Cottages
A Stone Ski Chalet Is Transformed Into An All-Season Home
Updated on November 17, 2023
As designers, Mélanie Cherrier and Laurence Pons Lavigne are well aware of the conventional thinking when it comes to walls: they should come down. Open-plan layouts are modern and more livable…or so it goes. Mélanie and Laurence had other ideas. “We often put up walls,” says Mélanie, one half of Blanc Marine Intérieurs, their design firm in Montreal. “We prefer enclosed rooms because you can add more layers,” adds Laurence. Walls mean more spots to display a treasured painting, add color or create a sense of discovery as you poke around.
This approach guided the designers’ full reno of a quaint stone house in Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., a scenic town with snowcapped Mont-Sainte-Anne as its backdrop, just 45 minutes from Quebec City. When the couple bought the one-and-a-half-storey country home — just 800 square feet on the main floor and 500 upstairs — it was only used as a ski chalet. The 1970’s house was renovated in the ’90s and was in desperate need of an update. The layout was awkward, the kitchen was nondescript, and there was only one bathroom.
The first priority was to make it feel more rustic. “I didn’t want it to be contemporary, and I didn’t want to lose the soul and charm of the house,” says Geneviève. The couple tried a few designers before finding the perfect fit. “I saw an eclectic kitchen Blanc Marine Intérieurs did in Boucherville, Quebec, in the April 2018 issue of House & Home,” says Geneviève. Its countrified yet luxurious cabinets spoke to her.
Scroll down to see how this former ski chalet was transformed into an all-season home!
The designers, Laurence Pons Lavigne (left) and Mélanie Cherrier of Blanc Marine Intérieurs, were nearly four hours away in Montreal. They forged ahead anyway, with the design team overseeing the entire renovation remotely. “We had three meetings at the Montreal office,” says homeowner Geneviève, “one to discuss our needs, one where the designers revealed their concept and one where materials were chosen.”
Mélanie and Laurence designed the house using floor plans and photographs. Geneviève then coordinated the renovation work herself, communicating with Mélanie and Laurence when issues and challenges came up.
Today, a labyrinth of rooms is connected by knotty pine floors and every square inch has purpose. The trick is in the mix and finding new pieces that feel vintage. “The table and chairs in the dining room are from RH and Pottery Barn,” says Mélanie. “We love that everything looks old and, because each chair is different, it gives the impression that they’re retro finds that have been picked up here and there.”
Set against a glamorous antique Turkish chandelier, the vignette is sheer perfection. You have to move past the new walled vestibule, then push open the door on the left to really discover the home as it unfolds before you. As Geneviève puts it, “It’s timeless and classical, and it feels like the space has been maximized.” And it’s those walls, in the end, that help infuse the home with a touch of complexity, allowing the beauty of a slow reveal.
“We have a view of the mountains and the most beautiful countryside,” says homeowner Geneviève Vachon of her country home. The backyard overlooks a pond that becomes a community skating rink in the winter, where her six-year-old daughter, Éléonore, likes to take a spin. Her husband, Lewis, often glides along the nearby cross-country ski trails.
“My favorite room is the kitchen for its beauty and originality,” says homeowner Geneviève Vachon. Handmade Tabarka tile from Spain energizes the range area while delicate shelves with brass detailing display pottery and paintings.
The walk-in butler’s pantry has lots of storage, as well as a microwave and toaster.
Of course, the collected-over-time feeling is all an illusion, say the designers. The thoughtful mix of old and new furniture, cosy Persian rugs, wood accents and sharp black grounding elements were all bought at the same time. A velvet sofa from Article brings comfort and style to the living room.
A limestone finish lends interest to the fireplace wall. “It’s a pretty, old world European look we liked,” says Mélanie. The designers also created two offices for full-time remote working in their new jobs: Lewis is at another Health Centre up north in Kuujjuaq, Que., and Geneviève is now with the Public Health Department in Quebec City.
“To create Geneviève’s office, we partitioned a corner of the living room and layered in antique windows salvaged from an old house in Montreal’s Outremont neighbourhood,” says Laurence.
A pretty vignette elevates the practical log storage nook.
Lewis’s small office at the back of the house looks out to a view of the pond, trees and mountains. His desk was situated around the bend from the cherrywood kitchen with its old-time butler’s pantry.
Benjamin Moore’s Cushing Green adds a pop of color to the powder room’s shiplap walls.
Upstairs, Mélanie and Laurence added a bathroom and walk-in closet for the principal bedroom. The shower enclosure follows the roofline and defines the new principal bathroom.
The designers added character and “aged” the principal bedroom by installing a faux brick wall that plays off the canted ceiling.
Mélanie and Laurence borrowed space from Éléonore’s bedroom to create the principal bathroom.
Sylvie Li
House & Home October 2021
Stacy Begg
Laurence Pons Lavigne and Mélanie Cherrier, Blanc Marine Intérieurs