Mik and Adam built their Tofino home around the way they spend their time. Mornings outside. Evenings with friends. A steady pace that leaves room to recharge. It’s a place that supports full days and easy gatherings, with space to cook, host, reset, and come back to center.
The house leans modern and simple, then warms up through natural light, wood, and small personal details. The kitchen tends to fill first. The patio draws everyone out at sunset. When the weather turns, they move between the sauna and cold plunge and call it a night well spent. Their rescue pup Bella keeps watch from her living room post, while blankets, board games, and good food carry things late.
Tell us about yourself
Hi! We’re Mik and Adam. We’re originally from Belleville, Ontario (Mik) and Vancouver, BC (Adam), and these days we’re happily settled into life by the ocean. We’re big fans of all things outdoors and do our best to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle. You’ll usually find us surfing, golfing, hiking, skiing, cooking, or curled up with a good book. We love exploring Tofino’s incredible restaurant scene, hosting board game nights, and enjoying the occasional boogie with friends (and tequila) when a DJ or band comes to town. Our little family wouldn’t be complete without Bella, our sweet Mexican rescue pup. Adam has spent the past 15 years working in the tech industry, and Mikaela has been teaching yoga and Pilates for over a decade while running her retreat business.
Can you tell us a little more about the retreats you lead and what inspired you to start them?
Evolve Retreats are rooted in a few core inspirations. They are created to bring people together in a meaningful way, inviting deeper understanding of ourselves and one another through the practices and pathways that yoga offers. They awaken joy, curiosity, and a sense of adventure through shared travel and new experiences. And they offer us the gift of stepping away from our day-to-day lives so we can grow, reconnect, and evolve through the fully immersive environment that Evolve creates. It is an intentional journey from start to finish, created to support meaningful self-reflection, connection, and transformation. Wherever we gather in the world, whether it is Tofino, Bowen Island, Todos Santos, Nosara, or soon Ericeira, my hope is that every guest leaves feeling more grounded in who they are, more open to who they are becoming, and more connected to a like-hearted community that continues to uplift them long after the retreat ends.
How long have you called this space home?
We bought the land pre-COVID and wrapped up the build around three years back.
Where do you draw your design inspiration?
We’re lucky to have a few friends who are designers, which definitely helps! We’ve always been drawn to simple, clean design with a modern feel — minimalist, but still influenced by organic shapes and nature-inspired colours. A lot of our inspiration also came from great coffee table books, photographers or architects we follow, and traveling to different countries. When we started designing the house, our goal was to create a space that really lets you enjoy the natural beauty of Tofino. Since we’re pretty far north and lose a lot of sunlight for part of the year, we made natural light a big priority — adding skylights, big windows, and high ceilings wherever we could.
What makes a place feel like home to you?
The best part is all the memories made with family and friends. We love hosting — whether it’s dinner, movie nights, board games, or doing hydrotherapy cycles in the sauna/cold plunge.
What’s your favorite spot or detail in your home?
Bella definitely has the best spot — her bed in the living room is basically her throne. For Adam, his favourite is probably the entire outdoor shower/sauna/cold plunge setup, or the primary bathroom. We went with a full wet room and a big soaker tub right under a skylight, so when the winter storms roll in and the rain hits the roof, it’s incredibly relaxing. Mik really loves the open kitchen for cooking and hosting friends. We’re lucky to get some beautiful sunsets from the adjacent patio, and the island has become the go-to place for spicy margs.
What’s one home essential you can’t live without?
Cozy blankets! Honestly, you can never have too many. And beyond that, we’ve grown pretty attached to our espresso machine.
Any advice for someone designing their own space?
Take the time to explore different ideas and talk openly about what you each love — you might discover things you didn’t even know you liked. You’ll probably have different tastes in some areas too, so a big part of the process is learning where to compromise. There are also going to be areas financially that are worth the squeeze, whereas other considerations where you can save money by going a different route. Aligning on the areas you want to invest in versus not goes a long way when trying to work within a budget. We started simple with Pinterest boards, and pretty quickly realized we wanted a modern-inspired home with a clean, simple palette, but also wanted to balance that with some warmth. Little pops of colour, warmer wood tones, and accent pillows became things we were really excited to hunt for once we knew the overall aesthetic. Those small details make such a big difference in each space.
Learn more about Mik and her retreats here
Check out their airbnb here
