My name is Mary Hines and I am the founder of Home Sanctuary Design.
When my husband David and I met 5 years ago, he said that if I was a book, he would find me between the “Home Improvement” and “Self-Help“ section. I thought this was really funny, but it stuck with me. The more I thought about, the more I felt it was true. I see home improvement as an act of self love that empowers you to create an environment that truly nurtures you.
During covid I found this to be especially true. We were all stuck at home and home became more important than ever. My husband I passed the time watching design and home makeover shows. It didn’t take long to realize that we were well suited for the type of work. We have both worked in creative industries. My professional training began at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design from 2006-2011 and have worked in fields of media production, art and design since. David studied at the NY Film Academy and worked in the film industry primarily focusing on lighting and camera work. He was also a handyman extraordinaire and had experience converting a van into a functional living space during the “Vanlife” period of his life.
We were both traveling nomads when we met five years ago. I had been traveling across the world and the country working on freelance projects through my business Sacred Hand Productions to support myself as a musician. David left the film industry in New York on a spiritual quest and to find a new life out west. It is still miraculous to me that when David and I met, we settled down and became householders. There was just something so synergizing and stabilizing about our connection that made us want to start building and co-creating a life together.
When we purchased our first home together, we dove into converting our unfinished downstairs basement into a fully livable 2 bedroom self contained approximately 1400 square foot apartment with a new layout, kitchen, electrical plan and finishes. We choose a very engaged hands on approach to the project putting lots of our own labor into the renovation. We faced a lot of growing pains and steep learning curves. However, we gained so much valuable experience moving through every phase of the project and working with a talented group of tradespeople and mentors along the way. The renovation was a success and we’ve rented out space out to earn additional rental income. We figured if we could increase the value of our own property, we could do it for others too.
Folks in community soon took note of our work, and we moved on to designing, building and renovating home spaces for clients in our community. I have since gravitated towards focusing on the design side, whereas David has settled into cabinet making and fine woodwork. We have been collaborating on projects and continued to meet and work with talented crews and tradespeople on the journey.
Recently, I have decided to expand my services as a home designer to my broader community through offering design consultation both locally and remotely over zoom. As a designer it’s important to me to take the time to really understand my clients goals, and their individual taste and style. I am well versed in my understanding of various design styles. This allows me to create a custom design plan for everyone I work with.
I have created www.HomeSanctuaryDesign.com to share some of the work we’ve been creating and to offer my services as interior & exterior home designer. I work on projects of all shapes and sizes from refreshing a room in your home, to working a new layout for a renovation, to designing a new home from scratch using 3D modeling.
If you have project that you are interested in discussing, feel free to reach out to me. I look forward to learning about your project and discussing how I can best support you as a designer.
Mary Hines
Home Sanctuary Design
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