Consider your audience. That was the reverberating phrase that went through my thoughts while making the design decisions for this 50+ condo project. The overall feel of the home was traditional but it desperately needed freshening up. Simple but stylish traditional updates throughout the entire home made a huge impact while keeping as many of the wonderful existing elements as we could.
Starting at the entry, there was a massive amount of storage in the house so we actually eliminated the coat closet and opted for a useful built-in seat with coat hooks. The living room had a fantastic gas fireplace so we simply removed the outdated applied fretwork and fluting, then painted out the wood. Because the tiles were in perfect condition, I painted those too. That’s all it took to completely modernized it. We also added a beam that gave architectural interest to the vaulted ceiling, painted all the walls and increased the size of the baseboards for a more substantial and balanced look. All that was left to do in this room was to soften it with textural curtains and create a functional furniture layout grounded with an area rug and punctuated with art and the large clock.
It is difficult sometimes to know when to draw the line on spending costs. The kitchen was functional and had room for a small table to enjoy the mountain view from the warmth. We opted not to open it up to the living room and instead gave it a major facelift. We painted out all the cabinets and added much needed crown moulding to them, replaced all the appliances, updated the backsplash and faucet. We changed all the lighting throughout the house.
In the primary suite, I felt it needed something special to give it a more stately look. We added the applied moulding to create a feature wall. This treatment was also carried through to the ensuite bathroom. The two rooms now feel cohesive and this treatment emphasized the large vanity with its beautiful quartz top and mirror. The six foot tub was luxurious. We definitely wanted to keep that. All that was needed was to change the outdated tiles. We chose an extra large format, timeless white and used a stacked pattern to give it a modern touch which echoed the pattern in the kitchen.
The rest of the house was completely refreshed with new carpet, fixtures, paint, all new lights and  some vinyl tile flooring.
This home had amazing views, fantastic hardwood floors, great sized rooms, loads of storage and multipurpose spaces. Our goal was to enhance and honour its original architecture while updating it for us as well as the next “seniors” to enjoy.

The year 1890 marked the beginning of the settlement, which became the town of Olds. In July of that year, contracts were let for the construction of a railroad from Calgary to Edmonton. When the rail line reached the sixth siding out of Calgary (Olds), a section foreman named David Shannon arrived on an open handcar. Mr. Shannon, an across Canada to the driving of the Golden Spike at Craigellachie, B.C. in 1885. At the Sixth Siding Mr. Shannon provided living quarters for his family and established squatters rights to a quarter section of land. This gained for them the distinction of being the earliest residents of Olds. Mr. David Shannon Jr. once said that his mother, Mary, was the first white woman to come to Olds.
On July 27, 1891 the first through train made the trip from Calgary to south Edmonton. That same month the Canada Pacific Railway took over the operation of the C&E Railway. A committee of CPR officials, charged with selecting names for the points along the line, suggested "Shannon" but this honour was declined by Mr. Shannon and the town site was named for a CPR Traffic manager, Mr. George Olds instead.
When the survey was done of the land adjacent to the rail line, it was discovered that the Shannon quarter was needed for the town site. A trade was arranged for a quarter section half mile to the north. The Shannon family moved from their sod shack into the completed station house sometime prior to October 1891. Later the family moved to a log house on their homestead. This was subsequently sold to the Hammer family for a school. Mr. Shannon and son Martin then built this home of dressed lumber, which he hauled from Calgary. It was not until 1910 that the large eight-room house on the east side of the north railway crossing became the Shannon family residence.
The most prominent names in connection with large construction jobs in early Olds were Willard Brockway and the Shannons. David Shannon Sr. and his sons, Martin, James and David Jr., were chiefly house builders and their work filled a complete block west from the Olds Hotel corner (50th Street East). David Shannon Sr. did stone masonry
on the Victoria hotel in 1906. Martin Shannon worked on much of the original construction of the Olds School of Agriculture, including the Main Building, the barns, the Farm Manager's house and the dormitory. He helped with the brick telephone office in 1920 and worked for contractors who were brought in to do most of rebuilding of the stores on Main Street, after the fire in 1922. David Shannon Sr. was also an expert dynamite man.
The home became a home base for priests in the early years. St. Stephen's Catholic Church dates back to 1946. The known history of the Catholic worship in Olds goes back to 1838. Fathers Blanchette and Demers, on their way to what is now British Columbia, paved the way. Most notably to come to the Olds area is Father Lacombe. His first known visit was made shortly after the railroad went through Olds. It is known that he said Mass in the Shannon home. A visiting priest baptized the Shannon's daughter Maimie in 1891.
Maimie Shannon was born in October 1891 while the family lived in the station house. She was the first white baby to be born in Olds and was delivered by Dr. George of Innisfail. Maimie commenced duties with AGT as Olds' operator in May 1914, and was appointed Chief Operator in June 1920. She remained in that position until her
retirement. Maimie died in 1968
David Shannon Jr. was also born in Olds, the last of the six children. He started school in 1904 and left in 1912 to help his father run the farm, a half section, on which they had 200 head of cattle. Not able to earn enough to make things pay, they quit farming in 1925 to work with Martin.
The two Shannon brothers, Martin and Maurice, went to war in 1914. Maurice served with the CDN Expeditionary Force. He returned with a damaged foot and later worked for the CPR. As operator of the telegraph system, he conveyed reports of special events to the town's folk. He worked there until his retirement from Didsbury in 1959. It is also known that Maurice, along with Fred Duff, hauled hay from Reed Ranch east of Olds in 1916. The town was then called "The Hay City". Maurice was born November 12, 1893. The last of his siblings to pass away, he died in Calgary on November 30, 1993. He was 100 years old.
Prior to the first established postmaster, and before George Olds, Mrs. Shannon handled the mail at the CPR station. She was also a practical nurse. Mrs. Mary Shannon, "The First Lady of Olds", died on August 30, 1946.
All that is known about Hannah Shannon is that she was the dining room waitress in the Alberta Hotel early in the 1900's.
The Shannon home was owned solely by the family until the last member living in Olds, David Shannon Jr. died in 1991. It was then purchased by the Pederson family and after that sold and made into an antique store for several years. Paul and Yvonne Leussink then bought the property for commercial development. We in turn, bought the house and moved it to our acreage property, south east of Sundre in August 2003.
The house was moved by McCann Movers. They subsequently won an award for moving the 30ft. high structure. An article describing the move can be found in Volume 22, No. 2 June 2004 of the "Structural Mover"
magazine.

The perfect bungalow! 3 bed, 2 bath updated bungalow on a great street with large trees, 2 car detached garage and large fenced yard. Through the gorgeous front door into a good sized front entry, the main floor features all new paint, fixtures, vinyl plank flooring, new kitchen, new windows and solid wood interior doors. New gas fireplace in the spacious living room and shiplap wall in the dining area. The updated kitchen has butcher block counters, moveable island, upgraded stainless steel appliances featuring a convection oven and tons of storage. Brand new main bathroom with barn door, waterproof vinyl tile floors and quartz counters. The primary has a brand new 3 piece ensuite and a walk in closet. The main floor also features 2 additional great sized bedrooms and a main floor stacking laundry closet with storage. Downstairs is wide open and awaiting your design ideas. The exterior is drywalled and there is one legal egress window perfect for adding another bedroom - the SW corner was plumbed for a bar at one time and could feature one again! Updated HE furnace and HWT. Lots of room for storage, plumbed for a large bathroom and set up with ANOTHER washer and dryer set. Large covered front porch, great fenced south facing backyard with large gates for RV parking and mature trees. Newer deck with built in benches and privacy screen to enjoy the sun. 2 Car detached garage with back alley access. Centrally located between the elementary and middle/high schools. Near area walking paths and a short walk uptown to shopping. 

Property Summary
Single Family 1 Storey House
Square Footage-1391.34 sqft Main Floor
Full Basement
Land Size-724.64 m2|7,251 - 10,889 sqft
Built in 1977
Detached Garage (2)

If you are wondering where we’ve been . . . Well, this is where. 
May 1st we took possession of “Mac 3”. It’s a very big renovation but we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! It is a modern farmhouse and turning out so cute.  Can’t wait to share the “after” photos!

Sometimes houses just need an identity. That is actually usually where I start with a design. My mother always said “The house will tell you what it wants to be.” I do find that to be true. This house was lacking for curb appeal to me. We knew it needed more visual weight to balance the stone on the left so we traded the white railing for the wood and skirted the deck to ground it. As for the front door, I felt it was lost in the shadows so it was painted white to bring it forward as well as making the cut glass window more noticeable.

This house was built with a lot of good elements that really just needed to be brought back to life. It had amazing windows and beautiful hardwood floors. Once we gave all the built-ins, island and walls a fresh coat of white paint, we literally felt as though a large brown weight had been lifted off us. Too much white though can leave a room feeling sterile and too precious so we balanced that by grounding the floors with a medium stain, added the timbers on the mantel and at the entry, a massive wood barn door to the office and butcher block on the island and bar top. The kitchen only needed a few tweaks then. We changed the perimeter countertops to quartz, bought new appliances, sink, faucet and changed all the cabinet pulls to black. I am a firm believer that light fixtures are crucially important to get right so most of those were updated but I do like to keep the things that have a retro vibe or are actually on their way back in so you will see that there are three pendants that are original to the house. 

Moving downstairs, we had an existing bedroom and bathroom that had recently been installed. Just a few things to fix and finish those rooms off. We added the fun birch wallpaper to tie in the rustic mountain feel in a more contemporary way, switched the vanity light to a more substantial black as well as the black framed mirror and cabinet bulls. 

It is definitely a fine line that we walk with our houses. Balancing good design, conscientious construction, thoughtful maintenance and a real desire to create a product that we are proud of with a practical need to earn a profit is sometimes a challenge. There are always more great ideas. We could add ceiling beams here or some board and batten there . . . knowing when to stop is hard but one thing I do know is that there will be a new house speaking to me again very soon!

I couldn’t help myself from calling this one our little gem. Not very big square footage wise but it had great “bones” and we jam packed it with a lot of comforting style. The outside got a lot of attention. We brought in an arborist to assess the trees and it was decided that the large diseased tree in the front had to go. That was sad but we substituted a lilac in its place that will look amazing in time. The house needed a LOT of cleaning. We designed and built the new iron and wood railing, stained it to match the existing trim then stained the deck and stairs and painted the front door black. I love the black handset against it that gave it a more contemporary look. We chose some tall grasses and flowers in the front bed in yellow, orange and pink colourations that will give it a lively fun personality. The back yard just needed a lot more cleaning and reworking of the pavers and then we added the great lounge spot under the covered gazebo. This was a large expense but knew it would go a long way to enhance the property. We completed the space with string lights and a cozy fire pit that made it the perfect hang out.

Stepping inside, you first noticed the brightness of the room and the large wall going down the stairs that begged for a grand painting. This room along with most of the upstairs is painted a very light grey that ties in well with the grey floors that were already there. We stained the railing black which actually deemphasized it by making it cohesive with the existing spindles. The kitchen was already laid out well and had solid wood cupboards. They needed a ton of work that just about killed us but I knew it would be worth the effort in the end. We had a lot of discussion over wether or not to change the counter tops but they were a great colour and in perfect condition so all we did was use a grey stain on the dated wood edge to update them. We put new clear glass in the cabinet doors, a new sink, faucet, cabinet pulls and curtains. The light in the kitchen was existing but it got a little makeover. I love doing that to save money when I can.

The primary bedroom needed some personality so we added the shiplap feature wall. The ensuite was poorly designed so we reworked the plumping in there to make it way more functional. We were able to keep the shower unit but replaced the flooring and all the fixtures. I decided that because we couldn’t make it bigger, it was going to have to be dang pretty to make up for that! The gold framed mirror adds a bit of elegance and the light fixture combines the mat black with a touch of gold there too. On the windows, I used an inexpensive tension rod, bought two floral terry hand towels and attached them with simple clips. I love this look! 

The basement was a blank canvas. A dirty, odd canvas mind you but we knew it had great potential. The vision was just to clean it up and give it a little personality so that potential buyers could see it being used in various ways. We also wanted to make it more functional by adding the half bath. The vanity is reclaimed from the original ensuite. We painted out the brick and reinstalled the wood stove. We finished the ceiling out with the whitewashed beams and added some great wall sconces. The flooring was a great find as it is vinyl plank and almost a perfect match to was was already down the stairs. The wall coming down the stairs is a custom shiplap that Rick built. It is whitewashed to match the beams and just added a nice textural warmth to the room. Did you notice the hidden door? Sometimes you just have to embrace the quirky hand you are dealt. The office downstairs had a secret bookcase door. We painted it out, styled it and it actually became a huge feature to the home!

I had to channel my city vibe for this one! This was an outdated, to say the least, 70's condo. The previous owner had already installed a grey vinyl plank flooring which was in great shape. We knew we could give the space a great look without taking down a wall which would have required approval from the condo board and waiting for permits. We did expand the kitchen into the dining area and built in a counter height table which gave it a great deal more counter space and storage. The cabinets were way too far gone to salvage anyway so we installed all new ones that we assembled ourselves and customized to fit the space. The counters are a concrete looking laminate with a steel edge so we continued up the backsplash with a concrete looking porcelain tile of the same color so that it looked more spacious and sleek. The kitchen has a ton of storage already so the open shelves helped make the room feel more expansive. The wood also warms up the coolness of the industrial look and  ties in nicely with the built in table. Let's talk about that table! We chose to beef up the legs by using the large black pipe for the base of it. New stainless sink, faucet and appliances with the exception of the fun retro stove which was done just because it is so fun and a complete contrast to the rest of the industrial look!

The bathroom had an awkward door that swung into the room. We customized the existing solid wood door by building a frame around it, painting it out and then adding the wood on the inside panel to make it a fabulous barn door. That addition of wood compliments the existing front door that we could not change. We did end up demoing the vanity and tub area completely and updated the plumbing. We purchased a floating vanity that suited the space well but then needed to customize that by building open cabinets down to the floor because the vinyl plank did not continue under the previous vanity. The frameless mirror and large format white subway tiles help expand the space. I totally love the industrial feel of the cage lights above the sink.

The bedroom was pretty minimal as far as work goes but made a huge difference. The accordion closet doors were replaced and we added some good shelves in there. The black ceiling fan added some interest as well as the dark grey for the feature wall. Grey, room darkening curtains were added after the photos were taken.

The whole unit got a fresh coat of white paint to brighten it all up. All new mat black lighting was used throughout and new door handles went a long way to bring it into this century and I think it turned out great!

KRISTINE, KRIS, KRISTY, KRISSY
My name, what I or others call me has evolved along with my journey in art and design.
​
​Part 1
I have always been an artist. That’s a very broad description though. I grew up constantly creating. Always attending art and craft classes. I had some amazing instructors and graduated high school with a small art scholarship award. I then went to an art college to get a piece of paper that would say I was an artist. That’s what my parents told me I needed in order to be a “real” artist and to make a living at it. As it turned out, half way through the program I was offered a position with an actual “real” title at a Fortune 500 company. I promptly quit school and went to work there in that high rise building for 4 years in downtown Houston, Texas. I was a Graphic Artist.

After my son was born in 1990, I started a business painting children’s wall murals. I was a Mural Artist.

In 1995 I was introduced to a talented artist that taught and then encouraged me to draw people. Setting up a space at West Edmonton Mall and taking orders there, I was then a Portrait Artist.

Drawing and painting were always something I did while working at other jobs for the most part. It wasn’t until 2005 that I made the decision to pursue my art full time. I was then a Fine Artist.

Part 2
What I didn’t appreciate was that all that time, I was also learning to design spaces. Without really knowing it, I was also becoming a decorator. I now understand that decorating is art and rooms are canvases.

My first paid decorating job was in 1988 as a stager, before staging was a thing. Skipping ahead to 1996, I was working for a new home builder in Canada. Together with my talented husband, Rick, I have been able to build, renovate and update just about any type of home imaginable over the past 20 years. They include but not limited to, a 1910 farmhouse, a new build that we designed from scratch, a small cabin on skids, a tiny home, a 1936 church, a 1970’s condo and 4 bungalows from various decades to date. We’ve also had the pleasure of consulting for countless friends and family on their projects all along the way. 

So, life is a journey of learning. Some great mentors and instructors have lead us to where we are today. I am excited to say, that after some encouragement this past year, Rick and I have started our consulting business. We are taking what we have learned through doing and offering advice and creative solutions for their homes to others.
I am a decorator. No, I don’t have a piece of paper to tell you that so perhaps I’ll just go with Interior Artist?