Paul Vorstermans: Detail oriented

The Vorstermans’ home is the ultimate DIY project.

It takes time for the eye to take in all the details of their Mill Street home and then you realize it is even more amazing than first thought because everything is made by do-it-yourselfer Paul Vorstermans.

He has spent years crafting the elements of the family’s second floor home, located above his pottery studio, Mad River Pottery.

A hands-on kinda guy, Vorstermans says he is compelled to make things. He is the type of person who knows what he wants but inevitably comes to the conclusion that he is better off making it himself.

“I muck around a lot,” he says, claiming that his skill is often stretched to match his ambition. It’s a matter of perspective apparently because Vorstermans says the glass and woodwork are relatively “easy” compared to pottery, which takes years to master.

The windows, cupboards, floor; he made them. The light fixtures, the shower; he made them too, even the bathroom sink.

The kitchen cupboards, made of inlaid wood of various types and colours, depict pastoral scenes next to complementary cupboard doors made of stained glass. The detail is incredible, carried throughout, even inside of the cupboards. The refrigerator and dishwasher (even the garbage can located inside the cupboard under the sink) are covered with a thin veneer, all solid wood. The kitchen counter is made of concrete and copper, with a backsplash constructed of handmade tiles.

He says some of the work is artistic and practical, for example, the stained glass windows provide privacy where needed but still let in the light. In the bathroom, smooth pebbles, which appear to flow out of the shower stall, are used for the floor, to add grip.

A clawfoot tub is encased in wood with a concrete top and stained glass above. The wooden surround has the 3D effect of windows opening onto a hilly landscape. Another concrete countertop surrounds a hammered copper sink, stained glass below a geometric stained glass vanity mirror. In another bathroom, details of small spiders and snails have been fired onto the handmade tiles, indicative of Vorstermans’ attention to detail.

The building, at the south end of Mill Street, was once a hotel operating under the names of Trew’s Hotel and Maxwell House. It was converted into a creamery in 1920 then purchased by the Gowan family in the 1960s who continued with the business.

The building sat vacant for a few years until the Vorstermans purchased the building in 1979. In 1991, they had the back section of the old hotel rebuilt and Paul has been working away at it ever since, “sometimes taking time to make pottery.”