Nunavik family enjoys home makeover

Nikita Etok, centre, cuts the ribbon at the entry of her newly made-over home Aug. 9, accompanied by her partner, Jimmy Chevrier, right, and her two children Anjali, 4 and Jayden 1. (PHOTO COURTESY OF PIVALIANIQ)

Here’s a before-and-after look at Etok’s children’s bedroom, with its new set of bunkbeds. (PHOTO COURTESY OF PIVALIANIQ)

The Pivallianiq program transformed this bedroom by adding new paint and a new bedframe and dresser. (PHOTO COURTESY OF PIVALLIANIQ)

Here is Etok’s new kitchen, equipped with stainless steel appliances. (PHOTO COURTESY OF PIVALLIANIQ)

Nikita Etok considers her young family lucky to get housing in the first place, but a regional program just sweetened the pot.

The 22-year-old mother of two lives in her hometown of Kangiqsualujjuaq in a two-bedroom duplex that just got the royal treatment — a new coat of paint, brand new furniture and stainless steel appliances.

The Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau’s Pivallianiq program selected Etok as the winner of its Housing Day contest in 2014, which came with a home makeover valued at $15,000.

Because her social housing unit is still fairly new, Etok didn’t have to put the money into renovations; instead, she and her boyfriend Jimmy Chevrier got to spend the entire $15,000 ordering new furniture and appliances.

The items just arrived by sealift last week, when Etok and Chevrier helped KMHB and Pivallianiq staff paint the home and move the new furniture in.

“It was pretty cool,” Etok said.

Like on home makeover reality television, Etok cut the ribbon across the entrance to her newly done-up home Aug. 9 for the final “reveal” with her boyfriend and two children, Anjali, four, and Jayden, one.

The new furniture includes, among other items, a set of bunk beds for the kids, a new dining table with six chairs — “it’s beautiful,” Etok gushed — and a stainless steel fridge and stove, which are rare to find in Kangiqsualujjuaq.

“We had family over to celebrate that morning, and Pivallianiq even provided all the food,” Etok said.

“It’s just so nice. It’s so much more comfortable knowing it’s really my stuff,” she said. “Before, our things were my mom and dad’s, but this is all ours now.”

The KMHB’s Pivallianiq program launched as a campaign in 2011 to encourage social housing tenants in Nunavik to take better care of their units.

The annual draw is open to Pivallianiq “certified” families, who have proven ability to take good care of their homes and pay their monthly rent.

And the annual contest has always offered rewards to its role model tenants, prizes like coupons for free groceries, or six-months free rent.

But Pivallianiq project manager Marie-Hélène Caron said this is the first year they’ve offered the home makeover, and it appears to have struck a chord with Nunavimmiut.

“This prize is so popular,” Caron said. “Friends and relatives who came to visit Nikita’s house said ‘could the Pivallianiq makeover crew come and do my place?’ or ‘can I have this fridge, only the fridge?’

“Nunavimmiut love and want to live in a nice and healthy environment.”

Pivallianiq will pull the name of the 2015 makeover winner on its upcoming housing day on Sept. 2.