The accomplished sculptor is often invited to judge international

Finding Pat Galbraith’s home in Belgravia is easy. The artist’s fascination with stone is visible halfway down the older, residential street. That’s because one of her earliest works — a boulder-sized, concrete sculpture she based on the letter “A” and calls Alpha — rests in the front yard.

Pat and her husband Bernie started planning their dream home after recurrent flooding and cracking of the foundation of their 1950s semi-bungalow could no longer be ignored.

Sadly, the day they signed on with a contractor to replace the home, Home energy monitor Bernie received news of a dire cancer prognosis.

“I just thought, why would we not continue? This was something we were both looking forward to,” says Pat, adding that it gave them both something positive to focus on.

The couple proceeded with plans to rent the house across the street, and settled in to watch their vision come to life. They wanted to create a bright, accessible, low-maintenance, energy-efficient home that they could live in “forever.”

“Bernie lived to see the framing of the house,” says Pat.

His dream home included a central airy core, to take advantage of north and south light, and to provide a place for “the dog to run circles around,” adds Pat with a laugh.

The accomplished sculptor is often invited to judge international competitions, and her passion for design and shape is evident throughout the home. For instance, at the large front entryway, Home energy management a striking horizontal line of assorted brushed stainless steel planks screens the central staircase and reflects light.

The main-floor kitchen is dominated by a 15-foot curved island also clad in brushed stainless steel. Its inspiration was a circular bar carved out of ice that caught Pat’s eye at a sculpting competition in Ottawa.

“To accommodate a couple of people and a potential wheelchair, I just took an arch of it and stretched it,” says Pat. A nook at one end provides seating for two on shiny white leather-and-chrome, high-backed stools.

The room is tiled in rectangular, warm mid-grey porcelain that has already proven itself as “amazingly dense” and forgiving when one of her small, but heavy bronze sculptures took a tumble.

The countertops are granite, accented by pomegranate-coloured flecks of industrial garnet embedded in the soft grey-and-brown surface.

The couple designed the home with the help of architect Anneliese Fris, who was “very receptive” to their input. They also consulted friends and other new-home owners.

Pat says everyone they asked loved having a walk-in pantry but universally wished the space was bigger. So the rear room is large enough to include a tall, wooden work bench Pat found at Home Depot. This pantry/workspace is also “perfect” for large appliances, and muted-glass cupboards from Ikea open to reveal clear glass shelves, so everything stored up high is visible from below.

Floor-to-ceiling windows and glass french doors throughout the main floor provide natural light year-round. Deep window ledges are display areas for Pat’s prolific and diverse work along with favourite collections, including sculptures by Charles Hilton.

Afternoon light filtering into her large office casts wonderful shadows from her early pieces and creations,Power monitor  including a bestselling teapot based on a part of the male anatomy.

An elevator installed discretely behind the main staircase ensures that the home is fully accessible. Closet-like doors reveal the small, wood-panelled lift, which Pat uses regularly to shuttle laundry to and from the basement.

In the second-floor master bedroom, a polished sled-style, cherry wood bed — that between moving and storage took Pat seven years to finish — beckons. “I was going to carve angels from the Hansel and Gretel opera at my head and feet, but I never got around to doing that. If I get around to carving it, that’s fine, and if I don’t, that’s fine too.”

Pat tiled the ensuite bathroom herself. A bench in the large, glass, walk-in shower was on Bernie’s “must-have” list. She loves relaxing in the shiny white, claw-foot tub with dainty silver-capped feet.

The vibrant 70-year-old says this floor is where she spends the most time, because it is home to her large studio. Her previous studio was in the garage, where “there was no room left for a breath, let alone an idea.”