Simply The Best

Usually, the word “simple” does not conjure up images of a home that is elegant, masterful, dramatic—and cozy-comfy to boot.

But in the hands of interior designer Eryn Treanor, of Bouj Design Studio, and her husband Gerad, the owner of the landscaping company Foreground Elements, simple becomes magical.

Their goal was to live modernly and cleanly with their two kids, Quinn, 14, and Maeve, 9, and two cairn terriers, Gertrude and Gollywizz. And they more than succeeded.

At first sight, the home on the 10th Line in Clarksburg appears to be a cleanly designed white home with no embellishments. But turn up the driveway and the incredible thought that has gone into every detail makes you realize there is nothing simple about this home—or about simplicity itself.
First you notice the welcoming framed glass door—one more window onto the scenic, rolling landscape that envelops the home.

And there is the warmth of the wood platforms that lead up to a plain cement porch. The front garden is at once neat and verdant with simple plantings of grasses.

Eryn says the esthetic comes from the couple’s love of saltbox homes on the East Coast and the influence of simple, white modern structures and furniture in Sweden.

If the home itself isn’t bucolic enough, the couple have built a cabin below their home on the pastoral Beaver River, just large enough to escape to for sleepouts and campfires.

That something so beautiful could come out of chaos is unimaginable, but as Eryn puts it, “It was the most psychotic design project ever.” First, the couple couldn’t find a rental to move into between leaving their former home in Clarksburg and completing this one. So, they ended up living in a trailer on the property for six of the nine months it took to finish the build.

“It was magical,” Eryn says of the close living in a wild environment with the girls and their two terriers. Everyone would climb into the queen-sized bed to watch movies. “They were moments in time that won’t be repeated.”

Indeed, the trailer life was so great that Eryn asked a Clarksburg artist, Tanya Zaryski, to preserve the memory in a painting of the trailer—complete with propane tanks and port-a-potties—but not so great to keep them from moving into a rental for the final three months when winter arrived.

Living at the work site turned out to be one trick to giving birth to a home in nine months. Their routine was to go in and sweep up at the end of each workday. By doing so, Eryn says they caught small mistakes and got them fixed before they caused larger delays.

The other trick was being ultra-organized. Acting as their own general contractors, Eryn and Gerad could call on teams from their own design work. And they knew that having everything, such as light and plumbing fixtures, on site and ready to go for the tradespeople would speed up the process. Bear Electric did the wiring, Jeff Walker the plumbing, and Simon Rettie of Skona the millwork.

The home is large enough, to be sure. But somehow not overwhelming. That is because “we didn’t do the 11-foot ceilings,” says Eryn. “We still wanted things to have a human scale.”

The result is a no-fuss feeling that makes you want to sink into the sofa cushions.

Indeed, Eryn specifically chose Sunbrella Fabrics, which are made for indoor and outdoor wear, to upholster the sofa and window seats in the living room, just so people would feel at home.

In the end, she and Gerad have achieved that.
It is simply a home, a sweet home.