a plane within days and went to check it out,” Holly says.

It was perfect for them, as well as their two Newfoundland dogs. So they snatched up a building lot and started designing an off-the-grid home with the help of Kim Smith, of Helliwell + Smith | Blue Sky Architecture. The result is a circular layout that captures views of the ocean while creating a sunny courtyard protected from the strong sea winds. It’s a place where Holly can finally garden (lacking this ability on the frozen clay prairies back home had frustrated her), and where Paul can build furniture in his woodshop. Plus, after retiring from the business they founded and ran, McNally Robinson Booksellers — one of the largest independent bookstores in Canada — they can finally kick back and enjoy a few good books. OK, a lot of good books.

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Holly and Paul McNally, former owners of McNally Robinson Booksellers
Location: Sidney Island, Canada
Size: 2,000 square feet (222 square meters); 3 bedrooms plus a study, 2 bathrooms

Paul has a thing for curves, which show up in many of the bookstores the couple has designed together, hence the circular nature of the home. But practically speaking, the design serves many functions.

For one, it creates a courtyard that’s protected from the sometimes-harsh winds. Plus, it allows for a garden protected from the feral deer population on the island. Because the deer have no predators, 600 to 800 of them are removed from the island every year to keep the population somewhat in check. A 6-foot-high fence built from milled trees on the property lets Holly have her fruit trees and flowers.


“It’s so totally isolated and so naturally beautiful,” says Holly of the location. But the McNallys stay in the home only from about May through October, because during the winter the island pretty much empties out — there are only four or five full-time residents. And because there are no streetlights or services, the island is completely dark by 5 p.m. then. So from about November through April, the couple stays in a condo in nearby Victoria, about an hour away.

Speaking of the remoteness, all the materials had to be barged to the site, sometimes at 2 a.m. to coincide with the tides. It took a special contractor and a lot of strategizing.

Here a sandstone pathway leads to a fire pit at the point of a bluff.



This is the view upon entering through the front gate. “The Gulf Islands are very austere and wild, so it’s quite magnificent when you open the gate to our courtyard and all of a sudden there’s lush and beautiful fruit trees and flowers,” Holly says. “I’m growing things I never thought I’d grow.”

Paul built all the outdoor furniture in his woodshop.

The photovoltaic panels convert sunlight to energy, which is stored in batteries and used to run the entire home. There’s also a backup generator.

Clerestory windows bring southern light from the courtyard into the main living spaces.


And here’s the view looking back at the entrance gate. There’s a calculated symmetry to the design of the home, stemming from Holly’s love of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and from decades of designing displays in her bookstores with symmetry in mind. The large madrona tree is a point of axis. “They wanted an idea of order in the wilderness,” Smith says.

Pennsylvania bluestone steps lead to sandstone pavers and on to the front door.



The entrance posts are from logs cut down on the property during construction.


Walking into the home reveals stunning views to the ocean. Two bookcases within the support posts extend either way to create a semitransparent wall between a hallway (to the bedrooms and guest room) and the combined living, dining and kitchen spaces.


The hallway runs around the courtyard, forming a half circle. “It’s not a large house, but because of the courtyard extension, it feels larger than it is,” Smith says.



The timber framing and windows are Douglas fir. The floors are Mexican tile. Rafters and 2-by-6 fir decking were left exposed on the ceiling.




With the house being curved, the kitchen had to follow suit. Putting square drawers in a round kitchen did result in some wasted space, “but it ended up working in its own eccentric way,” Smith says. Plus, Holly says there’s plenty of storage, something like up to 40 drawers. “When I go away for several months, it takes a few minutes to find the right drawers; it’s like a puzzle,” she says.



Here you can see the open-living concept and the emphasis on the one-of-a-kind ocean view. Paul built the dining table himself.


A painting of the couple’s two Newfoundland dogs hangs above the living room fireplace. “It feels so good to be in this house,” Holly says.


The master bedroom is rather compact but has a feeling of open space, thanks to big windows.


Smith was careful about privacy and using trees to help block views. Here a large tree obscures views to a neighboring lot.

The McNallys had a houseplant in this space, but deer kept coming up and putting their noses to the glass in hopes of getting at it.



This illustration shows the overview of the home. The entrance is seen at the bottom. The home is completely off the grid, running on solar panels for electricity and a backup generator when needed. There’s also a well and a septic field. And because there’s no fire department on the island, there’s a pump hooked up to seawater just in case.



This plan shows the layout of the rooms. The guest quarters are on the top left, the living spaces are in the middle, and the study and master bedroom are on the right. The two bottom structures are the storage shed and Paul’s woodshop.

More: What to consider before going off the grid

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