B.C. couple’s ‘Sparkle House’ covered in thousands of moving mirrors

CTV Morning Live joins Adam Sawatsky on a visit to Sooke to find out why this home sparkles - both inside and out!

SOOKE, B.C. — Long before the flowers started blooming in her garden, Jo-Ina Young’s doctor said her health was failing — fast.

“He said, ‘Go home, make out your will,’” Jo-Ina recalls being told. “‘You’ll be dead in five years.’”

While she waited for an organ transplant, Jo-Ina and her husband Vince Rocko decided to move back to where they grew up.

“I came out, went house shopping,” Vince laughs. “Found this house by accident.”

But it wasn’t until after he bought it that she saw it.

“It was the ugliest house I’d ever seen,” Jo-Ina laughs.

But Vince, who is an industrial designer, said it had good bones and he promised to transform it into his wife’s dream house.

“I asked for a black house with sparkles,” Jo-Ina smiles. “And he built me a black house with sparkles.”

While Vince was sourcing the materials to create and install an exterior wall covered in thousands of mini moving mirrors, Jo-Ina was facing her mortality.

“I need to find out all these things for my kids because I might night be here,” Jo-Ina recalls thinking.

You see, Jo-Ina never got a chance to ask about her past because her mom died young.

So, when she tracked down her family tree, Jo-Ina was shocked to discover that not only was she Metis, she was related to one of Louis Riel’s most trusted confidants

“All my family are quite famous Metis fighters,” Jo-Ina says. “And I’m like, no wonder I’m feisty.”

While her sparkling house was bright, Jo-Ina’s prognosis was bleak. But at the last moment, they found a donor and she survived the surgery.

“And when I woke up, I’m alive and I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness! I need to do something really special with this gift of life,’” Jo-Ina says fighting back tears. “So, I thought ‘I think I will try to make my Metis ancestors proud of me.’”

So, while her body was healing, Jo-Ina was learning about her culture and connecting with her community, before becoming a Metis Elder in local schools, inspiring Metis youth.

“They come out and be proud,” Jo-Ina smiles. “And that’s really amazing.”

Which brings us back to what Jo-Ina’s students call “The Sparkle House,” and what Vince has transformed into an artistic house.

“Life’s too short,” Vince smiles, as the wind blows across the mirrored wall and dances across the yard. “Why be boring?”

“When I teach in schools, we make a medicine bag. It’s not just things to make you better physically, it’s something that makes you feel good in your soul,” Jo-Ina smiles. “And sparkles always seem to lift my spirits.”

And that’s how a sparkling house was transformed into a healing and inspiring home.