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By Deborah Birkett

Photography • David BebeeIF YOU’VE EVER SEEN a model home in

southwestern Ontario that made you want

to whip out your chequebook on the spot,

chances are good it was designed and

decorated by Leslee Squirrell.

The Waterloo-based designer has special-

ized in the merchandising and presentation

of model homes for almost two decades,

winning more than 20 awards for her work

from local and provincial home builders’

associations.

Squirrell, who also does residential design

for individuals, has pursued a bit of a

niche market in the design business by

specializing in merchandising model

homes. “Not just the interiors,” she

explains. “I’ve gotten involved, very much

involved, with the project development,

product development, and landscaping.”

Typically, she gets engaged so early that

builders are still coming up with concepts

for a subdivision, and her expert advice is

sought at every stage. In one London

subdivision she even helped name the

streets.

Born in Waterloo, Squirrell has roots in

this area that go fairly deep: her ancestors

on both sides were Waterloo County

homesteaders with towns named after

them. “My grandmother was the last

Hawke born in Hawkesville,” she says,

noting that St. Clements was once known

as Meyer’s Corners after her great-grandfa-

ther’s large family.

As a child, Squirrell knew she wanted to

be an artist. At 11, she read The Agony and

the Ecstasy, Irving Stone’s biographical

novel about Michelangelo, “and I swore to

myself I would get to Italy before I was 50

and see as many Michelangelos as I could.”

In high school she took every art course

she possibly could, and also took painting

lessons outside of school. One of her first

instructors was Peter Etril Snyder.

It was a high school teacher who gently

steered Squirrell away from attempting to

make a living as an artist: “He said to me,

‘You know, there’s really no money in that;

you can’t really have a career in that. You

should look into interior design.’ ”

Squirrell’s glad she did, because the field

of interior design has allowed her to draw

all her skills and interests together in a

creatively satisfying and financially

rewarding way.

She graduated from Fanshawe College in

1977, and for the next 10 years worked for

several of the interior design shops in

Waterloo.

It was 1986 when she realized merchan-

dising for builders’ model homes would

allow her to use all the things she’d studied

at college, including landscape and graphic

design. She built on that with specialized

courses in merchandising through the U.S.

National Association of Home Builders.

In 1993, she started her own business,

Melding psychology,vision business smartsLESLEE SQUIRRELL FOUND A NICHEIN MERCHANDISING MODEL HOMES

Leslee Squirrell By Design.

For 20 years, Squirrell has focused on

merchandising model homes from

Burlington to Sarnia, though the majority

of her work is in Waterloo Region, Guelph

and London.

Preparing a model home for presentation

isn’t quite like designing for a residential

client, Squirrell explains during an inter-

view in her Waterloo office, which is deco-

rated in rich neutrals and accented with

watercolour block prints.

“You have to understand that what you’re

doing is helping builders sell models,” she

says. “It’s not an opportunity to try the

weirdest and wackiest decorating idea

you’ve never been able to convince a client

to use. And if you do go at a project with

that attitude, you won’t get the builder’s

work again next year.”

Model homes require a different mindset.

“You’re marketing a home and the deco-

rating should never overwhelm the home;

you’re not trying to prove your ability to

decorate it, you’re trying to help enhance it

to sell houses.”

In planning a new model home, “I come

up with an imaginary family at an imagi-

nary age and stage in life, and then make

decisions on the finishes in the house and

the furnishings that go into it that I believe

someone at that age and stage of life would

use. However, if I feel I want to zig away

from that, just for some visual interest and

impact, I do that to create what you call a

‘memory point’ in a model home.”

Builders like Evan Shear, principal of

Cityview Homes, have been thrilled with

Squirrell’s work. Squirrell and Shear

recently collaborated on a 70-unit subdivi-

sion called the Vales of East Guelph,

Cityview’s first project in Guelph.

“She has a vision for the project; certainly,

she does her research to gain that vision,”

Shear says. “She has a lot of confidence in

how to carry it out.”

He praises her professionalism and the

fact that she came in right on budget,

I N T E R I O R S

Leslee Squirrell’s Waterloo bungalow is elegant and inviting. Above, displayed in the dining room aretwo unusual conversation pieces Squirrell spotted in her travels: the botton half of a wood door froman old colonial house in Egypt, and a bird sculpture carved by a master craftsman in Borneo.

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although that budget may not have been

as lavish as some other builders provide.

Shear says he recognized some time ago

that the economic wind was shifting and

he would be selling in a buyer’s market: “I

think the builder has to work twice as

hard, or maybe even more, to get the same

sale. The main thing Leslee did for us is

helped make the model home stand out

significantly compared to the competition.”

Shear adds, “She’s the best I’ve ever

worked with, for sure.”

Jay Rickard, president of Castlebrook

Homes, has worked with Squirrell for 10

years, during which time she’s done nearly

as many model homes for his company.

“One of the most notable success stories

is that all of our models have sold

completely decorated, at a premium,”

Rickard says. “People are liking what they

see in the house, and they’re buying the

furniture, the drapery, the wall hangings,

the knick-knacks, the lamps … we call it a

turnkey sale. Just lock the door and the

next day they move in with suitcases.

“That’s exceptional — that the product

was that well-received and that people

liked the co-ordination so much that they

just kept everything with it.”

While she concentrated on merchandising

model homes, Squirrell also works with

residential clients, particularly those with

sizable projects such as a house construc-

tion or renovation. “I love to do (home-

owners’ projects) and want more. I have a

lot of experience in construction materials

and understanding of construction.”

Psychologist Lynn Swanson, one of her

long-term residential clients, first hired

Squirrell almost 20 years ago to help deco-

rate her new home in the Upper

Beechwood area of Waterloo. The two have

worked together ever since, and Swanson

just completed her third kitchen makeover

with Squirrell.

One of the things she most appreciates is

Squirrell’s considered approach to deco-

rating a family home: “Leslee always seems

to take into account the longevity of

choices, so something we might see in a

model wouldn’t necessarily be what she

would recommend for us to put in our

home. I appreciated that because it was

clear that she was really thinking it

through, what would work for us in the

long run, and trying to help us make

choices we would be happy with for a long

time.”

The hot housing market since 2000 kept

Squirrell on the go — she’s logged more

than 50,000 kilometres a year on her car

driving to building sites around Ontario.

Some projects required her to create five

to seven models for a single development.

The challenge in that situation is to make

each house distinctive, yet unmistakably

convey the builder’s style.

Somehow she finds time to put her

undergraduate degree in creative writing to

use, writing a monthly column for the

Ontario Home Builders’ Association maga-

zine, Ontario Home Builder.

Her services as a speaker and trend expert

are also in demand.

Squirrell says her inspiration is more

likely to come from artists and travel expe-

riences than from other designers.

She has been influenced by time spent in

Provence, as well as in Mexico where she

made friends with Canadian artist and

former figure-skating superstar Toller

Cranston. Squirrell’s next painting-related

goal is to accept Cranston’s invitation to

paint with him in San Miguel de Allende.

Although she missed her Age 50 deadline

by a couple of years, Squirrell’s lifelong

dream of going to Italy and seeing

Michelangelo’s work recently came true. In

September, she rented a house in Tuscany

and spent three weeks immersed in the

spectacular artistic legacy of Italy.

She loves the stage of life she’s at now.

With her two children out on their own,

she has time to enjoy her passions —

painting and golfing — and the opportu-

nity to develop new interests such as

photography.

Squirrell still finds design very satisfying:

“It’s hard work, but I’ve been blessed with a

great career and being able to say, ‘What do

I get to do today?’ instead of ‘Do I have to

go to work today?’ ”

Above: Lynn Swanson, a longtime client of Leslee Squirrell, relaxes in her renovated kitchen. This is the third kitchen makeover Squirrel has managed for Swanson’s home.Left: Striking pieces of art, including a painting by Toller Cranston, enhance the opposite end of Leslee Squirrell’s great room.

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“LET’S BUY THE LOBSTER HOUSE”One of the most creative and important

aspects of designing effective model

homes is coming up with what Leslee

Squirrell calls “memory points” —

tableaux that will grab people’s attention

and make them remember that model.

“What you’re really saying to them in a

subtle way is, ‘I know who you are. I

understand your life and your interests

and your stage in life,’ ” Squirrell explains.

“And when you do that, they start to

believe ‘This builder knows who I am,’

and you get them to bond with the possi-

bility of having a home built by this

builder. That’s what my job is — to bring

those two people together.”

Some of her most inventive memory

points:

• The Lobster Party. “I did a lobster

dinner party in a model out in Deer Ridge

(in Kitchener). We did up the kitchen, the

butler pantry and the dining room table as

though the people were having a dinner

party and doing lobster. I actually had

fake lobsters and this big pot on the

stove,” she laughs. “People remember

that.”

• The Shower: “I’ve done a model home

where it looked as though the woman was

hosting a shower for someone, so there

were lots of those little gift bags and

shower paraphernalia around.”

Squirrell emphasizes the importance of

appealing to women “because women are

the ones who encourage their husbands to

come out and look at model homes.”

• The Hog: It is possible to hook male

home-shoppers, too, Squirrell says.

Men really love a beautiful garage —

“the garage organizers today, the lockers

and the padded floors and all of that type

of thing.”

Although most people’s expectations for

the garage aren’t high, Squirrell surprised

buyers at one model home by parking a

shiny Harley-Davidson in the garage.

• The Spa Room: “I did a model in

London last fall and we designed the master

and ensuite wing with a spa room. So I had

a massage table and a little waterfall going,

and beautiful music and luscious drapes and

a crystal chandelier … and all the women

were just ‘We want a room like that!’ ”

• The Dog Spa: Spas aren’t just for

humans. The Vales of East Guelph struck

gold with this unique offering: a laundry

room featuring a tiled dog bath, complete

with shower spray attachment.

Squirrell had lots of fun with this model:

“I bought a beautiful prop dog that looks so

real you can’t believe it. I stencilled these

dirty footprints all over the bath area.

People walk in and they’re just blown

away. And they will always remember that

house.”

This Vales of East Guelph model home wasdecorated by Leslee Squirrell. Her goal is tomake each model attractive and appealing

without allowing the furnishings to over-whelm the design of the house itself.

Over 20 years, Leslee Squirrell developed her design and landscaping interests to the point where she is often involvedat the concept stage of a project. In one London, Ont., subdivision, she even helped name the streets.