SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 2008 F1

KATHY McCORMICKCanwest News Service

It has what they call a “Star-bucks” ceiling downstairs.Huge aluminum I-beamshold up the top of thepeaked, 18-foot ceilings over

the kitchen. A mesh wire railingleads to the stairs to the lowerlevel. Brick is on an inside wall.Barn-style doors lead to the cosyTV room. Furniture is fromnumerous retailers, including Liq-uidation World. The striking entryfeature is a giant concrete facemeant for an outside garden.

“The great thing about thishouse is that the owner [55-year-old Johanna Thompson, alongwith her husband Dave, 57] didwhat she wanted,” says KelvinChoy, president of MatisseHomes, who built the home on anacreage northwest of Calgary.“She didn’t care what othersthought.”

Indeed, says Johanna, “every-one thought I was crazy when Itold them what would be in thehome.” But it works — and worksgrandly.

The 2,280-square-foot bunga-low (with the lower level alsodeveloped) is a warm, contempo-rary home filled with interest,drama and cosy intimacy.

Not that it is exactly what wasplanned.

The homeowner has been car-rying around a well-thumbedcopy of a June 1994 Life magazinefor more than a dozen years, hon-ing her dream.

In it, renowned architectRobert Stern designed a “dream”house — one that was “classic onthe outside and remarkable on theinside — and affordable.”

The home, the magazineclaimed, “can be adapted to suityour family and can be built any-where you want.”

Little did the writer know that,indeed, it could be — 14 yearslater on an acreage in Bearspaw,Alta., 25 kilometres outside Cal-gary.

“I like the floor plan,” saysJohanna about the magazine’sdream home. “It’s pretty practi-cal and it’s a house that works forus.”

The original certainly wasn’tthis modern, says Dave.

“But the structure of the homeis pretty similar, other than someadditions.”

The floor plan of the Life mag-azine model was about 1,400square feet, and it was a two-storey house.

■ GREEN REALTY: What do realtors mean whenthey say they’ve gone green? F3■ DEBBIE TRAVIS, F5 ■ CLASSIFIED, F6

HOMESEditor: Angela Mangiacasale > Telephone: 380-5341 > E-mail: features@tc.canwest.com

PHOTOS BY CHRISTINA RYAN, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE

Homeowner based design on 14-year-old article by renowned architectHANDOUT

A sisal rug adds a naturaltouch to a brightly colouredroom.

Sisal rugneedsspecialcare

LEANNE BROWNOFFFor Canwest News Service

Question: I am consideringgetting a sisal rug for my fam-ily room, but wonder abouthow to keep it clean. I havetwo children and this room isused frequently.

Sisal is a natural materialobtained from the stock andleaves of the succulent agavesisalana plant, which is foundin Central America, the WestIndies and Africa. Thesefibres are mechanically spuninto yarn and woven into rugs.

Although it is considered tobe a very strong and durablematerial, there are some pre-cautions that accompany thisproduct in order to extend itslifetime.

For your family room, lookfor a rug that displays a tightweave of continuous rows ora herringbone pattern. Looseloops tend to catch and break,causing permanent damage tothe carpet’s integrity.

As is true with all naturalmaterials, sisal fibres areporous and can absorb liquidsquickly. These rugs do notrespond well to a damp/wetenvironment as the fibrestend to swell, distorting therug. Shrinkage and bucklingcan occur, during the dryingprocess, if the rug absorbs toomuch liquid.

If your rug does come intocontact with liquid, place aclean towel under the carpetand apply another towel overthe stain to blot the excess liq-uid. Apply gentle pressure,but do not rub, as this motioncan cause fibres to break.

Dry any remaining mois-ture with a handheld dryer, onthe cool setting, until the rugis dry to the touch.

Generally a sisal rug canlast for many years with reg-ular vacuuming without abeater bar to remove dirt andparticles that can get embed-ded into the weave. Shouldyou find you need to tend to astain, apply a solution of warmwater and Tide detergent tothe area with a toothbrush.

Work in the direction of thefibres. Rinse, blot thoroughly(with towels above and below)and dry with a handheld dryeras described above.

Durable fibres mayswell, distort in wet environment

Magazine dream realizedARCHITECTURE

> See BUILDER, Page F2

Above: The 2,280-square-foot bungalow overlooks a for-est in Bearspaw, Alta., 25 kilometres outside Calgary.

Right: Stained aluminum beams frame the floor-to-ceil-ing fireplace in the living room.

Below: Kelvin Choy of Matisse Homes says he loves cre-ating something out of the ordinary.

EXECUTIVE STYLE HOME $1,699,000

Meticulously built in 2004, this neoclassical 4300 sq. ft. home has architectural details reminiscing of a European heritage rarely found this day and age. This home features 9-plus foot ceilings across 4-bed (dual master suites), 5 bath, 4 fireplaces, elegant formal living and dining rooms, spacious gourmet kitchen with designer finishes, top-tier appliances and adjacent to open family room. The property has an oversized finished and heated 3-car garage with driveway parking for 8 more vehicles. ML#249041

CORDOVA BAY VIEWS $479,900

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INNER HARBOUR LOCATION – VIEWS GALORE! $499,900

Incredible views of Victoria’s Inner Harbour from this upscale condo in the “Reef” with 179 sq. ft. deck. Open concept living featuring a chic 1 bedroom plus den, 10 ft. ceilings, maple & slate flooring, eating bar & dining area, gas fireplace and gourmet kitchen with stainless steel appliances. Den is perfect as an office. Underground parking. No rental restrictions. Enjoy it year round or when you visit!!! ML#249496

NEW PRICE

■ From page F1

“I wanted a bungalow,” saysJohanna. “This home is one wecan live in in our old age, whenwe are not able to go up anddown stairs.” Just one bedroomis on the main floor, but it’s agood-sized master suite with aroomy walk-in closet and fullensuite.

Johanna says it was impor-tant to have three large bed-rooms downstairs “so the kidscan come home.”

The empty-nester couple hasthree children, two living inother cities. The third has justmoved back from living in Van-couver and will soon be movingto his own condo.

While the bones of the homedesign came from the Life mag-azine, “there were 15 other ref-erences that were handed to thedesigner and he was told to‘work this in’,” says Dave witha laugh.

Johanna did her homeworkand knew what she wanted.

Once the imagination playedout, then it was up to thedesigner to make the plan workand the builder to figure outhow to build it.

Not an easy task, but adelightful one, says Choy, whohas been building customhomes on acreages and infilllots in the inner city since 2004.

“I love doing anything out ofthe ordinary,” he says. “It’sgreat to be able to do somethingout of the box.” In fact, he says,that’s exactly how he came upwith the Matisse name, to showadmiration for the creativity ofthe famous artist.

“This is one of my favouritehomes I’ve ever done.” Notwithout challenges, though.

The I-beams soaring to thetop of the peaked ceiling in thekitchen are one example. Trulythe focal point of the wholehouse, they’re dramatic and eye-

catching, packing a punch nomatter which direction you look.But they weren’t easy to put in.

The original beams the cou-ple saw were in a magazine andmade of steel, but the weight ofso many steel beams was a fac-tor, so we sourced other mate-rials before deciding onaluminum, which cut the weightby one-third,” he says.

“Then, my granite installeractually notched the granite tofit the beams through so therewouldn’t be extra weight sittingon the granite and the dangerof cracking the countertop.”The aluminum was then staineda dark charcoal colour —another complicated processthat took three different steps.

The same stained aluminumbeams are used to frame thefloor-to-ceiling fireplace sur-round in the great room.

The “barn” doors are 114kilograms so they too neededspecial metal tracks to allow

them to slide open and still holdthat weight.

The metal mesh used in placeof spindles on the staircase rail-ing are one-inch square, andmatched on the outside deck.

The “Starbucks” ceiling isdownstairs — a dropped ceilingmade of plywood and filled withpotlights and exposed bolts.

It was built to hide the heat-ing ducts, rather than a tradi-tional drywall treatment withstippling on the ceiling.

“It adds a unique flair to thespace,” says Choy.

The exterior of the house isEuropean in style, hearkeningback to Johanna’s Dutch roots,he says. “The front of the homeis like the house where I wasborn in Holland,” says Johanna.

“It had French caps on top,and we adapted it from there.One of our daughters lives inMississippi and the facadesthere have a French influence— that’s here as well.”

H O M E S timescolonist.com | TIMES COLONISTF2 SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 2008

Builder delighted by ‘out of the box’ design

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The opendesign andaluminumbeamsmake thekitchen afocal pointof thehouse.

PHOTOS BY CHRISTINA RYAN, CANWEST NEWS SERVICEThe dining nook off the kitchen adds to the cosy feel to the home.

O.A.C., some conditions apply.

APPLY ON-LINE AT: www.bcmortgagespecialist.ca

Jennifer Armstrong 588-2514

jennifer.armstrong@ vericoselect.com

Steve Lowe 415-9160

steve.lowe@ vericoselect.com

• Financial institutions are no longer offering ZERO DOWN PAYMENT to purchase a home as of October 2008.

• Thinking of buying a home with ZERO DOWN or don’t want to have to save for a down payment.

• You must contact us IMMEDIATELY and get PRE-APPROVED to qualify for ZERO DOWN PAYMENT .

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