Preserving attraction and character | Montreal Gazette

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Mild and ethereal like a meringue, Querbes Residence is the results of a mission that took its cues from a number of the house’s authentic architectural components, such because the staircase, the plaster mouldings and the hearth mantle, which weren’t solely preserved but in addition enhanced as a part of the transformation.

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The house that was constructed on the flip of the twentieth century in Outremont, was fully remodelled by Vives St-Laurent who built-in the residence’s distinctive options and used them as a part of the mission’s conceptual course.

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“The home already had a really distinct ambiance that the plaster mouldings had lots to do with. The thought was to preserve the character of the home and maintain the entire charming elements of it,” says Laurence Ouimet-Vives, the co-founder, together with Lysanne St-Laurent, of Vives St-Laurent, the design agency that took over the mission that Pelletier de Fontenay began work on.

“We didn’t need to lose that by making a design that was too fashionable or smooth, regardless that one of many primary points of the mission was opening up the kitchen, eating and front room areas, to make it extra up to date and open-concept.”

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For the reason that floor ground is pretty small and you’ll see the kitchen from the doorway, Vives St-Laurent needed it to mix into the background together with the remainder of the décor, in order that they created a design that was very mild and impartial.

“It’s not a press release piece,” says the designer concerning the room. “We needed it to be gentle and basic in order that it might stand the check of time and age gracefully together with the remainder of the home.”

The Taj Mahal quartzite that was chosen for the kitchen counters, backsplash and island overhang is gray with a contact of inexperienced, which provides a little bit of color to an in any other case impartial house. The stone-covered peninsula that’s seen from the doorway additionally creates a focus; someplace for the eyes to relaxation whereas on their journey to the brand new, giant sliding doorways that have been added to the eating space and lined with mild, ethereal curtains for a dreamlike high quality.

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“Due to how darkish the unique walnut ground is, we didn’t need to add quite a lot of wooden to the home,” says Ouimet-Vives concerning the supplies that have been chosen for the rework.

“Apart from white oak, which we used to assemble the buffet that’s used each decoratively and for storage, in addition to a bench within the entrance of the home that the youngsters can use to retailer their issues in.”

And whereas it could seem to be your entire floor ground is impartial, there’s a powder room that wasn’t photographed that’s lined in blue and purple wallpaper with lemons, which provides a contact of enjoyable and color to the house.

“The target was actually to create a complete ground that was in continuity, one unit with three areas,” Ouimet-Vives says. “A number of the plaster mouldings needed to be reconstructed as a part of the mission, which was very delicate work, but it surely was all a part of holding the house’s considerably European really feel.”

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The fully revamped basement supplies further residing quarters to the home’s residents, together with a brand new front room, an workplace house, a bed room and a rest room, whereas the restoration of the again façade consists of the addition of a big sliding door and the enlargement of the window above the sink; each of which improve the visible reference to the terrace and yard, and supply further pure mild to your entire first ground of the home.

Accomplished: 2021

Dimension: 1,100 sq. ft

Supplies used for inside: Taj Mahal quartzite, plaster and white oak.

Supplies used for exterior: A big sliding door, home windows with an anodized end and purple brick.

Inside designer: Vives St-Laurent

Mission supervisor: Laurence Ouimet-Vives

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Architect: Pelletier de Fontenay

Contractor: Antarès Rénovation

Suppliers: Ramacieri Soligo, Sturdy as wooden, Alumilex and Gepetto.

About Vives St-Laurent

Based in 2018 by Laurence Ouimet-Vives and Lysanne St-Laurent, Vives St-Laurent is an inside design studio specializing in residential and business tasks that’s going to be celebrating its four-year anniversary in July. The work of the staff, which incorporates seven individuals however is rising, emphasizes high quality by the creation of areas which might be simple, easy and devoid of superfluous points.

The studio focuses on the temporality of a mission’s design, the place strains are straight and geometrical and the place textures evoke what as soon as was, in addition to what’s to come back. Over time, Vives St-Laurent has more and more specialised within the design of company areas. This department of exercise is, for the studio, an opportunity to revisit and rethink how an workplace ought to appear and feel.

This story was created by Content material Works, Postmedia’s business content material division.