Laura Boisvert wears the sexiest work boots in the city.
The 34-year-old designing powerhouse behind a growing list of renovations is perfectly comfortable striding through a recently finished two-storey home in Barrhaven wearing impossibly high black patent shoes.
“I’m six feet in these shoes. I wear them all day and I am on the go all of the time,” says the five-foot-five bundle of energy who launched her design and building firm in March 2012.
Earlier this summer, the owner of Laura Boisvert Design ditched her black platforms for work shoes (and a brush, and tins of black and white paint) to create a striped wall in Tracey Bulmer’s second-floor bedroom.
The statement wall is the latest touch in a dramatic makeover of the 26-year-old home Bulmer inherited from her father. She now lives there with her daughter, Rebecca.
“I couldn’t believe it was the same house,” says Rebecca, 23, remembering tired grey carpeting that covered the floors and a kitchen in need of a facelift. Today, the old cabinets are gone, replaced by a combo of white cabinets, black granite counters, sleek dark cabinetry along another wall and pot lights in the ceiling.
A round custom-made table sits under a large window, with two upholstered chairs for folks who want a quiet breakfast, next to a saucy yellow wall that brightens the dullest day.
In the kitchen, two upholstered chairs next to a large window and saucy yellow wall offer a comfortable and bright spot for breakfast.
Boisvert’s simple decision to take out a small railing between a raised dining room and the living room and paint the brick fireplace white instantly modernized the spaces. Hardwood flooring added a rich factor and made cleaning up after the family’s two dogs easier.
Another simple decision to re-purpose a second-floor family room into Bulmer’s bedroom is a master stroke. She now has her own space, with a dressing table at one end and a place to lounge on an oatmeal-coloured chaise at the other end.
“I have a new house,” says Bulmer. “We talked about what styles I liked. I was very comfortable giving her the reins. I would have played it safer, but she read me very well. She does not push her ideas on you. She will suggest things.”
A dramatic black and white striped wall makes a statement in the master bedroom, which used to be a second-floor family room, in a Barrhaven home Boisvert renovated.
Boisvert is a convincing mistress of suggestion.
“I like to get clients to stretch their comfort levels and nine times out of 10 it works,” says Boisvert, who packs a psychology and law degree from Carleton into her eclectic resumé. She wanted to be a detective because she was fascinated by criminals, spent time doing esthetics, and finally earned credentials from Certified Interior Decorators International.
Boisvert is happiest designing spaces, urging trades to do it her way.
“When I was a kid, my mother was always yelling at me because I was late for school. I was busy rearranging furniture in my room,” says Boisvert, who has trained interior designer Erika Sunstrum on staff.
Matt Maxsom discovered Boisvert on the Houzz website and asked his business partner, well-known entrepreneur Bruce Firestone, for an opinion. The two were impressed after Boisvert repurposed a single home on the west side for them, turning it into communal living for seniors on the top level, with rental units for Algonquin College students in the basement.
“In my past projects, I never changed the layouts. I made it cleaner, but not different,” says Maxsom, who has renovated a series of rental homes but had never used a designer before. “Guys get it done. It’s about function. With women, it’s about design. It’s nice and it works.”
Boisvert did drawings calling for central air conditioning, new wiring, widened doorways, a barrier-free shower, and relocated bedrooms so there is a common living and dining room for seniors.
Renovations are in full gear and Boisvert’s drawings are on budget.
“She is very practical, hard-nosed,” says Maxsom. “She makes you understand what she wants and why.”
