We thought we were asking Moneca to do the impossible: redesign the layout of our century-old home to give it a modern and open feel. We also wanted to preserve some of its character and add a main floor powder room, a completely redesigned and relocated contemporary kitchen, a front-hall closet and vestibule, backdoor mudroom, proper master bedroom closet, and a family-friendly attic retreat. The impossible became a possibility with Moneca’s expertise and guidance, and it was virtually stress free. She rose to the occasion with an excellent roster of skilled trades, and the project was completed as planned and on time. Moneca was always willing to work with us through all the unexpected discoveries (the good and the bad), bringing a happy and easy-going attitude to each decision. We cannot thank you enough for a job well done, and are happy to serve as a reference, without reservation for MKDB any time in the future.

Noah and Kadija

Moneca took the time to listen to me and get to know my family. She returned with a redesigned floor plan that was perfect for our family. Moneca has an eye for space and design and knows instinctively what will look great. She is creative and has innovative solutions for quirky homes. Moneca completed the renovation work beautifully and at her estimated budget. She even added a few amazing upgrades: she and her team tiled my bathroom floor, installed a new sink, vanity, tub, wall tiles and a perfect transom window. In the end, I have a gorgeous home that suits my family’s life. We now spend most of our time in our newly updated kitchen-family room. Thank you to Moneca and her team for the great work.

Christine Dupont

We repeatedly have turned to Moneca for our home projects because of her unique ability to understand her clients, first, and their needs, by extension. Moneca is a true people-person, whose intuition about what will “work” for us has been spot-on. She is resourceful and creative in finding the right products (e.g., child-friendly finishes), repurposing existing structures and materials, and essentially not resting until the job, including its most subtle elements, is done right. We have trusted Moneca with time-intensive transformations that have been key to our enjoyment of our house. She and her team have consistently brought a high level of ethics and commitment to their work, maintaining our trust and respecting that their work site is also our home.

Evelyn Dancey

As the owner of a painting company here in Ottawa (Strokes of Genius Painting), I have been a long-time work partner and friend of Moneca. I always say that if you want to get the true picture of a Designer/Builder or General Contractor, ask their sub trades what it's like to work with them. Well, we have worked on countless projects together over the past 4-5 years and I can say that working with Moneca has always been easy, fun and fulfilling. Her designs are simple but functional, not just beautiful, but inspired. That may sound like I'm laying it on thick, but just take a look at the renovation photos in her portfolio and you will see I am not exaggerating. Aside from her design vision, she is also just a really great person, which is why she has become a friend. If you hire Moneca to steer the ship for your next renovation project, you won't be lead astray.

Strokes of Genius Painting

We worked with MKDB on a major kitchen renovation project in April this year. We also had the floor on the second level of our home reinstalled with cork along with some minor renovations to one of the bedrooms. We are not handy people so it was important for us to get a sense of being able to trust the person who would handle the project. Moneca met this need and so much more. Moneca spent time with us to understand the how, why and what we were trying to change in our home. We felt at ease after our first meeting with her, when she dissuaded us from renovating our staircase (which she was prepared to do if we insisted) as she felt that it would not further our vision, particularly in view of how much it would cost. We really appreciated this advice as it demonstrated to us that she cared about the project not only aesthetically but also from a practical and budget perspective.

Vasu Naik

Over the course of the renovation the tradespeople that Moneca brought into our home were unfailingly polite and helpful. They did their best to minimize the intrusion of the renovation project into our lives by installing dust curtains and diligently cleaning up after themselves every day. The tradespeople consistently worked hard to finish the project on-time. In our experience, Moneca's strongest asset is her ability to communicate clearly, always with warmth and kindness, with her clients and with her employees. Moneca listened carefully to any concerns that we raised and worked hard to address them. It is worth noting that the project came in on budget. We are very happy with our new kitchen and dining room, and with the transformation of our backyard into a little sanctuary of calm in the city. We have recommended Moneca's services to a number of our friends.

Daniel Knapp and Kate Higginson

We have used MKDB for a number of projects and renovations. They provide a full service of creative design to completing the project - and it's worth it. We're not micro-managers, so it's great to have a company we really trust. We give them a detailed sense of what we want, and they do the rest. Moneca's not afraid to be tough with sub-contractors to get the job done, which we really appreciated. She is super creative, very gifted, and really cares about her clients. Lots of integrity, goes the extra mile.

Houzz User: majull

Love the new upstairs so much! I smile everyday when I disk up these beautiful stairs. You have done so much amazing work on this place.

Houzz User: JoyNoo

Thank you so much. I really can not express how thankful we are to you through words. Tate and I have nights where we are sitting watching television after the kids have gone to bed, and we stop, look around and say "I love our house so much now." We really do. Today we opened the patio doors and the kids played outside. It was perfect. Tate and I are planners, we love controlling everything we can, but in this case we went into the renovation giving up control because we knew you would transfer our spirits into the plan and design. That kind of trust is hard to come by, but deserved.

Sarah Brickell

We enlisted MKDB to take our 1-bedroom bungalow to a 3-bedroom house. MKDB truly listened to our needs and not simply to what we were saying! Moneca often would challenge us to stay true to our needs and not be persuaded by the latest home magazine. As a result, we ended up with a new home design that compliments our lifestyle and values. Our home allows us to enjoy our family as we had dreamed -- thank you Moneca and the MDKB team!"

Shiv & Vasu