EE FR
& Lifestyles 2017 – 2018
Pg 12 A blend of beauty and accessibility
Pg 17 Own more than just a house
Pg 20 For the love of her land
Life at the Lake
w w w. BeaverHomesandCottages.ca
When it comes to building your lake home you can trust the Experts at Invermere Home Hardware
Drop by and visit our Beaver Homes and Cottages consultant, David Webster. He can help make your dreams become a reality. david.webster@invermerehardware.ca info@invermerehardware.ca Home Hardware Office: 250-342-6908 ext.236
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Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
Table of Contents Local Treasures.......................................................................................... 6-7 Feed Your Soil and Watch Your Garden Flourish... 8 The Luxury of Living in a Micro Home.............................. 9 Helping Homeowners Save Long-Term ..... 10-11 A Blend of Beauty and Accessibility................ 12-13 Unique Housing Concept in Radium.............. 14-15 Own More Than Just a House................................................... 17 Local Lodge Has a Rich History............................... 18-19 For the Love of Her Land.................................................. 20-22 Packaged Homes are a Hit............................................................ 23 Ahead of the Trends with Trappeur Homes...................
& Lifestyles 2017– 2018
................................................................................................................................
28-29
Artist Profile: Meredith Hackler............................................ 30
Lakeside living on Lake Windermere compliments of Ski Home (see ad on page 11).
Patrick Chenier Photography
Advertising Index
Columbia Valley Homes & Lifestyles is published annually by The Columbia Valley Pioneer Newspaper, Misko Publishing Limited Partnership. Publisher
Dean Midyette
Editor
Nicole Trigg
Graphic Designer
Emily Rawbon, Sarah Bennett
Sales Associate
Angela Miller
Writers
Eric Elliott, James Rose, Nicole Trigg,
Nikki Fredrikson, Ray Vowels
Photography
Angela Miller Photography, Chuck
Newhouse, David Webster, Kyla Brown
Photography, Marlene Chabot Photography,
Nicole Trigg, Nikki Fredrikson,
Patrick Chenier Photography, Ray Vowels,
Statesman Group, Trappeur Homes,
TRC Projects, Windermere Valley Museum
N E W S PA P E R
Box 868, #8, 1008 – 8th Avenue, Invermere, B.C., V0A 1K0 250-341-6299 • 1-855-377-0312 info@columbiavalleypioneer.com www.columbiavalleypioneer.com
Ambiente..................................................................................................................... 4 Bella Vista Estates...................................................................................... 19 Cochrane Design Studios............................................................... 15 Columbia Roofing........................................................................................... 8 HD Railings and Screen Solutions..................................... 15 HeliSprings Chalets................................................................................. 21 Home Hardware................................................................................................ 2 Home Renovation Centre.................................................................... 4 Kootenay Granite............................................................................................ 7 Marlene Chabot Photography................................................ 22 Panorama Mountain Resort....................................................... 32 Perrin Structure and Design...................................................... 24 PineRidge Estates...................................................................................... 16 RONA Northstar Hardware.......................................................... 25 Shannon's Blinds & Designs....................................................... 29 Sierra Stone and Garage Solutions.................................. 10 Skandia Concrete....................................................................................... 29 Ski Home................................................................................................................. 11 STW Cutting Edge Carpentry Inc......................... 26-27 The Residences at Fairmont Ridge........................................ 3 The Trails at Windermere Lake............................................... 19 Trappeur Homes.......................................................................................... 28 TRC Projects....................................................................................................... 14 Valley Hawk Security............................................................................ 19
Local Treasures page 6-7
Ambiente Home Hardware Inspire Floral Boutique Cover Photo: Marlene Chabot Photography (see ad on page 22)
This material, written or artistic, may not be reprinted or electronically reproduced in any way without the written consent of the publisher. The opinions and statements in articles, columns and advertising are not necessarily those of the publisher or staff of Columbia Valley Homes & Lifestyles. It is agreed by any display advertiser requesting space that the owner's responsibility, if any, for errors or omissions of any kind, is limited to the amount paid by the advertiser for that portion of the space as occupied by the incorrect item and there shall be no liability in any event greater than the amount paid for the advertisement.
Home Services page 31
Newhouse Micro Homes Cranbrook Pest Control Great West Appraisal Inc. Green Leaf Tree Services Hi Heat Insulating High Country Builders Home Made Perfect
Invermere Custom Woodwork Invermere Electric Ltd. Patco Developments Ltd. PDQ Window Tinting RFE Alarms Sole Decor N' More Total Heating
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Local Treasures E
ach year, Columbia Valley Homes & Lifestyles features some of the most charming, delightful home decor pieces as Local Treasures that can be found right here in the valley. Leave it in the hands of local experts to supply you with some of the most original items that will add a unique touch to your personal abode and brighten up your home surroundings! Angela Miller Photography
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Framed Calgary Flames Jersey Home Hardware 9980 Arrow Road Invermere 250-342-6908 invermerehardware.com
Kingsford Camping Grill Home Hardware 9980 Arrow Road Invermere 250-342-6908 invermerehardware.com
Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
American Paint Company, Mineral Paints Inspire Floral Boutique Ltd. 1046 A 7th Ave. Downtown Invermere 250-342-0383 inspireflowers.ca
sales@kootenaygranite.com kootenaygranite.com 250.426.6278
Dipping Bowls Ambiente Home Design Elements 926 7th Ave. Downtown Invermere 250-342-4406 facebook.com/Ambientehde
Kootenay Granite 1/2 Tall
LOCATED ON THE STRIP IN CRANBROOK
Old Town London Clock Inspire Floral Boutique Ltd. 1046 A 7th Ave. Downtown Invermere 250-342-0383 inspireflowers.ca
FINE FABRICATORS AND INSTALLERS OF GRANITE, MARBLE, QUARTZ, ENGINEERED QUARTZ, & PORCELAIN
Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
By Ray Vowels
Feed your soil
Photos by Ray Vowels
and watch your garden flourish
W
e often mulch for a single purpose: aesthetics, weed suppression or to retain moisture. But by focusing on that single objective, we miss out on the intricate diverse buffet within the soil, unaware of how our narrow focus can have negative long-term effects on the life beneath the mulch. Don’t discount this buffet — it will nurture your yard, plants and lawn. What we call decay, or rot, is actually a complex series of checks and balances that provides the animals, fungi and mipg crobes with the food they need to be healthy. No, you won’t 8 see a slew of tiny animals with napkins tied to their necks rushing over to your mulch; most are too small to see without a microscope. This dance of birth and death is the doorway to resilient foliage and healthy soils, and yet we unknowingly undermine this wisdom. Covering the soil with plastic or landscape fabric may indeed prevent weeds from popping up at first, but over time as the mulch breaks down it will create soil on top of the fabric and play host to weeds, which in the long run nullifies the reason for the fabric. Perhaps even more important, though, is that in this attempt to deter the weeds, an important cycle has been disrupted. The cycles and movement of water and air are interrupted by the fabric thus denying soil organisms the ability to access their source of carbohydrates (i.e. their buffet). This in turn stymies the cycle that allows them to recycle the organic matter, (one of) the very thing(s) that is required for a healthy soil. By “solving” that single problem, we have created many more
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— we’ve reduced the soil’s biodiversity, fertility and water-holding capacity, and we’ve interrupted a necessary cycle that ultimately affects plant health. All is not lost! If we think of mulching as “feeding the soil”, it all becomes very simple. Our job, then, becomes to ensure that the tiny organisms receive the best nutrition possible and, as nature would have it, that’s not very far away. When we use mulch without fabric, keep the grass clippings for the lawn, and let the tree or shrub linger in its leaves, we can (re)build soils. So take a moment to reflect on what you are doing before you discard the buffet that all those microscopic beings need to survive. By allowing the garden to recycle its own waste, it increases the soil’s biodiversity, increases exudates, mycorrhiza flourishes, soil fertility optimizes, the water-holding capacity is balanced, and the compaction and erosion rates decrease. Mulching done correctly can provide the ideal food to soil, equalling greater yields, less disease, and healthier soils. Soil health is so much more than what’s on the surface. We need to dig in and take a closer look. In doing so, we can identify what’s needed at the buffet to satisfy your particular plant, lawn or greenery. Ray Vowels is the owner and operator of Vital Grounds Land Design, specializing in sustainability strategies, low impact development, permaculture and rain water management. Visit www.vitalgrounds.com.
Roofing in the Kootenays for over 15 years!
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PH: 250-349-7586 CELL: 250-489-8685 • columbia_roofing@hotmail.com Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
By James Rose
A
The luxury of living in a micro home
fter 40 years of working in the building industry, Chuck Newhouse wanted to try something different. Better yet, he wanted to try something different while also having fun. Whatever this new direction was to be, it would be a bonus if it involved building houses. And had it not been for Chuck’s nieces and nephews, perhaps this new venture, which he later named Newhouse Micro Homes, never would have happened. “My nieces and nephews told me about the concept after seeing examples of it online and in magazines,” he said. And by “concept”, he means small houses. Really, really small house (at least, when compared to the traditional North American standard). Newhouse Micro Homes specializes in building homes with square footage of less than 400 square feet. “The last home I built before I embarked on this project was, I think, around 8,800 square feet,” Newhouse said with a laugh. Talk about contrast. After reading and learning from a variety of online forums outlining the how and why of what is commonly known as the “tiny home” concept, Newhouse dove right in. His first model, aptly named the “Mount Nelson”, features components in a home you may expect to find in one twice, three, four or five times the size. “The Mount Nelson has lots of windows for natural light, is super insulated and sealed for energy efficiency, has timber frame ceiling beams, a large loft, heated tile floors, a gas fireplace, lots of storage in custom alder cabinets, and much more,” Newhouse explained. One would not be remiss to wonder how in the world all of that would fit in a comfortable living space. Newhouse remembers thinking along the same lines before he went about developing his approach to designing and building tiny homes. “What I came to realize is that in the traditional North American home, there is an unbelievable amount of redundancy and wasted space. For example, we tend to take up a lot of space to store a lot of stuff that we never end up using.” That said, it would appear living in a
Newhouse Micro Home would call for a more minimalist approach to living. Designing the Mount Nelson, however, wasn’t without its challenges. With such tight space constraints, clever thinking was needed in order to optimize the available square footage. “What was key was to realize that certain parts of the home needed to be used for more than one thing. Cupboards, for example, can be used to store more than just what we typically think they do.” Another challenge was choosing the right building materials. “Because the units are more or less portable, I had to consider weight of materials.” Part of the allure of the tiny home concept, or at least the Newhouse version of it, is the mobility of each unit. “They are great for vacation homes because you can take them to RV parks, acreages, really anywhere that can fit them and where there is a septic and power hook-up capability, if those are of importance,” Newhouse explained. Another encouraging tailwind in the trending tiny home movement is the coming proliferation of solar power. “Solar in combination of LED lighting keeps getting cheaper and it won’t be long before I can equip solar panels on a micro home to provide the bulk of a home’s power needs." As for which demographic has shown the most interest in Newhouse Micro Homes, ages range. “People showing interest range from young first-time buyers all the way to retirees looking to scale down,” he said. So although the tiny home concept may seem rather stark at first glance, it is certainly meeting the need of a pent-up market wanting a change in the way we live. As for Newhouse, if nothing else, the creativity needed to design and build his tiny homes is all the inspiration he could have hoped for before stumbling upon the concept. “It’s a great little secondary career, or hobby if you will, and I would love to see the concept really take off in the Columbia Valley!” Visit www.newhousemicrohomes.com to find out more.
Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
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Photos by Chuck Newhouse
By Eric Elliott
Helping homeowners save long-term
I
n a world with rising energy costs and environmental degradation, it’s becoming increasingly important and valuable to ensure your home is as energy efficient as possible. In response to this efficiency wave, the Department of Natural Resources Canada has created the Energy Star program, which certifies homes through the program’s three classifications. The three classifications start with the Energy Starrated home, which is at least 20 per cent more efficient than the typical home built to code; followed by a R-2000 home being 50 per cent more efficient; and finally a Net Zero home being effectively selfsufficient. Ski Home is owned by Richard Unger, who has been operating in the Columbia Valley for over a decade. He has been following this evolution and recently became a certified Energy Star builder. This certification allows him, working with his certified energy advisor Nate Sereda, to construct homes that are visually appealing and help prospective homeowners
Patrick Chenier Photography
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save a little more money in their wallets during their lifetime. Unger said the main advantage of building to the Energy Star requirements has to do with more comfortable temperatures inside the house because of an airtight home. “The house just performs better,” he said. “The heating and cooling bills around the year will be less as a result of having an Energy Star home. We’ve been building airtight homes for half a dozen years now just because that has the greatest impact towards comfort and heating and cooling costs.” According to Sereda, they accomplish this through improving the building’s envelope with additions such as Energy Star windows and appliances throughout the home in addition to increased insulation in the walls and ceilings. The goal is to make it as airtight as possible then allow the HRV (heat recovery ventilator) to circulate the air, making for a more enjoyable living situation. “In past decades, builders would say
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Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
that a house needs to breathe and while that may have worked 50 years ago, that is no longer accurate,” Sereda said. “What we want to do is make the house as tight as possible and then vent it with the HRV — it’s effectively the lungs of the house.” The cost of making the changes to become an Energy Star home can vary, Unger said, depending on your original plans for appliances and other items, but in the long run it will save money on your electricity bill, which will be at least 20 per cent lower than that of a conventional home. Although the real estate market isn’t currently reflecting a heightened value on these Energy Star homes since the movement is in its infancy, Sereda said he’s confident this will change in the future. “Ten or 15 years ago, you didn’t really care about how much gas your truck used, you knew it was going to burn a lot, but now everyone is using their efficiency very effectively,” he said. “People are now recognizing that their home requires a lot more energy than their car does so why not try to shop for efficiency in their houses as well." Unger said he has already heard from
homeowners about the growing importance of maximizing energy efficiency and that each new home Ski Home constructs will promote the savings the Energy Star program helps homeowners realize. Find out more by visiting the Ski Home website at www.skihome.ca.
Ski Home-built houses guarantee Energy Star certification.
To w n h o m e s s t a r t i n g a t $ 3 2 4 , 9 0 0 A t C a r p e n t e r ’s L a n e , I n ve r m e re B C
250-341-5290 • info@skihome.ca • skihome.ca
Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
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A blend of beauty pg
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and accessibility
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hen building a new home, many will consider what size of home they'd like, the colour of cabinets, what kind of doors to install; but few will think about the accessibility of the home. Choosing a floor plan that would allow you to grow into your home no matter what happens to your mobility doesn't mean you need to choose between accessibility and style — the two can flow together to create a breathtaking residence. Nestled above Lake Windermere out along Westside Road, Spring Hawes’ home is a beautiful mix of accessibility and modern features. The 4,000 square foot house features three bedrooms, a large office, two wheelchair accessible bathrooms and a spacious roll-through closet.
By Nikki Fredrikson
“It would be hard for someone who doesn’t live with a mobility issue to think of all the details, and also everybody's mobility is different. No one's ever come in my door and said, ‘This is a beautiful house for an accessible house’. It's just a really great house and it's really easy to do,” said Hawes, who uses a wheelchair after a spinal cord injury. During the designing and building process of the home, little details were added to make the house accessible for anyone in a wheelchair while maintaining a modern look. In the kitchen, there is about five feet in between the cupboards to allow for a wheelchair to turn around without hitting them. “There's also a couple of lowered prep station areas where it's more of a table height that you can roll right under, your knees can go right under,” said Hawes. When building the home, she and her thenhusband made specific choices on appliances that would allow for a person in a wheelchair to easily use them. The stove, for example, has all the controls on the front making them easy to reach. The fridge was also chosen because it offered elements that make it easy for a person at wheelchair height to reach items. The fixtures in the home are all simple and clean, keeping with the home’s modern style. The house features custom light fixtures from Ryan Bavin at Bavin Glassworks (in Invermere) and a unique trim around the home sets it apart. “The trim is set in to be flush with the drywall and then there's a little inset around it, just a
Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
The universal floor plan offers both modern appeal and room to move.
modern detail. It's quite different and people notice it,” said Hawes. The universal floor plan allows the space to host large parties that anyone can attend without worrying about how to get around. “We've had big parties with tons of people and it's great for young kids because there are no steps to fall down, (there are) lots of places to ride their little bikes. It just turned out to be this really, really liveable home,” she said. The home’s outdoor spaces also reflect the modern design that the interior showcases thanks to a perfect combination of hard surface and vegetation featuring a Feng Shui-inspired landscape plan. “Part of that was when we set the house into the landscape, we thought of those spaces so there was room to landscape. We decided to do it very low maintenance for a couple of reasons: one, less work and the other, grass is not great for accessibility,” said Hawes. Throughout the yard, there are little touches that make it easy for a wheelchair to move around and tend a garden. The retaining wall is the perfect height for sitting, but is also the perfect height to reach plants from a wheelchair. There are planters on the deck that are at wheelchair height and an accessible fire pit is another convenience. “The other really great thing about how that all turned out is that at pretty much any time of the day, any time of the year, you can either be in sunshine or in shade depending on where you want to be,” said Hawes. “There is a lot of space with a lot of different options. You can be out on the east deck looking out over the lake and you get the lake breezes and the shade in the afternoon on a hot day. Or on a cooler day, you can be on the west side and it catches the sun and blocks the breeze and it's really warm.” Having lived in the home for seven years, she’s grateful that the incorporation of the universal floor plan has allowed her mobility without compromising on aesthetics. “It's different than any other house I've been in, but it works really well for me.” Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
Kyla Brown Photography
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By James Rose
Unique housing concept in Radium
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The Modern MountainC p.Living 67 showhome dem-
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onstrates the intelligent design of the six-home development.
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Radium Hot Springs, B.C. • (403) 816-6007 • www.trcprojects.ca 3 Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018 Columbia Valley
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Thoughtful, contemporary design solutions for new-builds, renovations + interiors.
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veryone is unique in what they want and need. This is no more true when it comes to finding the perfect home. That was part of the reason why the Radium Hot Springs town council was so quick in the spring of 2016 to approve a new housing development brought forward by Kevin Blackwell’s Calgary-based TRC Projects. The development, Modern Mountain Living, is six-house development consisting of two three-plexes with no strata fees that feature all the benefits of fee simple home ownership. “When we considered building in Radium, we noticed that the strata/condo market was well-serviced with considerable pre-owned inventory, but what was missing was affordable single-family fee simple homes,” said Blackwell. For Blackwell, who has worked in and enjoyed the Radium area for over 15 years, it was of utmost importance to bring something unique to the buyer and fill a niche in the market. And when the development was approved, Radium mayor Clara Reinhardt was in full support, saying the development nicely rounded out the housing market in the village. “There’s now something for everyone. You can rent or buy a condo, apartment, townhouse, garage, small or large lots,” she said at the time. More specifically, Modern Mountain Living, which is located near The Springs golf course, consists of four bungalow villa homes with over 1,800 square feet of developed space, and two two-storey homes with over 1,900 square feet of developed space. “Each home is fully landscaped and individually fenced, with fully developed basements, double car garages, nine-foot interior ceilings on main level, upgraded
party walls for sound control, stainless steel appliances included, and LED lighting,” said Blackwell. “Our approach with Modern Mountain Living was to offer intelligently designed, energy efficient, wellbuilt and value-priced homes.” Each building is set up with three homes that contain shared individual walls. “This allowed us to keep the construction costs down and pass on those savings to our purchasers,” said Blackwell. “This idea is new to the Valley for single family and fee simple homes that do not have strata fees. There have been lots of townhomes built this way, but they all have strata fees. No strata fees helps to keep monthly costs down because we want purchasers to keep control of their future as it is difficult to predict where strata fees will go.” Design is one thing. Executing upon the design in the housing industry, however, is in many cases another matter. That’s why it was so key for Modern Mountain Living to have valley-based Kris Newman Contracting as the builder for the development. Newman is an inter-provincial Red Seal Journeyman Carpenter, and has been operating independently in the Columbia Valley for over 20 years. “Having Kris Newman as a hands-on builder is extremely important to note and for buyers to understand because you can’t build from a distance,” explained Blackwell, “and so you benefit from the care and attention of a hands-on builder like Kris.” This housing concept is relatively new in the Columbia Valley, and the market is opening up to this type of home that allows first-time homebuyers, retirees and weekend homeowners affordable options, with future developments by TRC Projects already in the works.
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Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
Show Home Now Open!
IT’S LIKE RETIRING EARLY! LIVE WHERE OTHERS VACATION
Overlooking beautiful Lake Windermere • • • •
Columbia Valley Family Park ONLY Children’s Playground 3-hole Teaching Golf Course 56 LOTS REMAIN! Open Sports Field
Show Homes or Design Your Own Model 2 The Olive A
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discoverpineridge.com
R e s o r t s
resorts resorts resorts
than just a house
The living room in this Pine Ridge Mountain and Lakeview Community showhome reveals the development's lifestyle-inspired design.
I
t is an exciting time for The Statesman Group’s Pine Ridge Mountain and Lakeview Community development located up behind Invermere. After several years of little activity, the development recently was given a jolt of life with the recent construction of several new showhomes and some purchases by new homeowners looking to access the Columbia Valley lifestyle. “In 2016, we built and sold the first show home in many years and the new owners moved in at the start of spring this year (2017),” said Jamie McArthur, a representative of the Calgarybased Statesman Group. “And so far this spring we just completed two more showhomes that are now available for sale.” What’s more, 2016 also saw work begin on the development’s outdoor park, which The Statesman Group calls the “Columbia Valley Family Park”. “We landscaped and seeded a three-hole training golf course, plus an extra putting green,” said McArthur. “Spring 2017 we put the finishing touches on the tee boxes, with the course now ready for use.” The Statesman Group is a 40-year-old, family-owned-and-operated Canadian company with extensive experience in senior living communities and medical centre developments. “We aren’t just developers, we are also the builders and the operators,” commented McArthur. “As such, we build our developments knowing that we will continue to support our home-
Statesman Group photo
By James Rose
Own more
owners for many years to come.” The company’s tag line is “What a Beautiful Way to Live”, which is intended to reflect their belief that a home is more than just a house. “When we build a community, we understand that our homeowners want to live a rich and fulfilling life and so we pg 17 are committed to adding years to your life… and life to your years,” said McArthur. For the Pine Ridge development, the idea behind it was to make sure that it could be enjoyed by people of all ages, and at any stage in their family life. “We are tucked away on the mountainside, providing a quiet and pristine setting for those who want that majestic mountain lifestyle, but we are also within walking distance of the schools and downtown Invermere,” McArthur commented. “And now, with the addition of the outdoor park, the grandkids will love to come visit grandma and grandpa.” He is quick to point out that it’s important a home reflects those who choose to live in it and is not just a representation of the builder. “That’s why, at all of our developments, from our high-rise condos to our mountain homes, Statesman gives the homeowner the opportunity to customize virtually every feature of their home.” If you’re interested in learning more about the Pine Ridge Community, visit www.discoverpineridge.com.
Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
The Kootenay Lodge as it is today, stop #2 on the Invermere Historical Tour. Photo by Nikki Fredrikson
Local lodge has a rich history I
f you walk through the suburban streets off 10th Avenue in Invermere, you'll find a variety of townhomes, single family dwellings, and the historic Kootenay Lodge. pg 18 The lodge stands out from the other homes in the neighbourhood; not for its colourful exterior and large wraparound porch, but for its unusual design and large lot size. The house is nestled in the middle of a large 1.3-acre lot that’s much bigger than any of the other lots nearby. “I'm not quite sure if they build houses quite like this anymore, I guess you'd call it an arts and crafts bungalow,” said owner Gordon Cleland. The Kootenay Lodge was originally built in 1912 and 1913 by A.J. Dobbie for B.G. Hamilton, who was the secretary for Robert Randolph Bruce, a prominent businessman of the area at the time who spearheaded the Banff-Windermere Highway and built Pynelogs for his wife Lady Elizabeth. The original lot was much larger than the one the home currently is nestled on. According
By Nikki Fredrikson
to Cleland, the home's lot included all of 10th Street with nothing in front of it until 5th Street. The property housed a large garden, barn and garage. Cleland inherited the home from his father and has been living in the spacious residence since the early 1960s. He kept the house in its original form until 2002. “It was rebuilt in about 2002,” he said. “It was a fairly major rebuild because it had to upgrade the heating, plumbing and the electricity.”
The Kootenay Lodge in 1929. Pictured are Mrs. Ethel Cleland with her children Marion, Allison and Audrey. Top of opposite page: The Lodge (also known at the time as the Cleland Home) in 1926.
Photos courtesy of Windermere Valley Museum Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
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250-688-HAWK Up until 2002, the home hadn't deviated from its original floor plan, which included a large basement, eight rooms on the main floor and three rooms upstairs. During the rebuild, no issues came up while construction was done despite the age of the building as it was structurally in fairly good shape. A unique aspect of this house is the length of the rooms. On the main floor, the living room is roughly between 26 and 28 feet in length. For Cleland, the living room is the location of his favourite aspect of the home — a 12-foot wide rock fireplace that extends all the way up to the ceiling. Over the years, he has kept the original main floor plan — the configuration of the rooms have stayed true to their 1912s style — but he has since modified the upstairs wall height. “The walls in the rooms upstairs were probably six feet at the roof level, so it had an arch type ceiling in the rooms upstairs just because of the way the roof was built on the house. But now the walls on the outside of the house are eight feet high so all the rooms are the same upstairs as they are downstairs,” Cleland explained. The original owner of the home, B.G. Hamilton, accomplished great archaeological finds in the region while residing in Kootenay Lodge. He went on to become a Columbia Valley historian, discovering explorer David Thompson's trading post, Kootenae House, the first trading post in southeastern B.C. that was built in 1807. Hence, Hamilton called his home Kootenay Lodge and to this day the home is a recognized historical site in the community and still carries the name. The Windermere District Historical Society has included the Kootenay Lodge as stop #2 on the Invermere Historical Tour. Pamphlets detailing the tour are available at the museum located at 222 6th Avenue in Invermere.
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Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
By Nicole Trigg
For the love of her land
The HeliSprings Chalets subdivision at Panorama Mountain Resort is completely off the grid, heated by wood from the property and powered by creek water. Marlene Chabot Photography
pg
20
C
arving a subdivision out of a mountainside is no easy task. Just ask Barb Burkart. Burkart is the owner and operator of HeliSprings Chalets, two luxurious handcrafted cedar log chalets nestled on 52 acres of land directly across the valley from Panorama Mountain Resort. Available for rent year-round, the chalets are completely off the grid, powered by a nearby creek and heated with wood from the land, rustic features that perfectly compliment the chalets’ secluded location in a true alpine setting with spectacular views. Back when Burkart first acquired the property in 1999, it was a venture with her then-husband. Their vision was to create a helicopter-based mountain retreat, complete with flights to and from Calgary and heli-hiking. But things took a dramatic turn when the marriage ended, the helicopter left with her ex who was the pilot, and Burkart unexpectedly found herself in full possession of
240 acres of raw land. Construction on the chalets had only just begun. “I went from plan A to Z. I was scared, sleepless nights worrying about how am I going to operate this,” she said. “I had never snowplowed before.” First, there was the matter of power. She hired a contractor out of Kimberley to build a mini hydro plant on Springs Creek, which originates at Paradise Basin and runs through the property. As for providing central heating and hot water to the chalets as well as her on-site trailer, a massive outdoor hydronic wood stove was installed with underground lines circulating hot water to all three buildings, each with their own furnace. “I moved up in the spring so I had six months to get my head wrapped around everything,” said Burkart. “I got set up with wood then winter hit and it was overwhelming!” But learn she did. Her first chalet rental was January 2003 and HeliSprings Chalets was in business. Designed and built by a builder out of Fairmont Hot Springs, the 2,000 square feet chalets are the same floor plan and sleep 10 people each. Situated across Springs Creek Road from each
Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
other, they differ in that the upper chalet boasts a better view with a basement level entrance while the lower chalet has main floor entry with a large yard. “They each have their charm and advantage,” said Burkart, “and they’re far enough apart that if different groups rent them, they’re both assured of privacy.” Her year-round clientele, which she estimates is 95 per cent Calgarians, ranges from couples and friends to groups of golfers and skiers to multi-generational families that take over both buildings for family gatherings. Guests enjoy in-floor heating and electric fireplaces thanks to Springs Creek, which powers a turbine generator producing 54 kilowatts of power. “It supplies all the power here all winter long,” said Burkart. One of her more recent projects was to bring in BC Hydro as her backup power to replace a 42 kilowatt diesel generator that would kick in those times when the creek power would shut off in response to a drop in water pressure, most often due to blockages caused by leaves and ice. But the financial investment and lesson in patience associated with linking to BC Hydro’s power lines paled in comparison to the road building that’s taken place on the mountainside property. “I had prayers out there that a retired logger would come along, because then he could help me with the roads, then Bud Ruault came into my life.” Ruault had done some work on Springs Creek Road prior to the chalet construction and a partnership formed. “He had retired so he had a skidder, loader and cat and he did all the logging and the road building,” said Burkart. “It worked out perfectly. I just sold the trees and then he built the roads and all of the timber income paid for him to do the road building.”
Roads run from corner to corner of the property. Burkart learned how to run a saw and a loader, and to get set up with enough wood to run the hydronic boiler through the winter. Off-grid living, especially when managing luxury chalets, isn’t for the faint of heart, and Burkart has lived up to the challenge. Heating the chalets through the ski season means restocking the wood burning furnace three times a day (which burns a logging truck's worth of wood each winter). Though power automatically flips over to BC Hydro (and previously the generator) when the creek turbine generator shuts off — which can happen at any time of day or night, in any temperature — getting the creek power back up and running is an immediate concern to avoid freezing. Breaking the ice with an axe does the trick, as does scooping out leaves from the dam, sometimes twice a day during her beginning stages of running the hydro system. After years of digging in lines, dealing with heavy machinery, road building, peeling logs and learning the ins and outs of off-grid technology, Burkart has learned what it means to be hands on. “Infrastructure is amazing when you live in town!” she said with a laugh. Abundant wildlife is another aspect of the property that she cherishes, with occasional grizzlies, resident moose, elk and deer, and lots of black bears keeping her company.
pg
21
FOR SALE – BC Investment Property
Continued on page 22
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Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
From page 21 “I had a spirit cub one year, the momma had a black one and a white one. It was so cute, cream coloured,” Burkart reminisced. “I’m pretty sure that a lot of the cubs are now my adult males and females that are around.” She has since subdivided the original lot into three parcels: a 52-acre lot that includes the two chalets, a 24-acre lot that houses her trailer and power system, and a 160-acre lot. The land goes right back to Paradise Basin. “It’s an amazing piece of property,” Burkart said. “I know pretty much every tree on this place.” The 52 acres are currently for sale, and are approved for three more chalets plus a helicopter hanger. Burkart thinks the property would be perfect for a wellness spa retreat, wedding pavilion or hotel condo with additional chalets constructed from materials on the property, but further expansion is beyond her pg financial capacity and after 13 years of working the land 22 she loves, she’s willing to step back.
“I’ve got all the roads set up, they’re approved. For the 52 and my 24, there are easements, everything is done on title. When I did my subdivision, I made road access to all three pieces,” said Burkart, noting there are grandfathered domestic and commercial rights on the creek. Not only does the creek generate electricity, it also supplies all the water for the cost of $300 to $400 a year, which is calculated according to how many kilowatts are pulled from the creek and includes the fee for having an approved dam site. And Burkart’s power bill from November 2016 to March 2017 was just $60, the cost of having BC Hydro as backup. “I will never give up on this amazing property and its future potential. I’m proud to have been able to develop it with the support of my children in this beautiful valley we call home and see my grandchildren enjoying the great outdoors. There may be a lot of real estate between here and there, but my road just happens to run straight through to Paradise,” she said with a smile. Visit www.helisprings.com.
Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
Photo by David Webster By James Rose
F
Packaged homes are a hit
or many people, purchasing a new home can become complicated. Where to buy, what’s on the market, how many bathrooms… the list goes on and on. And then there are those who may be considering building their own home. For these such people, a whole new set of decisions needs to be made. As anyone who has jumped through the hoops of building a new home before can attest to, risk can all too quickly rear its ugly head. Before you know it, material costs can spiral out of control, and for these sorts of things to happen, who’s to blame? Most often, the process of building one’s own dwelling is a onceor twice-in-a-lifetime deal. Learn by doing? Not so much. For those who are more cortisol-averse, there must be a better way, a simpler, lower risk way, to achieve one’s goals of building and living in a home that the whole family is happy with. Enter Home Hardware’s Beaver Homes and Cottages program. Beaver Homes and Cottages enables prospective buyers to pick from a wide range of predesigned models online (from basic cabins to man- David Webster is the sions). From there, clients can modify Beaver Homes and a chosen model to one’s unique needs. Cottages consultant After Home Hardware modifies the for Invermere Home layout to client specifications, clients Hardware. then receive the actual blueprints. From Top: The packaged there, a home building agreement is designs can be signed and delivery begins with prices customized to suit locked in and guaranteed. the client's needs. “Purchasing a home at whatever stage you are in life can be a daunting task, Photo by and with my 30-plus years in the con- Nicole Trigg struction trades as a supervisor and renovator, I have seen the highs and lows
with clients,” said David Webster, who serves as the Invermere Home Hardware Beaver Homes and Cottages consultant. “The Beaver Homes and Cottages concept is built around the premise of its guarantee and the staff that is there to support it. The guarantee is based on four points that are used as our pg guide and all things we do return to those points which are 23 design, price, quantity and quality.” To Webster, one of the great joys of his work with the Beaver program is to see a client’s face light up when they realize they are not just bound to the floor plans in the catalogue. “‘You mean we can change things and make what we have dreamt of?’ they ask. My response is, ‘Yes, that’s guarantee number one’.” Packaged homes as a convenient and simple solution to achieving home ownership is nothing new. “Packaged homes as a concept has been around for many decades. I have seen ads from the 1920s and ‘30s from Eaton’s and Sears, which at that time sold home packages.” As a youth in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Webster also recalls seeing ads for packaged homes from the Beaver lumber store that was owned and operated by friends of his parents. And since the Invermere Home Hardware introduced the Beaver program in 2014, its popularity has steadily grown. “The ingenuity of the Beaver program,” said Webster, “lies in the forward-thinking of the main design team in Saint Jacobs, Ontario. They are on the front lines of innovation and are always staying a year or two or more ahead of the advances in construction innovation and the building codes. But we also have the freedom at the store level to source new products and implement those changes if requested by the customers.” To learn more, visit www.beaver homesandcottages.ca/Store/InvermereHome-Hardware-Building-Centre.
Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
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Within the Columbia Valley, there exists a palpable element of tranquility and oneness with nature. The mountains, the woods and expansive views make the area one of the most beautiful places to live in the country. It’s important, then, that your home be built in such a way to accommodate the local lifestyle — that Columbia Valley way of life — to make your home more than just a place to shut your eyes at night, and lounge during the day. “Your home is part of the valley and what you want to create here,” said Scott Wilisky, owner of STW Cutting Edge Carpentry Inc. “Your home should make the valley feel like home, even if its your home away from home.”
STW & Mountaineer Woodworks STW and Mountaineer Woodworks have been building homes, such as timber frame log homes, in the Columbia Valley for a decade. STW & MW specializes in incorporating Valleyspecific elements into their home design for people who enjoy all the different activities the area has to offer. From outdoor ski racks and mud rooms to outdoor barbecues and pizza ovens, they can work with each prospective homeowner during the planning and designing phase to deliver exactly what lifestyle touches they want. Ethan Balturs (MW) and Scott Wilisky have spent years working on every aspect of home building from start to finish, and with them at the helm, STW & MW pride themselves in being able to provide all the building
requirements under one roof — designing, carpentry, concrete, siding and framing — without having to contract those services out to other companies.
“I can see the details before the problem happens and can act proactively to find solutions a little bit sooner,” said Wilisky. “Since I know how to build the house from the ground up, and physically I’ve done all the jobs, I can provide well-rounded home-building services to do the full job; there’s nothing much that can stump us during the process,” said Baltrus. For interior finish, STW has partnered with a number of local businesses, such as Ethan Baltrus from Mountaineer Woodworks, to ensure that homeowners are able to get both the interiors and exteriors constructed in one seamless operation. It’s this attention to detail and careful deliberation that has connected STW with each of their clients on every project. Moving forward, STW and MW are looking to work with prospective homebuilders who are becoming more interested in maximizing their home’s energy efficiency. As part of the
government’s aim to improve the building code to make new homes more energy efficient, STW will be focusing more on building EnergyStar Homes in the future — which are 20 per cent more energy efficient than those built to the building code.
Energy Efficency With hydro prices on the rise, making your home as energy efficient as possible is quickly becoming the new trend among those looking to build. Typical features in EnergyStar qualified homes would include more sophisticated heating and cooling systems, heat recovery ventilation systems, increased wall and attic insulation, and ENERGY STAR rated high performance windows, patio doors and skylights — all of which will translate to less energy to operate a home and less costly utility bills throughout the year. Above all, however, it’s their commitment to customer service that makes STW a top-notch home building company. “In the 10 years that I’ve been here, I’ve never had anyone complain about our work,” Wilisky said. “We’re reliable. If someone wants something done, we’re the ones who are going to show up and get it done.”
Scott Wilisky
Licensed Residential Builder scott@stwbuilders.com 250.270.0745 stwbuilders.com
Ahead of the trends with Trappeur Homes
By Eric Elliott & Nicole Trigg
C
The Trappeur Home wall system is highly energy efficient, saving on heating and cooling costs.
pg
28
onstructing a house has become a perplexing process. In the past few years, the complexity of Canada’s building code has grown in the country-wide quest to produce energy efficient homes that pull less heavily on power sources and lighten the load of homeowners’ longterm energy costs. More than ever before, there are in-depth details about heat protection, insulation, mould prevention… the list goes on and on; and navigating this maze of new information can be daunting to someone looking to build a home, particularly a log home. But according to Max Fanderl, co-owner of Trappeur Homes in Invermere, the National Building Code of Canada is finally starting to catch up to the standard at which Trappeur Homes has been comfortably operating for several years now. “Taming all this complexity starts with careful engineering calculations for the foundation, log walls, timber elements and roof structures then extends into energy modeling that factors insulation values, window area, interior air handling and site conditions,” said Fanderl. “We have worked hard to engineer our Trappeur Homes building system to be well ahead of the building code.” Trappeur Homes use a hybrid dovetail log wall system that is easy to build and twice as energy efficient as conventional stick frame houses. Fanderl said the reason their log homes are more efficient than conventional homes is through the engineering of thermal mass into the building assemblies.
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Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
“Thermal mass helps tremendously to buffer the Trappeur Homes log walls are highs and lows, awarding the occupants with a beautifully built with the much more steady environment of temperature venerable dovetail corner joint. and humidity,” he said. Essentially, thermal mass helps provide a constant, more liveable climate within the home despite outdoor fluctuations in temperature from hot to cool. At Trappeur Homes, the wall is designed with five-inch thick Bondu dovetail logs plus 1.5 inches of wood fibre board that together provide the high thermal mass value. Inside the log and fibreboard is a conventional 2x4 wall filled with rock wool insulation and finished with either log panelling or drywall. “This 100 per cent recycled wood fibre board also provides additional insulation, acts as a Trappeur Homes photos wind-breaker and becomes a complete thermal break (to avoid thermal bridging) between the log The price for their hybrid log home building method is typicalwall and inside framed wall,” Fanderl said. ly only five to ten per cent more than the cost of a conventional They also engineer their homes to have a breathable “open” stick frame building. The homeowner gets all the wonderful benwall by incorporating a combination of high-performance va- efits, including sustained value into the future. pour retarder with the wood fibre board and the Bondu dovetail “We support the homeowner and general contractor by oflogs. This construction combination helps prevent against mould fering our extensive knowledge and expertise in how to deand mildew build-up. sign and create an energy-efficient and health hybrid dovetail “Hybrid log homes outperform stick frame due to the combina- log home package,” said Fanderl. “Best practices are becoming tion of thermal mass plus conventional insulation,” said Fanderl, more complex as building science gets more studied and undernoting that the effective engineering of Trappeur Homes’ dovetail stood. Trappeur Homes understands the complexities required log home packages completely squashes common misconcep- in today’s buildings and offers natural, healthy, cost-effective pg tions around log homes, that they require more maintenance, are solutions.” 29 less energy efficient, and are much more expensive. To learn more, visit www.trappeurhomes.com.
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Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
By Nikki Fredrikson
Artist profile:
Meredith Hackler
D
escribing herself as a female Forest Gump artist, Meredith Hackler has always been a creator. Growing up in a family of artists, she first began seriously painting when she was just four years old alongside her aunt Marcile. Meredith, who also co-owns the Do Nothing Floatation Centre in Invermere with her husband Dustin Penner, finds herself flowing between all mediums, having started off in watercolours, then moving on to charcoal and oils, and now Adobe Illustrator. Examples of her eye-catching creativity hangs on the walls at Do Nothing. “I don't tend to get locked down in things for too long and that's why I believe that I express in series. I go fully, fully into something, give myself permission to dive as deeply into it as possible, and then from the outside it looks like I turn on a dime, but my soul has collected all the information and the learning and the pg 30 experience needed in that,” she explained. It has been four or five years since she has created any oil paintings, but while working on her series of oils, some pieces took her up to 11 months to create. Meredith said she was working on 30 to 40 pieces at a time, floating between whatever mood she was feeling at a given time and painting based on that. “If I was to work completely, solely, wholeheartedly on one painting, it might take four months, but with that many in revolution, it was so decadent to be able to choose my mood for the day and work with the joy of it,” she said. For her paintings, Meredith chooses to photograph landscapes
that have been untouched by humans, capturing the frame she is going to be happy painting. “Part of the reason I love to do the landscapes, the reason I set the intention to do landscapes, was to meditate on the resident spiritual energy in pristine, untouched places,” said Meredith. She tends to use chunky brushstrokes because she wants to remove herself from the landscape. At the same time, she perceives the landscape as expressing itself through her. “It's coming through me as the artist, but I wanted to get the essence of something, impressionism, expressionism, something there that's speaking more about the living quality of nature as an entity, as a whole,” she said. Going back to her self-description of a female Forest Gump, Meredith has unintentionally experienced some grandiose accomplishments throughout her artistic career, similar to how the endearing character of Forest Gump would find himself in life-changing situations. Her work has been shown in galleries across North America; she’s been invited to show in New York three times; and throughout her 25-year career, she’s been commissioned for over 100 pieces and has created many works for private, corporate and international clients (one prominent local example can be found at Fairmont Lodge). She’s even constructed a limited edition Christmas ornament for the White House in Washington, D.C. “I create whatever art I'm trying to bring through, I create it in the way that I feel is most suited for its expression. I'm not really a rules person, but I love to know why my style comes out the way that it does. That's the fun part of making art for me.” While creating her series of creative works, Meredith focuses on a certain aesthetic she envisions. Often, it's about purity, authenticity and the process. “That's one way to live, with no regrets, focusing on beauty and goodness.”
Columbia Valley Homes and Lifestyles • Vol 7: 2017/2018
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highcountrybuilders@shaw.ca PO Box 2134, Invermere BC V0A 1K0
SOME LONG TO BE HERE. Others simply belong here.
What does ‘more to the mountains’ mean to you? Perhaps it means our story becomes a part of yours. Mountain Living at Panorama is for those who seek Pure Canada. It’s a perfect choice for those who possess a spirit that says “I belong in the mountains.” There are exceptional new home ownership and investment
opportunities in this distinctive resort community. Occupy a higher place, come and grow with us. Discover what Mountain Living might mean for you.
Contact us to discuss creating a future together: Info@PanoramaResortRealEstate.ca Call 25o.688.5515
PanoramaResortRealEstate.ca