A Modest Second Storey Reading Room With All the Right Ideas

Warm and uncluttered, this home’s minimal decor maximizes comfort

This charming second-storey room by Studio Junction, inspired by the quiet act of reading on a winter day, evokes the essence of a Japanese cabin. The architects balance unfussy, practical detailing with white walls, using wood as their muse. A rose window high in the room guides the eye toward a softly curving four-metre vault of natural cedar planks that alternate from cream to chestnut brown. Natural light enters through skylights framed in cedar and Douglas fir, frosted glass transoms and a single picture window, giving the space its ethereal glow. At night, the vault is illuminated by embedded LED strips. Selected for its ease of installation, a Jøtul gas stove in white sits to one side, adding warmth to the perfectly square room without competing with its delicate wooden accents. A humble collection of fittings and furnishings makes this house a home, including a walnut banister and a low, linear 2.7-metre bookcase in oil-rubbed white oak that merges seamlessly with the floor. STUDIOJUNCTION.CA