The owner’s tour | The lights of an autonomous woman

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

When workers and craftsmen intervene in this beautiful residence in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce district, they mechanically address the man of the place. It’s not knowing Geneviève Bertrand well, because here, the conductor of the works and renovations is her. Welcome to its “house of autonomous women” where well-being is instilled in harmony with century-old walls.

Despite all the talent of our photographers, restoring an atmosphere using photos is sometimes a Herculean task. This is particularly the case in this Montreal property where the eye certainly perceives all the care taken in the design of the rooms, but where we cannot guess that upon crossing the threshold, we will be attracted like a magnet towards one of the armchairs vacant to let yourself be lulled by a chat or simply to soak up the surrounding energy.

And energy, Geneviève Bertrand constantly invested throughout the 13 years she spent there, supported by designers, friends and entrepreneurs to create warm and functional spaces meeting the needs of her family, while trying to preserve the original personality traits of this 1931 construction. “I know everything, everything, everything about this house, right down to the pipes through which we passed a camera with the plumber! », specifies the one who launched various phases of renovations, some of which are still fresh, such as the floors completely redone in hardwood.

The owner and her ex-spouse had set their sights on this peaceful, family-friendly neighborhood so that their young son Elliot could attend the Rudolf Steiner school, the only one in Montreal to offer alternative Waldorf education. After their separation, Elliot’s father resettled a stone’s throw from the house, while Genevieve decided to stay put. “She had already received a lot of love from her previous owner, who lived there alone. In fact, it’s a bit like “The house of autonomous women,” she says with a smile, emphasizing that the co-owner occupying the upper floor (the house is divided into two parts) is also independent. It is immediately pointed out to him that McEnzie, his friendly female poodle, is also part of the equation. Yes, we must not forget that the dog is a woman’s best friend!

Focus on optimization

It is therefore on her vision, her ideas and her sensitivity that the numerous renovation and redevelopment projects were based – even if she got back into a relationship along the way.

The parts affected by the work? All.

Starting with the kitchen, brought up to date (good) taste, flanked by a dining room with “ live edge » and a relaxation area with sofa, cabinets and lighting designed to harmonize with each other. The rooms have been redesigned, some enlarged (an area of ​​the corridor was recovered to create a bedroom with a desk), the doors and their frames remodeled, some walls reshaped. In the living room, where a functional fireplace sits, there is Geneviève’s great-grandmother’s sewing machine and carefully chosen furniture. The old flaking plaster was stripped to allow the sections to be given a new look.

Gone is the old spiral staircase, which has given way to a second bathroom, back to back with the first. Shower or bathtub? You have to choose, but in both cases, the pieces are sparkling. And very practical to meet the needs of a family. “In fact, the entire house was reconfigured and the space optimized for five people to live there,” explains the owner, who considered adding a lot of cabinets and storage, which were almost non-existent when she arrived. With a nice touch of conviviality: the basement has also been tastefully redeveloped into a leisure room for children, while the rear garden becomes the family center of gravity once the sunny days return.

A story of compromise

However, throughout the makeovers, Geneviève was constantly careful to maintain the right balance between the present and the past, the house presenting typical characteristics of a building from the 1930s in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. “I wanted to combine modernity and the older NDG style, trying not to distort the history of the house too much. We kept certain door frames and moldings, but we removed what needed to be removed,” she says, pointing for example to the floor; the old dark floors with their tired and tarnished varnish have finally gone by the wayside. The new light wood slats now offer a boost in brightness. Drawing on the latter was another key issue in this building erected along its length.

New windows, rearrangement of certain angles, pale tints, openings of the rooms… every effort has been made to ensure that light makes its way from one end of the corridor to the other.

A beautiful sheet of light now encompasses an already calming atmosphere. And no one will be surprised to learn that the owner works for Spiralis, a personal development company; the walls gradually drank in its serenity.

His son Elliot, who is reaching an academic level, will however have to change establishment. The little family is therefore looking for another house, but this time in the Pointe-Claire area, on the water’s edge, a compromise between a city home and a country chalet; they wouldn’t have time to take care of a secondary property. There, they are eyeing another century-old residence, more in the style farmhousebut with her share of renovations carried out – with 13 years of construction, Geneviève has already given!

Who will inherit the house on Melrose Street? Another small family, with the same concern for balance between ancient and contemporary? Or another “autonomous woman”, as what emerges as a tradition would have it?

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