August 23, 2026 | DESIGN & INTERIORS
a SOFT MODERNIST TOUCH
words Noah Mercer
photos Alex Lesage
Vives St-Laurent brings a restrained contemporary sensibility to a 1929 residence on Montréal’s South Shore, allowing its original character to guide the renovation.
Set back from the street and surrounded by mature greenery, the three-storey house offered an immediate sense of privacy. For its new owners, Marie and Chris, who were relocating from Toronto with their 11-year-old daughter, its history was part of the appeal. Both work outside the design world—Marie in human resources and Chris in finance—but share a longstanding interest in architecture. Having previously restored a Victorian house in Toronto, they saw the Montréal property as an opportunity to engage with a different architectural period.
Founded in 2018 by Laurence Ouimet-Vives and Lysanne St-Laurent, Montréal interior design studio Vives St-Laurent works at the intersection of functionalism and aesthetics, with a language shaped by geometric lines, texture and a dialogue between past and present. Here, the studio approached the renovation as a conversation with the existing house. Years of alterations had blurred the distinction between original details and later additions, while modest ceiling heights and pronounced roof slopes imposed their own spatial constraints. The project became, in part, an exercise in editing: identifying what remained of the original architecture, recovering elements that had been obscured and introducing new interventions without overwhelming what was already there.
MATERIALS IN A QUIET REGISTER
True to Vives St-Laurent’s approach, the renovation is grounded in timelessness, restraint and a careful integration of materials. Warmth comes through subtle shifts between wood and stone, with white oak floors complemented by stained millwork, softly lacquered surfaces and painted mouldings.
In the kitchen, a stained-oak island provides a visual anchor, while muted beige lacquered cabinetry creates a subtle tonal contrast with the walls. Honed Calacatta marble adds a cooler counterpoint to the warmth of the oak.
The result is neither an attempt to return the house to a single moment in its history nor a renovation that disguises its contemporary interventions. Clean, rectilinear forms bring a soft modernist clarity, while the retained fireplace, beams and original proportions keep the architecture anchored in its past.
Through material, light and carefully adjusted thresholds, the house’s 1929 character remains present without defining how it is lived in today.
