On the twelfth night of Christmas my true love said to me: you can afford style, comfort and elegance with all the tinsel angels agreeing with me. For a few years now, I have quietly been staging for Lepine. His family has been putting together new communities brick by brick for three generations. When I was first tasked with arranging a few of their apartments, it was with outdated, mostly brown, very heavy and truly worn out pieces that came in piles under plastic sheets in the middle of the living room floor. Apartment by apartment, building by building, trust was built and an agreement was forged that these cleverly laid out, light-filled spaces , once solely pitched to the retired demographic, could and should be staged to attract younger up-and-coming professionals and their children. In came the importance of a well-made bed, and soft carpets. Colours helped balance out a simpler gender gender-neutral palette. Slowly but surely, office dens would turn into playrooms and masters into kids’ rooms. Down came the run-of-the-mill flush-mounts with cold lighting, in came felt, cloth, blown glass or rattan lights. Our last touch was the ability to take down the blackout plastic vertical blinds to show off the surprisingly high ceilings so rarely seen in new builds these days. Working alongside Francis Lepine’s hardest-working daughter Pascale has been an unexpected joy. We put these apartments together in a day from scratch and on a shoestring budget. It takes a lot of muscle and dedication to see these homes come to life. This unforeseen job has brought me pride in my work, a deeper understanding of the financial accessibility needed and a wholesome appreciation of modesty without loss of beauty. I wish you all the warmest, happiest and healthiest season ahead. It has been a devastating year of war, so my hopes for you and me are to simply have the ability to hold our children near in the safe embrace of our loving arms and know that this ability is the greatest gift of all.
