Classic Inspiration

Over 8 years ago, a friend of ours recommended Lara Ellenwood to help with the re-design of our newly purchased home.  Since then we have relied on Lara for her amazing design sense and style.  After talking to Lara we always know exactly what to do -- everything becomes so clear.  We have complete confidence in Lara's ability to provide us with design solutions that suit our style and budget.  She has really helped us make our house a home that we love.

Ellenwood Homes did renovations of approximately $120,000 for us, which included completely redoing the 3-bedroom main floor (including the kitchen and bathroom), structural changes in the basement (including the addition of a legal suite), and some exterior and garage work.  We were extremely happy with the quality of the work, the process, and the pricing.  When we were initially getting quotes, some contractors would tell us what we wanted was very complicated, but Marc Brillon told us it was do-able. We were very impressed by how he was able to handle any problems with ease.  Ellenwood's pricing was very competitive. Throughout the project Marc was very conscious of costs and would provide options for more cost-effective solutions.  Marc was also an excellent project manager - he handled the acquisition of materials and the management of subcontractors extremely well!  In addition to doing excellent quality work cost-effectively, Marc was very helpful in accommodating our family's needs as we lived through the renovations. It was a real pleasure to have Ellenwood Homes do our renovations! Not only are we extremely happy, we are constantly getting compliments.

Our newly-purchased home was built in '93 and when the realtor arranged a first showing in late 2016, my wife said, "This place has potential value but it needs a serious updating".  At the same time, I kept thinking, "I think this house has good bones".  So we bought it, moved into it and embarked on updating it with the help of Lara and Marc from Ellenwood Homes. All excellent decisions.

Lara is educated and experienced in building and furniture design; Marc in construction and budgeting.  Add to that the varied skills of their main onsite contractors, Corey and Scott.  What a team!  We've never known better and if we were to tackle another job like this we'd choose these folks again...in a flash!

After a winter of renovating and selecting of new furniture - all guided by our team, we are totally thrilled with the outcome.  On top of that, we've gained very good friends in the process...

"I asked Ellenwood Homes to change my kitchen / living area and turn it into an open concept situation. It looked like a fairly easy job but the walls that needed to come down were stuffed with plumbing, ducting and wiring for the whole house and no detailed drawings were available. Instead of starting a project without knowing if it would go way over my head, Marc conducted a very thorough investigation, suggested opening up part of the walls and he had the trades people who originally built the house come out to talk about what was there. I felt safe when we decided to go ahead with this. Lara is a wonderful designer, aware of tiny details and she came up with materials that I really liked. She seemed to understand exactly what I was looking for. These two people are a wonderful team, very professional and complementary to each other. And such pleasant personalities to work with. Budget and planning worked out fine, I love my new kitchen/living room and I would recommend Lara and Marc to anyone considering a renovation."

I have completed three high-end, successful and significant residential renovations with Lara Ellenwood during the past 11 years.  Lara is a uniquely talented Interior Designer. She is a pleasure to work with - quiet, thoughtful, pleasant and sensitive. She is very well trained, professional and highly organized. I met her initially as a client of Ledingham Design, where she handled their interior design. She excels in design and in liaising with suppliers and trades whom she knows well and who hold her in very high regard.  I understand why! She is more than willing to listen to her clients and their personal needs, and bend her choices in their direction. Additionally, she enriches their choices, adds new ideas, presents fine concept sketches, then detailed plans, and absolutely aces the colour palette after the required contemplation work. She then supervises the actualization process from beginning to end, has the best resources at her disposal, and brings together all the disparate elements together, successfully.  Whoever you are, you are fortunate to be able to consider working with her.