Article by Michelle Heslop. Photos by Jody Beck.
When a real estate development requires a showhome for potential clients, they typically hire a stager to bring in a few key furnishings and decor that appeal to a broad demographic. But for Eaglehurst Homes, a community fifteen years in the making, the developer wanted to take their showhome to the next level. Enter Interior Designers, Josée Lalonde and Melanie Henson of Josée Lalonde Design. To create a bold yet comfortable, lived-in space that would accurately reflect the target demographic, the creative collaborators designed a perfectly dressed three bedroom (plus one-bedroom suite) dwelling for a potential family of four.
The intent was to create a showhome that looked completely lived-in, right down to the mugs that hold your morning coffee. Specifics included creating a comfortable, yet elegant home for a professional couple with a fifteen-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl. The “hardscaping” interior materials, provided by Interior Designer, Sandy Nygaard, were already installed so Lalonde and Henson were tasked with transforming each room into a customized space right down to books that would speak to an eight-year-old girl. “Our design concept was to personalize the space by integrating bold colours and dynamic decor specific to this given demographic,” states Henson.
Lalonde adds that “this project really differed from staging on many levels where staging is a spatial task with the intention of creating rooms that anyone can envision themselves living in. For this project, we were hired as interior designers to integrate both our staging and design expertise to take the home to the next level with furnishings and decor. The aim is for families to walk in and imagine themselves living in each room and potentially with some of the pieces we chose.”
Considering Eaglehurst’s stunning location near the sea, Lalonde and Henson used Nygaard’s foundational colour palette as a jumping off point and integrated bold hues that would complement the warm west coast neutrals. Pushing showroom boundaries, the creative duo created a deep ocean blue accent wall in the living area to create drama and define a formal room in the home’s open plan. “Considering the home has a media room as a casual lounge area, we wanted to create a more sophisticated living room for entertaining,” adds Lalonde.
Continuing the cerulean blue theme, the designers transformed the spacious master bedroom into a serene retreat with an elegant vanity and lounge area by the large window.
“We were given specific direction regarding the demographic for the children’s rooms, but we used our sourcing and design expertise to bring it all together. Of course, we don’t usually stage media rooms or children’s bedrooms so we couldn’t source many items from our inventory at The Housse — Lalonde’s one-stop resource and rental centre serving Victoria’s staging and design industry. We wanted to create impact in all the bedrooms and had fun adding graffiti art, a guitar and the detailed items for the boy’s desk.”
As Lalonde emphasizes, buying a home is based on an emotional response and how you feel in a space so they really gave the children’s rooms a lot of thought on how to bring in more personal elements to make a statement.
The design concept for the media room was meant to be fun and relaxing for the whole family. Red and black accents give it that traditional theatre vibe while the movie posters really set the stage. A spacious sectional in light grey and knit ottomans keep the space light and inviting.
The showhome’s piece de resistance is the above garage one-bedroom suite. To inject a vibrant modern feel, the designers chose a yellow and black colour scheme and paired furnishings with soft lines and textural decor. Lalonde concludes that “it really was a significant project compared to staging and took us approximately 4-6 weeks from start to finish. We’ve received positive feedback from both the developer and the realtor who was doing the home tours. Apparently, buyers really appreciate the lived-in feel and report that it is advantageous in the buying process to imagine themselves living in the space.”
