Looking back at our portfolio, we can point out key projects that have taught us the most and that have propelled our careers to the next level. Our Four Boys & A Dreamhouse project is one of those! It was not only a first for us on many levels, but it was a unique perfect storm of a dream client, dream home, and dream team. This construction ran for ten months and had its share of ups and downs but overall, we are so thrilled with the results.
How it started
This story starts way before the construction, with a completely different house. Our clients originally called us to work on their Lakehouse in St Agathe. It was supposed to be a small project that snowballed into a full gut renovation and decor. After seeing what we could do, the homeowners decided that they also wanted to renovate their home in Montreal. So we put the construction of their Lakehouse on hold and we designed their Dreamhouse next. Designing two homes back-to-back for the same clients meant we had to be very creative. We wanted to give them two different vibes while maintaining our Hibou charm and we had to be mindful of not repeating the same materials. Quite the challenge when designing a total of twelve bathrooms that all had to have different tiles and plumbing fixtures!
Fun Fact: This was the first project we presented at our new offices at Hibou HQ.
About the home
Their home in Montreal is elegant, upscale, and a little more modern than what we have going on up north, and it all started with the staircase.
This 6500 square foot single-family home had great bones. With tall ceilings and a central spiral staircase, we already had a great base to work with. The staircase is visible from nearly all angles and rooms in the house so we knew that we wanted to make it special. Unlike anything we designed before, we opted for the modern, clean lines of a curved plaster banister, topped with a white oak handrail stained to match the floors. We further accentuated the curves by integrating a recessed LED strip that follows the line of the treads.
The natural plastered arches of the staircase dictated a lot of our other design decisions. Like the arches in the entrance and living room built-ins and the use of a Venetian plaster wall finish found throughout the home.
The palette throughout is very neutral and light but we know a room is never really complete without the contrast of a touch of black. The vestibule opens to each his and her’s office spaces and the powder room and so we decided to commission a local artisan to build these beautiful custom black steel doors with Flutex glass. They are truly a work of art.
All of the Architectural Details
What made this project so unique for us was the high quality, custom, hand-crafted architectural details that we were able to design from scratch. There is absolutely nothing builder basic about this project! The staircase, the steel doors, even the baseboards, trim, and all interior doors were designed by us. What’s more, is that our clients gave us the ultimate creative freedom to make our vision a reality. With very little direction from them and no changes at all to the original concepts, this project is a solid representation of what we are capable of and allowed us to challenge ourselves.
The home is dripping in luxurious textures like natural marble, bespoke millwork, and quality hardware yet it still feels so warm, inviting, and livable.
The Kitchen
We completely reconfigured the kitchen layout to optimize the footprint, all to be able to incorporate the homeowner’s one request, a show-stopper walk-in pantry. The pantry is accessible from two pocket doors that flank the 72″ Lacanche range. We opted for a contrasting colour to bring attention to what is likely our client’s favourite part of her home.
There is so much more to show you from this project, but we’ll save that for another post! If you can’t wait to see the rest, head over to our portfolio to view the full project.
