Hearth & Home

Cozy Farmhouse Featured in Boulevard Magazine

Thanks to Boulevard Magazine for another fantastic article.  This one featured Villamar Construction CEO Dan Schuetze's Saanich Peninsula farmhouse.  The article is available for reading online at Boulevard Magazine.

Some highlights from the article.

The driveway up to Dan and Karalyn Schuetze’s house off Mount Newton X Road is long, curving and crunchy with gravel. At its top, framed with an expanse of rambling green fields and distant tree lines, is a white house that feels part country manor and part pioneering farmhouse, and I instantly love it.

Dan welcomes me in, and my first impression of their home is of clean, white finishes, spaciousness, and myriad small touches that add texture and personality to the interior.

It’s open concept with a twist. Two low partial walls meet at the corner of the living room, just enough to create a subtle separation between the main living space and the kitchen and dining room. Several square columns along the wall meet with strategically placed ceiling beams to further the delineation, all without breaking the line of sight across the main floor. And the clean white finish of everything ensures a seamless look that doesn’t distract from the other gorgeous features of the house. 

“We really wanted that farmhouse feel,” says Dan, who put aside his role as owner of Villamar Construction and approached the project with his wife simply as homeowners. 

“When you think about big, traditional farmhouses, you don’t think they’re necessarily well-performing in energy efficiency,” says Mike Edwardson, general manager of Villamar Construction who headed up the design and build. 

But, as Mike tells me, there are a number of features that make the house more efficient, including a 10kW south-facing solar array, a high-efficiency heat pump and appliances, and the roofline painstakingly designed to balance the solar gains. 

As we chat about the build, which took roughly 11 months, it’s revealed that the design process was one of the longest, with three entirely different sets of plans worked out before Dan and Karalyn decided on the final layout. 

“It’s better to take your time with it. Don’t shortchange the design time,” says Mike. “The more time you spend planning. the smoother it’ll go.” 

Please visit Boulevard Magazine to read the complete article.