You know when you're not really looking for new digs, but you come upon something that's so fabulous it demands a closer look? When Dan Welter experienced that, he went the extra mile. After accidentally finding a magnificent abode online, he immediately checked it out in person, then called his wife, Fran, to sell her on the idea of moving, pronto.
Dan didn't mean to find his dream home while casually surfing ComFree's listings, but there it was, beckoning - a formidable, brick-clad beauty with five bedrooms, five baths, a huge indoor pool and an equally large games and entertainment area. It was the whole package on six dream acres fronted by a small lake stocked with rainbow trout.
It was an easy sell to Fran. The sprawling home, which manages to be grandiose and welcoming at once, was perfectly in sync with the couple's gregarious lifestyle of entertaining friends and family, inside and out, all year round.
"It's like having your own little lake lot - and acreage - and it's five minutes from all the necessities," says Fran, who, like her husband, was charmed by the property in southeast Sherwood Park.
"It was a little bit of everything," Dan says about the dreamy aspects that prompted their move from Fort Saskatchewan. "The trout pond is awesome, and in the summer, when the grass is green, there are so many different fruit trees - pear, cherry, apple."
Indeed, spending time outdoors ranks high for the nature-loving couple. The acreage offers plenty of room for Dan, a frequent-flying entrepreneur, who owns a natural health supplements manufacturing company, to enjoy his toys, including quads, motorbikes, snow mobiles and a motor home. There's also a paddleboat for the lake, where they fish in summer and hold ice-fishing derbies in winter. Since moving in, they've added a horseshoe pit and they often host horseshoe tournaments.
Fran, who owns and operates a health food store in Fort Saskatchewan, also enjoys their outdoor fountain, their fire pit and the visiting wildlife, particularly the moose that drop by for a salt lick.
If the yard offers myriad opportunities for leisure, the same can be said of the interior of the home, which is 5,000 square feet on the main level, not including the pool and hot tub room. Three key design elements are at work: windows and skylights that make the hefty home feel lighter, curving hallways and walls accented with rounded, made-to-measure furniture, and four fireplaces that act as dramatic focal points.
One of these fireplaces stretches from the main floor to the basement and is walled with stacked slate stones. It dominates the front entranceway, living room and overhead loft area. It's practical too, pocketed with rough niches for the Welters' collection of Inuit soapstone sculptures acquired some years ago. "There was a homeless fellow from the Arctic staying in Fort Saskatchewan who was really good at sculpting," Dan explains. "He was looking for some money. We said we'd put him up in a hotel and give him food, and in exchange he did some sculpting for us."
One wing of the home is devoted to a series of bedrooms, each with enviable walk-in closets and secluded views of well-manicured lawns, which give way to wilderness and bush where Crown lands adjoin the property. The couple brought the rooms "up to date, and to our style" by expelling all the carpets and the wallpapers and replacing them with wood flooring and neutral paint colours. "We went through show homes and that's how we chose the colours," Fran explains.
The other wing of the home houses the formal and casual dining areas, family room and kitchen, which they renovated to include teak cabinetry. And not-to-be missed - though, one doesn't have a choice - there's the pool area, a favourite hangout for friends and relatives.
The lower level has changing rooms, a bathroom and a sauna for the pool, an underground six-car garage and, most impressive, a large and funky recreation room with pool table, ping pong table and shuffleboard, bar and a one-of-a-kind conversation pit that seats 15.
Here, the Welters display their collection of sports and music memorabilia. There's a guitar signed by Nickelback front man Chad Kroeger, a family friend who has visited the acreage, band and entourage in tow. "Two years ago when [the band] came to Edmonton they had a little extra time, so we had the warm-up bands, Nickelback and the road crew all over for a barbeque," says Dan. "There were probably 250 people coming in and out."
Aside from the odd rock 'n' roll exhibit, hockey dominates the room, with signed hockey sweaters from Gordie Howe, Guy LaFleur, Bobby Hull, Darryl Sutter and Dan's all-time favourite - Bobby Orr.
Amid all the sweaters and hockey photos, a life-size cutout of legendary curmudgeon Don Cherry holds court, wearing the same plaid sports jacket that the Welters now own and have framed under glass. Even as a piece of cardboard, Grapes made a strong impression on Fran, who would sometimes forget he was there. "I'd come downstairs and he'd scare me," she laughs.
Dan's hosting dream is to have the real Cherry and Orr over to do a post-game show from the rec room. "We were thinking of sending them some pictures of all our memorabilia and see if they'd like to do something when they're in town."
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