"At one point, nuns lived here," Tu Ly says of his storied Montreal home, built in the late 19th century and part of a former industrial suburb. The fashion guru and his partner, Marc Garand, relocated to the city three years ago, moving onto one of the city's oldest streets in Little Burgundy, near the Lachine Canal.
A job change for Ly – from creative marketing director of fashion label Ports 1961 to design director of outerwear company Moose Knuckles Canada – brought the couple to Quebec, where they find themselves continuously charmed by the rich history that surrounds them, both at home and in the city. "That's the thing about Montreal; it's so old, you find these little stories everywhere," Ly says.
Garand's family hails from Montreal and Ly, though Saigon-born, was raised in Ottawa, so the move was a homecoming of sorts. "We wanted something old, something we could restore or even just live in with all its charm. We didn't want the perfect white box – we had that in Toronto," Ly says of their former address one province over.
The library, a favourite space for gathering, relaxing and watching films, especially in the cold winter months, required some work. They restored original mouldings and refinished the floors with a flat, walnut-brown stain. The built-in shelving appears original, but was a new addition – a repository for books ("obviously, me being a Virgo, they're colour-coded," Ly says), photo albums and an impressive collection of Vogue magazines.
Mason iron sideboard, US$3,395.75 at ABC Carpet & Home ( abchome.com).
Lauren sofa, $4,920 at Espace Pepin ( thepepinshop.com).
"When we were looking for the home we were looking at different checkpoints and one of them was, can we display some of things we've been collecting?" Ly says.
A curio cabinet houses the couple's collection of playing cards, from Hermès, Prada and Parisian designer Chantal Thomass, and other interesting decks that they picked up while travelling. "It's not like we're card sharks or we play poker," Ly says. "It's the visual, graphic element that interests me."
The furnishings are a mixture of new and vintage. They purchased the wingback chair, chandelier and television easel from Restoration Hardware (the latter can be wheeled out of the room), picked up the rug and a pair of framed lithographs at auctions and found the Asian-inspired lamp of unknown provenance at Marché aux Puces St. Michel flea market in Montreal, a favourite hunting ground. "It's a football field filled with delicious finds," Garand says. The pair also often hit up local spots Style Labo, Espace Pepin and Antiquités Foley L'Ecuyer.
Awaiting a proper display is Ly's Vancouver 2010 Olympic torch (while at the Hudson's Bay Company, Ly designed Team Canada's uniforms and had the opportunity to run the torch relay). Speaking of the international sporting event, the couple's five-month-old British shorthair kitten, Hanoi, has a triple axel that could put him in contention for Pyeongchang 2018. "He's an athlete, just the way he bounds and twists," Ly says. With his striking blue-gray coat and warm, orange eyes, he fits right in to the decor and Ly and Garand's picture-perfect Montreal lifestyle. "The job is great, the home is great and now with Hanoi, it's like he's the last missing puzzle piece. We decorated our house around him. In anticipation of him," Ly says.
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