Valley Retreat Part 2: Main House

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.

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...

It was a pleasure working with Marc and Lara from Ellenwood Homes. Lara had excellent ideas about how to maximize the existing spaces in my home. Her design made both the kitchen and bathroom much more functional and attractive. She has excellent taste and always provided several design options to choose from. Both Marc and Lara were respectful of my wishes and were willing to provide guidance and suggestions. Marc’s renovations were done on-time and within budget. He reviewed all the work with me and was prompt about addressing any concerns.

I had a complete kitchen renovation done by Ellenwood Homes. Lara oversaw the design and Marc the construction. I had an idea of what I wanted, along with some pictures. Lara was able to bring together these threads and help me put together a fabulous modern kitchen. Not only did she do a lot of leg work [materials sourcing] and construction drawings, she also did construction supervision along with Marc. Lara is a very experienced designer. She was easy to work with and came up with great options and sensible solutions. My job was small, but both Marc and Lara gave it top-notch attention. I love my new kitchen! The work was very good quality and we stayed within budget. I would happily hire them again for my next project.

We are very happy with our renovation and addition. Lara's design ideas shine through the finished project, as does the quality of the carpenters involved. A considerate, kind and professional team. Our guests this summer have been left speechless with the transformation to our living space. We highly recommend Lara, Marc and the Ellenwood team.