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Enjoyable sustainable home renovations

07795 007640valerie@theplacebetween.co.uk

A social entreprise for  home renovators

It’s a common scenario: renovation projects stall, drag on, or fall apart—not because people aren’t trying, but because something vital is missing. Miscommunication, lack of coordination, and rushed decisions often create a disconnect between contractors and homeowners.

Sustainability is also frequently overlooked—either for the sake of speed or simply because no one provided the right information at the right time.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Renovating a home should be an enjoyable, rewarding experience for everyone involved:


– The people living in the home


– The professionals designing and planning the works


– The skilled teams building it

And creating a more sustainable built environment is everyone’s responsibility.


The Place Between is a social enterprise designed to bridge the gaps in home renovation. Renovations are never completely stress-free—but with tailored, one-to-one support, I help reduce the confusion and chaos so you can focus on creating a home that truly works for you.

Valerie Couillard, founder of The Place Between

I bring years of hands-on experience in remodelling homes, planning extensions and conversions, and managing full-scale property refurbishments.


What drives me is a deep belief that renovations can—and should—be both responsible and rewarding.

Clients and collaborators often say I have a natural eye for space and layout, and a way of bringing clarity to even the most complex projects.


Whether you're a homeowner feeling overwhelmed, or a building professional navigating tricky decisions with your client, having me on board brings structure, creativity, and grounded support.

My philosophy on renovation

Image
black fireplace in living room

The Place Between exists to


– Prevent legal disputes in home renovation projects

– Make sustainable renovation accessible and achievable for all

– Promote equality and inclusion through thoughtful, everyday design

– Support enjoyable, collaborative experiences for homeowners and building professionals alike


I believe renovations can be well-planned, clear, collaborative, and deeply rewarding. The goal is to make that uncertain in-between—the space between ideas and reality—as smooth and constructive as possible for everyone involved.




Where the magic happens


With a unique mix of design insight, legal expertise, and project management experience, I help you and your team:


– Design a space that reflects your lifestyle, values, and budget

– Find and hire competent, aligned professionals

– Understand the legal and planning frameworks that apply to your project

– Source sustainable materials and manage waste responsibly

– Navigate timelines and keep communication flowing between all parties


That’s where the magic happens—not in grand gestures, but in the quiet clarity, preparation, and collaboration that brings a project to life.

How The Place Between started

valerie

I’m a lifelong home renovator, a serial mover, and a firm believer that the secret to a great home is renovating it as if you’ll live in it forever. My experience spans continents and industries, but home transformation has always been a constant.


With a background in law, philosophy, and human rights, I’ve worked as a barrister in Canada and a lawyer across Africa, South America, and Asia. In 2020, I founded The Place Between to help homeowners manage their renovations with clarity and confidence—so they can avoid costly mistakes, delays, and disputes.


Fluent in English and French, I offer remote and in-person design, project management, and mediation services to prevent conflicts and streamline projects. I believe that a well-planned renovation is about more than just aesthetics—it’s about protecting your investment, making informed decisions, and ensuring a smooth process from start to finish.


My legal expertise ensures compliance with renovation regulations, while my commitment to ethical trade and sustainability creates better experiences for homeowners and workers alike.


Renovations should be exciting, not exhausting—I help make that happen.

If you are a construction professional or a homeowner looking to modernise, remodel, extend, improve, restore, redecorate, revamp or refurbish a property, please be in touch with any queries you may have.

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CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

What a pleasure to work with Valerie from The Place Between! From start to finish we felt listened to and supported. We needed help to visualise how to remodel the space of our ground floor and in particular how or whether to combine a kitchen /dining room. Valerie took great care to listen to our needs and wishes and in particular our tight budget. She met us online first and then visited our house to take measurements, then she brought to life (floor plans and 3D designs with walk throughs) several designs with these considerations in mind and many other great ideas to improve our quality of life in this home whilst keeping a sensible eye on improving the value of our property. Along with design ideas, Valerie also gave much practical advice on renovation and how to be as environmentally sound as possible, which really resonated with us. Having never renovated a property before the project felt a little overwhelming but the whole process with Valerie has now helped us to move forward. Thanks to Valerie we now feel much more confident about the remodel and how to stay on track of our budget, how to find the right trades people, how to plan the works and to start enjoying the process of Improving our home. I would not hesitate to recommend Valerie at The Place Between.Read More

Val was amazing. So glad we used her for the project. We’ve got a much much better result than if we had gone it alone. She was always ready in offering ideas and helping to keep the project on track. So pleased with the result!Read More

Val has been a godsend through this whole process, start to finish. I trusted her to help me find a home to buy and guide me through the process. She walked the fine line between bearing in mind my preferences and diplomatically giving me advice on things that I would not have prioritised, but did after getting her gentle nudges. After I purchased the house she did a fantastic job helping me with designing the layout and style. She thought of all the details that, if it's your first time doing something like this, you just don't think of early enough in the process. She was excellent at translating between me and the building contractor and helping me navigating the predictable tensions that arise in a project like this. I hope to not go through this process for a very long time(!), but I would recommend Val to anyone looking for a helping hand on this journey.Read More

Valerie comes with my highest recommendation. She has completely taken command of a difficult building project, identified reliable new suppliers, and driven the project forward to a place where we are really happy with it. She is also unfailingly pleasant, well-organised and a delight to work with.Read More

Valerie is patient, methodical and thorough! She was able to put a very helpful document together for me which became instrumental in deciding which contractor quote to choose. The service is so useful and we will be working together again for sure!Read More

Valerie’s brilliant legal mind and her calm demeanour were absolutely invaluable in helping guide us through our first home purchase - talking us through all options and challenges with a can-do attitude and excellent recommendations. I can’t recommend her highly enough and I’m actually now looking forward to the next phase of our house project, instead of dreading it!Read More