From dream to reality | The rebirth of an ancestral home

Any renovation requires a good deal of planning and crowns a more or less long-term process. We present projects of various sizes, which could give ideas.

Together for 46 years, Danielle Jutras and Yves Demers have almost always lived among antiques. Their first residence was a small Canadian house, which they furnished by going to auction. From his cabinetmaker father, M.^me Jutras learned to strip furniture to give it new life. When they took their early retirement, they wanted to buy an old house to restore it and turn it into a chalet. They fell in love with a house built in 1807, near the Richelieu River, over which they have a splendid view.

“The house came with five or six other buildings,” says Danielle Jutras. We knew there was a bit of work to do, but nothing major. There was no major water infiltration and the roof was not leaking. »

“I really liked the large neighboring buildings to put my stuff in,” adds Yves Demers. The land was very large, almost 140,000 sq.^⁠2. I like wide open spaces. »

They bought the property in October 2007. For the first few years, they pared down to the essentials. They dug the cellar of the ancestral house, which was only 2.5 feet high – and rats – to bring it to 7 feet high, pouring cement and highlighting the stone walls. They then transformed the large adjacent garage, rescued an old barn and renovated the other buildings.

Their project had matured over all these years. Here and there, they had recovered materials and objects that turned out to be very valuable during the work. Old doors, old handles, frames from a nearby dilapidated barn, floor planks from a house dating from 1875 are among the countless products patiently amassed, waiting to find a new vocation. Out of personal interest, but also professional, to supply her own flea market, M^me Jutras had been on the lookout when she attended auctions and visited other flea markets.

In April 2019, they contacted Marie-Lise Frenette, head of the company Antiquité Design, recommended by two friends. Specialized in the restoration of old houses, the latter notably made the 3D plans of the future kitchen.

A big challenge

The owners’ sons got involved when the demolition began in August 2019. “It was very compartmentalized, with a small kitchen, a small dining room and a lot of divisions, says Ms.^me Jutras. We decided to put everything on the ground to have an open area. We stripped everything down, trying as much as possible to keep old stuff. »

They started on the first floor, where some rooms, overlooked by a small attic, were only 6 feet high. Yves Demers, who did most of the work, with the invaluable help of his wife and a friend, used the attic as scaffolding to work on the beams. The attic then disappeared.

“The four bedrooms upstairs are now 18 feet high,” says Ms.^me Jutras. We removed the different layers of plywood and carpet that covered the wooden floor. Some divisions have been moved to have a larger bathroom with a separate shower and bathtub. »

A perfectionist, the owner took on one challenge after another. Among other things, he straightened the beams of the house, which had collapsed in certain places. “We highlighted the stone walls in two places that we didn’t see before. We discovered the original fieldstone hearth, in perfect condition, behind a second hearth, which had been added,” says Ms.^me Jutras.

With the work far behind them, it is in this house that the owners plan to meet on Christmas Day, with the 12 other members of their family. They will celebrate surrounded by their loved ones, in a warm atmosphere, in their image.