Ask Canadian surfing champion Mathea Olin what she likes about her home in the woods just off the Pacific Rim Highway in Tofino and you’ll get a somewhat typical teenage answer.
“I like that we don’t have to rely on our mom to drive us to our favourite place,” said Mathea, 13. That favourite place is Cox Bay, one of Tofino’s many beautiful beaches and also one of the most popular surf destinations in Canada.
Her sister Sanoa, 11, agrees. “We can walk down to the beach whenever we want.”
Their home is just a minute’s walk along a forest path from Cox Bay, the 1.5-kilometre beach where the girls played in the sand as babies, learned to walk and swim, boogie boarded and grew to become Canadian surfing champions.
Mathea is the Canadian surfing champion in both the under-16 and women’s category. She came ninth in the world juniors in 2016. Sanoa, who says her older sister “really inspired” her, is the under-12 Canadian surfing champion.
The girls’ connection to the water came naturally, with Cox Bay as their backyard.
“They’re both natural athletes and they took to their environment. They really took to the spirit of surfing,” said their mother, Dion.
Cox Bay has been the site of numerous international surf competitions that have put the young Olins on the surfing map.
Dion, who also loves surfing, bought the two-acre parcel of land just off Cox Bay with a modest home on it 13 years ago, sight unseen. Mathea was just five months old. Sanoa was born in the living room. Later came their little brother, Maveric, 2.
Since the purchase, two renovations have created an artistic, funky and functional home with a definite West Coast vibe for a family that treasures the outdoors, spirituality and the environment. They live, work and play in the two-storey house and numerous outbuildings that have evolved as the kids grow up.
The first reno saw a 750-square-foot rental suite converted into a studio used for dance, recitals, workshops, yoga, community events and an expansive play area for all the kids in the area. Aerial silk trapeze ropes hang from the ceiling of the airy space, which reflects the outdoors with its custom woodwork.
“I call it a temple space,” Dion said. “I wanted the house to be a big-picture representation of our lives, of how we live our lives. Instead of having to go outside our home for the things that fulfill us day to day, like dance and yoga, we have that here. We are nourished here.”
Dion worked closely with Jonny Ferguson of Tidewater Timber Frames on the design, aiming for a warm, artistic and creative space.
“We wanted to make it as artsy as possible with natural materials,” said Ferguson, based in Ucluelet. He and his crew have done numerous projects along Vancouver Island’s west coast over the last 15 years.
Radiant in-floor heating under engineered maple floors keeps bare dancing feet warm, as does a wood stove.
Ferguson specializes in timber framing, one of the original forms of construction before the advent of the sawmill. He likens it to very-large-scale cabinetry, where the whole structure is pinned together with wooden pegs, all based on physics, load points and wooden joinery.
He used salvaged fir for the beams, and yellow cedar strip and red cedar strips on the high ceiling. Ferguson and his crew, most of whom are skilled wood artisans themselves, view timber framing as “structural art.”
The crew also likes to put its own spin on the ordinary. Carved window trim is done in the shape of waves and mountains. Exterior shingles create a wave pattern on part of the house. The floor in a guest bedroom has a wooden wave overlaid on tile.
These artistic wooden touches flow throughout the house. A second renovation saw the kitchen redone as well as the upper floor expanded.
Ferguson has become known in the area for incorporating bits of purple-heart wood in his finishing. He likes how the purple wood from South America and Asia contrasts with the yellow cedar and Douglas fir.
Usually, though, the builder uses salvaged or reclaimed wood in his projects. The new kitchen cabinets, for example, come from wood salvaged from a building in Victoria slated for demolition. Andreas Hobyan, on Ferguson’s crew, cleaned the wood up and created custom Douglas fir doors.
Reclaimed wood abounds throughout the open kitchen, dining room and living room, much of it driftwood. Jan Janzen, who Dion called “the driftwood guru,” created everything from kitchen benches overlooking the woods to coat hangers and places for the girls’ numerous surfing trophies. Janzen is a well-known Tofino driftwood artist, with his creations scattered throughout the Tofino Botanical Gardens.
“He came in and softened all the corners. That’s also a representation of life — trying to soften the edges,” Dion said.
The turquoise pendant light above the kitchen island is reminiscent of sea glass. Below it, a collection of shells and sea glass is epoxied into the countertop, bringing the much loved outdoors inside.
There are no window coverings, so the outdoors can be a part of the interior. Looking out, all you can see are trees, with the sound of the ocean in the distance.
“I want to be able to connect with the outside. If there’s a bright moon, I want to see it. If there’s a storm, I want to feel it,” said Dion.
The bathroom with a huge soaker tub is a work of art in progress. The family loves mermaids — Dion calls them mythical creatures. She’s working with another local artist, Georgina Valk, to create a large mermaid figure out of coloured glass wrapping around the bathroom walls.
Alongside the artwork are tiles embossed with the children’s handprints.
“I want to be surrounded by what I love, to always have that connection with what is important in my heart,” said Dion.
There are no indoor showers, but there are two outside. Part of that is practical — it’s easier for the girls to shower off outdoors when they return from surfing — and part a love for staying connected to the environment.
A wood-fired hot tub and sauna are also available for the girls for a post-surf warm-up as well as a separate massage studio where Dion is also a masseuse.
Wooden walkways connect several outbuildings, including a separate suite with a ceiling of skylights and a greenhouse. The garden has nooks and crannies with their own pieces of art surprising the visitor at every turn.
The yard is created with appreciation of the environment and family top of mind. Wooden jungle gyms, slides and ropes for swinging fill a sunny, grassy side of the garden. A picnic table and fire pit are placed to catch the last of the sun’s rays.
“The house has grown as my children have,” said Dion.
As for Mathea and Sanoa, said to be Canada’s surfing future, the house is simply home.
“I just love how it smells and feels,” Mathea said.
