The owner’s tour | Island luxury

We couldn’t wait to find out more about this neo-Tudor style house. The photos suggested that major works had modernized the interiors of this house, well seated on Morris Island in Boisbriand.

We were not disappointed.

Residents, and the designer who helped them, had stories to tell about the property they’ve been pampering (and renovating) for 20 years. We would have stayed longer if we had been less polite!

There are a few dozen houses on Morris Island. Large properties located in the center, but also along the shore of this island in the Rivière des Mille Îles which is barely 400 meters by 700 meters. To get there, you have to cross a pretty wooden bridge where it is forbidden to fish. It is indeed difficult to conceive of a car and a pedestrian sharing the narrow lane at the same time!

On the other side, we are elsewhere. Far from the big city, yet 30 minutes away, far from Highway 15, yet visible from the east side, and far from the hubbub of shopping malls, yet a few miles away. This is even more true when you arrive at the end of the path that leads to the property.

The land of some 44,000 square feet directly overlooks the river. With, as a bonus, no neighbors in the surrounding islands.

André Gagné bought this property in 2003. “I knew the place because we were visiting friends who lived here, explains the young man in his sixties. We were water skiing with the kids. I was waiting for land to become available to buy it. The one he chose is particularly well located. You only hear the murmur of cars coming from the highway and you receive nature in every room through the large windows of the house.

A refreshed interior

Inside, it needed sprucing up. An understatement, specify the owners. “The decoration was frozen circa 1990,” recalls Jacinthe LeBlanc, designer who has supported the couple from the start. “With Pascale, André’s spouse, we worked to update it and make it warmer. And more luxurious, we want to add.

In the vestibule, a large room adjacent to the office and leading to the common rooms on the ground floor and the staircase to the bedrooms, the designer has set the common thread of the house: almost black (Off Black, from the British manufacturer Farrow & Ball) painted on the woodwork, the ceiling, the doors. Everywhere, there is at least one element of this hue. “It’s a color similar to slate, softer than jet black,” explains Jacinthe LeBlanc. It gives depth, class. »

The black is also similar to the piano that sits in the living room and that we see as soon as we cross the threshold. The magnificent grand piano is not only decorative. André has been playing since early childhood. The Bösendorfer 290 is a gift he gave himself. It is a large model that takes up a lot of space. The living room has been enlarged to accommodate it. “We took the opportunity to change all the windows on the ground floor,” explains André. A decision that propels the gaze outwards. We visited the house in winter the day after a snowfall where white was dominant.

But before going to the living room, you have to go through the kitchen renovated in 2011. “We called on the kitchen designer Steam who respected the design imagined by Pascale and Jacinthe”, says André. The result is a user-friendly room, filled with high-end storage and appliances. Despite her 12 years, she has not aged. It could have been assembled last month.

Everything in this house has been redesigned, demolished and rebuilt. For example, the bathroom adjacent to the master bedroom has undergone a complete overhaul.

The large shower has been capped with a 24″ x 24″ rain head with aromatherapy and light therapy. The floor and walls are covered with large Maxfine Calacatta porcelain slabs with underfloor heating. You might think you’re in a luxury hotel, if it weren’t for the storage designed for owners under the sinks and in the wardrobe.

Outside, the facade has retained its look, but has been lightened up by removing some of the hemlock planks that constitute the decorative elements of the Tudor style. In fact, all of the surviving boards have been replaced. “I like perfection, confides André. In 2019 I built a new garage with artist Mario Adornetto. I took the opportunity to tear up all the ground, from the street to the river! The work lasted six months during which the couple took the opportunity to add new outdoor living environments: concrete terraces to replace the old wooden ones, a new pipe that brings rainwater from the street towards the river, a sauna, a training pool, a fountain, etc. The list is long and cost over $1 million.

Why leave? Because, you guessed it, André and Pascale are people of action and projects. After 20 years improving this house, they are already dreaming of the next one. We can’t wait to see what happens next.