“Classicist Bobo Eclectic” Style in Montreal

Name: Suzanne of Decogirl Montreal
Location: Downtown, Montreal
Size: 900 square feet
Years lived in: 9 months

Suzanne is an interior decorator working in Montreal who excels at creating luxurious decor where exuberance, drama, class, color and comfort all mix together to create intriguing and wonderful spaces.

Suzanne finds inspiration for every project in Coco Chanel, Bunny Williams, and Jonathan Adler, to name a few. She finds a lot of pleasure in working with clients on contemporary classic projects. She often mixes old and new but always finds a way to create a dialogue between different pieces. Color is always a great unifier!

Suzanne feels that a home always needs a bit of history. Even though some people like to start from scratch, she always encourages them to keep something from the past to make it more personal.

My Style: Classicist bobo eclectic! As I have inherited most of my furniture and art from family, my home is traditional and I find a lot of pleasure in working on contemporary classic projects with a few of my clients. I like to mix old and new, but there has to be a dialog between all the pieces. Color is always a great unifier.

Inspiration: Coco Chanel is one of my biggest inspirations because she never followed trends. She once said “Fashion goes out of fashion” and it became my motto. Bunny Williams is a great interior designer; she is traditional but always comes up with some elements that makes a room look eternally young. Jonathan Adler because he is a great colorist; he works with real frank colors and succeeds in making very harmonious decor. And my mother for her love of beautiful things and my father for his immense curiosity.

Favorite Element: My dining room table; it is a hotel banquet table covered with a silk throw and protected by a glass, nothing exceptional except for the size. It might be too big for the room but the pleasure of sharing a meal with people I love, my family and my friends is so important to me. I could never sacrifice these precious moments for the importance of scale.

Biggest Challenge: I did not want my dining room in the space allocated for it; I found it would make the living area look very small and the way the rooms are divided is not ideal.

The problem was there was no electrification for my chandelier above my dining room table. The electrician had to run a wire from the light switch inside the wall, out through the ogee molding, along the ceiling plus an electrical box installed above the table. It worked, but we had to hide the electrical wire and box, so we nailed and glued three moldings to cover it all, et voilà.

What Friends Say: It looks exactly like you, you are home wherever you are.

Biggest Embarrassment: When I first moved—having lived in the same place for 18 years—I wanted everything to be done quickly. I did not like my tiny bathroom and I became obsessed with the idea of installing mirrors to make it look bigger. I had to find a way of getting and installing mirrors quickly and cheaply. I finally got five mirrors from IKEA; the sizes were perfect for my wall. I bought some moldings and very strong construction glue, so we figured once glued, the bottom molding should hold the glued mirrors in place.

Well, it just did not happen as planned. The bottom molding was not dry enough and all the mirrors started to collapse. It could have been disastrous—imagine 35 years of unhappiness (I am quite superstitious)! Anyhow, I threw my arms across the wall while my handy woman started to peel off the first mirror (which unfortunately got nicked on the bottom corner).

I did not really want to go back to IKEA, but it had to be done now, so we patched up part of the crack with polyfilla, and it is hidden behind the toilet.

The moral of the story is don’t go too fast, take your time and you will avoid starting all over again.

Proudest DIY: Bathroom again. I had to do something to enhance this mini space. I painted the dark brown vanity white to make it look lighter on the white wall, but there was definitely something missing.

I had bought some hot air balloon wallpaper for my entrance way; I figured if I had enough I will also have it on the wall facing the mirrors in the bathroom, as both rooms face each other.

I had no rolls of wallpaper left, but some cut outs (and I could not possibly have enough length to do my wall). I did not want to order more (as I would have had to buy two rolls and I only needed part of one roll).

So after calculating the balloons, I decided to cut each balloon and motif individually and glue those directly as a collage on the wall. I think it turned out pretty cool; I would say charming.

Biggest Indulgence: The wallpaper in my entrance way; I fell in love with it and I could not do without it. I have been fascinated by hot air balloons since I was a little girl and a childhood friend of mine took me once on a hot air balloon trip above Napa Valley; it was a very exciting and beautiful experience, try it you will like it.

Best Advice: Make sure you wake up in your own home, not your friend’s home, not your decorator’s home, your home.

Surround yourself with things you love. Things might seem superficial but they matter, they often have a meaning, they comfort you.

Your environment is most important, it is not only brick and mortar, it is your shelter where you feel protected, where your heart is content, it is you.

Dream Sources: I really enjoy second-hand stores, but I also like La Maison Française Antiques in Los Angeles, Restoration Hardware, and Ikea. They all make me happy when I visit them.

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