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Marianne Plaisance33 years, and her boyfriend had been looking for a house in Montreal, Québec, Canada, for about two years. In 2022, Plaisance found an online list for a three bedroom condominium and two bathrooms located inside an old bank. The apartment was 3,500 square feet, divided between the first floor and a basement.
“The first time I saw the list, I got scared,” he tells CNBC. “I knew it was for us, but I kept calm because, you know, the house market is a little crazy.”
When Plaisance saw the property list for the first time, she knew it would be the perfect place for her and her boyfriend.
Marianne Plaisance
At first, the old bank appeared for 900,000 CAD or $ 625,720 USD, but for its first visit to see space in person, the price had been reduced to $ 521,433 USD.
“The list was a long time. No one seemed interested in buying property,” she says.
The couple presented an offer of $ 500,576 and was accepted. Your mortgage is $ 2,655 per month and pay $ 4,080 per year in property taxes. Additional expenses include $ 275 in public services, $ 92 for Wi-Fi and $ 70 per parking per month.
“The bank is on the main floor of the building. The other condominiums at the top (no) are seen as what it seems here,” she says. “I obtained the block of the block.”
Plaisance’s apartment still has the original marble floors of the bank and the molding of Corona.
Marianne Plaisance
The condominium still has some of the original design details of the bank, such as marble floors, crown molding, safety boxes and a vault, which the platform uses as its dressing room.
“It’s full of everything I love, it’s the closet of my dream,” she says.
The bank’s vault is now a dressing room.
Jesse Freeston for CNBC do it
“It was a beautiful blank canvas for me.”
Plaisance, a content creator, has experience in graphic design and commercial photography, so finding a home like the old bank was a dream come true.
“When I found this place, it was a beautiful canvas for me,” she says. “I always imagined living in a very artistic, creative, colorful and unique space. So, having this place since my adult house is very great for me.”
Plaisance uses the old bank safety boxes for storage.
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As an “intentional maximalist” self -proclaimed, the Plaisance transformed the dark gray space and baby blue into its colorful house of dreams. Some of her precious possessions include a sofa in the form of lips and two mass cherries that she saved and noticed to use as a work of art in the apartment.
“I think a good way to describe my style would be intentional maximalism because I really like maximalist decoration elements, but not many of them,” he says.
One of the first things that the Plaisancia made to space was to add curtains to the floor to create an rainbow.
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Plaisance estimates that he spent $ 28,000 on renovations. He also did a lot of work, such as adding crown moldings to the walls, with the help of his father, and converting the old entrance of the bank into his dog’s room.
“The first thing I did when I moved to the house is to put rainbow curtains throughout the space,” she says. “And the fun with my curtains is that when you close them a giant rainbow.”
After adding rainbow curtains to space, one of the first things that the Plaisance separated, with the help of his father, was a study space in the living room where the content films.
Plaisance turned the old bank’s entrance into his dog’s room.
Marianne Plaisance
Plaisance says that a whole year decorating the main bedroom: “It is very Wes Anderson, a little like the spatial space mixed with the Parisian castle.”
The couple turned one of the other rooms into the Plaisance office. “I filled the room with works of art that I like that it inspired me,” she says.
Renew and decorate the main bedroom took approximately one year.
Marianne Plaisance
There is a second bath and a third bedroom in the basement, which Plaisance’s boyfriend uses as his office. The basement also has a corridor to a shared area of the building, where the platform has its workshop.
“It looks like a hardware store, which I love,” she says.
The basement level of the apartment has a third bedroom and a second bath.
Jesse Freeston for CNBC do it
The couple has been living in the old bank for more than two years, and Plaisance says they have no plans to leave.
“I really want to take my time to transform the place because I know I want to live here for a long time,” she says. “It is a job in progress.”
The next step is to renew the kitchen, which plans to plan to get professional help. In the next five years, he says he would like to make the bathrooms.
In the basement of the old bank, tenants have access to a shared area, which is where the platform has its workshop.
Marianne Plaisance
“I don’t think there is a time when I don’t do something at home. And I think maybe in 10 years I will rebuild everything I did,” he says.
“But I want to live for a long time in what I have done so far to enjoy it. I don’t see myself moving here soon. It’s the place of my dream.”
The conversions to USD were made on February 28, 2025, using Oanda conversion rates of 1 Canadian dollar to 0.70 US dollar. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.
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