GREEN GLORY ON THE RIDGE
Home layouts in Symons Valley corridor offer uncommon but pleasing configurations
While Vanessa Lyons and Scott Lowe admit leaving the home they’ve had for the past 14 years wasn’t an easy decision, they knew it was time to find a better fit.
Moving up from their 1,500-square-foot home in northwest Calgary’s Hidden Valley neighbourhood was “totally based on space,” says Lyons.
With children who are 11 and 13 years old, the couple looked for something they could grow into.
Wanting their children stay at the school they currently attend, Lyons and Lowe focused on opportunities in the vicinity. The couple started their search by exploring resale listings, but after visiting a show home by Calbridge Homes in a new community in Calgary’s Symons Valley corridor, they found a match.
Calbridge was crowned Builder of the Year at the BILD (Building Industry and Land Development) Calgary Region Awards announced earlier in 2018.
“When we walked into the Calbridge show home ... it was a yes right away,” says Lyons.
This was the Melrose II in the Ridge at Sage Meadows, which is the same model they decided to have built for themselves.
Single-family homes in this community are available from the $670,000s, including the GST. The builder group, which includes both Calbridge and Morrison Homes, each have a show home located on Sage Meadows Green N.W.
The Melrose II is 2,682 square feet and Morrison’s Summit II is 2,732 square feet.
In both cases, there’s an uncommon, but pleasing approach to the configuration.
Rather than a conventional front-drive format where the home’s main level footprint is shared with the garage — the garage is on the same level as the foyer and a lower level that’s above grade but takes the place of a basement. A small set of stairs leads from that level to the traditional main level comprised of the kitchen, dining area, and great room.
Without the garage on the same level as the home’s primary social spaces, there’s more of an opportunity for sunlight, particularly along the front of the home.
“It’s all open,” says Lyons of the layout, “And there are huge windows at the front and the back. It’s gorgeous.”
The family’s aim for more space is addressed, as well. Even the main floor of the Melrose II, which is 1,150 square feet alone, isn’t far from the total measurement of their previous house, says Lyons.
The home has three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms on the main and second level combined, and with the family’s decision to have the lower level developed — there was flexibility for more.
As Lyons says, the way the home is formatted, “the basement doesn’t feel like a basement.”
“It’s not underneath your house, so it’s a really unique layout,” she adds. “It’s more a part of the house. You’re not going into the basement, you’re walking past the basement.”
“We’ve got it setup as a guest bedroom, which we don’t have (in our current home). The other room, which could be a bedroom, we turned that into a gym. We kept the carpet there so down the line, as (our children) get older, that can be their living area.”
Lowe and Lyons also see the second floor bonus room — another element not part of their Hidden Valley home — as a place their children will enjoy.
“They will have their Xbox up there, we’re going to put a foosball table up there, so the idea is, when there are kids that come over, that’s going to be their space,” says Lyons.
The couple decided to add a pocket door to the bonus room, as well.
For Lyons, a self-employed bookkeeper, another space that added to the appeal of the Melrose is the lifestyle room on the main floor that, as an option, they decided to turn into an enclosed den that will serve as her home office.
Previously, “clients came and
sat at the kitchen table, I’ve done that for years,” Lyons says. “I’m just done with it and wanted a nice office.”
The Ridge at Sage Meadows is a development master-planned by Genesis Land and accessed off Symons Valley Parkway N.W. From its 74 total lots, at press time, 22 are currently unsold.
“The original vision is lining up exactly how we wanted it to, and especially at this particular time of year when it’s in its greenest glory,” says Arnie Stefaniuk, vice-president, land development at Genesis Land.
When you go up there and everything is green, it’s absolutely beautiful ... a very tranquil part of the city.
“When you go up there and everything is green, it’s absolutely beautiful. With the open spaces all green and lush, it’s truly a very tranquil part of the city.”
Every lot at the Ridge at Sage Meadows backs on to green space and there are some that are also flanked by green space on one side.
“This particular development is very unique in Calgary in that it is in the middle of a large reserve, so you’re living an urban lifestyle surrounded by open space,” says Stefaniuk.
Including the environmental reserve, the Ridge features 33 hectares of open space. Pathways are an appealing part of the community, as well.
“You’re totally hooked into the citywide pathway network,” he adds. “You can walk or bike to anywhere else the pathway network runs in Calgary.”
The community also puts residents close to a range of shopping and dining amenities, including hubs in Sage Hill, Nolan Hill, and Evanston, along with the expansive Creekside Shopping Centre, anchored by a Co-op grocery store, that’s about a two-minute drive away.