When Tracy and Greg Fisher designed and built their home in Parkdale, they thought they would be there for a while.But, when the local elementary school was slated for closure, the Fishers had to rethink their long-term plans.

They registered their eldest daughter, who was starting Grade 1, at a school in the inner-city area of Scarboro, which was a 10-minute jaunt by car when there was no traffic. During rush hour, however, that quick commute had the potential to turn into a half-hour-or-more sojourn. By the time their second daughter started Kindergarten, Tracy was pregnant with their third child, and it was clear the family needed to move closer to the school.

“The driving back and forth was becoming difficult, especially as the girls became more involved with their friends in the neighbourhood and with extra activities at the school,” says Tracy.

But at the time — September of 2006 — the Calgary real estate market was in its heyday.   “There simply wasn’t anything on the market,” Tracy remembers.

Unconventional times call for unconventional methods and, as luck would have it, the Fishers heard through the grapevine that the owners of a two-storey 1950s home were thinking of selling. “We approached them and made an offer [before they even listed] and they were keen, so we ended up doing a private deal,” says Tracy.

The home was in an enviable location, just a block from Sunalta School, and it boasted a huge backyard with lots of mature landscaping, including trees that dated back to the neighbourhood’s inception in 1912.

However, although the previous owners had renovated the home in the early ’90s, a warren of cramped rooms and hallways choked the space and the decor was dated. Since that renovation had included an addition that encompassed the original structure, there were differences in ceiling heights in various rooms and a mash of styles that didn’t gel together. Finally, the exterior was memorable, but not necessarily for its curb appeal.

“It was known as the house with the purple columns because of the bright purple columns that flanked the front door,” says Tracy. “We toyed with tearing it down and rebuilding, but in the end we kept the existing structure. I liked the feeling the home gave us, even though I didn’t like the decor. It was very family friendly and I could visualize the kids running around in here.”

To make their vision for the home a reality, the Fisher’s hired interior designer Stephanie Brown of McIntyre Bills and contractor

Romi Lagadin of Squared Project Management to assist with the updating process.

It seemed only natural to go back to the neighbourhood’s roots and create a traditional home that would blend in with the surrounding architecture. “The home was definitely lacking curb appeal and we wanted to make it more cohesive with the neigh-bourhood,” says Brown.

The goal for the inside of the home was to take it from a chaos of different styles to clean and simple, Brown explains. “Tracy wanted things comfortable and liveable. We didn’t want to put in anything that was too fussy. It had to be entirely functional and family friendly.”

To achieve the look, the interior of the home was completely gutted. The main floor was opened up and French doors replaced the odd angled bay windows that overlooked the upstairs deck and the back garden. The U-shaped upstairs stairwell, which extended from the back family room, was reconfigured into a single run of stairs now accessed from the front of the home.

“Now there is a nice flow,” says Brown Shift-ing the stairwell also created extra space on the second floor to expand the master ensuite and walk-in closet.

It has been said that good design takes the most mundane of acts, such as entering a room, and turns it into an experience.  

If that is the case, Brown and Squared Project Management have certainly created a good design. Walking into the home’s harmonious and airy spaces, it is now hard to imagine the home’s previous design, so seamless is Brown’s handling of volume, line, colour and ornament. Take, for example, the Shaker panelled columns that tie the three levels of the home together.

When the wall between the kitchen and family room was opened up, they found a structural post in the middle of the opening.

Brown concealed it with the Shaker panelled column and then added two more for symmetry. She then took this detail through-out the home.

The home now makes a strong architectural statement that boasts lots of exterior curb appeal, as well as an open, family-friendly floorplan with a kitchen to die for and lots of space for the couple’s art collection.

The kitchen is almost literally a dream — bright, airy and extremely well laid out. Tracy had seen the kitchen in a show home in Elbow Valley and immediately fell in love with it. She showed Brown some photos and asked her to recreate it. Brown not only did so with flair, in the process she tweaked a few things to personalize the look and improve it for the family. “We knew that Tracy had red accent pieces, so we worked with that,” says Brown.

Rooms throughout the home share a subtle beauty created by simple-yet-sophis-ticated shades of oyster. mushroom, bone and sand complemented by chocolate oak flooring and cream millwork. “We wanted to create a simple backdrop for the couple’s art and furniture collection,” says Brown.

Tracy also wanted to keep the colours light. “Our last house was quite dark — dark browns and dark reds,” she says. “I found it too dark, but I liked the colour scheme, so we toned it down a bit.”

Throughout the home, Brown melded traditional and contemporary elements.

“We wanted the style to fit their lifestyle. They are young and they have a family,” she says. “We didn’t want it to feel stuffy-traditional, so we went with a transitional feeling. We mixed modern and traditional millwork and chose plumbing and light fixtures that were a nice balance between the two styles.”

Adds Tracy: “Stephanie is so detail-oriented and she carried the vision right through the home.” She adds the process unfolded very smoothly. “Communication was paramount, especially between Romi and Stephanie. No one ever felt out of the loop. Everyone did just a phenomenal job.”

After all of this, the family is thrilled with their new home and their new neighbourhood. “It was well worth the year-long process,” says Tracy. “The kids love walking to school and the house is amazing.”

Her husband, Greg, agrees. “Scarboro is such a community neighbourhood with all of the barbecues, community dances and children’s act-ivities,” he says. “It just has that small town feel. And yet, it’s only five minutes to downtown.”