Intermind Design Inc.

Clients' Story:

We have been North Vancouver residents for almost 35 years where two of our children continue to live with their families. Our daughter and her family live in Burnaby within a short driving distance of us.

When approaching retirement, we decided we wanted to own an apartment with all the living space on one floor that would allow little or no gardening or maintenance responsibilities, as apposed to a townhouse with three levels. We also wanted to maintain the short driving distance to our children/grandchildren. After all, enjoying the grandchildren is a big part of being retired. Following is a list of other guidelines we thought might help us in choosing the right dwelling for us as active retirees:

pricing to be within our established budget (husband won’t budge!)
concrete building
remain in local neighbourhood
no age restriction
two bedrooms, two bathrooms
double garage & storage
fire place
face south if possible (thinking we need the light)

With a very patient realtor we attended many open houses of every kind on the North Shore, which helped familiarize us with what was available within our price range. Many, many months later and a little discouraged (very normal feeling I’m told) in our search we received a phone call to look at an apartment just being processed into the multiple listings. Our realtor thinks she has finally found exactly what we were looking for in an apartment.

The concrete building was eight years old, a West Coast appearance and painted in earth tones (browns) with well - groomed grounds. The apartment (approx 1200 sq. ft.) is a two bedroom/two bathroom sixth floor penthouse with very high ceilings (approx 25 ft.), double front doors and with a balcony about 42 inches wide the full length of the apartment facing north – just enough room for a few plant containers and patio furniture for two. Also facing north throughout the apartment is, either windows or glass pained doors which gives a view of a very old, beautiful forest. A three - way gas fireplace on the north wall divides the living room and dining room. This living space gives privacy for the two bedrooms at each end. The partially open kitchen is the south wall – same side as the front door giving view of the fireplace and the forest. This apartment was perfect for entertaining and desirable for overnight guests.

The location offers walking trails to schools, a local park, coffee shops, 2 shopping centers and churches. Our realtor was correct. This was the apartment for us. It was perfect and we were “sold”. All the criteria listed above were there and we soon forgot about - facing south.

Of course when one buys a home you immediately start to redecorate in your mind’s eye to match your tastes and life style. At about the same time, our son was studying interior design as a night school interest course and the teacher was Mila Djuras, now director and principal designer with Intermind Design. As a retirement gift to us, and wanting to learn first hand, Mila was hired to give a consultation as to changes that would make the apartment “ours”. Mila visited us at our townhouse, talked about our life in general, our decorating budget (very important), looked at our furnishings and took pictures. She visited the new apartment and within minutes she knew what she wanted to do for us and within our budget. That was the beginning of a relationship we hope will never end. She is simply an amazing woman with a highly educated, very deep perception of design – an artist. As well, all the contractors admire and respect her work and ethics. And, she is kind, considerate and has a generous heart. As a result, except for the two bathrooms, our apartment was transformed into a very comfortable, more functional living space using all the furniture we wished to keep and on budget. The carpet was replaced with engineered hardwood and the entire apartment was painted from its initial beige using three earth colors (2 browns, 1 green) and ivory for trim. The fireplace was upgraded using tile and without a mantel. The kitchen was the largest change and mostly torn apart and modernized adding more storage and more openness to balance with the living, dining rooms. A lot of tile has been used for back splashes and partial walls to match the fireplace tiles. To balance the budget, we decided to use an almost indestructible, industrial material for the new counter tops. We regret making this decision as we would have preferred granite, but at the time, it seemed like the spending would be too great for us. During the renovations, however, we did make some additions at our cost, which in the long run, was to our benefit.

From our experience we would advise to renovate all at one time – not in stages. Using a designer like Mila saves money in the long run as she hires contractors who are able to purchase at special pricing, where to purchase, and are knowledgeable of materials to use. We also recommend a competent realtor who knows the area, the availability and will be helpful to your needs.

We love our apartment, which is thanks to the many people who have assisted us in making it our home. The space is all used and well used. We wake every morning to the view of the lush forest and the song of the birds and listen to the frogs croak at evening time. On weekends we hear the voices of children – we couldn’t ask for anything better.

George (71) & Sherrill (67) McLeary