My Houzz: Clean and Contemporary Style for a Renovated Montreal Factory
Years of patient collecting help this nomadic traveler create a place where she can feel at home
Lies Ouwerkerk spends her winters exploring the world and needs a restful spot to call home in the summer. Ouwerkerk works as a freelance travel journalist for half the year, and as a couples and family therapist for the other half. When looking for a pied-à-terre in Montreal, she stumbled on a condominium project that perfectly fit her wish list: It was in a historical building full of character, had lots of natural light and included space for a garden. With the addition of her own sense of style, her home has become exactly the sanctuary she sought.
As the condo project’s first prospective buyer, she had the pick of any of the building’s 50 condos. “I live in the southwest corner on the top floor,” Ouwerkerk says. “I chose the unit with the most possible light.” The unit also features great original details like the exposed brick walls.
Describing her style as contemporary, balanced and simple, Ouwerkerk eventually opted for a color scheme of off-white and gray, with accents of black and yellow as a nod to her hometown of Amsterdam.
Most of the living space is on this level, but the stairs lead to her home office and provide access to her rooftop deck.
Most of the living space is on this level, but the stairs lead to her home office and provide access to her rooftop deck.
The thing that Ouwerkerk loves most about her home is that “it is totally unique.… There is no similar apartment in the building nor anywhere else in the world.” Her home office provides plenty of space to work, plus views of the city.
Ouwerkerk had to wait nearly a year for the construction on her condo to be completed. She spent that time compiling design inspiration. “Houzz was pivotal to the process,” she says. She was able to neatly organize a collection of her favorite rooms and decor items to help her finish the interior, including her compact kitchen.
The condo feels more spacious than its 950-square-foot interior, thanks to soaring ceilings and clever design decisions.
The condo feels more spacious than its 950-square-foot interior, thanks to soaring ceilings and clever design decisions.
BEFORE: Because she purchased her unit during the construction phase, Ouwerkerk was able to work with the contractors and give her input about the layout. She kept the wall designed to divide this space into two rooms, with the master bedroom on the left, but didn’t close off the space on the right from the rest of the condo. “The unit was meant to be a two-bedroom apartment, but I asked them to leave out the wall,” she says.
As a result, Ouwerkerk enjoys a bright living room in what was meant to be the second bedroom. Windows provide views in two directions, and a deep windowsill also functions as a reading nook.
With the addition of a floor-to-ceiling track curtain, the room also doubles as a guest bedroom. “When I have guests over, they sleep in the master bedroom, and I take the couch in the living room. It’s quite comfortable,” she says.
With the addition of a floor-to-ceiling track curtain, the room also doubles as a guest bedroom. “When I have guests over, they sleep in the master bedroom, and I take the couch in the living room. It’s quite comfortable,” she says.
Once the furniture was brought in and arranged, the space felt too open. After seeing a photo online, she was inspired to put a cowhide rug between the kitchen and dining area.
This old Canadiana vaisselier, or buffet, on the wall between the living room and dining area was purchased from an antiques shop on Notre Dame Boulevard in St. Henri.
BEFORE: The master bedroom wall was originally full brick, but much of the brick was in bad shape due to the age of the building. The contractors had filled up the cracked brick with cement. “It was very ugly,” Ouwerkerk says.
AFTER: She opted to paint the lower half of the brick wall white, which freshened up the room.
What You Need to Know Before Painting Brick
What You Need to Know Before Painting Brick
Although Ouwerkerk is a fan of light, bright and airy homes, she was concerned that it felt too stark. “The condo felt white and cold in the beginning, but after I painted all doors gray, that problem was solved,” she says. She carried that philosophy over to her bedroom, where she painted an accent wall in a soft gray. Framed photographs that Ouwerkerk took on her travels working as a journalist line the walls of her bedroom.
The condo’s only bathroom is simple and fresh, with a color scheme of gray and white.
Modern fixtures and cabinetry help keep this heritage building condo feeling up-to-date.
A small balcony, located off the dining room on the main floor, was built at Ouwerkerk’s request. The vertical walls separate her space from the common terrace shared among other homeowners on that floor and give her complete privacy.
One of the Ouwerkerk’s favorite elements is this private rooftop terrace and garden. “I used the services of Urban Seedling to build the wooden structures on my little balcony and deck, but the designs are mine,” she says. She made the pillowcases from fabrics that she picked up in Guatemala and India.
Ouwerkerk loves that the custom-built rooftop pergola gives her a sense of coziness and privacy despite living in a busy area near downtown. The wall trellis was a vintage find from her travels to Tunisia.
The private green space is a welcome retreat after a long day of therapy sessions — a place where she can, in her words, “fuss about [her] plants and vegetables.”
“The outside was already renovated; the inside was still a disaster,” Ouwerkerk says about the condo project, “so I bought my condo from a plan.” The developer, Bourget Capital, had already renovated other heritage buildings in the city, such as the Snowdon Theatre and La Maison Cuvillier-Ostell, which gave her faith in the project.
Ouwerkerk relaxes in her light and airy living room.
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
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Apartments | Barn Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Floating Homes | Guesthouses | Homes Around the World | Lofts | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Small Homes | Townhouses | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | Vacation Homes
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
Browse more homes by style:
Apartments | Barn Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Floating Homes | Guesthouses | Homes Around the World | Lofts | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Small Homes | Townhouses | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | Vacation Homes
Who lives here: Lies Ouwerkerk, a journalist and therapist
Location: St. Henri neighborhood of Montreal
Size: 950 square feet (88.3 square meters); one bedroom, one bathroom
Ouwerkerk’s apartment is in a restored 1879 heritage Williams sewing machine factory (later acquired by Singer) in Montreal’s trendy St. Henri neighborhood. Ouwerkerk saw an ad in the paper in 2014, the week the building was put on the market, and went to an open house that same day.