Interior: Beach house chic

Why is it that a second home so often comes first in your heart? Ask the Starks. They love their busy lives in Calgary; Susan and Shane with work, and daughters Kelly, 16, and Jamie, 14, with school and ballet. “Most dinners, we just grab a sandwich on the go,” says Susan. But the Starks have an escape route from that frenetic pace – one that leads to relaxing family time, and has a great view of the Northumberland Strait, a place far from Calgary in more ways than one.

A cozy second home
Interestingly, they practically rebuilt their Calgary home, but better. “We fixed the mistakes,” says Susan, like installing a wood-burning fireplace in the sunroom, making it ideal for year-round lolling about. And thanks to Charlottetown shop owner and designer Susan Snow of Moving Designz Home & Cottage, the Craftsman-style house was given a fresh coastal vibe. “The store looked the way I wanted our house to feel,” says Stark. “Comfortable, cozy, peaceful, unpretentious – that’s really what they wanted,” says the designer. “I call it ‘beach house chic.’”