Fairytale daycare set to open in central Alberta

Fantasy is about to come alive in Morinville, Alta.

The Fable Child Care Centre, a wobbly and whimsical structure near the centre of town, is ready to open its doors to children.

“It’s a strange feeling,” said Robert Chauvet, the man behind the project.

Chauvet is a retired home builder and for years his dream has been to construct a daycare inspired by the pages of a fairytale.

“We emptied the piggy bank,” Chauvet said as he stood in the middle of the recently completed project.

Construction began June 1 last year and covers more than 5,000 square feet. But the building can hardly be measured the conventional way.

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The roof is pointed and wavy with custom, handmade shingles. There are faces drawn into the stucco. The chimney is squished “because a giant sat on it,” according to Chauvet.

Once inside, the floors have small hidden designs while the doors are curved and not quite the right size. There are hidden treasures in every room; set into the floor or painted onto the walls.

“It’s all of a sudden as if you have a dream and then a whole bunch of people make it their dream and it becomes part of their life,” Chauvet said of all the contractors who contributed to the project.

“They say, ‘Here we’re allowed to do stuff that we would never be allowed to do on any other job site. We’re allowed to do our fantasy or some things that are whimsical.'”

The whole project took about a year to finish and cost about $3 million.

“We emptied the piggy bank,” Chauvet said with a smile.

He will be leasing the space to the Fable Child Care Centre and it has a capacity for 90 children. There’s also a commercial kitchen and extra space upstairs for additional venues.

The daycare hopes to move in starting next week.

View a photo gallery of the daycare below: