Whether your lot is right in the middle of Calgary or in a more rural community like Bearspaw or Invermere, it’s an opportunity to build a home that meets the needs and dreams of you and your family.
But every lot presents different challenges. A lot in Calgary’s core will likely be smaller than one on an acreage outside the city, or a vacation property in the mountains. Whether it’s ensuring privacy or maximizing the views your lot affords, custom home designers aim to take advantage of the potential of every property.
Here are a few tips for making the most of your lot, whether it’s in the heart of the city or somewhere a little more secluded.
Designing for Privacy
Urban Homes
Living close to downtown Calgary has many advantages, from access to restaurants and culture to the walkability of the neighbourhoods. If there’s one aspect where potential owners assume they have to sacrifice, though, it’s privacy.
Compared to an acreage, a home in the inner-city will be closer to neighbours. That’s inevitable, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that your lot can’t have privacy. Smart custom home design is about taking advantage of what each individual lot offers, and there are lots of options for creating private, quiet spaces in neighbourhoods closer to downtown.
- Detached Garages: A detached garage can be placed at a location that blocks the view of the backyard from certain neighbouring homes.
- Family Room Placement: The decision of where to put a master bedroom or living room can create added privacy by reducing neighbours’ sightlines into your home. That may mean they face the backyard or their windows face away from neighbours.
Acreage Homes
Privacy will be less of a concern on an acreage. Anyone who drives through areas like Bearspaw outside of Calgary sees that the large properties offer owners lots of quiet and space. In many cases, you may not even be able to see your neighbour’s home from your own.
But there are still ways of ensuring you have all the privacy you’ll want or need on an acreage in a rural area.
- Orientation: The direction your home is facing can make a difference. For some people, it’s desirable to have the front of their home facing the road where visitors will enter the property. For others, it’s preferable to have the front of their house looking away from the road so that no one can see in the front windows, and they can get better views of the tranquil setting.
- Private Outdoor Areas: It’s important to consider where your family will spend outdoor time and whether to create a private area behind the home. The size of acreage properties allows for a lot of creativity in design, and fencing or landscaping can create private spaces.
Example: Privacy was important for the family moving into this incredible acreage outside Okotoks. We included private living spaces for the family and took advantage of the surrounding area to create outdoor areas that could be shared but were still private from the outside world.
Vacation Homes
Vacation homes are where you’ll go to relax, and whether they’re on a lake or in the mountains, it will generally be easier to kick back and take it easy if that can be done with a little privacy.
Every specific vacation home lot will be unique and offer different opportunities for maximizing privacy. Even if fewer people are around in a vacation destination like Invermere compared to a bustling city like Calgary, creating private outdoor spaces in backyards and large shared spaces indoors is beneficial.
Example: This modern vacation home in Fernie features large glass windows in the living room with unobstructed views and an enclosed patio that provides privacy when sitting outside.
Designing for the Best Views
Urban Homes
While the view from your front window may not always be the main motivator in neighbourhoods near downtown Calgary, that doesn’t mean that owners don’t want to be able to look outside and enjoy what they see.
- Outdoor Living: Creating large outdoor living spaces can provide a sanctuary right in the centre of the city. When designing a custom home, some might choose to build their home closer to the front of their property to maximize the space in the back, while others may choose to have a larger front yard with a garden that provides a splash of colour and life to the streetscape.
- Three Storeys: A third storey can also provide beautiful views, especially in a city like Calgary where there’s so much greenspace. Elevated decks and patios accessible from higher floors are a great way of maximizing the potential of a lot, as they create separation from the noise below and a view of the surrounding area.
- Natural Light: Consider natural light, too. Designing a home in Calgary so that there are south-facing windows not blocked by other buildings can bring a home to life.
Example: We ensured the lot that backed onto the Bow River was central to the floorplans we created for these four-bedroom Inglewood infills.
Acreage Homes
The serene and often beautiful rural areas surrounding acreages are a big part of their appeal, and there’s no shortage of ways to take advantage of custom home design that ensures you’ll always have a view.
- What You Want to See: The first step is choosing what direction you want your house to face. If there are mountains in the distance, designing a home where the master bedroom and living room both have windows that open to the west is easy enough. Maybe that’s a rustic barn or a beautiful farmer’s field, but acreage lots provide flexibility that home design can take advantage of.
- What You Don’t Want to See: It’s also worth considering what you don’t want to see. If your neighbour’s home is an eyesore, or you’d simply prefer not to see any other homes at all, the design of your home on the acreage can account for that.
- Choosing Features: Large windows and areas that connect the outdoors with the indoors are often desirable on acreage properties. Without large buildings around, it can also be easy to increase natural light with south-facing windows.
Example: At this beautiful Bearspaw property, a client wanted to incorporate a separate room for watching storms over the mountains. We included a second level above the foyer, providing unobstructed west views.
Vacation Homes
The specifics of the lot for your vacation home will always determine the possibilities. Take advantage of natural light and prioritize home design in which the most commonly used living spaces face the mountains, lake, or whatever else your family loves about the property.
Example: When we worked on this beautiful vacation home in Invermere, we included large windows, sliding glass doors, and minimal visual barriers to help frame the stunning views to the east and welcome natural light.
Designing for Outdoor Space
Urban Homes
For both front and back yards, designing your home’s outdoor spaces can be fun and elevate home life. Whether it’s designing areas for kids to play outside, your family to eat together, or gorgeous gardens and landscaping that beautify your property, designing outdoor spaces can be inspiring.
There are some things to consider based on your lot:
- Size: Is it better to have a bigger backyard and a smaller front yard, or vice versa? Backyards are generally more private and are great for pets and young children to play, as well as for family meals. Front yards, meanwhile, can provide a welcoming green space for guests when they arrive at your home.
- Luxury Elements: Added spaces for luxuries like saunas and hot tubs can provide warm and relaxing spaces for your family to spend time.
- Natural Elements: Trees can provide added privacy, especially in high-density neighbourhoods where other homes might be close.
Example: It was important to take advantage of the views of the Bow River and downtown Calgary when we worked on this St. Andrews Heights’ Ridge House, but we also included a tranquil balcony off the primary bedroom suite and landscaping that provided green spaces on the property.
Acreage Homes
On large acreage lots, there’s practically no limit to what you can do with the outdoor spaces surrounding your home.
- Walkways: Creating walkways around your property can ensure you spend time even in the far corners of your lot, away from your home.
- Outdoor Dining: Outdoor dining spaces for large family gatherings are ideal for bringing people together.
- Social Areas: Fire pits, areas for playing sports, and even specially designed quiet areas for relaxing in the afternoon can all add to the quality of life.
- Landscaping: Even if the rural setting has gorgeous views, landscaping, and gardens can elevate an outdoor space on an acreage lot.
Example: This stunning Bearspaw acreage included a large outdoor patio space for the multi-generational family that moved in to sit outside and enjoy meals and time together.
Vacation Homes
For so many people, the entire idea behind a vacation home is having a space that offers easy access to the outdoors. That’s especially true in mountain communities like Invermere, where vacation homes are close to ski resorts, as well as hiking and water.
A vacation home also takes advantage of that beautiful, fresh mountain air. Considering spaces to add outdoor hot tubs, fire pits, or backyard dining areas can help you make the most of outdoor life.
Example: This Invermere vacation home backs onto a serene forest, and we designed the home to take advantage of the quiet that it provides.
Finding the Perfect Lot for You
How to Maximize Your Lot’s Potential | Ellergodt Design
Need help finding the right lot? Our team can help soon-to-be buyers understand and unlock the potential of a property.
While we’re not realtors, we can provide advice and guidance on the potential of a lot. That includes questions like how high a house can be built on a certain property, the land-use bylaws that might apply to the lot, and the maximum square footage of a house that could be built there.
Maximize Your Lot’s Potential with Ellergodt Design
Designing a custom home is all about unlocking the potential of a property. Every client or family that comes to Ellergodt Design has different wants, needs, and dreams.
Whether you’re looking to design a new home in or around downtown Calgary or have a rural acreage lot in mind, our team can help you imagine the possibilities and make the most of your property.
If you’re ready to get started, contact us today.