Eclectic by Design

Early on a rainy Sunday last October, I packed the car and headed to meet Shweta and Nate Hanneman at their homestead on the grounds of Elk Island Retreat, the glampground they own and operate with Nate’s family, which offers upscale outdoor experiences. The sun was barely up, and under the dim morning rain the rural landscape looked a little like an English countryside. When I arrived at their modest house nestled amongst the foliage I slid open my umbrella and scurried toward their front porch. My hand had barely touched the door when the Hannemans welcomed me into the warmth of their home.

On paper, the Hannemans are an unlikely pair. Nate’s an Alberta boy who grew up outside Edmonton. He went to school in Fort Saskatchewan and Sherwood Park, and didn’t spend much time in the city. He’s tall, bearded and wears his long, dark hair in a man bun. Shweta is an Indian expat who came to Canada at 17, planning to study dentistry. She is exuberant and warm, her perfectly styled blonde hair never falling out of place. They met a few years back on the street outside The Pint on 109 Street. It was 2 a.m., and they were lovestruck.

“I don’t think we expected it to be as fireworky as it was,” Shweta tells me. We are sitting at their kitchen table, which she designed.

But fireworky it was. Their first official date, a week or so after that raucous night at The Pint, lasted the whole weekend. “I was talking to my mom later,” Shweta recalls, “and said ‘I met this guy. I think I’m falling for him.’”

Before long, they were living together in a loft in downtown Edmonton. Shweta was working as a dental hygienist and Nate co-owned a snow removal and lawn maintenance business. They had an active social life, they travelled. Everything was perfect — almost. Nate was homesick.

“We have this thing in our marriage called a soulmate card,” Shweta says. “It’s our way of saying, ‘This is so important to me that I need you to honour it.’” Nate’s soulmate card was that he wanted to move back to the country and live in the homestead on his family’s property.

It wasn’t an easy confession, partly because Shweta loved the energy and the activity of living in the city.

“If the city girl really wanted to stay in the city, I was never going to force a move,” Nate says. “But to me, living out in the country and then going to the city for the culture and social activities — that’s the ideal way to live.”

Shweta was willing to give it a try, so they went out to the acreage to look at the house. “It was far worse than I remembered,” says Shweta. “I came home and I cried.”

Built in the late 1930s, the homestead was initially a single room that housed a family of five. Nate’s father built an addition in the 1990s, which became the kitchen. Still, the house lacked the hominess Shweta wanted.

“It felt like it was just a shelter, a home that was lived in, but it wasn’t really loved in,” she says.

It was also 45 minutes outside the city. Shweta was afraid no one would visit them, that they’d be isolated. Back in their loft, the Hannemans usually spent a lot of time with friends and neighbours.

To test the waters, they transitioned slowly, spending time out in the homestead and time back in the loft. To their amazement, the community they needed started coming to them, thanks in part to Elk Island Retreat, the family business. Nate and Shweta had started to help his parents with it.

The couple rented out their loft and moved to the homestead. Now they had to make it their own. They stayed in Nate’s parents’ basement while they turned the homestead into their dream home. Luckily, they’d already spent a lot of time thinking about what it could look like.

The result? It’s bright and airy, decorated with a natural palette of earthy browns, from cabinets and stone countertops, and greens, from plentiful houseplants. There’s texture everywhere, from the rattan chandeliers in the kitchen to the piles of cushions on the leather sofa in the living room to the gossamer draperies in the bedroom.

Nate and Shweta also own and operate Of Mountains and Mangoes, an online shop that sells handcrafted goods from artisans around the world. The goal, they tell me, is to support people they meet on their travels who make specialty goods, while bringing those products to Alberta. “When products are made with generational love and skill, something just shifts spiritually,” says Shweta. “You can’t always explain it but you certainly feel it.”

“We’d had years and years of curating,” Nate adds. “Seeing different cultures, going to different countries.” That time spent travelling helped shape their approach to their home. They worked with local contractors to transform the space to suit their lives. When it came time for finishing touches, the couple made choices that reflected their values. Their dishes are handcrafted, they store water in clay pots, even the paint on their walls was thoughtfully considered.

“The paint was the biggest hurdle,” Nate jokes. “We’re still going to counselling.”

The paint in question is a durable mineral-based product made from natural materials and pigments that is breathable and even antimicrobial. It can have a higher upfront cost, but because it doesn’t require a primer and often requires fewer coats, it can be more cost-effective in the long run.

“We believe in natural materials and things that tell our story,” Shweta says. “Our home has to feel like an extension of us.”

And it does. The place has Shweta’s vibrancy and Nate’s steadiness, eclectic and soothing at once. So much so that I stayed longer than intended. After hours of chatting around their kitchen table, I made a hasty exit to another appointment. But it was clear, even as I left, that Nate and Shweta would have happily hosted me well into the night.

Sources

The Hannemans value local businesses: Allstone Inc.’s beautiful stone on their countertops, dining and coffee table; Milltrade Building Products’ surecrete plastered all over their bathroom; Kingma Lumber’s work on the live edge in their kitchen; Alberta Hardwood Flooring’s bleach flooring; Pipe Dream Plumbing & Heating’s repairs and renovations.

This article appears in the May 2026 issue of Edify