Andrea Nemeth is originally from Hungary, where her father was a building engineer. She explains that this involved two types of work that included the engineering and the aesthetic aspects of building. “Back there when you built a home you were the architect and the interior designer,” says Andrea. “My father built almost all of the homes that we lived in when I was young.” Andrea’s family moved to Canada when she was nine, and she’s been here ever since. After graduating from Bishop Carroll High School in 1992, Andrea then studied at the University of Calgary and in 1997 received her Bachelor of Arts in Communications Studies.

During this time Andrea also met Brant Hill, who she eventually married, and who inadvertently steered her towards design. “I met Brant in 1995 and we were married in 1997,” says Andrea. “He was working in construction then, and as I finished my degree, he and his partners were taking their company public, so for about a six-month period I helped them with that. At one point they painted a seven-storey building a really hideous coral colour and, from then on, I took over all the future paint decisions.” Soon Andrea realized that she enjoyed decorating and she decided to take it a step further. “Once I decided that I was interested in design I took a CAD course at SAIT,” says Andrea. “I should have known then that I would end up in some area of design.”

For three years following her graduation she worked at jobs involving more design than communications. “First I worked for a company designing millwork for all the Tim Hortons coffee shops in western Canada,” says Andrea. “Then I began working for a company designing furniture.” In 2004 Andrea graduated with her Master of Architecture, also from the U of C, and was the recipient of a Henry Adams medal, awarded to graduating students with the highest academic ranking in the professional degree program.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Andrea and her husband founded Hillcraft Homes, and she also designs different plans in conjunction with Red Door Construction and Rubicon, which covers the areas of condo construction, single-family homes and conversions. “We started off designing condos, and in 2000 we started doing single-family (homes) as well,” says Andrea.

The most recent floor plan Andrea has designed is a custom home in Windsor Park. This amazing two-storey, 2,700-square-foot home includes four bedrooms on the upper level and an additional two bedrooms in the lower development, along with a den and three-and-a-half bathrooms. “I designed the Windsor Park home for a family with three small daughters and lots of out-of-town family who come to visit all the time,” says Andrea. “The family is very musical with Dad in a band and needing rehearsal space in the basement.

The family also entertains a lot and when they have parties people will pull out guitars and start jamming.” Andrea says that this family wanted a large, open and flexible entertaining space that opened onto the large back yard, while maintaining service and private spaces that could be closed off to prying eyes.

“It was important for this family to be able to seat as many as 30 people around an expandable dining room table, and that drove the design of the main floor plan,” says Andrea. The upstairs of this plan is more conventional, with priority being to give each child enough of her own space that the master could become a retreat for the parents.

From the design of the floor plan, to the little things such as cabinet hardware, this hardworking lady envisions it all in a home. “I believe that creating a home means being involved every step of the way,” says Andrea.  NL