MODERN ELEGANCE
Loft- style living in Outremont condo
Rose Marie Randez is half- Spanish and half- French. She grew up in the Bayonne ( Basque country in southern France) and when she was 14, moved to Montreal with her parents. Randez soon settled in, but by her own admission, she found it hard to study.
Randez drifted through her 20s, never quite knowing what she would do in life. Then, just before she turned 30, she decided to open a clothing store — boutique mousseline — on Ste- Catherine St. With no formal training but “good instincts,” she saw a gap in the market, making her store stand out by stocking the store with the one- of- a- kind, zany clothes that, in the 1980s, were all the rage in Paris and London. It was an era when androgynous fashions, personified by the late David Bowie, were popular.
Right from the start, according to Randez, her store was a “great success” and she was able to build a loyal clientele, including many celebrities and people who worked in the media.
One of the people who helped to publicize her business was her nephew, Francisco Randez, a well- known model, actor and television host.
In the early 2000s, Randez decided Ste- Catherine St. was no longer the right location for her boutique. Her clothes had now morphed into a “sports/ chic” style, popular with young professionals who needed something to wear from dawn to dusk, and she wanted to move her business into a more upscale neighbourhood.
Randez closed her store for 18 months, reopening on Laurier Ave. in Outremont, where she already had a home.
She sold her house and moved into her current home, also in Outremont — a fourth- floor, loft- style condo with a large, twostorey terrace.
Q Sounds as if you were ready for a change?
A Yes! Yes! Yes! I wanted a new apartment, a new store, a new life! It was a complete change. I had a beautiful house, but I suddenly realized it was much too big for me. It had 14 rooms on three floors. I didn’t need all that any more.
Q So you decided to downsize as well as change your life?
A I wanted to find something smaller, but not too small. That’s why I bought this condo.
Q You have a very modern, elegant space. Was it like that when you moved in?
A Non! When I first saw the apartment, it was really yuk, but I could see its potential. The fireplace, for example, was brick, like in a country house. It didn’t go with a loft style.
I did a lot of renovations with the help of a designer I’d known for years — Jacques Bilodeau. He also dresses the windows in my boutique. He’s very well known and a lovely man, an artiste! Jacques redesigned my kitchen with stainless- steel countertops, you know; like in a restaurant kitchen.
He also put up a wall between the kitchen and the hallway. Before, when you walked in the door, the kitchen was open and right in your face! I didn’t like that.
( The wood- burning fireplace, now redesigned, is set into a white wall in the living room, close to the glass- paned door that gives access to the two- storey terrace. In front of the fireplace stands a low coffee table whose top is made from rough barnboard on which stands a trio of white vases, which are slightly different sizes.
The overall palette of the interior is also white but it comes in subtle shades — from ivory to oatmeal and everything in between. There are hints of greige, most notably in the split- level dining room, which contains a sideboard and a rectangular table that stands atop a hessian rug on the espresso- coloured floor. The flooring provides a dramatic contrast to its understated surrounds, as do the dashes of black in the zebra- striped scatter cushions on Randez’s armchairs.)
Q Did you bring your furniture from your other home in Outremont?
A Nearly everything is new. The bookshelves were custom made and Jacques helped me to source some other things. I bought many of my furnishings, like the chandelier in the living room, at Céladon on Peel.
( A large, painted wooden horse, standing on top of a side table in front of a mirrored wall catches my eye.)
Q That’s a wonderful piece. Was it part of a merry- goround? A Yes! It’s a real one. A real carousel horse!