Lakeview Addition

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.

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.

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.

We hired Lara to help us design the kitchen of our dreams in our existing space. Lara had all the right tools to help us visualize a finished project before we got started so there were minimal hiccups in the building stage. Lara was patient with us and after many revisions we finally committed to the one design that fit our budget best and gave us more than we thought was possible. Mark and Lara's team then stepped in and created the final product which is now the cornerstone showpiece of the home and is a cook's dream, which we both happen to love doing. Thanks to Lara, Mark, Corey, Dustin and the team for creating a functional and beautiful kitchen!

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...