Vancouver fashion editor builds small home for her — and her horses
Credit to Author: Aleesha Harris| Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2019 13:32:21 +0000
Finding a home with room for horses in the Lower Mainland is easy. If you have a cool few million to spend, that is.
But faced with a single-income editor’s budget, the prospect of stumbling upon a small place with room to grow for myself and my two horses, Peanut and Pink, seemed all but impossible. That is, until the idea to build struck.
To make the most of limited space while also maintaining a bright, open feel, a barn door separates the loft-style bedroom from the walk-in closet.
After years of planning and discussions, I got the approval to build on a small acreage in the Fraser Valley owned by a family member. The property was already home to my horses, so the only element left to tackle was a space for me.
The idea was simple: Take down an old, decrepit shop on the property that was long overdue for demolition and had become both an eyesore and a headache due to leaks and wiring problems, and replace it with my very own carriage house.
After carefully carving out a budget, and armed with my own sketches for what I wanted the interior layout to look like, I enlisted the help of the Abbotsford-based contractors at Lindan Homes. They assisted with the process from the first days of drawings to demolition and on through to the final completion.
Open floating shelves, condo-sized appliances and a movable mini island table allow for the kitchen space to be functional while also feeling more open.
While the building process wasn’t without its hiccups, and the project timeline ended up stretching several months longer than expected, the final product was more than I could have hoped for.
With a total of 1,025 square feet split between two floors, the living area offers more than enough space for my needs. Downstairs features a small kitchen area with a movable, eat-at island. The space also serves as a small TV area. While planning the build, I knew that every inch of space had to count, so the first-floor living area is also home to a small bathroom, complete with pocket door to provide the illusion of more space, while still offering privacy.
But it’s the upstairs of this home that I love the most.
Furniture pieces from budget-friendly retailers like HomeSense, Structube and IKEA mix and mingle with original artworks from local artists such as Sarah Delaney.
Acting as a combined bedroom, office, sitting area and closet, the second floor feels like a sanctuary to me. Nine-foot ceilings help the space to feel even larger than it is, while windows bathe the room in natural light. If pressed to define it, I’d say the décor of the home is my own personal blend of Scandinavian-meets-Southwest.
With a fairly tight budget for both the build and décor, I took a high-low approach to both. For example, most of the fixtures were sourced from Kohler Co., while much of my furniture came from IKEA, Structube and HomeSense. The budget also prompted me to take a long look at some of the items that I already had, thinking of ways that I could restyle and repurpose them in my new home versus getting rid of them and purchasing newer, shinier items.
One area where I splurged a bit was on art. Over the years, I’ve been collecting pieces from a few Vancouver artists whose work I greatly admire: Dana Mooney, Sarah Delaney and Joy Kinna. In fact, my small home boasts four pieces of Mooney’s abstract art. The artworks invariably spark joy within me, yes, to steal a line from decluttering expert Marie Kondo. (An area where I admittedly had to adopt the KonMari Method was in my closet. After years of acquiring clothes and accessories, the move forced me to take a long, hard look at some of the things that I’d been holding on to.)
With fixtures from Kohler, cabinetry from IKEA and thoughtful touches like a towel ladder, the bathroom offers big style for a small price tag.
But my favourite element of the second-floor living area is the view it affords of my horses.
My desk directly overlooks their paddocks, so when I need a quick mental break from writing, I just stare out and watch them milling about, happily munching their hay, sleeping in the sunshine and, generally, just lazing about.
Now that’s my version of a picture-perfect view.
Tackling a building project takes careful planning, budgeting and extra work. Even with what I felt were the best-laid plans, a few surprises arose during the process that I hadn’t exactly planned for. Here are three valuable lessons I learned during the building process.
When our contractor came to me with what I felt was an astronomical price for kitchen cabinets, it didn’t sit right with me. So I simply said no. Yes, it meant I had to do more work on my end to research other options, but in the end it paid off. I ended up opting for modular kitchen cabinets from IKEA that I assembled myself. Then, the contractor installed them. I added floating shelves, also from IKEA, myself and we brought in a tiler to do a custom subway-tile backsplash. It amounted to a huge savings in the budget and I don’t feel like I compromised on style in the slightest.
The owner with one of her two horses.
Throughout the building process, I had open communication between the contractor and ourselves regarding the budget. Working with a strict amount that I wasn’t willing to budge on made this extremely necessary. When unexpected costs creeped up in several areas, including piping in natural gas and tying in to the property’s septic field, I ended up being over budget in those areas. So, I had to re-evaluate our overall plans and scratch some desired items off the list in order to compensate.
When unforeseen costs arose, or quotes came in higher than expected, I did more research. Knowledge is power, and that rings very true when building. While certain areas are best left to the professionals—such as drywalling, electrical and plumbing—I saved by getting my hands dirty and helping out in small ways such as keeping the site clean and prepping some of the materials in advance. So when the contractor and tradespeople arrived, they could get straight to work. This mindset also led to savings in design details. For example, I really wanted a barn door on my closet, but when the price for a finished design came in too high, I opted for a do-it-yourself kit that saved us hundreds of dollars. It only cost me a few hours on a weekend—and now I know how to whitewash wood. Win-win.