Custom cushions for British Columbia condos, cabins and covered decks

Fifty-six hours of December sun

Vancouver gets 56 hours of bright sunshine in an average December. July gets 290.

The winter is wet more than stormy. The airport averages 46.8 in (1,189 mm) of precipitation a year, about 72% of it from October to March, with measurable rain on 165 days. Morning humidity averages 86%. Snow is light, 15 in (38 cm), and only about 41 nights a year reach 32°F (0°C).

Victoria, across the strait, is drier: 34.8 in (883 mm) and 2,109 hours of sunshine. Most of its rain still falls in winter.

For custom cushions in Vancouver and Victoria, that means damp, not downpour. A cushion left on an open balcony stays wet for days. A window-seat cushion against cold glass collects condensation. Seattle lives under the same sky; our Pacific Northwest reading covers it.

Over the mountains: dry heat, then deep snow

In the interior the numbers turn over. Kelowna averages 15.2 in (387 mm) of precipitation a year and 26 days above 86°F (30°C). July highs average 82°F (27.9°C), and July afternoons sit near 36% humidity. Cushions dry quickly there. They also spend the summer in hard light, on lake decks and patios, so Okanagan patio cushions want outdoor fabric in mid-tones and some afternoon shade.

Winter is real in the valley too: about 150 nights at or below 32°F (0°C) and 35 in (89 cm) of snow in Kelowna. Whistler gets 165 in (419 cm) a year. A cabin there needs a boot bench by the door and deck cushions stored dry indoors, off concrete, until spring.

For the rest of the country, start with custom cushions in Canada.

Balconies, Vancouver Specials and old Victoria bays

Many BC condos from the late 1980s to the early 2000s were built with minimal roof overhangs, and the rain found them: about 45% of the 159,979 condo units built in the province from 1985 to 2000 had envelope leaks. The lesson for cushions is simple. Rain reaches a balcony. Balcony cushions in Vancouver are outdoor fabric, with ties, and they come inside for a wet week.

The Vancouver Special, built from 1965 to 1985, put the living rooms upstairs with a balcony through sliding glass doors. Covered or not, that balcony breathes coastal air all winter, so it takes outdoor fabric too.

Victoria keeps a large stock of Edwardian houses, and James Bay and Fairfield hold Victorian and Edwardian streets. Old houses bring window seats and bays that are rarely square. Window seat cushions in Victoria, BC start from a drawing of every edge; see bay window cushions.

Inside the condo, the answer is usually low. Height is a feeling. A floor cushion or a floor sofa made to length keeps a small room open and the ceiling feeling higher.

Warm colors for short days

Low winter light cools every color. On the coast I choose warm ones: oat, rust, moss, cedar brown, a soft ochre. Textured weaves catch what light there is. Pale gray on a gray day looks like weather.

In the Okanagan the problem reverses. Strong summer sun is hard on saturated colors, so sand, sage and terracotta mid-tones do better on a deck.

Choose one color to carry the room. Let the rest be quiet. What color is the light in your room at four in the afternoon in December?

Gray outside. Warm inside. Enough.