Suzanne Martin Design

Luxurious Living Studio (LLS) designed and renovated our basement in 2012 and is working with us now to design and renovate the kitchen, dining room and living room. Photos of our basement renovation are in the LLS portfolio on Houzz (orange bulkhead). The scope of work involved removing the entire basement including furnace, HVAC, wiring, flooring, walls, laundry and bathroom. Laundry and bathroom were moved, new walls were built. Great design solutions to typical design problems such as making a bulkhead interesting, providing lighting solutions. LLS has a great network of suppliers and subcontractors. The process of designing and building was collaborative, respectful, and cheerful!

We have worked with Suzanne Martin of Luxurious Living Studio and Mike Martin of Luxury Renovations/Luxurious Living Studio on three projects: kitchen, bathroom, and deck. The project and cost information below spans all three projects. The kitchen was an update and Suzanne's advice and guidance led to decisions we are still happy with, 5 years later. We appreciated upfront information on timelines, costs and detailed estimates from her and the contractor. Suzanne's great suggestions and had good advice covered details big and small, including recommending suppliers who we were happy to deal with for counter tops, fixtures, flooring, etc. She gave us lots of support and was fun to work with. The bathroom was a bigger project, in part because we had such great confidence in Suzanne and Luxurious Renovations. They gutted our old bathroom, changed the layout and we ended up with a fabulous bathroom that we enjoy every day. All three projects continue to garner compliments from anyone who comes into our home. Again - good planning, lots of good advice in design decisions and no surprises. Very collaborative, good connections with all the contractors who came through, and they all worked to ensure a really clean job sites. Our deck was finished in time for our wedding and for a local pond tour and it was fun to show it off! Very customized to our backyard, our house and our ideas. We will definitely go to Suzanne and Mike for our next project - yet to be dreamed.

My contact with Luxurious Living Studio Inc. started with Suzanne Martin who methodically and patiently lead me through the planning and design process. She subdivided the project into small elements which kept me from becoming completely overwhelmed. She kept me on track and presented design options and how these would influence the budget that I had in mind for the project. Her knowledge and experience were invaluable during the design process and the construction phase. I would not have been able to complete design without her input. She had an excellent knowledge of the building codes. She was open to using IKEA cabinets and her knowledge of that product line helped us to achieve a customized look. Her husband Mike was the contractor on our job. His crew of men were respectful, pleasant and very tidy. They did their best to minimize the inevitable dust and mess associated with renovation. He made himself available to answer questions and explain any delays in the schedule. When subcontractors were slow, he was a strong advocate for our project and our timelines. My husband is a great DIYer but even he has admit that we could never achieved the high standard of workmanship on this renovation. My only regret is that I did not expand the scope of the project to include updating a powder room and entry way.

We worked with Suzanne Martin of Luxurious Living Studio and Mike Martin of Luxury Renovations/Luxurious Living Studio, from January 2012 to February 2013. As a team, they brought our dreams of a comfortable, liveable basement to life. In fact, when the project was compelete, we felt that our space was so 'luxurious' that we had to refer to it as our 'Level One' - 'basement' just didn't seem to capture the feeling!! Suzanne worked with us from beginning to end, drawing out our creative responses to the design challenges inherent in a below ground project. The space had never been properly insulated so the project took us 'right back to the cement walls' and went forward from there. We were so impressed with Mike's ability to coordinate all of the skilled trades involved in our project. It truly is a balancing act, from which we simply stood back and admired. We realize that we were not their only project; however, they made us feel that they genuinely cared about the success of the project and wanted to be sure we were happy with the results. This sometimes meant going back over the design of some aspect of our project, or insuring a particular trade carried out their part according to the high standards set and maintained by both Mike and Suzanne. There are photos of our project (on the Luxurious Living's Houzz account), if you wish to have a look at the results - look under the Basement category and watch for the curved orange bulkhead and the stair platform shaped like the prow of a boat!! We began the whole process in January 2012, when we first met with Suzanne to talk about our hopes for our basement renovation. Construction began in June 2012 and by December 2012, was about 85% to 90% complete. After Christmas, some final millwork and details were complete and we just recently had all of our neighbours in for the Level One Reveal, to show off the fruits of the labour of our 'team': Suzanne and Mike Martin; Luxurious Living Studio and Luxury Renovations. Cheers