A Wilden Home Renovation Story.
Hi! I’m Brittany Saari, the creative eye behind Simply Saari. We are an account which documents my family and I’s move to the Okanagan and our home renovation in Wilden. We are not professional designers, just a regular family like yours that wants our home to be our perfect oasis. Being stuck in a pandemic has taught us how important that is to our well being and also a huge part as to why Wilden is the perfect neighbourhood for us!
We’ve never renovated a home, we’ve never even owned a single family home but here we are, learning and sharing our amazing experience. And it has been, amazing that is, even through the difficulties that renovations can bring. Positivity and a well thought out plan always kept us going and we want to share our journey (so far!) with all of you!
Meet The Saari’s
Kelowna has always been one of our favourite places to visit and holds many special memories for us including our wedding in 2018. When the pandemic hit we asked ourselves, what is holding us back? A month later our townhouse was sold and we were introduced to our Kelowna realtor, Vicki Wills.

As many of you know and may have faced yourselves, the market over the last year has been difficult with limited inventory and quick sales on the best properties. Bobby and I spent countless weekends with Vicki looking at what felt like hundreds of homes but not one felt right. Whether it was the neighbourhood (or lack there of), the floor plan or the small yard (we were bound to make sure Darcie was spoiled too) we just couldn’t find the one.
One weekend, we drove up Begbie Road, a sunny summer day, welcomed by a big gold “Wilden” sign and turned onto Long Ridge drive. Slowly we drove the road lined with beautiful craftsman style homes, luscious gardens and a friendliness that we didn’t realize we were searching for. Everyone waved as we drove past, kids played at the park, rode their bikes along the side walks and families walked their dogs down towards the pond. Was this real life? Well, this is what we wanted our life to be.
We pulled up in front of the sale sign, in front of what Bobby calls the “Baby Poop” home and I truly didn’t even need to go inside. Well, Bobby did, he wasn’t as easily convinced. Opening the front door and seeing the view and trees off the great room was a great place to start. As we walked through the home we checked off box after box of our must have list and 30 minutes later we stood in front of the house with butterflies in our stomach.
I bet you can guess what happened next? Well a month later, we moved in and the first thing on Bobby’s to do list – exterior paint.
Our to do list grew every day before we moved and still grows every day now. But we’d love to show you the changes we’ve made and inspire you to make your own home your perfect oasis.
Follow along over the next couple weeks to see the in-depth changes to our main floor and follow along on Instagram to see a sneak peek! Spoiler – the exterior still looks like baby poop…
xx Simply Saari