The Montreal-based design studio Entre Quatre Murs unveils the complete renovation of this Plateau-Mont-Royal penthouse. With most of their children having recently left the family home, the owners faced a deceptively simple question: sell, or seize the moment to fully reclaim the space and finally make it their own. They chose the latter.
The brief that followed was clear. Bold, deliberate architectural gestures rather than a pileup of small details. An openness to more daring furniture choices. The preservation and reintegration of certain existing pieces. And art, in every form, given a central place. That last requirement, in particular, would go on to shape the entire approach.
A Volumetry That Structures
This mindset shows up first in how the space itself was reorganized. The original floor plan, cut into disconnected rooms, kept natural light from moving freely between spaces. Correcting that became a priority of the full reconfiguration, driven by the same principle that runs through the rest of the project: building with volumes, not with walls. A light oak veneer, running floor-to-ceiling in places, defines each zone rather than simply dressing it. It visually leads to the office, absorbs the entrance to the primary suite into its own thickness, and splits the main living area into distinct sub-spaces without ever resorting to a solid wall. These are powerful yet controlled interventions, meant to clarify the plan rather than complicate it.
Once the plan itself had been clarified, that same logic of volumes was put to a second use: giving curated objects the room they needed to fully exist.
To Occupy, Not to Decorate
The family's grand piano is still played daily, and the owners wanted it to hold a central, almost sculptural place in the residence, in keeping with what it actually means to them. Entre Quatre Murs gave it a volume entirely wrapped in light wood, floor-to-ceiling, that breaks away from the rest of the living space like a room unto itself. That shift in material, paired with the generous emptiness around it, does all the work: it turns the glossy black piano into the single dark mass in an otherwise light-filled space. This isn't an object on display. It's an instrument that lives in the space.
That same instinct to hold back carries into the lounge corner, where a navy knotted-rope armchair, a terrazzo side table, and a sculptural pendant light are treated with the same care as a painting on a wall. Nothing here was chosen to blend in: each standout piece was selected deliberately, with the confidence that the surrounding neutrality would make room for it rather than compete with it.
That generosity toward a few standout pieces couldn't come at the expense of everything else, though. Elsewhere in the plan, the opposite held true: knowing how to disappear.
Discretion as a Design Move
That same intelligence, quieter this time, runs through the more functional parts of the plan. In the kitchen, a minimalist island anchors the space, a dropped ceiling conceals the technical elements, and a linear light fixture draws a clean line rather than a focal point. It flows into a round dining table set within the curve of the penthouse's glazed façade, where the view over the neighborhood's rooftops becomes, in its own way, another piece already in place.
That same care carries through to the primary suite, where a functional volume of wood storage doubles as an archway, quietly concealing the entrance to the adjoining bathroom.
This same rigor extends to the choice of materials themselves. Oak, for its durability and its ability to carry the architectural gesture without ever asserting itself through color. Matte finishes, for the way they hold a quiet dialogue with the few metal accents that punctuate the project. This is a project that never tries to draw attention to itself. It was conceived as a backdrop strong enough to hold the space together, and quiet enough to let this family's life, its art, its furniture, its piano, keep occupying the center of it.
That, in the end, is the exercise Entre Quatre Murs set out to complete: a considered simplicity built on strong gestures and volumes that ground the space. Every intervention aims to reveal rather than impose, to clarify rather than impress. This renovation gives the place a new life without erasing what made it feel like home, offering a way of living that is more honest, calmer, and deeply rooted in its owners' new everyday.
Team:
Studio: Entre Quatre Murs
Designer / Project manager: Pierrick Beaulieu Wojtowicki & Gatline Artis
General contractor: Conception MR
Suppliers: Moooi, Cappellini, Pedrali, Tacchini, Eureka Lighting, From Lighting, Toss B, Baril Design, EQ3, Haworth, Pablo.
Photo credit: Alex Lessage
