Sitting Down With Ottawa’s Most Stylish Design Duo – Leclair Decor

I have been following Leclair Decor for some time now, and started stalking these interior design phenoms ever since Ryan and I moved into our current home. Our house is on the bigger side and making it feel like a home as opposed to a cavernous hole was proving to be a challenge.

The Leclair Decor Instagram though provided me with hours and hours of inspiration. I was drawn to their spaces with were simultaneously clean and modern, yet warm and cozy. That really summed up my own style and I began biting decor ideas and implementing them in Casa Baker.

Meet The Leclairs

Sacha and Melissa Leclair are young, stylish and vibrant. They are the kind of people you hope to be friends with. Warm and friendly, they love talking about their passion and growing family. Spending the day interviewing them was a real pleasure.

Melissa is stylish and cool – exactly what you’d expect from a young interior designer. The business brains behind Leclair Decor, Melissa runs a beautiful and well-oiled machine.

Sacha, a confident and self-assured guy, loves the social media, photography and marketing side of the business. I was struck to find out that they do not outsource any of their photography. In fact, Sacha is the one behind the lens, taking all of the perfect shots you will find on their website and Instagram.

Neither of them have any formal training in interior design (but have backgrounds in business management and graphic design), instead relying on their innate sense of perspective, colour and natural inclination for making a space inviting and gorgeous.

When I met Melissa and Sacha at their showroom, I was thrilled. I’m going to be honest here. I was excited to meet this design force and hopefully pick their brains on how to turn my boring, beige master bedroom into something I was proud of.

Upon arrival, I was greeted by the Leclairs and their team. No need to pick their brains though. Inspiration was everywhere in their well-curated studio. I wanted EVERYTHING. The chairs, the sofas, the artwork…it was all beautiful. Sacha let me know that it was all available on their LD Shoppe website, and I made a mental note to drop some coin on the site very soon.

How The Leclairs Got Started

I learned that Sacha and Melissa decorated their first home from top to bottom which greatly impressed their friends and family. They were soon fielding requests from them to decorate their own homes. Soon, Richcraft Homes came knocking on their door to decorate nine model homes. They were pumped, but also nervous about this first, major professional project.

Sacha: “Richcraft found our website and approached us to decorate all of their model homes. We were pumped…and nervous! It turned out really well though, and the model home decor at their Trails Edge site remains one of our favourite projects so far.”

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That being said, Sacha and Melissa’s focus is on residential design.

“We love meeting with potential clients with any type of budget. We also generally already have a connection with clients as they follow our Instagram account which allows us to get a sense of their personal style.”

For a long time, I thought of interior design as something that was strictly for the wealthy, but that isn’t the case. One of the Leclairs most fun projects turned out to be decorating a tiny space in Hell’s Kitchen, New York.

Melissa: “There was a lot of IKEA.“, she says with a big smile. “But we were proud at how we transformed that space!”

While the Leclairs have moved on to much bigger projects, it was comforting to find out that they still work with all budgets large and small. After all, one of their fortes is being completely transparent and open with their clientèle regarding expectations. Taking their time to make every space perfect is important to them. Most clients have a sense already of what they want, and Sacha and Melissa encourage clients to create a Pinterest board of what they would like to see in their own living space.

Every now and then, they encounter a client who will give them carte blanche with design, which they admittedly find daunting. Always up for a challenge though, they take the time to learn exactly what the client wants and translate that knowledge into a space encompassing the client’s personal style.

Sacha and Melissa also love kitchen and bath design, which is obvious by the gorgeous examples highlighted on their Instagram page. They hope to focus more on that in the future, along with expanding their online store.

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As their business grows, Sacha, Melissa and their team find themselves traveling more as demand grows. A project that they have recently completed is decorating a 5000 sq. ft home in Halifax.

Melissa: “This project was particularly exciting as the client was so excited! It was the home that she originally grew up in, and she bought it when it eventually went on the market years later. It was a fun challenge that made the client so happy.”

Sacha and Melissa continue to dominate the interior design scene in Ottawa and one of my own dreams is to work with them some day soon. I dream of an ultra-feminine master bedroom where every detail is quintessential “Dom” – wonderfully over-the-top, while simultaneously cozy and inviting. I’m pretty sure Sacha and Melissa will be up to the challenge.

Be sure to follow the Leclair Decor Instagram account here for endless inspiration. The LD Shoppe website also features furniture, lighting and decor that is special, stylish and unique too. I have my sights set on some cozy velvet pillows that will be mine soon.

The Leclair Decor Showroom is located at 14-5370 Canotek Road and is open Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm, and Saturdays by appointment only (please call 613-808-2213 to make an appointment).