Goodbye detached house, hello condo
From empty nest to condo life
Couple says goodbye to Gordon Head home where they raised their kids, and hello to a Royal Oak suite
Moving from a detached house they lived in for 31 years to a condo half the size was a big change for Jill and Dean Stokes, but one that made sense. They’d already done a couple of renovations on their Gordon Head home over the years and another update was due, but rather than sink more money into the house, they decided it was time to downsize.
The couple, whose three children had long since flown the nest, say they haven’t missed the extra space their 2,700-square-foot house once provided. Instead, all their needs are met in their new 1,350-square-foot two bedroom condo — including the creation of a “man cave” for Dean from a bonus space off the kitchen.
“The reality is we live in the same amount of space as before. We had four bedrooms, but only one was occupied,” says Jill. “Downsizing made sense.”
Adds Dean: “We watched our kids grow up in the house and we miss our former neighbours, but this was the perfect alternative.”
Although Jill still works as a secretary at Mount Douglas Secondary School, Dean retired in 2012 from the Times Colonist, where he worked in the composing room. He says he used to keep busy mowing their large yard in Gordon Head, and surprisingly, that’s the one thing he misses.
Now all the lawn maintenance is taken care of at Travino Living, a multi-family development that consists of 250 homes in five buildings, spread out in a Royal Oak neighborhood.
Jill said they started their married life in Royal Oak, so it felt “like coming home” when they moved into the development in November 2019. (The project also has a large community garden for residents who want to grow flowers or veggies.)
When they moved in, the Travino project, done over four phases with a five-year build-out, was just being completed by Mike Geric Construction.
The project had won gold in the 2017 CARE awards for best condo development.
Because the construction phase was nearing the end when the Stokes purchased their corner unit on the ground level of Travino Gardens — the last of the buildings to be completed — the couple was able to avoid the hassle of living on a construction site. They also got to enjoy the extensive plantings and landscaping, including a water feature just outside their home.
Jill adds that one benefit of purchasing near the end of the project was having a chance to visit a suite in another Travino building to see firsthand how the finishings she selected would look. As a result of that visit, she changed a few of her style choices, going with darker kitchen cabinets and lighter floors. While the floors look like wood, they are actually a more functional laminate, which doesn’t scratch like wood, she says.
Dean says he likes the West Coast, Whistler-style design of the buildings, which features lots of rocks and different woods.
“This being the final building, we really got to see how it would all turn out.”
The couple was able to put their own stamp on the suite’s design, including incorporating a raw-edge wood mantle and white, rough-edge tile in the fireplace surround rather than using one of the builder’s fireplace options.
At their request, the company installed a customized woodenslat barn door that closes off the bonus space and one large kitchen sink in the kitchen island, instead of the standard one with two sink sections. And they brought their own pendant lights for over the kitchen island. Jill found the lights, a unique mix of glass and pottery, at one of her favourite shopping destinations: Demxx Deconstruction in Coombs.
“The builder was really good in making so many accommodations to the plan for us. It’s kinda like we built it ourselves,” jokes Jill, who appreciates moving into a new space, and notes that all three places the couple has lived in their marriage have been new.
Jill, who has a keen design eye, bought some new furniture pieces for the condo and credits her husband for finding some of the main items online, including the new couch, two burlap-back sitting chairs and the master bed.
Jill also brought home some unique finds, again from Demxx, including an old wine barrel that was made into a coffee table. The mantle and barn door were also from Demxx.
Some of their accessories, such as the metal candlesticks, were from Chintz and the wood frame over the mantle was from Homesense.
While Jill’s design style, incorporating natural materials and colours, is evident throughout the open-concept living/ dining and kitchen spaces, when it comes to the man cave, it’s all Dean, from the Tiger Woods memorabilia on the walls to a golf putting mat.
Completing the room is a 65-inch television and large movie-theatre reclining chair, tricked out with ambient lighting.
The condo building also has a common games room, rooftop patio, gym, bike-share program and outdoor patio with barbecue.
But their favourite place to relax is on their wraparound patio, with its easy access to the project’s large lawn space and walking pathways — including one that links to a nearby shopping area.
“We’re very happy here and it’s nice for our grandchildren. The kids bring their bikes and we don’t have to worry about them being out on the road,” says Jill.
Sitting back on one of their two outdoor patio sets, the couple says their new lifestyle brought only one main problem — purging all the stuff the family had accumulated over 31 years.
“We went through a big purge and got rid of most things,” Jill says. “I tried to give a lot of stuff away, but the kids don’t want it.”
Luckily, the condo comes with a large storage unit, so the couple’s sentimental items can stay. For Jill, that includes her mom’s china, while for Dean, it’s his old golf bag.