Inside the dream home: $4.5 million two-storey on the Grand River fulfills a wish list

After designing hundreds of custom houses for different folks, Dave Brix discovered it “very liberating” to design and construct his family’s residence a decade in the past.

So he pulled out all of the stops to include their must-haves: spacious yoga studio, residence workplaces, fitness center, residence theatre, separate barrier-free residing area for an older era, daylight galore, inexperienced options, rock-solid development — the listing goes on.

He even splurged on “whimsical issues,” like a pair of $10,000 doorways camouflaged in custom-built aluminum bookcases that push open to enter his two youngsters’ bedrooms.

Creating the 7,000-square-foot custom residence on the Grand River, 25 kilometres northwest of Guelph, “was an awesome course of, I loved it,” says Brix, who collaborated along with his spouse Susan Hadfield, a yoga teacher. “Every little thing we had deliberate labored out so nicely.”

However, he provides, “it virtually killed me, to be trustworthy.” Throughout 14 months of development, Brix made three visits a day to the location whereas nonetheless operating TerraView Houses the place he was each president and designer. (He’s since given up the chief place on the award-winning firm that’s pioneered net-zero-ready residence development within the Guelph space.)

Impressed by Frank Lloyd Wright’s prairie-style houses, the pure stone-clad, concrete-and-glass home rises two storeys on a 3.2-acre property with 242 toes of river frontage. And it’s been an “wonderful” place to dwell, says the architectural technologist.

“It’s a really versatile home” with variously sized rooms that can be utilized for various functions — bedrooms or workplaces, for instance.

The well-insulated passive photo voltaic residence that’s all above-grade options floor-to-ceiling, south-facing home windows, a cantilevered staircase and main-floor open plan encompassing an enormous kitchen and eating space, nice room with double-sided hearth, and adjoining video games room.

“It’s exceedingly vivid with unbelievable views; we’re in daylight all day lengthy,” Brix says. These views embrace the close by 140-year-old West Montrose coated bridge, the final such construction left in Ontario.

It’s additionally been an awesome place to gap up in throughout lockdowns. “It has tons of area and also you don’t really feel trapped,” observes Brix, whose son and daughter, now aged 21 and 20, each have ensuite bedrooms with lofts.

“Throughout COVID, my residence workplace has been a pleasure … the house theatre has been an enormous hit — we love motion pictures.”

The truth is, the pandemic opened his eyes to the fun of a slower tempo of life and dealing remotely. So the household of 4 plus two canines is relocating to the tiny city of Lunenburg, N.S. after stumbling throughout “the right home” throughout travels to the east coast final fall.

What was deliberate as their “endlessly residence” is now within the fingers of dealer Daena Allen-Noxon, senior vice-president of gross sales for Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty Canada. She calls the $4.495-million property “three homes in a single” due to its flexibility, self-contained wing and outside oasis together with coated decks, a pool, tennis courtroom, pond and river entry for kayaking.

There’s additionally a second, separate constructing — at the moment used as a solarium — that might be a workshop or studio, she says, noting the “quiet little neighborhood” of West Montrose appeals to households and professionals, together with these working in Kitchener/Waterloo’s tech hub.

The numbers

Worth: $4.495 million

Dimension: 7,000 sq. toes

Bedrooms: 4 - 5

Loos: 6