THE SOCIAL GAL CONDO MAKEOVER

You know all those stories about nightmare renos?

Upon embarking on my own renovation adventure back in September 2018 I was like puh- leeze. I had Joseph the contractor from NOUVO (so adorbs and insta-story friendly HGTV should scoop him right up) and I have a mother (a.k.a. Gail) who’s a supremely talented professional designer that’s been in the biz for well, a while (if I tell you how long, I’ll have to kill you).

What could possibly go wrong?! I mean, really, it’s not like we were taking on the Four Seasons Montreal (which, fun footie and speaking relatively, ultimately finished about 50,000 times the square footage in less time).

Well, here’s the deal Social Gals and Gents: those reno-horror stories? They’re all … TRUE! Think the love child of Murphy’s Law and Mercury Retrograde. Let me a throw a couple atcha, many of which continued up until, uh, the day of this shoot (not joking even a little!): the kitchen contractor developed some sort of PTSD and took a leave of absence (all perfectly understandable if he’d had a replacement ready to go, and to my utter dismay, most other kitchen contractors didn’t have an allergic reaction to picking up a job in its adolescent phase); several cabinets were ultimately too tall for the installation of the special stretch ceiling and had to be trimmed down at the eleventh hour; the mirror guy didn’t seem capable of comprehending the concept of one uniform piece, delivering it in three … shall I go on?

So yes, despite aligning with a pretty stellar team, the journey was no renopicnic … but hey, as the adage goes, “nothing worth having is easy,” right? And, in the end, we did miraculously make deadline (stress on miraculously) and were able to showcase the reveal of the little Westmount Square condo that could in the special interiors-themed DIARY VOL. 8  (which FYI, was certainly inspired by the personal journey … ).

#HIVEGOALS

Having lived with the previous aesthetic for years (let’s call it “glammy chic,” a souped-up take on the “shabby-chic” trend of years past, replete with oversized armoires, venetian mirror and lots of blingy gal touches), it was clearly time to embrace a new vibe, one more in sync with my current publishing-focused professional life and more evolved personal one (as debatable as the latter may be). In short, à la Carrie B. in the first flick, it was definitely time for the “grown-up condo” and the dawning of a new aesthetic I had affectionately dubbed “minimalist glam.” (Alas, the glam is hard for a dyed-in-the-wool Social Gal to break up with, so shoot me.)

Here’s the thing, though: this new look and feel was not going to suddenly manifest with a fresh coat of paint and sleek new furnishings … The time had come to completely reimagine the Mies van der Rohe space of 1967 into an open plan more in sync with 2019 living. That meant a major overhaul: swapping the sites of the bedroom and living rooms, full-on demolishing walls, extending the bathroom, creating a new walk-in closet (more Carrie inspo!), and effectively replacing every original part (kind of like me … kidding! Ask Dr. Karl Schwarz for proof, it’s still mostly me!)

As for the skinny, here’s the rundown:

WORKING THE WHITE

Blame it on growing up with a mother who “paint- whited” everything, thereby “white-washing” my brain from a tender age. But the truth is, white- washing aside lol, the “white impressions” stuck, and I do find the neutral palette incredibly peaceful and serene in a wild, always-ON digital world where colour explodes from multifarious sources all the time … So yes, the chosen hue could only be the wears-so-well-and-looks-so-luxe Behr Marquee Ultra Pure White in an eggshell finish.

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT

Forever invigorated by sayings like “the sky’s the limit” and “nothing’s impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!” (wise words from the timeless Audrey Hepburn), I couldn’t help but be drawn to the prospect of a ceiling so luminous and reflective that every gaze upwards might invoke sentiments of infinite possibilities and dreaming huge.

The unique treatment was achieved by the masters at EXTENZO, experts in what is more commonly known in the biz as “stretch ceilings.”

For a dose of magic so vibrant in its simplicity and so impactful in a personal and/or professional space, I highly recommend you “stretch” the limits … 😉

BUBBLE & MIRROR-ME-HAPPY

When it comes to bathrooms, I’m a sucker for three things: a deep comfortable tub I can get lost in for hours (with scented PALO SEL DE BAIN by aimee&mia, a good book and a glass of Moët), embrace-you-with-lushness towels, and a strategically aligned mirror that enables one to see all angles of a blow-dry. Mission accomplished in the new hive.

The state-of-the-art Oceania tub, available for purchase at haute bathroom/kitchen heaven Batimat (love you Matthew Calabrese!) is an aqua-escape utopia made even more irresistible by certain embedded (bubble) technology: a homegrown system that ingeniously sends micro-bubbles deep into the epidermis — at once softening and exfoliating. Does it Rihanna werk? Fabulously and so cool that it bears the “made in Quebec” moniker.