HAY RIVER - Monique Gagnier helps her customers find that extra decorative touch to turn a house into a home.

Monique Gagnier has been working since September in the home décor and flooring section of Hay River's Wesclean Northern Sales Ltd. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"It all ties together with the painting, the decorating, the pictures, the vases, the knickknacks," she said. "It all goes hand-in-hand."

Since September, Gagnier has worked in the new home décor section of Hay River's Wesclean Northern Sales Ltd., which started out in the 1970s selling industrial cleaning supplies.

"It's a new venture for me and it's a new line for Wesclean," she said of home décor, adding she is also responsible for residential flooring sales.

Gagnier, a 36-year-old mother of two, is new to home decorating and flooring sales. Her previous job was as an office manager at an auto body company.

"I just needed a change," she said, adding she has always been interested in home décor.

Wesclean's new section features things like decorative vases, wall art, metal abstract art and wooden balls for coffee tables.

"It just adds that little extra touch to your home that maybe it's missing," Gagnier said.

Wesclean president Brad Mapes offered Gagnier the opportunity to work at the company and she said she jumped all over it.

At about the same time, Wesclean also launched a home décor section at its Yellowknife branch, Aurora Decorating Centre.

Gagnier said this is the time of year when people think about freshening up their homes.

"Everyone is so excited. It's spring," she said. "They want something fresh. They want something new in their house that's bright."

Gagnier said she offers her own personal touch when helping customers, but always remembers that not everyone will like what she likes.

"So you have to have a broader mind, because you're helping a wide array of people and not everyone has the same taste," she explained, adding she listens to what the customer wants and goes from there.

Gagnier, who was born and raised in Hay River, said she enjoys working at Wesclean.

"Obviously, it's still new to me," she said. "I haven't even been here a year yet. It's something different and it's something that I'm very interested in, so my days go by really fast."

She especially enjoys when customers come back and say they love the changes to their homes. "It gives you a nice feeling knowing you can help them out and they feel good about that."

Gagnier said the biggest challenge was learning about flooring products, which include things like hardwood, laminate, carpet, linoleum, ceramic tile and cork.

As a homeowner, she knew some things about flooring, she said. "But to get in there and be able to help your customers there's a lot of info that you need to research."

While Gagnier is all ready to talk home décor, flooring and curtains, customers often want to talk about something else – curling.

Gagnier competed four times at The Scotties, the national women's curlig championship, and other Canadian tournaments.

"Curling was my life for years and years growing up. It's still a big part of my life, just not to the extent that it once was," she said, adding she is now a recreational curler.

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