Love It Or List It Vancouver: Eleanor & Dave

Eleanor & Dave love having a pool in their backyard – big enough to entertain all the neighbour kids in the summer – only problem: the house layout prevented them from being able to see the pool from inside the house – it was either you’re in the pool or you don’t even know it’s there. Another layout problem was a crammed and narrow kitchen with freezing cold tile floor and an unused dining room. Jillian and her team had a plan to fix all this and to bring a little of that “pool” feeling indoors!

We enlarged the kitchen by taking – over the unused dining room, introducing a great big window that overlooked directly onto the pool – eliminating the pool-visibility problem! The larger kitchen gave Eleanor and Dave all the storage they had been missing in their old kitchen and the Ikea cabinetry gave it all a modern style with smokey grey lower cabinets and white uppers.

Thoughtful details like a dedicated pot filler at the range and a generous island for family dinners and kids to do homework transformed this kitchen into a great area to gather as well as a family to cook – possibly for a pool party!

The new tile floor hides a great feature: in-floor heating by NuHeat – great for cooler days as well as those chilled feet fresh in from the pool.

While out sourcing, Megan came across some vintage dimensional letters that just so happened to spell out “pool” – this gave the area of the kitchen, normally a dining nook, a certain “pool flair”. With our talented painters and some great colours from BEHR Paint this area of the kitchen became a pool anteroom, great for a snack after a couple laps or to lounge in while watching the kids at play.

The new powder room took on a “flamingo look” with stunning wallpaper supplied to us by Crown Wallpaper. Fun but not overwhelming, this paper brings some life to a small room.

And after a long hard day at the pool and a hearty dinner in the giant eat-in kitchen… where does a family go to gather? Why the family room of course! This space was also transformed – removing the pink marble fireplace was job one and resurfacing it with an industrial but understated concrete tile gave this room focus without overwhelming the space. Custom bookcases and a large new sectional for everyone to cuddle up on provide this family with a brand new cozy space to gather.

A big thank you as always to Janis Nicolay for the gorgeous photos!!

Visit the W Network for more on this episode! To watch the full episode, click here and for more before and after photos, click here!!!