Hugo Thibault, top left, and Francis Guindon, top right, with friend Eva Hartling in their home.Christinne Muschi/The Globe and Mail
As the communications and digital director of L'Oréal Canada, Montreal's Hugo Thibault leads a busy life, both socially and professionally. There's a party or makeup launch to attend almost every weekday evening. On the weekends, though, the 36-year-old Quebecker slows down and recharges. He recently built a weekend house for doing just that in Sainte-Adèle, about an hour north of the city, with his partner, Francis Guindon, PR manager of Birks. Thibault designed the 2,300-squarefoot property and his father's architectural firm, Plan Maison Concept, constructed it over a five-month period earlier this year. Thibault and Guindon used Pinterest to catalogue their ideas for the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home, where, on most Saturday nights, the open-concept living room is full of people. "This is where everything happens," Thibault says of the space. "It's where we throw parties, drink cocktails and sit around the fireplace."
The sofa
"I got it at EQ3 in Toronto while on a business trip and had it shipped to Quebec. If there are more people in the room than usual, the sofa can be pulled apart and the pieces moved around to accommodate everyone. Francis thinks of Mad Men whenever he looks at it, which is why there's a bottle of scotch on the tray."
The staircase
"This was a custom design for this house. We worked with a local welder in Sainte-Adèle who executed a design we came up with after researching ideas on Pinterest and Houzz.com. We wanted something modern. Francis and I stained the stairs ourselves in a tea colour."
The light fixture
"I got this at Structube in Montreal. It's two-feet-wide and at night it projects a series of small lines on the walls and the ceilings – a disco ball of a different sort."
The coffee table
"This reclaimedwood table came from Maison Corbeil in Montreal. Every one is different, which is one of the things we like about it. The idea was to provide contrast between the strong lines of the modern architecture and the vintage look of the table."
The rug
"We've got heated floors but they're made of concrete. We decided to add a cowhide rug to bring some warmth to the room. It is also from Maison Corbeil."
The feature wall
"Francis designed this. He has a degree in graphic design and did the drawings for the Apple TV insert and the fireplace insert below. There are niches on either side of the wall where we store wood for the fire and our DVD collection, so it's a very practical design. I also like that it hides everything. There are no wires. We hate wires."