Home renovation can involve tearing everything out and starting fresh. What makes Vives St-Laurent's approach to a century-old rowhouse in Westmount interesting is the opposite: leaving the bones alone and replacing almost everything else.

The Wood Residence, completed last year by the Montreal interior design studio alongside architect Philip Hazan, sits on a quiet street in one of the city's most architecturally consistent neighbourhoods. The layout follows what you'd expect from a Westmount home of its era with its living room at the front, dining room in the middle, kitchen at the back, and staircase along the side wall. None of that’s been moved, but what’s changed is everything you see and touch.

The floors are pale white oak now, light enough to make the whole main level breathe. Marble shows up at the entry, around the fireplace (accompanied by a pair of PK22 leather sling chairs and built-in shelves), and tucked into a hidden powder room under the stairs with a solid block sink behind a door disguised to match the surrounding mouldings. The entry itself announces the project's intentions pretty clearly with a checkerboard floor in two types of marble, green and white, and a seating nook whose curved shape was lifted directly from the oval window in the facade outside.

The staircase is where the project gets interesting, as the original banister was in rough enough shape to require a rebuild. But it appears as though it had always been there, with new mouldings added to blend it into the wall. A painted steel handrail was set into the side of the stringer rather than sitting on top of it, and the oak treads match the floors. The base of the newel post curves gently before meeting the ground. It’s not loud, and that’s by design.

Home renovation can involve tearing everything out and starting fresh. What makes Vives St-Laurent's approach to a century-old rowhouse in Westmount interesting is the opposite: leaving the bones alone and replacing almost everything else.

The Wood Residence, completed last year by the Montreal interior design studio alongside architect Philip Hazan, sits on a quiet street in one of the city's most architecturally consistent neighbourhoods. The layout follows what you'd expect from a Westmount home of its era with its living room at the front, dining room in the middle, kitchen at the back, and staircase along the side wall. None of that’s been moved, but what’s changed is everything you see and touch.

The floors are pale white oak now, light enough to make the whole main level breathe. Marble shows up at the entry, around the fireplace (accompanied by a pair of PK22 leather sling chairs and built-in shelves), and tucked into a hidden powder room under the stairs with a solid block sink behind a door disguised to match the surrounding mouldings. The entry itself announces the project's intentions pretty clearly with a checkerboard floor in two types of marble, green and white, and a seating nook whose curved shape was lifted directly from the oval window in the facade outside.

The staircase is where the project gets interesting, as the original banister was in rough enough shape to require a rebuild. But it appears as though it had always been there, with new mouldings added to blend it into the wall. A painted steel handrail was set into the side of the stringer rather than sitting on top of it, and the oak treads match the floors. The base of the newel post curves gently before meeting the ground. It’s not loud, and that’s by design.