For the renovation of their mid-century style bungalow, in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, a family chose to highlight the bricks of the interior walls which gave it its unusual character thanks to subtle work with the material . The Vives St-Laurent design studio invited light for her, and redefined the living spaces to simplify her daily life.
The plan was very clear in little Allison O’Dowd’s mind: one day, she would buy the long house that she passed so often with her bike, in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville. “I loved the bungalow and the mid-century architecture. I liked this house because it was different from the others, and I have always liked difference,” she emphasizes.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Allison O’Dowd in the back living room of her bungalow.
It’s no surprise that 12 years ago she took over the reins of the decoration and furniture sales agency Diffusion Jardin Maison (ALŸSN today), founded by her father. And that, in 2017, she realized her childhood dream with the help of her partner David Turgeon, also from Saint-Bruno.
The interior of the bungalow, in red brick, like the exterior facade, won over the couple when they landed on the real estate market. “The bricks create a warm, European or New York atmosphere,” reports Allison who, upon becoming the owner, decided to devote an initial budget of $12,000 to soundproofing the rooms, which would allow her to organize evenings with friends at the house without disturbing the sleep of little Gabriel and Jacob.
Designers in residence
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Interior designers Laurence Ouimet-Vives and Lysanne Saint-Laurent in the kitchen open to the dining room
The Montpellier residence, built at the end of the 1960s, is the work of a local architect whose trace has been erased by time. For the second part of the larger renovations, in the living spaces, in 2022, the owners decided to turn to designers who would provide their house with modern comfort while preserving its rare character in Quebec. Targeting the kitchen, very dark, despite a skylight, due to a ceiling covered in barn wood.
PHOTO ALEX LESAGE PROVIDED BY VIVES ST-LAURENT
The living room at the back of the house is lined with large storage blocks covered in dark wood to recall a material very present in the rooms before the renovation of the Vives St-Laurent studio.
To help the Vives St-Laurent studio team better understand the place, they do not hesitate to leave the keys to their house for a few days.
“We were able to soak up its atmosphere, and observe the effects of light on the materials at different times of the day,” says Lysanne Saint-Laurent, co-founder of the studio born in Montreal in 2018. At the end of this living room, the designers are reviewing the articulation of the day areas and proposing to open the walls of the kitchen to improve the dynamics of daily life, offer a view of the garden and allow natural light to invade the room, heart of the house.
Material games
“The brick, in good condition, was the starting point of the project,” explains Lysanne Saint-Laurent. Its dark color is tempered by a lightening of the ceiling freed, just as for the living rooms and dining rooms, of its barn wood planks. In order to honor the historical heritage of the house, it is however preserved on the ceiling of the vestibule, separating the day and night spaces. A masterful door in dark wood is also added. And storage blocks dressed in dark oak recall the essence of the original project. One of them even manages to fit a bathroom into the living room.
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PHOTO ALEX LESAGE, PROVIDED BY VIVES ST-LAURENT
The dining room has been fitted with a large window.
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PHOTO ALEX LESAGE, PROVIDED BY VIVES ST-LAURENT
A vestibule paved with gray slate separates the day and night spaces.
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PHOTO ALEX LESAGE, PROVIDED BY VIVES ST-LAURENT
A large dark oak door enhances the effect of the barn wood ceiling.
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PHOTO ALEX LESAGE, PROVIDED BY VIVES ST-LAURENT
Dark wood also adorns a bathroom hidden in a volume in the living room.
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PHOTO ALEX LESAGE, PROVIDED BY VIVES ST-LAURENT
At the back of the kitchen, a block clad in wood houses a laundry room.
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Brick, so present in the interior, is one of the challenges with which designers must deal.
“In order not to distort the existing space, we had to take the right actions and moderate our choice of materials, because brick is a very textured material,” points out Laurence Ouimet-Vives, co-founder of Vives Saint-Laurent and designer. project manager.
PHOTO ALEX LESAGE, PROVIDED BY VIVES ST-LAURENT
The barn wood ceiling has been carefully preserved in the entrance.
A discreet treatment of the walls with lime will therefore be retained for interior partitions, as well as the ceilings. And the furniture that will complete the decor will be chosen consciously with, moreover, the desire to reconnect with the original mid-century style of the house thanks to contemporary creations from Scandinavian brands (Frama, Normann Copenhagen, Audo, etc.).
For this last phase of the project, the designers worked hand in hand with Allison, and sometimes had to use trickery to convince her of certain color choices, which she usually likes to be bright. “But I said yes to almost everything, I had to admit that they were right,” she concedes happily, wearing a poppy red jacket.
Visit the Vives St-Laurent website