FROM ABANDONED CHURCH TO ANIMAL KINGDOM
Designer shares converted Verdun condo with rooster, frog, elephants
Jennifer St-cyr is a beautiful, dynamic woman who is 50 years old but looks considerably younger. She grew up in St-bruno on the South Shore, and as a young adult she embarked on a globe-trotting lifestyle, living for extended periods in Ghana and Mexico. She came back to Quebec at age 30, but wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.
St-cyr had always been interested in colours and textures, and when she heard of a new apartment block opening up in Old Montreal, she contacted the owner of the building and offered to design the interior in exchange for living there without paying rent. A deal was struck. (Blessed with the gift of the gab, St-cyr admits that at the time she had no formal education in interior design, but she did eventually go back to college and earn the requisite qualifications.)
Since then, St-cyr has never looked back.
As an interior designer, she built up a steady clientele, but then another business opportunity came her way. In 2007 she and her brother Brian, a general contractor, had the opportunity to buy a bathroom fittings company (eautendance.com) from a couple who were retiring.
Given the kind of life she had been living, St-cyr initially didn’t think a bathroom fittings company sounded very exciting.
But the siblings, with help from other family members, whipped it into shape, modernizing the stock and focusing on high-end bathroom furnishings from Europe.
Some of the fittings are installed in St-cyr’s own home in Verdun, one of 18 condo units housed in what was once an abandoned church. The church had been constructed in 1937, and in 2010 it was transformed into modern homes. St-cyr’s 950-square-foot space is divided into an open living/dining area and a kitchen, plus a sizable master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. Her condo also has a balcony.
Q How did you find out about the abandoned church?
A
Word of mouth. I was on the lookout for something that wasn’t “cookie cutter” that I could work on myself. I got in right at the start of construction.
Q What did you do to the interior?
A
The developer was super flexible about my ideas, and I more or less had a blank slate to work with. The condo plans called for two bedrooms, but I wanted only one, so I used that extra space to enlarge my living room instead. I also wanted to design the kitchen and the bathroom myself so I could install my own products.
(The kitchen, which is fitted with stainless steel appliances, has an island with a sunken basin. Three bar stools, covered in a pale turquoise floral print, are lined up along one side. Turquoise features prominently around the apartment. The armchairs in the seating area are upholstered in turquoise fabric and one entire wall of St-cyr’s bedroom is coloured in that vibrant shade.
The most eye-catching colours, however, are reserved for a floorto-ceiling mural of a cockerel. They contrast beautifully with the beamed ceiling and the exposed brick wall in the dining/ living area.)
Q That’s quite the mural! Did you paint that?
A
No. It was done by an artist friend called Nat Vegas. I’m very lucky in that I have several friends with an art or design background and I like to surround myself with the things they’ve made. I’m a very spiritual person and I like to feel connected to them and to my family and the universe.
Q What’s the story behind these three shamanic sticks and your mid-century-style sideboard?
A
The sideboard is teak. It’s an original piece and I got it from my maternal grandmother. The shamanic sticks are Native American and a friend found them for me.
( We walk to the other side of the room, where she shows me some more artwork hanging on the wall — a portrait of a human hand and a couple of stylized elephant heads, a mother and a calf, inlaid with coins and small shells.)
I love elephants. To me they symbolize wisdom and intelligence. Did I show you my frog?
Q Your frog?
( We walk back over to the kitchen, where, sure enough, a vinyl sculpture of a jolly orange frog is sitting on the end of the island’s quartz countertop.)
A The frog came from a gentleman I met at a trade fair — Shlomi Haziza. He’s a well-known artist and sculptor, though I didn’t know that at the time. His booth was next to mine and when I saw the frog, I leaned over and kissed it. Shlomi looked a little taken aback, but he didn’t say anything. The next day I did the very same thing, so Shlomi asked me why on earth I was kissing his frog. I related the legend of a frog turning into a prince when it is kissed. That story wasn’t part of his culture and he was so intrigued, he gave it to me as a gift!
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