Country Homes
Inside A Newly Built Quebec Country Home With Tons Of English Charm
Published on April 16, 2025
English kitchens set the gold standard for owners hungry for living spaces that look back in time, but also capitalize on the latest cooking technology. While this kitchen isn’t set inside a cottage in the dales of Gloucestershire, it does feel authentic — the perfect place to savour a hot cuppa.
In fact, this newly built home is in Saint-Lazare, Que., about an hour west of downtown Montreal. The kitchen — a believable Brit stand-in — features a creamy Aga cooker, fieldstone-veneer wall, wide-plank wood floors and two dark oak islands that resemble retrofitted antiques.
Designer Fay Martel, co-founder of the Montreal firm Les Coupables, had revamped the previous home of pharmacists Geneviève Lamarre and Maciek Zarzycki. When they wanted to build a new house, Fay was brought in early so she could dispense advice on the layout, as well as the decorating.
“We wanted our new house to be warm and cosy, and completely livable,” says Geneviève, an admitted Anglophile. “We wanted it to feel inviting without being overly fancy.” Set in famously horsey Saint-Lazare — the area is studded with stables — the locale was a natural fit. “To keep the look authentic, we sourced a number of items from the U.K., including the hardware and some of the light fixtures,” says Fay.
For lucky visitors, spending time in this house is akin to taking a mini-vacation in England. “When guests walk in, they don’t want to leave,” says Geneviève. “It feels like we’ve captured that cosy British farmhouse vibe we were aiming for. In this home, comfort reigns supreme, and we couldn’t be happier.” See inside the Quebec country home oozing with Continental elegance below.
“The clients gave me carte blanche — they just wanted it to feel British,” says Fay (above) of the Quebec country home.
In the kitchen, white oak flooring, islands and window frames help create a heritage vibe. To make the kitchen look like it’s set in an old farmhouse, the white oak elements were finished in different stains and a stone veneer was applied to the back wall. Painted beams and a generous plaster vent hood frame the star of the hub: a big Aga cooker in a light-coloured enamel.
“The house started with the Aga cooker; I designed the whole kitchen around it,” says Fay. “Geneviève ordered it and, once it arrived, it was love at first sight.” For subtle texture, Fay applied limewash paint to both the vent hood and the mortar lines on the stone-veneer wall. “This finish makes the house look more antique, and we complemented it with unlacquered brass accents like the kitchen faucets and fixtures from deVOL Kitchens in England.”
Beams play a major role here in evoking the look of a collected-over-time kitchen. In the cooking area, they’re strategically painted out, which Fay says is common in English additions, to make them blend in with the existing structures. There were also practical considerations during the design process. “Geneviève is six feet three inches tall, leading us to raise the islands to 38 inches, higher than the standard, so that kneading bread would be a breeze,” says Fay. “Even the vent hood is a bit higher than usual; it’s been calculated for her comfort.”
A stormy grey coffee bar tucked away in a beadboard-backed niche is a moody moment in the cream kitchen. It houses the coffee maker and grinder, the toaster and a microwave-convection steam oven. A brass rail with S hooks from deVOL Kitchens is charming mug storage.
Geneviève wanted two big, furniture-like islands to keep ingredients separate because her girls, Anna, 9, and Clara, 5, have severe egg allergies. “I bake and cook so much, and I wanted to have an island that wasn’t filled with Legos and crayons!” she says. “The second island has a seating area, and we use it all the time for homework, crafts or to hang out with friends. We can leave whatever homework, puzzles or board games intact while we eat, then come back to them afterward. It’s working perfectly.”
Fay carefully calibrated the layout of the kitchen so that it included appealing vistas. Likewise, lighting fixtures accentuate the room’s symmetry, creating a calm, orderly effect in the Quebec country home.
This window makes the adjoining mudroom look like an addition — even though the house is newly built — and lets in more natural light. A stone veneer was applied to an exterior wall, and the result feels rich and authentic.
The newly built Quebec country home has doorways with increased thickness to mirror the thick walls often found in heritage farmhouses. The archway leads to the living room.
The heritage vibe is strong and cohesive in other rooms of the house as well, including in the principal ensuite. Here, an arch motif appears in the doorway, and then again in the shower entrance. Large-format black and white checkered floor tile looks like it belongs in an English manor. The graceful, arched mirrors and a custom oak vanity add to the stately look.
A wall-mounted faucet makes the principal ensuite’s custom oak vanity feel more like a repurposed antique and increases usable surface area on the counter.
Because the large-scale checkered floor tile is so bold, the rest of the palette is kept to quiet neutrals. Tonal drapes add privacy and softness.
Photographie Intérieure Co.
House & Home
Fay Martel (interior design), Nathalie St-Martin (architecture)