A home turned outside in
A couple’s love for the outdoors inspires the redesign of a home’s interior to an au naturel delight
by Tim Petruk — Thompson Life Magazine
The Eburne’s had grown tired of their home’s interior. Nestled on a slope overlooking the valley on Campbell Creek Road outside Barnhartvale, the view from their home wouldn’t look out of place on any postcard.
“It’s such a gorgeous piece of land,” says Holly Eburne. “Out in the garden, we created that garden to be like us.” Their backyard has a trickling stream and a rocky pond, with stunning views of the mountains, valleys and pastures.
Why would you ever want to go inside? That was the problem Holly faced for more than 13 years. “We really wanted to bring the feeling of the outdoors to the inside of the house.”
The Eburne’s originally had the home designed by Karl Wilms in 1992. “I phoned Karl and he came up and took pictures of the property,” says Holly.
“We wanted the house to look like it fit on the property, and he really did that. The design of the house is great.
“He took advantage of the property, and he knew what kind of people we were. That’s why we’ve got the seven-foot windows and the glass doors and those kinds of things.
“The features he included, like the three-foot overhangs for the sun, the radiant heat in the floors, the air exchanger, the strip flooring — none of that was common in 1992.”
But, even with all the details, Holly and her husband David still felt that they could improve the house. “It wasn’t us,” she says. “We love the outdoors. We love the woods, the rocks, the water, everything. On the inside, it just didn’t reflect us.”
Last summer, Holly had a chance encounter with local designer Wendy Burgess. “I’m a physiotherapist and she came in as a patient,” she says. “So, I started talking to her about colours.
“I was getting tired of our bedroom. It was nothing. So, I asked her about the latest colours and she said she didn’t know. She said she designs based on what the homeowners want. As soon as she told me she fits it to the homeowners taste and style and personality, that was it, I invited her out to look at my bedroom.
“. . . it would just be a shame to not have it as beautiful inside as it is outside.”
Holly Eburne — Physiotherapist
“I had this dream to just have a very natural, luxurious bedroom. But, you know what it’s like when you paint one room — you’ve got to do the whole house. We love the house, we love the location, but it would just be a shame to not have it as beautiful inside as it is outside.”
Wendy was the right person for the job, taking all of the Eburne’s input and applying it in unique ways. She picked the pallet. “There’s something like six shades in the walls,” says Holly.
The natural materials used in the renovation are unique, coming from as close as Chase and as far away as the Caribbean. For example, the fir beams in the ceiling are from the Chase Bridge, which are 75-years-old. The strip flooring is fir. The cedar windows are from Sorrento. The trim is cedar, and the pine cabinets were made by a cabinetmaker in Vancouver. The ironwood used in the master bathroom comes from the Caribbean.
The outdoor feeling of the home’s interior comes from the details: branches of plaster trees snake along the walls in the stairway; the glass coffee table in the living room is supported by a miniature canoe; the surround-sound system in the entertainment room includes tower speakers built into logs of deadwood; the polished concrete flooring gives an alfresco feeling; nightstands, end tables and the master bed’s headboard show off the natural beauty of wood; even the toilet paper holder in the master bathroom is detailed with pinecones.
The whole gives the Eburne home a warm, natural feel. “It was all Wendy,” says Holly. “She got all the people. I wouldn’t have known the first thing to do. I’m really happy with how it’s turned out.”
But, the renovations didn’t come cheap, or easy, for the Eburnes. Holly estimates the cost of the interior renovations to be around $200,000, just slightly less than the $225,000 they paid for their home in 1992. And, with so much work being done, the family was forced to move out of their home for weeks.
“We had to move out to live at the lake for eight weeks,” she says. “We moved out there in late October and came back in the middle of December. And then, when the floor was being done, we had to live in one room in the basement.
“It was quite a challenge, especially because we have two dogs and a cat. We had no kitchen for a while…. It’s been quite a process.”
Thankfully, with the Eburnes’ two children having grown up and moved out, it was easy to relocate temporarily. That was not the case in 1992 when the family was waiting for the construction of their new home to complete.
“We were living in a 21-foot trailer at the end of our driveway,” Holly laughs. “A 21-foot trailer with a golden retriever, two children and a 6’4” husband that could only stand up in the air vent. We didn’t even have a closet. We had two bins: winter clothes and summer clothes.”
But it all paid off in the end. The Eburnes are happy in their unique, nature-inspired home. Not as happy as they are in the outdoors, but it’s pretty close.
Original Article
- Thompson Life Magazine — Trip Out.pdf (3 MB PDF)
The preceeding article is available in Portable Document Format. If you cannot access it, please download the free Adobe Reader.
