Favourite room: A dining room guided by the light

About a dozen years ago, when Maude Rondeau was decorating her house in Bromont, in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, she had a literal lightbulb moment. Noticing how hard it was to find made-in-Canada pendants and sconces that were both elegant and affordable, she gave up her career in fashion marketing to start her own lighting business.

“I worked seven days a week,” she says. “I did everything – customer service, painting the fixtures, packing boxes.”

Since then, her label, Luminaire Authentik, has taken off, with 55 employees, corporate clients including Fairmont and L’Oréal, and a growing network of retail stores (one just opened on Toronto’s King West, another is planned for Vancouver). Part of the brand’s success is its aesthetic: clean, modern shapes – domes and cones, as well as organic folds – that are customizable in an array of more than 60 colours.

Three years ago, Rondeau moved into a new home, a mid-century bungalow just outside the Townships village of Knowlton. Since then, the building has been undergoing constant renovations. All the rooms have been remodelled, and a pool was just added to the backyard. Naturally, all the lighting has been replaced. A few times. “I’ve changed all the fixtures twice over,” she says. “The designs keep evolving and I like to test them out in my own space.”

Several times a year, though, things slow down and Rondeau and her husband, Christian Foisy, take the time to simply enjoy the house. “We love to have family over for Thanksgiving,” she says. “We host people for the whole weekend.”

The home is well equipped for autumnal entertaining, including a chef’s kitchen and a garden bursting with fresh vegetables. “My father helps with the garden all summer. It’s our tradition. We grow zucchinis, carrots, eggplants, tomatoes, herbs.” It also has two dining spaces including a small area off the kitchen. “That’s for more casual, everyday meals,” Rondeau says. There’s also a formal dining room that seats 12. That’s where Rondeau invites her nearest and dearest for turkey, pies, salads and soups. “It’s all about comfort on Thanksgiving.”

Favourite room: A modern B.C. cabin invites you to gather and enjoy the view

The dining room reflects Rondeau’s approach to decorating. “I like character,” she says. “I like the mix of old and new.” Some of the room’s original details have been preserved, including the built-in cabinetry and sideboard, but updated with new brass door pulls. The contemporary Crate and Barrel dining table contrasts with a vintage bar cart and a pastoral painting Rondeau found in a secondhand shop.

The centrepiece is a pendant of her own creation, a sensuously curving fixture that drapes over her table like flower petals caught in a breeze. Three more of her lights hang over the sideboard.

Perhaps ironically, the dining room is an ideal place for a meal because of all the natural light. At one end, near the head of the table, there is a wide bay window that frames nearby trees. At the other end, through the windows in the adjoining family room, there are expansive vistas of the rolling hills that make the Townships so charming. “That view – that’s one of the reasons I bought the house,” Rondeau says.

When the meal is over, guests chat, play cards or maybe head to the basement, where there is a brand-new sauna to sweat out the stuffing. Rondeau particularly likes to unwind there but insists Thanksgiving doesn’t cause her undue stress. “It helps that while I do the vegetables, my husband does the turkey,” she says. “That’s something I’m truly thankful for: a husband who can cook.”

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