Home Savvy

Monette helped us with interior design of the renovation of our house from October 2014 through January 2015 (planning and implementation). We've never done a renovation before, and welcomed the advice of a professional. We were very happy with her work and would hire her again. I'll comment on two points. 1) Seems to me that many interior designers focus almost exclusively on how the renovation will look. To me, functionality is important also. I was impressed by Monette's practicality. I think it's signified in the name of her company. She could have called her company something along the generic lines of Home Beautiful, but instead chose Home Savvy, and to me the 'savvy' part includes practical considerations. For example, in a bathroom renovation she suggested a vertical band feature tile up the wall surrounding the showerhead, and extending like a tongue (for lack of a better word) onto the shower floor where we would be standing while showering. This vertical band tile at the same time as being good looking also provides great grip (great slip resistance). The main tile on the shower floor is a different colour and looks good but doesn't provide as good of grip for your feet in a wet and soapy shower. Thus, the combination of feature tile and regular tile achieving both good appearance and good functionality at the same time. 2) Working with an interior designer is like a dance or discussion. The designer needs to provide original ideas (and can't just say, client what do you want to do?), yet can't be insistent if the client doesn't like that particular idea. We found Monette hit that balance of suggesting ideas but not dogmatically. For example, at first the lighting plan she provided had lots of downlights. I'm not a big fan of downlights from a functional perspective, as they require cutting a hole in your ceiling and in your ceiling insulation, plus with a downlight the light only goes down which can be inefficient), so she did not insist on lots of downlights and instead met the creative challenge of proposing lighting solutions with other options than just downlights.

When readying our previous home for sale we were impressed with Monette's contribution to the styling and presentation which resulted in a successful outcome. We sought her assistance in setting up our new home. Her ability to visualise and her use of colour is amazing. She has been very helpful with treatment and placement of existing pieces as well as recommending and sourcing of others. Monette has also introduced us to other specialist trades people as required. This has been very helpful. We have always worked well together and feel that she enjoys the project as much as we do. We have been impressed by her enthusiasm and support and we are very happy with the results so far. .

As soon as I purchased my 16 year old house, I contracted Monette Gardiner to "refresh" the house and to coordinate colour choices and layouts for all my furniture. Monette's approach was professional and efficient. She collaborated with me on all phases but I was happy to give her a free hand and was delighted with the results. The end result was fabulous, particulary Monette's instinct for "Feature" zones which transformed the character of the house. I would not hesitate to recommend Monette, she is a consummate professional with a mastery of style and colour. She also produced these results at a price I could not have matched if I'd done the work myself.

Monette is a humble and passionate designer who has on many occasions gone above and beyond to achieve the desired outcome for her clients. Her passion and dedication comes through in the quality of her work and I have seen her transform many spaces (that I would have otherwise thought fit for demolition) and turn them into comfortable abodes. I would highly recommend Monette!

Organised interior painting and decoration prior to us moving into new house. Monette chose all colours and fittings, modern and chic The job was done professionally in a timely manner with extreme attention to detail. We were very impressed.