LOVING THE VINTAGE VIBE
Hardwood floors, furniture add charm to Westmount apartment
Anne Renaud has a diverse educational and professional background. Born in Valleyfield, she spent her early childhood in Cornwall, Ont., after which her family moved to North Bay. There she studied radio and television broadcasting, but she admits she wasn’t quite ready to hit the job market. After a while, she moved to Montreal where she earned a degree at Concordia, specializing in translation.
Renaud found being a translator to be “rather isolating” (like freelance writers, translators tend to work from home) so she went back to her studies, this time to follow a one-year business course at Dawson College. She got a job almost immediately and ended up working for the Honourable John McCallum at McGill. (The former university professor and member of Parliament is now Canada’s ambassador to China.)
Today, Renaud is an administrative assistant to the mayor of Westmount. She worked for many years with Peter Trent and now that he has retired, now works with interim mayor Christina Smith. Renaud is also a prolific children’s book author. (“It was a natural transition from being a translator to a writer,” she explains.)
She specializes in non-fiction books on Canadian history and her framed copies of her books hang on the dining room wall in her second-floor apartment in a Westmount duplex.
The building was constructed in 1890 and its style is typical of that era. The interior has hardwood floors, ceiling medallions, a separate dining room and kitchen and a double “parlour”. (One half serves as the living room and the other half as Renaud’s home office.) There are two balconies, one at the back of the building and one at the front. Renaud moved into her rented apartment in July 2015.
Q You said you’d lived in Westmount for 20 years in the same apartment but that you decided it was time for change? A I had no intention of moving, but a couple of years ago, a very noisy family moved into the apartment above mine. They worked in a restaurant and so they used to come in late at night and make a terrible din until two or three in the morning. After many months of being sleep deprived and miserable, I complained about my lot to anyone who would listen, mentioning that I was looking for another place to live.
As luck would have it, the best friend of one of the Westmount councillors I knew owned this building and her tenants were moving out. I didn’t even see the place but Wendy — she’s now my landlady and lives downstairs — had photos of it on her phone and that was that!
Q But you said the place was fully furnished? A It was. And I had a load of furniture from my other place!
Q So what did you do? A I actually asked Wendy if I could keep a few of her things; the microwave oven, the appliances, the bed in the spare room, her big, flat-screen TV (Renaud has installed it in her own bedroom) and the grandfather clock in the living room.
(The clock stands to the left of
the bay window, in front of which are two rolled armchairs that belong to Renaud. She has had them upholstered, along with the sofa — it acts a room divider — and a wingback chair for her desk. The wingback chair is covered in a forest green leather and the sofa and the two rolled armchairs are lilac and burgundy — a rich combination of colours that matches Renaud’s oriental-style, patterned rugs and the oxblood walls.)
Q Where did you get your living room rug? It’s a real beauty! A I inherited it from my great uncle. I think it really suits the hardwood floors.
Q And your red walls! They’re quite something. A (Laughs.) Wendy was a little taken aback, but I wanted the same colour as I had in my previous apartment. This colour actually goes very well with the white baseboards and the white mantelpiece.
(On top of the mantelpiece is a huge mirror with a gilt frame. It is propped against the wall.)
Q I take it the mirror was too heavy to hang? A Much too heavy, but it is secured so it doesn’t fall down. I wanted something big to match the classical proportions of the room.
Q Your furniture in general is classical, or maybe I should say vintage. Is that a style you like? A It is. Most of my old things, I’ve picked up here and there. Some came from antique stores on Notre-Dame St. I bought my dining room table in one store, the dining chairs came from another. They’re not really a set, but I think they go quite well together.
Q Where did you get the tall candlesticks that are on top of the table? A They came from a church originally, but again, I bought them in an antique store.
Q And the vintage radio in the corner? A That came from an estate sale. It no longer works, but I play my CDs through the speaker.
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