KATHY RENWALD
Sawing, sewing, sketching glamour in Dundas
Lisa Frid lives an upstairs downstairs life.
Find her in the basement at the drill press, the chop saw, or the compound mitre saw.
“And this is MY workshop,” she says adamantly.
Because even in this day and age, people would assume it is her husband’s.
Make no mistake, Lisa is the builder. The evidence is in her upstairs life. She saws, she sews, she sketches. In every room of her Dundas home, the hand of Lisa is undeniable.
The front door opens on exhibit one. Wainscotting and crown moulding, made by Lisa. On the hallway wall, a group of white candles in a display case.
“I copied the idea from the fireplaces you see now that hang on a wall.”
On a curved shelf next to the stairway, the abstract art piece that Lisa painted.
She’s not bragging, she’s just matter of fact. From age five when she sewed her first dress, she’s been a maker. Her mother was a seamstress; her dad’s idea of a toy was a board full of nails for his girls to hammer.
Lisa’s sister is another maker: Karen Bertelsen, whose popular blog is called The Art of Doing Stuff. Their styles are wildly different. Karen’s is sort of urban farmer chic, while Lisa’s is 100 per cent chic.
“Believe me, this house looks like this all the time,” Karen says as she joins us on a tour of her sister’s place.
Movie star glamour comes to mind as we move through the living room, with its lovely proportions and crisp, upholstered sofa and chairs. The palette is mostly beige, with bold swaths of lipstick pink. Frid made the drapes, the pillows, the mouldings. Painted the accent trim in gold. Intruding on the serious chic are funny Frid touches: her first Gumby framed on a wall, and a plastic purse full of pink and blue gumballs.
“You have to have more than just pillows to add accents colour,” she says.
Frid works as an interior decorator at Booth Furniture and Interiors in Dundas, consulting with clients who might be buying a chair or redecorating a whole house. Before Booth’s, she had her own painting and decorating business for 15 years, and taught decorating courses at Mohawk College. She was 19 when she and her husband bought their first house.
“I painted the walls avocado green. You couldn’t even find it as an interior colour; I had to use exterior house paint.”
Paint is still a major tool in Frid’s arsenal. In the dining room she put up striped wall paper, than repainted the stripes to change the colour. Her grandmother’s dining room chairs were painted and antiqued, as was a glass display cabinet.
A four-season sunroom added three years ago opened up a pretty view to the deep backyard and trees beyond. The sunroom is part of an open space that includes an informal dining area, and a remodelled kitchen. A display cabinet, antiqued by Frid, sits near one end of the dining table, which is covered in an antique linen tablecloth and set for an inviting meal.
Frid used to paint a lot of faux finishes when it was “hot.” This talent is on display in a bedroom decorated for her seven-year-old granddaughter. She painted a big floral pattern on the walls, based on the fabric she used for the drapes. It’s a popular spot for sleepovers.
In the master bedroom, Frid was inspired to cover the walls in fabric. She made a pattern, put up a layer of padding, attached the fabric, did some painstaking hand sewing to cover seams and voilà — a room you want to sink into.
She made a picture rail to hang a mirror and art, and placed a dressmaker’ form in front of a vintage screen to display her growing collection of antique brooches. Before leaving, we discuss style. “What is your style?” I ask Lisa. Looking at her sister Karen, the gardener, bricklayer and pond builder, she replies, “I guess it’s feminine.”