The owner’s tour | A pearl in Saint-Lambert

Owners open the doors of their exceptional homes, offered on the resale market

At 393 Mercille Avenue in Saint-Lambert, nestles a two-storey house with a basement built in 1910 and completely renovated by its owners, Jolaine De Montigny and Daniel Cotnoir, who bought it in 2002. They previously lived in a loft in Old Montreal until they started looking for a house in Saint-Lambert.

“We really liked the trees in the neighborhood and the character of this century-old house that has a soul,” says M.^me From Montigny. The advantage of the property is also the proximity of services. From our house, we are just a street corner from everything. In fact, for about ten years, we only had one car, because I did everything on foot, from the pharmacy to the grocery store, including the dentist, the doctor, the optometrist, the parks and even the restaurants on Victoria Street.

The couple really enjoyed being able to walk with their two children to daycare, then to preschool, elementary school, private high school and Champlain Regional College in Saint-Lambert. “It’s really a neighbourhood life here, with little shops, the library and the train station at the end of our street,” adds Jolaine De Montigny.

From renovation to renovation

The couple renovated their house year after year to make it a real gem. Both inside and out. With its 10-foot ceilings, the 14-room residence (including 4 bedrooms) is heated by gas. It has heated floors in the basement, kitchen and bathrooms, one of which was renovated by the owner – a decoration enthusiast – supported by the design firm Daniel Corbin. Including contemporary walnut cabinets that look great.

When the couple bought the house, there was a service cellar. “We dug and poured a slab to make a real basement (of 820 sq. ft.)^⁠square eds) with a ceiling 6 feet from the ground, said M^me From Montigny. My partner and our children have their offices there. There is a bathroom, a laundry room, a family room. We even have a separate entrance on the side of the house that opens onto the mud room.

Our favorite is the terrace, which M^me De Montigny created it in 2015-2016. “It was a raised wooden gallery,” she says. “We put everything on the ground and installed automated lighting and an automatic watering system. We created a landscape with large trees, maples and columnar trees, which we brought from Quebec City. We tried to create a nice intimacy with Jardin de Ville furniture.”

The property is a green oasis.

The family fell in love with another house in Saint-Lambert that the couple visited twice. “It’s not that our house no longer meets our needs, but we fell in love with another house, on one level with a different type of architecture,” says M.^me De Montigny. I also needed another project! But we will miss this one, because its location couldn’t be better. You can see the fireworks at the end of the street. And as for the noise coming from the Sainte-Hélène and Notre-Dame islands, apart from the F1, honestly, it has improved a lot. I even wonder if I’ve heard anything since the beginning of the summer. Yes, we will miss it, because we put a lot of heart, energy, attention to detail and passion into this house, whose character we have tried to preserve.”

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