Steven and Wesley won’t be there when you take this year’s BE Home Tour, but Kaprowy most likely will be, because his extremely custom home doubles as his company’s head office, and he loves sharing it with people.
Growing up in Winnipeg, he was first interested in mechanics, and worked on a 1971 Chevy Nova with his dad. But things changed after he realized just how “abusive metal is to your hands,” and when his family suffered a traumatic event.
“I got into home building because my mom’s home was burned down in a serial-arson attack,” he says. “During summer break of university, before I started my summer job, the builder brought me on and I got to work on my mom’s house.”
Since starting Infill North, Kaprowy’s built over a hundred custom infills, including the living advertisement that is his corner-lot home (you can see an “Infill North” neon sign through the street-facing office’s window).
You enter into the kitchen, with Steven and Wesley’s built-in kennels around the corner to your right. An alfresco room is an extension of the living area and, despite not being heated, Kaprowy says his wife works in there well into minus-20 winters.
You’ll then pass the couple’s “mini-record store” on your left. That’s where the ceiling ends and opens up above the living room, letting the freestanding steel, wood-burning fireplace reach two floors up, with Kaprowy-cut firewood slinked neatly under the wall-mounted TV like an L-shape Tetris block made of wood.
Then there’s the home’s statement piece, the round-edged, white oak and ash stairs that reach up and down the home’s north end. In an average home, the staircase could stand out in a bad way. But in Kaprowy’s abode, it blends well with the oak floors, white walls and abundance of light from large north and west windows.
For most people who volunteer their homes for this tour, the idea of having people walk through their unique homes, even for a good cause, takes some getting used to. But for Kaprowy, it’s a common occurrence.
“This home was a dream,” he says. “And I’m actually building a house two blocks down on a corner lot. Those people bought that lot based off of my house, which was the purpose [of building here], because even after 16 months of living here, a group of people will stop and talk about the house right outside while I’m in the office looking at them, so I’ll come out for a chat.”
No need to wait patiently out front on the BE Home Tour weekend. Just go right on in. Kaprowy will see you there.
Ballet Edmonton’s Home Tour takes place on September 21 & 22, 2024. This annual fundraiser allows patrons to see inside a curated selection of beautiful private homes while supporting the arts in Edmonton.
This article appears in the September 2024 issue of Edify
This content was produced in partnership with the advertiser by Odvod Publishing for commercial purposes.
