Lindie and Gerd Fleissner were all set to relocate to the West Coast five years ago when they got a call that upended their plans for life by the ocean. A property up the road from their weekend cabin on Lac Sainte Anne had suddenly come on the market.
“We said 15 years ago that if that lotever became available, we would have to live there,” says Lindie. So, the Edmonton property managers decided the nearby home was an even better choice than anything could find in the Pacific.
Now, surveying the view from their quiet country retreat on a recent snowy morning, it’s not hard to see why. The stillness of the lake was broken only by the sounds of the hundred Canada geese that had stoppedover on their belated southern migration.The Fleissners also share the property with a family of foxes, numerous deer and the occasional moose. “I had three the other day – mom, pop and junior – and they annihilated my planted trees,” says Lindie. “But we let them … We’re huge animal lovers.”
While location is everything, it was not all that brought the couple here. Moving to the lake also gave them the opportunity to build their dream home: a 3,600 square-foot house that blends seamlessly with its wooded surroundings. The Fleissners had long loved the look of timber-framed homes, which hearken back to the Old World, and are also common in barn design across Canada.
However, one year into the project, their lake cottage was starting to look a little too barn-like – they didn’t want to have a huge cavernous interior that would dwarf their furniture. That’s when Lindie, who designed the house, did a little research and discovered a new product in the United States – hollowed wooden timber beams, that allowed them to keep the look and feel of solid wood timbers while making it structurally possible to have a smaller, more intimate interior.
“The rooms were really designed for the furniture I love,” says Lindie. She designed most of their pieces, including the Shaker-style dining suite and the Arts & Crafts-style living room set, through UpperWoods Furniture on St. Albert Trail, which is owned by her sister, Debbie Crepeau.