Simcoe Street

Dining Room Progress

2013-05-16T19:12:00.002-04:00

I'm continuing house updates with a tour of the dining room.

You can also see nursery progress, Ben's room progress, and master bedroom progress if you missed them.

Here is the dining room at 7:30 this morning.

Benjamin slept in (yay!) so I snapped a few photos of the dining room to share with you. I didn't clean it up for the photos -- there are still boxes around and the table sees more use for stickers and colouring than actual dining, which is evident. Also, ignore the random things stashed in here for now (like the outdoor cushions -- those will have a spot to be stored in the shed, but I haven't assembled the shelves yet in there). Nonetheless, the room is coming together, slowly, and I thought a progress post was in order.

7:30 isn't ideal time, light-wise, but you do see how big and bright the windows are.

The room also looks especially blue in the morning, and smokier/greyer at the end of the day day. I love that about the colour (Benjamin Moore's Smoke).

Some flowers I received for mother's day are on the table. So sweet.

And our high chair fits nicely in the corner. For any expectant or new moms, I have to tell you that I really really don't recommend this high chair.

Next to the sliding glass door (that leads out to the back deck) is this little wall space. Eventually, we think a cool antique bar cart would be perfect here. But that doesn't fit with our toddler/baby lifestyle at the moment, so we used this shelf that we already had (it used to be in the living room in the condo) and use it to store cookbooks and a few other odds and ends. Use what you've got, right? Need to find art or photos for those frames! Thinking one of Ben and one of the baby could be just the thing.

I love having all my cookbooks in easy reach and right next to the kitchen, without cluttering up my countertop in the actual kitchen.

I need to figure out a good way to utilize some space in here for outdoor stuff too. We haven't done a lot with the yard yet, so the stuff is just stashed here waiting to be set up.

Our china cabinet fits perfectly in a little recessed nook in here. Well, almost. We had to do a little sawing (removing some of the decorative moulding at the top) so it could fit in. We saved the pieces so we can always pop 'em back on in a different home if we need to, and plan to patch things up with some paint -- but that is low down on our loooong to do list for the house.

Here is how that nook looked before, with the sellers' belongings:

Our cabinet looks great in person, though hard to tell in these photos with so much junk around and such a bad angle. I'll retake them after this room is really cleaned out. But at least this shows you how it kind of tucks away -- a lucky coincidence, since it is such a big, tall piece.

I'll give you a peek at our stuff inside. It is a mix of our wedding china, crystal, and some inexpensive thrifted silver pieces.

This one below is Benjamin's Christening cup from his godmother.

We store extras - dessert plates, napkin rings, etc, in the cupboards and drawers below.

We are loving the blue in here, as well as how much storage we've managed to pack in without making the room feel closed off or cluttered. Of course, it feels super cluttered right now because there are still lots of random things sitting in there.

Better than this, though, just a few weeks ago:

Short term, I'm on the lookout for window treatments, fabric to reupholster our very old (but still functional) chairs, and possibly two fun new chairs for the ends of the table. One day we'd like to add a rug, too, and change out the light fixture -- but those are further down the line.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Jenny xo

My Romantic Home, Miss Mustard Seed, Frugal Friday

Nursery Progress

2013-05-13T08:13:00.003-04:00

Hello and happy Monday!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and a fantastic mother's day!

Last week I gave you updates on our master bedroom (which is barely started) and Ben's room (which is getting closer to feeling complete). Today I thought I'd give you an update on the nursery.

If you missed it, you can see before pictures of this space here, and check out previous progress updates here and here.

Unfortunately, I'm really not loving this room so far. Hopefully it will come together before baby girl arrives. It is suddenly very high on my priority list and I think I'll try to find some time to work on the space this week.

The good thing is we have managed to shape up the bones of the room well with new flooring, paint, a new light fixture (which I love), and by the small finishing things like replacing gross old electrical outlet covers and light switches with clean new ones. Remember how it started out?

We have also managed to furnish the space without spending a penny (we have used Benjamin's old furniture and my sister's old bed, and even odds and ends like our old bedroom lamps). We still need to buy a missing part for the bed (we have the headboard and footboard, but no rails or frame to attach them to, so the headboard is just leaning here and the mattress/boxspring are still sitting on the floor).

But now it needs some style. It needs some things to pull it together, freshen up the old stuff, and make it feel like a special place for our little lady. It needs to be softened, needs art (which is tricky with these slopey ceilings) and linens and organization and all of those other details that make you fall in love with a space. So, though we aren't anywhere near to a room we're loving, here is a glimpse at where we're at.

I've decided to add some blue to the pink/white/grey we have going on. The blue blanket on the bed is a temporary stand-in until I find bedding I like at a price I can afford. The blue pillow on the chair is new and is staying (you can buy it here at 30% off-- the details are really pretty in person).

The blue will be a softer shade than this one, and there will be less of it, but I think it helps keep the pink from feeling too disconnected from the rest of our house. We have blue in basically every room, even if just little pops of it.

The blue extends in small doses into the closet too, where I've so far added these two big baskets (one holds long sleeved sleepers, one holds rompers).

And while we're in here, take a peek at the sweet little dresses all hanging up.

I've done so much baby laundry and can't get enough of all the cute clothing. We were lucky to get loads of hand me downs from my aunt, and have some of my younger sister's old clothes too - amazing how well those dresses have held up over the last 18 years!

Anyway, here's a shot of her built-in bookcase. Man, does this room ever need work.

Eventually, I'll try to style this and bought these cute little chevron bins to hold hats, wash cloths, swaddling blankets, and other odds and ends.

I'm also on the hunt for a cute basket for holding necessities on the change table. For now I'm just using this old Ikea drawer organizer dressed up with an old piece of ribbon.

And we will be trying to fit both function (storage) and style into the little bookcase behind the door. So far the only part I'm loving is the little blue bunny book end (a recent HomeSense purchase). Since the bed is adorned with tiny bunnies, I'd love to have a few of them throughout the room -- a very, very loose theme.

And that's about all I have to show you so far in here. I can't wait to be more excited about this room -- I'm feeling guilty about how it feels at this point. All in good time though, I suppose.

As for ideas -- I'm planning on a nice soft cream/white/ivory rug, fun artwork, lots of organization, and some much needed personalization. I haven't figured out what exactly that will look like yet, but I will keep you posted!

Jenny xo

Coastal Charm, Trendy Tuesday, Sugar Bee Crafts, My Romantic Home
Miss Mustard Seed, Frugal Friday

Benjamin's Toddler Room - An Almost Finished Update & Tour

2013-05-11T13:32:00.000-04:00

Gosh, have I ever found myself sloooooowing down lately.

Given my lack of posting, I'm guessing that's no surprise to you. But time to heal and rest and all that have been a priority, and I'm starting to feel better. I'm also getting super excited for our baby girl to arrive -- well under a month to go now until her due date! I've been washing and folding tons of tiny pink outfits, getting my hospital bag packed up, and trying my best to prepare Benjamin for what is to come. It is all starting to feel very real and very, very exciting.

Anyway, parts of the house are coming together and parts aren't. I'm trying not to rush it. I'm also working on sharing the progress room by room, whatever stage it's in. Today I thought I'd give you a rather comprehensive tour of how Ben's room is looking. This room has a few things left for us to do, but is getting close to being finished. We managed to do a quick clean up after breakfast this morning and to keep it tidy enough for me to spend 5 minutes snapping photos.

(If you missed the before photos of the space, check 'em out here).

Gosh, I took a lot of photos. I guess after no blogging or anything since Monday I was camera-happy.

To see a more detail shots and a few more full room pics, click "read more."

Just ignore that junk in the hallway. It's still sitting there now and has been for about four days. Ugh.

The photo was taken of Benjamin on his first birthday, and we had our friends and family at the party sign the mat for him. That reminds me, I ought to post about that party one of these days -- especially since I just ordered invitations for his second birthday!

The adorable gator and birds print is from Galerie Anais, one of my favourite shops on Etsy. You might recognize it from his old nursery in the condo (see the tour here).

Behind the door on the tall dresser, if you're wondering who that kid is and noting that she does not resemble Benjamin, it is just the kid who came in the frame. I'm waiting to print one of Ben and his new little sister once she arrives.

This cute print was made for Ben by my cousin and given to him as a Christening gift. So sweet.

And Benny really likes hippos right now (and can say "hippo") so this frame is a fun touch.

His reading chairs get tons of use. He is definitely in a book-loving phase.

Above the reading chairs is more super cute artwork from Galerie Anais. Three are from the nursery, and the fox is brand new -- a gift from Anais for the new house.

Very soon I'll be showing off some more of her prints in the playroom (once I hang them, that is!) and then we'll be having a big, exciting giveaway from her -- so get ready! Yay for giveaways!

Let's look more at the artwork. The photos really don't show off how cute they are.

And back to the bed area.

These two guys - hippo and monkey - are Benjamin's most special toys. He is particularly attached to monkey.

Since the bed is placed so that it is opposite the built in bookcase (hard to tell in pics, but it makes the room look nice and balanced in real life) it is not centred on the wall. We knew we wanted some art to balance it all out and these two canvas prints from HomeSense work well. The dog one was from the clearance section for around $10 because the canvas was coming unstapled, but that took about 3 seconds to fix.

Isn't this I love you to the moon and back print the cutest? It is by none other than the amazingly talented blogger Lindsay of Aubrey and Lindsay's Little House Blog. I scored it for under $20 at HomeSense. I LOOOOVE it.

Benjamin does too. He points at it and says "Moom" (meaning moon. Right now that boy loves to find that moon in the sky at night time and likes to say goodnight to it. Too cute).

Lindsay has a fantastic shop and tons of amazing, customizable children's art print, as well as stationery and custom stamps and all kinds of other goodies. If you haven't visited the Penny Paper Co. before you totally should! Obviously, I'm a big fan.

On the opposite wall is this big print of Ben on a beach in Florida when he was little.

(You might recall it from this post).

Under the window we have a hand-me-down bench from my sister Alicia -- which is about 15 years old but in great shape. Even the baskets are original to the bench. Ben likes to sit up here and watch cars drive by. He is obsessed with cars right now.

I'm thinking of making a little cushion for the top of it to finish it off.

And of course we are desperately in need of window treatments. This is really high on my priority list but thus far budget doesn't agree with what I'm envisioning. Will keep you posted on what direction we end up going here.

I am also figuring out where to hang these hot air balloons, which you may remember from his nursery.

The other mobile hangs by the window near his change table.

And this is the view from that window (our backyard -- obviously unstaged haha).

I'll have to do a post soon on how we organized Ben's room. Since there is no closet I had to be quite strategic, and we've finally figured out a really easy way to keep everything neat and organized.

Once the room is actually completed, I'll do a post with all of the sources and some before and after photo comparisons. It's come a long way from this (You can see all the glorious before photos here if you'd like):

For now, this is where his room is at.

Coastal Charm, Trendy Tuesday, Sugar Bee Crafts, My Romantic Home
Miss Mustard Seed, Frugal Friday, Simply Sweet Home

Master Bedroom Update

2013-05-06T18:15:00.002-04:00

So far, our master bedroom really isn't much to look at.

We have a long to do list for this space but it has taken a back seat to getting Ben's room all set up, trying to put together the nursery, and sorting out the main living spaces in the house. You know how it goes.

Anyway, despite the long to do list, we've accomplished a few things in here and the room is at least functional for us now so I thought I'd go ahead and give you an update. Just bear in mind that this is very much a progress post, not an after.

Here's the view from the bed, looking toward the door.

The dresser is new, purchased at Salvation Army for $49. The cradle was Benjamin's, then used by our nephew Jack, and is now ready and waiting for our baby girl (she'll be in our room the first few months at night before transitioning to her nursery, though we hope she will nap in the nursery from early on).

This is the before of that same space with the seller's belongings (but obviously from a different view - sorry):

And here is the other side of the room. Functional? Yes. Pretty? Not yet.

And again, here is the same view before, with the previous owners' belongings.

We are glad to see those wall stickers gone.

Actually, there were stickers everywhere -- all of which are thankfully history.

We got rid of lots of them by replacing the old door knobs and light switches. This is the before of the closet doorknob. I forgot to take an after. But I promise it is a nice brushed nickel one that looks much cleaner.

Anyway, we really need to buy bedding, hang art, etc., but at least we can sleep in here.

And we have knocked one thing off the list for this side of the room -- a headboard. We bought it at HomeSense on Friends & Family Discount day, which scored us 20% off of the original price of $249. Not cheap but not crazy, and we are really loving it.

We've also replaced the light with a simple, inexpensive fixture from Ikea.

Here is the old boob light before:

And you can see the new light here:

This is the light (available here), in case you're in the market for a cheapie upgrade yourself. We've put a few of these up in the house. It is amazing how much better they feel than the old lights, and for only

So here is my rough to do list for this space (hopefully not forgetting anything major):

~~1. Paint Walls~~

~~2. Paint inside of closet.~~

~~3. Paint doors charcoal grey.~~

~~4. Replace sections of missing baseboard and quarter round.~~

~~5. Paint trim.~~

~~6. Buy a dresser~~

~~7. Buy a headboard~~

~~8. Bedside lamps~~

9. Organize drawers in bedside tables.

10. Decide whether to paint bedside tables.

11. Paint or refinish dresser.

~~12. Replace nightstand drawer pulls.~~

13. Hang artwork

14. New bedding & accent pillows

15. Rug (we are currently using the one from Ben's old nursery, and will see what happens with that based on what happens with bedding)

~~16. Replace electrical outlets and light switches with nice new white ones.~~

~~17. Replace doorknobs.~~

18. One day possibly paint the old wood floors (they have paint splatters on them and are generally not great looking in person, even though they photograph okay).

19. Window treatments (they don't look terrible in the photos, but the current ones are a shiny, cheap white material, not great for light blockage, and about a foot and a half too short!).

~~20. Replace light fixture.~~

Once I've pulled things together a little more and am a little more healed (in case you missed it, I've mentioned recently that I fractured a rib so have been a bit restricted lately. Especially since I'm about 4 weeks away from my due date. So house progress has been a tad slow).

Any bedding recommendations?

Jenny xo

Unpacking Progress

2013-05-05T21:11:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the silence on the blog lately. Just wanted to pop in, share a few progress photos, and say hello!

Things are slowly but surely coming together around the house. Lately, it feels really slow. I'm anxious to get it all done -- being 36 weeks pregnant will kick the urge to unpack, clean, and organize into high gear in a big way. A fractured rib at 36 weeks, however, really slows down the ability to do any of those things. It has been an uncomfortable, frustrating, long 10 days since I broke the rib, and I'm so anxious for it to heal. I was feeling pretty down about it, but happily a weekend of sunshine, hanging in the backyard with Matt and Ben, and some much needed quality time with my best pal (thank you, Kate!) have helped me feel recharged. Thank you also to all of you who've sent me sweet comments and emails!

Anyway, in spite of the recent hiccups in house progress, we've got some updates to share. This week, I plan to walk you through some different parts of the house to show you where we're at and where we think we're headed in various spaces.

Pictures help remind me that we've come a long way. Here is our dining room today

(obviously not staged -- please look past the colour book/cup of crayons, high chair, and boxes):

Sure, we need a rug and window treatments and artwork on the walls and to reupholster the chairs and to finish unpacking the boxes on the floor -- which, granted, is a lot of stuff -- but let's look at how this same view looked only a short while ago. The table and chairs are actually under all that stuff, most of which is now more or less unpacked and put away.

Progress, right?

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

See you soon

Jenny xo

Ben's New Room - Mini Update

2013-04-30T20:55:00.002-04:00

Here is a peek at how one side of Benjamin's room is starting to come together. We love this little area for reading or just hanging out.

This is how that wall looked before. You can also see in the photo above the new rug we added to the room (real all about our rug find right here) and the chairs and some artwork from his nursery in our first home (see the house tour here). Anyway here is a before pic:

This is the light fixture (hard to tell in this photo, but it is huge!) we put up to replace to falling-off-the-ceiling ceiling fan. Such a major improvement. It is neutral enough that it doesn't steal focus from the rest of the room, and yet feels like a statement piece. I love it.

Here is the fan, before (with the sellers' belongings. We definitely don't have a big TV in our not quite two year old's bedroom).

I can't wait to take better photos so you can see how truly awesome the new light is. And how the whole rest of the room has come together!

I was hoping to have lots of great, quality pics for you today, but these few iPhone ones will have to suffice. A quick personal update: I mentioned back pain last week, and how that was slowing me down. A doctor visit confirmed what I was worried had happened -- a silly injury has resulted in a fractured rib on my right side. Since I'm just about 35 weeks pregnant, and busily trying to set up a new house, the timing kind of sucks. I've had a few very tough days (the combo of moving, trying to help Ben adjust to a lot of big changes, the injury, the restrictions from the injury, and other stuff made life a lot less fun than usual), but things are looking up.

The rib will take a bit of time to heal (and in the mean time I am working hard at being patient, resting, and resisting the urge to organize and hang art and shuffle things around). But, I am already feeling better than I did on Friday. My mother-in-law, mom, and sister, and especially my amazing husband, have been extremely helpful (since I can't lift Benjamin at all). I also finally have internet, which makes me ridiculously happy.

So, now that I'm back online, when I have a few minutes and am feeling good I'll walk around the house and snap some photos of how things are looking. The two iPhone pics I'm sharing today really aren't cutting it. We aren't close to having rooms all done yet, but I am excited to show you the progress we've made and the things we're thinking about, design-wise. It is so great to be living in the house and is really starting to feel like our home.

Big hugs, and way better posts coming your way ASAP.

Thank you for your patience :)

Jenny xo

We're all moved in...

2013-04-27T08:30:00.006-04:00

Hi there,

Just wanted to say hello and happy weekend to you all!

We have no internet (should be online by Monday though!) and our unpacking hit a small road bump (I've pulled something in my back so I can't do anything right now, so frustrating!) but we are happily in our new house and loving it.

via

Thanks for your comments and emails this week, I loved receiving them.

Will be back next week to show you where things are at in the house. In the mean time, have a lovely weekend!

Jenny xo

Basement TV Room and Guest Room - Before

2013-04-22T12:46:00.001-04:00

I think the only remaining "before" parts of the house are the basement rec/TV room and the basement guest room.

But first, an update. We are finally, FINALLY moving in this week! Wednesday to be exact. Crossing our fingers and knocking on wood that nothing derails us this time around. My posting and responding to questions/comments may be a tad sporadic (we don't have internet or anything set up yet there, and I will be busy babyproofing today and tomorrow and getting a few things ready). Also, while I'm updating, our brand new dryer doesn't work -- such a bummer -- so I'll be sorting that out. Add another item to the to-do list. It feels like it is growing instead of shrinking. But from now on at least we'll be living there! Yay! Anyway, enough rambling.

These are the last before pics for me to share, and from here on out is will be all progress and maybe even some semi-finished spaces soon! Yay!

Okay, here is the guest room, before (on the day we took possession):

The carpet was in awful shape (and glued directly to the cement floor, as well as the on 3/4 sideswall).

The walls themselves are old panelling (that had been painted).

The details of the space were rougher in person than the pictures illustrate. Take the outlets, for instance. Yikes!

And the lighting and window treatments left something to be desired...

Here is the view from the other side of the room back to the door. The door had an exterior door lock on it. Weird.

And here is the main rec/TV room in the basement. You've seen glimpses of this space before, but just so I've officially given you the tour of the before, I thought I'd include all the pics in one spot today.

With the previous owners' belongings, here it is:

(The the left is the old storage room [now the laundry room] with the furnace room to the right of their TV above)

The ceiling fan didn't work, and we later learned why -- what an electrical bad-DIY mess it was inside! This ceiling ended up looking like swiss cheese as we searched for old electrical and replaced it all. Ugh. But now it is safe!

And here is the room empty on the day we took possession.

Patching and paint galore, new floors, and some other changes are turning these rooms around.

Will be back to show you soon!

Jenny xo

Laundry Room Progress

2013-04-18T00:01:00.000-04:00

Here is a peek at how our new laundry room is looking. There is lots of work to be done, and we are no where near "reveal" stage, but it is finally taking shape. Obviously the photos here aren't staged, I just wanted to share a few of my "progress" snapshots. Maybe that will make a reveal post less exciting one day, but I'm okay with that.

Next, here is the story of how the storage room became the laundry room. As a reminder, the space started out looking like this picture below (you can see all the scary before photos here). I know -- gorgeous! This pic was snapped on the day of our home inspection (the belongings are the previous owners').

We removed the nasty ceiling tiles, which our home inspection revealed were made of asbestos (and were crumbling. Disturbed asbestos is a big danger, so this was the first thing we did in the house before considering anything else at all. And by "we did" I mean we had a team of professionals with loads of gear do while we stayed far away). Here's a glance of the ceiling "before."

Next we demolished the ugly shelving unit.

Here's the side of the shelving unit. It is what you first saw upon entering the room.

I was not sad to see it go.

This simple demo revealed major black mould. Our contractor checked it out, and we then had two mould specialists come and assess it. They said that on a scale of 1-10 (10 being most severe) this room was about an 8. We knew there had been a leak in the foundation here (which the previous homeowners agreed to have professionally repaired before we took possession). What we didn't know was that this room had been made with absolutely no moisture barrier, so the water had leaked right into insulation and the drywall where it festered, and lots of mould grew. And grew and grew and grew. Ick.

We suddenly had no choice but to rip everything out (including the studs -- even they were mouldy, some of the wood being best described as "spongey feeling."), have the cinderblocks scrubbed down with special chemicals, retest for mould everywhere else, and then put the room back together again. The mould specialists wanted to charge a lot for this (starting around $6500). Our contractor brought in someone with skills and experience (his own son, who was super nice) to do it with him for far less, only $2800. I think he gave us such a good price because he liked us. Also because he is just the best. Here it is with the drywall/insulation/studs gone, the cleaning in mid-process, and the ceiling insulation and studs waiting to be removed.

(When we did remove the ceiling insulation, we found three (THREE!) hidden junction boxes in there. Junction boxes should never be hidden behind drywall/ceiling tiles, even if not in use. Yikes! Lucky we found them!). Unluckily, we had to redo a bit of electrical work in here unexpectedly. Boo. (See the comments section for more on hidden junction boxes).

Anyway, the thing that was most frustrating was, originally, we really didn't plan to do much to this room besides line the walls with shelving and possibly painting the concrete floors. I am talking a budget of about $200. Then suddenly we were going to have this storage room with brand new drywalled walls, a nice new drywalled ceiling, new electrical, and our contractor even offered to throw in six potlights for free to brighten it up... not to mention $2800 spent on a storage room (crazy talk!).

Meanwhile the laundry room (in the furnace room) looked like this (below). Not the worst, but definitely nothing to brag about. And not a very nice place to do laundry with babies (Ben loves to help with laundry). It seemed odd that we'd have this lovely new room that we'd fill with boxes of diapers and extra canned goods, and then this wire-filled cinder block mess of a space for laundry (i.e. daily use).

With my Mom's encouragement (we were still feeling the shock of the unexpected work and major blow to our budget) we looked into how much it would cost to turn the old, mouldy storage room into a shiny new laundry room. Since we already had to do the drywalling and all that (leaving the mould was absolutely not an option -- safety first!) we found it wasn't all that much more to do the laundry room - provided we got new machines. The existing dryer was gas powered, and adding a gas line would not come cheap (as in, it was a deal-breaker). My mom helped us cover some of the expenses as a housewarming/new baby gift, generously buying us a brand new washer on dryer that she purchased during the Home Depot appliance event, which was amazing. My mom is the best. And we are super spoiled.

Fortunately, we already planned to lay down new flooring in the basement, so digging a trench to lay the plumbing wasn't all that big a deal. Well, I mean, it was a huge deal in terms of how much work it was for the contractors, who were jack-hammering like mad men down there, but it didn't derail any of our other plans or ruin floors we liked or anything like that.

Here's a few shots at the work in progress. Yikes!

This is right through the middle of the basement rec/TV room.

And here's how the old laundry/furnace room looked.

And again in the rec room, this time looking at the new laundry room door.

I'll skip over some parts (I'll save our flooring choice, info on the new machines, etc. for another day) and show you where we're at. Lots more work to be done to finish things off, but hopefully you can see where we're headed now. Everything is covered in dust and is kind of a mess, but even so --- so much better, right?

Ceiling before, ceiling progress:

Door before, new door - progress!

So we feel like the worst thing we faced during the renovations -- all of the unexpected black mould -- turned out to be the best thing. As they say, life gave us lemons and we made lemonade. And we're loving it. Funnily enough, we feel like we got lucky finding mould. Sometimes things just work themselves out :)

We are going to be using the old laundry room as a storage space and have already started some simple things that totally change how the space feels and think it is going to be pretty awesome for us in terms of function. Can't wait to show you once I've got it all organized!

Now, if we could just move in already...

Jenny xo

Coastal Charm, Trendy Tuesday, My Romantic Home, Frugal Friday

Paint Colours in the New House

2013-04-17T15:03:00.003-04:00

I've had two emails asking me to list all of our paint colour choices in one spot, so I thought I'd go ahead and do just that today. (By the way, if you ever have questions or things you'd like to me post about, just let me know -- emails from you make me giddy). Today pro painters are finishing off the job at the house - painting much of the basement - and I can't wait for it to dry (and for the fumes to dissipate) so I can show you how it looks!

So for those of you following along as we give our new (old) house a makeover, and for anyone contemplating colours for their own homes,here are our paint colour choices:

Kitchen/Living Room/Hallway walls - Popular Gray by Sherwin Williams

I consider this the perfect greige. It has a lot of grey in it but doesn't read as blue or purple, as I find many greys do. It also has enough beige in it to still feel really warm. It plays well with both greys and browns, and is a really safe, easy colour to work with.

Dining Room - Smoke by Benjamin Moore

This colour looks very blue in person because the room is flooded with natural light (one wall is almost all windows, one is a big sliding glass door to the deck, and one side is open to the kitchen). At night it is a bit moodier, with grey undertones that help tie it to the grey and greige walls on the rest of the main floor.

Master bedroom, Dressing Room (main floor) - Classic Gray by Benjamin Moore

One of my favourite blogs, Aubrey and Lindsay's Little House blog, shared that they used this colour in their master bedroom and I loved it. Remembering the mental note I'd made, I decided to try it out in our space and think it is perfect. It is similar to the Popular Grey colour we have in the main rooms and hallways, but different enough to give our room a slightly different feel.

Kids' Bedrooms - Cloud White by Benjamin Moore

This is probably my favourite white for walls. It is soft but not too creamy or too sterile. Perfect. If I could only choose one colour throughout my whole house I think it would be this. A crisp, clean neutral. It looks yellowy on my screen but not so in person.

Nursery closet, inside of built-in bookcase - Gentle Blush by Benjamin Moore

Basement (playroom, office, guest room, rec room and hallway) -
White Down by Benjamin Moore

Some rooms in our basement get lots of natural light, but most of it doesn't. For this reason, I wanted to stay away from whites with grey undertones and instead choose something with a touch of yellow in it. I find this kind of tricks you into feeling like the space is sunnier than it is. The colour is looking really fresh and warm down there. I think this is always a good basement choice.

All ceilings, plus bathroom walls- Decorator White by Benjamin Moore

All Trim - Dune White by Benjamin Moore

I wanted a slightly warmer white, not a stark white. This colour fit the bill!

Interior Doors - Iron Mountain by Benjamin Moore
I love this charcoal for interior doors. Love love love love love it! We didn't want to go with black, too stark a contrast for our space (though the look is fabulous!). This charcoal makes our inexpensive doors look so much higher end.

Basement Laundry Room - Whispering Spring by Benjamin Moore

This colour looks fresh, clean and subtly aqua-blue in the space. It might be my most favourite colour in the house.

It is so amazing how much paint changes a space. The house featured lots of burgundy, yellow, green and purple colours before. This new colour palette makes it feel so much cleaner, newer, and more like us.

Jenny xo

P.S. We obviously like Benjamin Moore, but in case you wondered, I was in no way paid or perked to talk about their products. Just happen to love them, and their products are what I am most familiar with. Benjamin Moore has no idea who I am and this is NOT a sponsored post.

Sugar Bee Crafts

Laundry and Storage Rooms (Before)

2013-04-16T06:57:00.003-04:00

Hello all,

Still a little under the weather here, but starting to feel better so should be back to more regular posting soon. In the mean time, I thought I'd introduce you to two more spaces that we've been busily working on -- the basement laundry and storage rooms. Here's a look at these spaces before we got to work on them.

First, so you have a sense of layout, here is the rec room in the basement (on the day we took possession). The door on the left was the storage room and the door on the right was the furnace/laundry room.

I can't wait to show you how these rooms have changed.

The storage room is actually now the laundry room, and the furnace/laundry room is now furnace/storage. There is a long story behind it that all boils down to one thing: severe black mould. It has probably been the biggest hiccup in our whole reno and the reason we are so behind. In the end, we're happy with how things are coming together. I'll give you the whole run-down on what we did and why shortly. Today, just the before pics should be enough to scare you :)

First up, the basement laundry/furnace room.

Five days before we closed on the house, the old furnace broke. Happily, we have a brand new high efficiency furnace.

Anyway, back to the before photos:

Wires, wires everywhere! Many (and I mean many) of which turned out to be old phone lines. Weird.

Next, the basement storage room:

On the plus side, two windows let in a surprising amount of light.

However, that stained ceiling was made of asbestos tiles that had to be removed (we knew about this based on our home inspection). Underneath, we unearthed a major black mould problem. This was a surprise to us. It turned out to be in the insulation, walls, and even the studs. The whole room had to be stripped down to the concrete walls behind and totally redone.

Basic old concrete floors, which we had planned to paint but ended up going another way -- more on that soon.

Odd choices from the previous homeowners, like this door bolted to the wall (with nothing behind it, and serving no purpose whatsoever that we could tell).

Lots of holes and whatnot in the ceiling.

A little nook in one side, where they had installed a lone shelf.

This shelving concealed where the mould might have been visible. It was in bad shape, with lots of nails sticking out.

A few more photos of the space:

(Below is the side of the shelving unit, ick!)

I'll leave you with this beauty shot. It is how the storage room looked on the day of our home inspection. This room, as I mentioned, is now our laundry room. It is very much a work in progress (and will be for some time) but I am already psyched to show you how it has changed.

More on the rest of the house, as well as Matt's 30th birthday this past weekend, coming up soon!

Jenny xo

Main Bathroom Sneak Peek

2013-04-10T18:14:00.002-04:00

This week is insanely busy, so I only have a quick post for you today.

I thought I'd share a sneak peek at how the main bathroom is coming along. Not even near a big finished "reveal" but we've made mega progress and I thought you might like an update (you can see all the before pics here). This iPhone pic will have to suffice.

As far as house progress goes this week, we have been moving in furniture, unpacking boxes... but no, we still aren't living there -- work is still going on and it wouldn't be the safest place for Benjamin (or for the baby and I - I'm now 32 weeks pregnant!). Specifically, we're finishing up projects like floor laying, painting, tiling, and electrical finishes, among other tiny details. Tomorrow we're also tackling a fun project in the office that I can't wait to show you.

On top of all that, Benjamin and I are both sick and I am busy planning a big bash for this weekend. Matt turns 30 on Friday, and I've got a fun event in the works to celebrate his birthday. I'll share all the party details soon, too.

Long story short -- I'm tired. And my to-do list is a mile long. But they are all exciting things and I'm feeling very excited about all the good stuff that is just around the corner now. At long last, we are legitimately getting close to moving in. I have soooo much to share on here, but right now feel like I need to just collapse and have a cup of tea before I get back to knocking items off the list.

Be back soon with better posting, I promise :)

One last look at the bathroom, then

and now:

More to come!

Jenny xo

Living Room Progress

2013-04-09T08:28:00.003-04:00

Slowly but surely, things are coming right along at the house.

Really slowly.

But I won't focus on that. Today I thought I'd give you a quick peek at a few living room updates.

You can see all the before pics of this space here if you missed it.

Here is where we're at now:

We looked at a billion rug options and fell in love with plenty before deciding that budget and practicality meant we should use our old rug in here. It is not totally ideal in terms of size (it comes a tad closer to the barstools than I'd want) but we can live with it. The price is obviously right. And we know that this rug absorbs stains like no other (it has had everything from baby spit-up to red wine spilt all over it but seriously looks brand new). Since we are about to introduce baby #2 we figured this was pretty great. Plus, we don't want anything we will feel too fussed about (and rugs can be a big investment) with kids and parties and whatnot, so this one totally works. We didn't spend much on it in the first place, and won't feel super protective of it now.

You can see the rug in our condo here.

The sectional and white storage cabinets are new. And I loooove them.

For cabinets, I knew I wanted a wall of long, low storage with doors to hide our junk. We knew we'd sit the TV on top and then eventually create a little gallery wall around it (this is really the only wall to hang lots of art, and we have ideas for what we'd like to do with it one day).

We looked at a billion options and settled on the Ikea Besta units.

For our measurements, we went with two double-doored units and one single door. We considered several door options and loved the high gloss white ones, but thought the ones pictured above would work best with our kitchen (which the room is totally open to). We added glass tops that ikea makes (they are for the "malm" but fit perfectly -- specifically we used one short one (which covered a double unit) and one long one (which covered the double and single together). The glass looks beautiful, helps it feel like one long unit and protects the surface of the cabinet. We also added chrome legs. In the pic there is a big gap, but that is only because we hadn't slid them into place yet. We were actually still working on changing out the electrical receptacles in behind at this time. So ignore that.

Here's a reminder of how it looked before:

And all that burgundy? Gone.

Now, everything has been painted a soothing "greige" colour. I wanted a grey that felt warm, and wanted to be sure it wouldn't read as blue or purple (so many greys seem to). We went with Popular Grey by Sherwin Williams for all the walls (and Benjamin Moore's Decorator White for the ceiling). Super happy with both! Here's the swatch of the Popular Grey.

See how much paint brightens things up?

A quick side-by-side look at then and now:

I'll share more about other stuff in the room (the mix of old and new pillows, the new sectional) and of things we are working on that I hope to have done soon (window treatments, how we're organizing those cupboards, accessories, etc.) but for now thought I'd give you this mini update on the space.

I'm heading back to bed with Benny now. Both of us are sick with pretty wicked coughs. Movie day for us :)

Jenny xo

Sugar Bee Crafts, My Romantic Home, Miss Mustard Seed, Frugal Friday

Kitchen and Living Room Tour - The "Before" Photos

2013-04-05T00:01:00.000-04:00

Today I thought I'd finally show you the before pics of the kitchen and living room in our house.

When you walk in the front door, there is a small entryway that opens right up into the open concept family/living room and kitchen.

Here's a better look at the living room side of things, with the previous owners' belongings.

It is hard to tell but the fireplace is just a plug-in (not included in the sale). Also, the big window behind the sofa is actually a lovely, new bay window. The window treatments don't really show this off though, so we have plans to change that. It looks right onto the street so something is necessary, but we think we can make the room feel bigger and the window more special by changing this up.

Here's the room all empty and ready to be painted. Burgundy can be lovely, just not for us and not in narrow spaces like this one.

Now let's take a better look at the kitchen.

There are lots of drawers, which I think is awesome. I definitely prefer drawers to cupboards. Somehow they keep me more organized. In our old condo kitchen, we had only three small drawers total, so this feels like a huge upgrade.

(You can check out our first home's kitchen right here).

This type of cooktop is not my fave, but we aren't going to change it or anything since it is in good working order. The backsplash, white cabinetry, and butcher block I totally love.

I'll do a post one day on reviving dried out butcher block that has been neglected, and how to care for these countertops. They already look so much better than when we took possession. The photo below is, again, with the sellers' belongings.

Here's a look at the island that separates the kitchen and living room. Ignore the previous owners' belongings in this pic.

Our plans involve adding modern barstools, eventually new industrial pendant lights, accessories like a small rug in front of the sink and possibly a faux roman shade over the window, and lots and lots of paint. For the living room, we bought a brand new couch, and have plans for some nice storage and a gallery wall (oh, and those window treatments I mentioned).

There are also things that are hard to see in the pics that needed finishing. For instance, there are lights under the cabinets but they are not hooked up properly so they don't work. Also, the crown moulding above the cabinets had never had the nail holes filled, hadn't been caulked, and wasn't painted. We've fixed that. The little things somehow make such a big difference, even if they aren't noticeable in an obvious way to other people.

Perhaps the most important thing we'll be doing is cleaning.

The photos don't do the dirtiness of the house justice. I think it probably scared off a lot of potential buyers who couldn't see past the grime (as I mentioned a little while ago, this house was on the market for ages before we bought it). I am sure the previous homeowners were wonderful people who just happened to not excel in the cleaning and organizing department, but it did make it hard to look at the house (versus look at the clutter). To illustrate, here's two photos I happened to snap of some of the stuff we found after moving in.

The fridge and freezer were just plain gross. Look at all that old food! Remember, this is after they had moved out and we had taken possession. You can imagine what else we found in the shed, furnace room, etc. Surprises everywhere!

I gathered up stuff that seemed sentimental (like family photos) or valuable (like video cameras--yes, plural-- jewelry, cash, cheque books, car keys, and gift cards) that were left around and returned them to their realtor to get to them. You can see some of the items gathered in a drawer below (we just corralled everything we found as we cleaned). Stuff that felt like junk, as well as obvious garbage (there was loads of it) we disposed of. Remember, this was not a foreclosure or anything, so this was unexpected. It helps illustrate how poorly the house showed (little effort was put into basic tidying for showings) which I think was a really good thing for us as the purchasers. If you're house hunting, look past the garbage to see potential!

Anyway, back to the tour.

So you can get a sense of layout, through the kitchen (on the opposite side from the living room) is the dining room. I'll show you around there shortly, but for now here's a glimpse of it. It is separate but very much connected, which I love.

And that is our new kitchen and family room. They are actually a big part of why we fell in love with this house. I can't wait to show you how we dress 'em up and organize these spaces!

Jenny

Chic On A Shoestring, A Little Knick Knack, Simply Sweet Home, The Shabby Nest
Miss Mustard Seed, My Romantic Home

Collecting Original Art While Traveling

2013-04-04T06:30:00.000-04:00

We are continuing to make some baby steps toward progress in the playroom. Today I thought I'd share one small piece of artwork we are going to work into the space (unless I change my mind and put it up in Benjamin's bedroom).

Last May, Matt, Benjamin and I were in Hawaii when Matt and I decided we would like to buy small, affordable pieces of original artwork for Ben (and for ourselves, though we haven't yet) when we are on very special trips together. With a small budget, you can find great stuff by local artists when you travel. It is especially good if you are overly-sentimental like I am. Whenever I see this little surfing puppy, I think of the amazing time we all had in Hawaii. I am not big on most souvenirs, but I think art is always a good way to commemorate your travels and bring the trip home with you.

It was $15 to buy the painting, titled "Cruisin'" (I forget the artist's name and can't read the signature -- oops). It came with a white mat, measuring 8x10. I stupidly left it in the plastic sleeve to photograph it, so some of the detail is lost, but I think you get the idea.

Anyway... before popping it in a cheapo frame from Michael's for the playroom, I wrote on the back with a regular sharpie pen. I kept it very brief but you could write something much longer (maybe memories of the trip?) if that suited you better. I'm a simple girl I guess.

And now it sits in one of several piles of artwork and other stuff, waiting to be hung. Sigh.

Speaking of waiting to be hung, this is a bit random, but I also recently bought this wall clock ($7.99) from Target Canada. (In the US, you can buy it here). The raised white-on-white numbers are really cute in real life.

Can't wait to show you the playroom once we put some stuff up on the walls.

If you missed it, here is a glimpse of how the room is looking. New wood floors, fresh wall paint, some added drywall, a big shelving unit and some other small furniture are starting to come together.

Visit this post for tons more photos and details on this space.

And lastly, since the little surfing dog is making me reminisce, here's a family shot from the trip.

Note to self: Could be fun to include a photo of the family on the trip hidden inside the frame next to the note about it. It will help us remember just how small he was when we bought it!

Do you buy artwork on your travels? Or maybe you collect plates or thimbles or seashells or something else? I'd love to hear about it :)

Jenny xo

French Country Cottage, Chic On A Shoestring, A Little Knick Knack

Small Kitchen Organization Upgrades

2013-04-02T23:17:00.000-04:00

Yay! We've started to unpack and organize the kitchen!

Today is just a quick post to show you a few details, with much more to come.

I am getting ahead of myself, as I haven't really given you a proper tour of the kitchen in the new house yet. But we started unpacking that room, and sometimes the little projects you can finish quickly when you are a few months into a looooong renovation process are just too exciting, so I'm sharing a few kitchen updates anyway. Doing something from start to finish in a short period of time is just plain gratifying right now.

I promise a full tour of the kitchen is coming up shortly. In truth, I actually didn't realize I hadn't shared it with you yet until sitting down to write this post. Whoops.

The kitchen is a room we're doing basically nothing other than adding spackle, caulk, paint, more paint, and a lot of cleaning power. The room is otherwise pretty great. We did, however, opt to add a few small things from Ikea to help us stay organized.

First, we added some drawers to our pantry cupboards. Most of the kitchen cupboards were already outfitted with great built-in organizers. The cupboard to the left of the fridge, however, had a huge empty space. Perhaps they stored a vacuum here or something, but for us it is wasted space.

Here it is before:

And with a few simple drawers, we were able to add storage. The spacing looks funny, but was done this way on purpose based on what we wanted to store in each.

For instance, one drawer holds all of our coffees and teas and below it in a very shallow drawer are our frequently used teacups.

The other thing we bought at Ikea were these little white metal shelf things that expand the amount of space you have inside your cupboard. They are actually super cute in person and very functional. This cupboard houses our most frequently used plates, bowls. and mugs.

We have the shelf things (I really ought to figure out what these are called) in a few other cupboards too. I highly recommend them if you are like me and sort of obsessed with dinnerware. It helps keep your stacks of things neat and organized.

Will snap photos of the other cupboards soon.We are still playing around with what is going to live where in the kitchen, but are happy to be getting boxes unpacked and the house is feeling more and more like ours. I'll give you the full run-down of how we organized everything soon.

Moving day is definitely nearing. It will be great to live in the house (finally!) but living with my parents has been awesome and we'll miss it a lot. Thankfully, we're a very short drive away.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned on here that my sister Christine, her husband Andrei, and our nephew Jack have also been living with my parents. I think Ben is going to miss Jack so much. Aren't they sweet together? For a few months now they've hung out all day, almost every day. He's going to miss seeing his best bud so often (I've been looking after Jack during the week while his parents are at school/work-- I'm going to miss him too!). As luck would have it, however, my sister just bought a beautiful house three blocks away from us. Hooray!! I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't see them all the time. Life has a way of working things out so nicely sometimes.

Anyway, just thought I'd share my little monkeys with you.

I'm rambling though. Time for me to go to bed. Thank you for visiting!

See you soon :)

Jenny xo

Shabby Creek Cottage, French Country Cottage, Chic On A Shoestring, A Little Knick Knack
Simply Sweet Home, The Shabby Nest, My Romantic Home

Playroom Updates

2013-04-01T14:29:00.000-04:00

I hope you all had a very happy Easter! We had a great time at the cottage and with Matt's family, and are now back to regular life.

The house is a mixed bag right now -- some rooms needing mega work (as in, drywall -- we aren't even close to the decorating stage) and others starting to come together. Hopefully move-in date is near, and we are tentatively planning on moving in the rest of our furniture on Friday. Fingers crossed we stay on schedule!

Anyway, the playroom is one of the most together rooms, so I thought I'd share with you where we're at. Still a long way from a grand reveal, but I thought it might be fun to show you how it is evolving.

Here's how it is looking now:

Let's step back for a sec, and I'll show you how it looked a few days ago.

We had installed the light and set up a big white Ikea Expedit shelving unit.

We also assembled the play table and chairs I showed you here.

Meanwhile, the toys sat in boxes upstairs in the dining room, along with all kinds of other stuff.

A few organizers (the turquoise ones are from Ikea, the animal ones are from Three Sprouts Organic) and a lot of unpacking later and it started to feel more like a play space.

We love how much we can store in this one shelving unit.

Then this is how the other side of the room was looking. Artwork and a big rug are obviously going to make a huge difference. The little white bench with baskets is a hand-me-down from my sister, originally from Pottery Barn Kids I think (still very sturdy, though showing some wear and tear).

This huge soft-yet-sturdy basket is great for preventing the stuffed animals from totally taking over.

Next we moved in Ben's super awesome play kitchen, a present from his godmother, Aunt Alicia. We've slowly stocked up on Melissa & Doug wooden play foods and have a pretty nice little set-up now. He loves it to grocery shop (the cart is from Pottery Barn Kids) and cook for us. So cute.

And a few more shots just for fun. I was a little camera-happy.

And giddy to be unpacking something.

We have plans for some display bookshelves on the walls, so some of the books will move off of the shelves here. Then again, we still have more books to move in!

Hopefully soon I'll share this view with you again with some adorable artwork on that big blank wall.

Okay, well officially I've shared way way way too many photos.

Here's our updated to do list:

1. ~~Finish the drywall (i.e. drywall over weird exposed beam).~~

~~2. Remove old carpet.~~

~~3. Install new laminate wood flooring.~~

~~4. Install new baseboards and quarter round.~~

~~5. Paint the walls~~

6. Paint the trim, baseboards.

7. Add a window treatment (possibly a fun DIY no-sew faux roman shade).

~~8. Buy and assemble an ikea Expedit shelving unit (this one, though we've been stalking craigslist in hopes of finding a discounted one). Secure it to the wall.~~

~~9. DIY/Buy a play table and 2-4 play chair~~s (you can see what we chose here)

10. Gather/make/buy artwork (see above for way too much detail about this)

11. Hang artwork

12. ~~Unpack and organize the toys~~

13. Paint the weird little closets/under-the-stairs-nooks/crawlspace to look like little houses.

14. Add a rug for softness (after all, this is where little ones play)

~~15. Add a new light fixture~~

~~16. Fix the weird outlet/exposed wire inside the little closets (this happened immediately)~~

17. Child-proof the outlets in the room

18. Replace the broken light switch cover

To read more about where the room started visit here, and see our mood board, etc, visit this post.

Thanks for visiting!!

Jenny xo

Thrifty Decor Chick, Southern Lovely, No Minimalist Here, Shabby Creek Cottage
French Country Cottage, Miss Mustard Seed, Chic On A Shoestring, A Little Knick Knack
Simply Sweet Home, The Shabby Nest, My Romantic Home

Happy Easter

2013-03-31T08:46:00.002-04:00

Happy Easter!

We are up at the cottage celebrating with family and having a lovely little escape.

Thought I'd share a few snapshots and then get back to eating and chatting and hanging around with everyone.

I'll be back Monday with some house updates for you!

In the mean time, I hope you are having a fantastic, relaxing weekend.

Jenny xo

Photos are after the jump for anyone interested. Just click read more.

Main Floor Bathroom (Before)

2013-03-28T08:23:00.004-04:00

Lots of exciting work is happening at the house, but in truth I am hitting that point of being sooooo desperate to move in already. I know you can't rush a good thing, but have also learned that it is true when people tell you a reno will take twice as long as you think it will. Such a bummer. But I'll save my whining.

Fortunately, we are making really good progress on the main bathroom of the house, so I thought it was high time I shared the before pics of this space.

If you missed checking out the other bathroom, check out the before pics and design/progress posts. To see more of our main floor, check out the bedrooms here.

Like much of the main floor, this room sported some very burgundy walls.

It also featured a window (a) against code in terms of its placement and (b) rotting/showing major black mould (a home inspection revealed that this was also behind the white ceramic tiles, so we'd have to gut this whole space just for safety, though we'd have done it anyway for aesthetics).

See the nastiness on the window? Hard to tell in this iPhone pic, but trust me it was icky. The mould was painted over, probably when they opted to show the house. But it was still readily apparent to our inspector.

Don't feel bad about us ripping out all those tiles and whatnot, either. They had seen better days...

And the fixtures, though funcitonal, just weren't what I envisioned.

This sink was actually in good shape, but since this is our main bath I knew a pedestal sink wouldn't do it for us storage wise. Say hello to craigslist, mr. sink.

In the pic above you can also see the vinyl flooring. During demo we found this really easily came out as it was only glued down around the edges. Score!

The mirror and light we've saved, to either use someplace else, donate, or craigslist. Time will tell.

And the toilet (sorry -- this photo is refusing to rotate!) is getting a good cleaning and then being popped right back in. Since it is relatively new, clean, and white, just like the basement bathroom, this one is staying put. Hooray for reusing and saving some money!

I'll be back soon to share updates on how the space is looking and tell you all about our plans for this little room, but for now let me tell you my favourite parts: white and grey marble, polished chrome, white subway tiles, a vanity with drawers, and a rain shower head. So exciting!

Jenny xo

P.S. Robin kindly let me know that, since I switched to Google+, my posts were "hidden" in her Google Reader feed. Yikes! I suck at technology and have so little time at the computer these days that I have opted to switch back for now. Hopefully this fixes things up. Can you tell me if this post appeared in your reader today? I am also looking into Feedly and Bloglovin' for myself and exploring ways to make it easier for readers to keep up with things on Simcoe Street. Suggestions welcome! I am also contemplating hiring out for a blog redesign -- the technical side of things is not my forte - - but given the state of my house the idea of pulling apart the blog is a bit too much right now. Still, if you have any recommendations, I'm all ears!

Main Floor Bedrooms (Before)

2013-03-26T07:30:00.004-04:00

Today I wanted to give you a quick tour of the two bedroom on the main floor of our new house. These rooms are both relatively small, and unfortunately we don't have much in the plans/budget at this point for fixing them up. One day, however, we'll make them really special. For now, you can expect some simple, very low-budget changes in these spaces.

The first room is to be our master bedroom. The second, smaller room is to be our "dressing room" or big walk in closet. This is pretty great, since old houses like ours tend not to have much in the way of closet space. Though the bedroom layouts initially didn't seem ideal, we think the way we are planning to use the space actuallay makes a lot of sense for us as a family in the end.

(As a reminder -- there are two bedrooms on the upper floor -- Benjamin's room and the new nursery. There are also these two main floor bedrooms, and three extra bedrooms in the basement - which we're using as the playroom, office, and guest bedroom. Space was the main reason we loved this house, which I mentioned when I first posted about buying the house right here [it is a lot bigger than most things in our price range in the area] but figuring out how to make the layout work took some creativity).

Anyway, I'll let the photos do the touring for me.

Lots of reno progress on the rest of the house happening, so apologies if I'm not responding to questions or comments as quickly as usual. Update pics to come soon!

Master Bedroom - Before

(with previous owners' belongings)

On the day we took possession:

We do not plan to do anything to these very beat up floors right now. They cannot be easily refinished (they are old, with gaps and nail popping, so it would be extremely expensive) and new floors aren't in the current budget. We're thinking they may be candidates for a paint job in the future.

The curtains desperately need replacing. Truth be told, however, they are still hanging in there right now. Ugh.

Small closet:

Stickers everywhere!

And lots of unfinished details, like the paint job inside the closet.

I haven't really done much in the way of planning for this space, but hope to turn it into a little escape for Matt and I. We really didn't love our bedroom in our first home as it always felt cramped and cluttered. Hopefully this one will be different! The next room on our tour should help with that...

The Dressing Room (Before)

The paint job was poorly done and easily scratching off everywhere. Stripping and sanding it down and redoing it isn't fun, but totally necessary to clean the space up.

And simple things like making all the outlets/switches match should help too.

And again new window treatments. Yikes.

And that completes the tour of the main floor bedrooms!

Hopefully I'll have some sort of progress in these rooms to share soon.

New hooks for Benjamin's Room

2013-03-22T18:25:00.002-04:00

In the kids' rooms in the new house we have lots of whites, creams, and greys happening, as well as other colours in smaller doses. I love the layering of different shades of white and cream but think that different textures -- wood, metal, fluffy rugs -- are important in keeping it from feeling to "clean" for a child's space (or any space). Anyway,I was on the lookout for hooks for Benjamin's new room for when we have wet towels after the bath (I'd like to pretend we'll carry 'em back downstairs and hang them in the bathroom, but after a year and a half of having towels draped over his door in our old condo, I know us better than that). These ones from Anthrpologie (here) were a mini-splurge, but so perfect. They're a bit worn and rustic and very substantial in person. I debated just getting a B, or getting his monogram (BGM), but instead chose to just go with what we call him most -- "Ben." They are pictured here just hanging out on the kitchen counter (yay butcher block!) but I'll show you how the look in the room once they're up and it all comes together.

Have you indulged in any mini (or mega) splurges lately?

Happy weekend!

Jenny xo

P.S. Have I mentioned that we now live really close (as in walking distance) from Anthropologie? There's actually so many great shops in our town. Awesome, but so dangerous!

Chic On A Shoestring

Nursery Progress - Furniture Layout

2013-03-21T00:01:00.000-04:00

We are far, far away from finishing up the nursery for baby girl.

But we have made progress since I last showed you the room (here) so I thought I'd share the latest updates. Mainly, we've figured out how we think we'll lay out her furniture (and we haven't had to buy a single new piece!). Baby steps (no pun intended).
If you were hoping for more developments in the basement bath, rest assured they are coming! I so appreciate your comments and emails about it!

You may recognize everything in here from Benjamin's nursery in our condo.

Excuse the plastic bags covering the chair. Our house has been dusty (visit here to see what I mean).

We've been debating how to set up the nursery, essentially needing to choose either what looks the best, or what works the best.
We are going with the latter, evidenced in the photos above.

Let me explain. The room is a good size, but we knew we wanted to include a crib, chair for nursing, table for next to the chair, dresser, and bookcase. The room also has a built in bookcase, as you may recall from a tour of the space. Add to that a big window, closet door, and entry door, and the options for layout are limited. It is easy to make this space feel squishy.

Now add a single bed.

Sound like it will look too cramped? It kind of does. But we're rolling with it anyway.

Oh, and apologies for such dark photos. Between Benjamin, my nephew Jack (who I've been looking after a lot during the week), Matt's work schedule, and renovations, it seems the only time for me to have a moment alone to take a few photos is at 10:30 pm. Not ideal obviously for photos, but better than nothing!

The view from the other side of the room. The bookcase looks funny in the pic but in real life is pretty hidden unless you're on this side of the room. I'll take a better pic so it looks less weird. It's not weird or too squishy in person. I'll also try not to do it at night time and to remove the garbage and cardboard from the floor. Yikes.

So anyway, why add a single bed? Wouldn't the room be airier and prettier without it? (Yes, yes it would). I think our reasoning would take a whole post on babies and sleep and what works for us -- and what doesn't.

Suffice to say that sleep has always been a challenge with Ben. There are some things we want to do similarly with the next baby, and a few tweaks we think might be necessary for allowing everyone to get some shut eye now and then. Ben still doesn't sleep through the night, especially if he is in his own bed. For months now we've been staying with my parents -- first, after we sold our condo and waited to close on the house. And now while we get the house ready to move in. It has been really fun and all, but the three of us in one little room hasn't exactly fostered Ben's ability to sleep alone. We have high hopes for helping him learn better sleep skills in the new house, but we'll be adding a newborn into the mix almost right away too. So, without rambling on too much more about it, for about a billion boring reasons, we think we need a bed in there. Stylish, well-designed, pretty? No. Functional? Heck yes.

AND, we actually have a beautiful vintage wrought iron white bed with little bunnies on it, which lived in a few of my sisters' rooms over the years a decade or so ago. I love it, and think we can make it look great in here. Plus, it's free :)

Now of course I'm on the hunt for cute twin-sized bedding and crib sheets to coordinate. The crib skirt (from Ben's room) is a grey one from RH Baby and Child, so maybe something that goes nicely with that. Will keep you posted! Here's one I quite like, which I'd pair with some grey, cream, and/or white throw pillows and sheets...

First though I'm going to nail down window treatments and crib bedding.

A few other minor updates to the room to share right now. I found this cute little doggy hook in the pet section of HomeSense. It is meant to hold leashes. I thought it would be fun for kids though (it was originally for Ben, but I liked it better in here), and was $5. I put it up on the inside of the closet door using command strips (to avoid damaging the door).

And, I've finally found a fixture to replace that ugly light. With budget and major size constraints (the ceilings are not high, and I really really wanted a chandelier, something with an antique feel and real crystals and a touch of pink -- oh, and the pink is actually way less bold than it looks in this pic) finding a light was no easy feat. It's not up yet, but here is a glimpse of it (in the box, surrounded by cardboard -- lovely, right?). More on the light when it goes up, hopefully very soon! It was a floor model which was lucky, and saved me about 40%. Hoorah!

To see how the nursery started out, visit this post for all the before pics, like this one:

More about installing the new floors and painting the walls here.

And you can read about painting the closet pink right here if you missed it.

Before I go, just for fun, I also snapped this pic of our dining room when I was there last night taking photos. Everyone wants a room filled with random stuff from all over the house that is hanging out avoiding drywall dust, right? Hopefully soon we will be more settled. I am just dying to unpack everything and live there already....

Jenny

xo

Romantic Home + French Country Cottage + Simply Sweet Home + A Little Knick Knack
Thrifty Decor Chick + No Minimalist Here + Shabby Creek Cottage + Miss Mustard Seed
The Shabby Nest + My Romantic Home

Basement Bathroom - Mood Board, Design Plan, & Progress

2013-03-19T00:01:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I shared all of the scary before pics of our bathroom, as well as a sneak peek at our progress in there. Today I thought I'd fill you in on our plans for this odd, tiny space. We've got a tight budget, but think we can still make this space feel fresh, be more functional, and work well for our family with a few key choices. I mean, no matter what we do, it can't get worse, right? (Before pics here).

Let me give you a closer look at a few of the things we've chosen for this space.

We opted to get rid of the tub and instead go with a nice big, glass-doored shower. Since this is mainly for guests and we have a tub upstairs, this seemed more functional. Plus, the big wall of glass will keep it feeling airier and bigger (I'm not kidding myself here -- it is still a teeny bathroom -- but feeling bigger is always better, even if it still feels small). Oh, and one easy but big change -- the door (which we just replaced) will open out, rather than into the room -- so no more wondering if there is a sink hidden behind the door. This small change actually makes the biggest difference in terms of how the room feels. Yay!

For the sink, we are trading out this leaking beauty:

And going with this one from Ikea (the Lillangen). I searched everywhere and looked at every sink option in our very specific dimensions. This one was the most affordable and had the white, clean lines I was looking for. Sold! It is installed now and the size is perfect. The added storage is a huge bonus.

But we are adding this hardware from Anthropologie. It is simple, but has an antiqued feel that mixes well with the bathroom's more modern elements.

Matt and I have also weirdly always loved these trough-like faucets. We finally get to have one! We picked up the Pfister Kamato (here) from Home Depot and love how it looks with the new sink/vanity. For our main bath we'll be going with a more feminine look so we are happy to have this masculine, fresh, modern bathroom to play around with too.

Definitely better than what we started with, ha ha:

Hanging next to the sink will be these cute towels from West Elm for drying hands, in grey stripes. I found "M" ones (for our last name) while in New York in January during their bed and bath sale and scooped up three of them so I can rotate them without needing to do laundry immediately. I am crushing on many of their different hand towels. Love 'em.

We also lucked out and found a perfectly sized shower door system with a beautiful sliding glass door, modern chrome details, and a pre-finished floor thing/drain/whatever you call it (tiling the floor in the shower was going to be expensive, comparatively). And I do mean perfectly sized -- in terms of height, width, and depth. Since we could not afford to go custom but wanted a custom feel, this was extremely lucky. And we got it at Costco of all places! It is by Ove, and is just like this here one but in chrome instead of satin aluminum. (For those curious or in the market, ours was $539 for the door/hardware/floor/drain/everything at Costco). We looked at similar ones at Bath shops for 3-6 times the price. We love it. It looks just like this. Oh, only ours opens right to left, not left to right. But you get the idea.

Our other big purchases were tiles. We went with extra long white subway tile for the shower surround, and white and grey marble tiles for the floor. We're using the exact same tiles in the bathroom upstairs. However, down here we're having the tiles installed in a more linear, modern way and upstairs using the traditional subway pattern. Thus, the spaces will feel cohesive -- lots of chrome, white and grey -- but will also be distinct, which is fun.

The subway tiles were extremely inexpensive (if your'e in the GTA, we got the at The Tile Shoppe in Mississauga, which was very wallet-friendly - the white subway tiles are perpetually on sale and the best prices around). We splurged a little more on the marble for the floor, but since we didn't need much, it wasn't a big cost. I'll look up the exact tile and let you know what it was when I do up a complete source list/reveal/all that jazz.

I showed you this glimpse of the new floor tile yesterday.

Here's a peek at the white tiles on the walls. Again, an iPhone pic. We aren't even close to proper after pics though, so I haven't had my new camera kicking around in all the dust and mess with us (see what I mean here). I'll get on that though.

Still debating what to do with the wall colour in here. Maybe white, soft grey, or soft blue.

I quite like "Glass slipper"(above) by Benjamin Moore. Jury is still out, however. What do you think?

The door will be charcoal grey (Benjamin Moore's Iron Mountain) like all the other doors -- see this post to see how they look in our house-- if that makes a difference in your opinion on the wall colour.

Thank you for visiting!

Jenny xo

Sugar Bee Crafts, Love Grows Wild, Primp, Gingersnap Crafts, Southern Lovely

Shabby Creek Cottage, Romantic Home, French Country Cottage, Simply Sweet Home

Thrifty Decor Chick, Miss Mustard Seed, Chic On A Shoestring, A Little Knick Knack

Basement Bathroom Before (Or, the Ugliest Bath Ever) and Sneak Peek at Our Progress

2013-03-18T08:28:00.001-04:00

In case the photos I shared over the weekend (here) of the house weren't horrifying enough, I thought I'd introduce you to one of the ugliest "before" areas of the house -- our second/guest bathroom in the basement. Come on in...

Our new house has two bathrooms -- one on the main floor (which is where the master bedroom is also located) and one in the basement. We have gutted and are working away on both of them, as both had significant cosmetic issues as well as safety/health concerns.

The basement bathroom is teeny tiny, with a weird slopey sink nook that is built in under the stairs. We didn't have the budget to expand the space or to even change the footprint, so working with the bizarre little room has had its challenges. Let me show you...

The sink was hidden behind the door in the photo above, which opened into the space. The first time we saw the house we actually didn't think it had a sink, ha.

Almost every inch of the room was covered in cedar planks. It was like the world's tiniest sauna. More specifically, a tiny rotting sauna -- this was a DIY job gone wrong. Our home inspector showed us how the wood had never been properly waterproofed/sealed and was spongey and rotting in numerous spots. Particularly the window smack dab in the middle of the shower (which is not to code in our area).

The dark stuff you see here is mould. It is easier to see in these pics of the window, but there was evidence of mould throughout the little space. And the light? Totally because I was using a very bright flash. The space was darker in person. The window looks out underneath the deck. No natural light at all.

Oh, and speaking of being against code - - check out the placement of the electrical outlet.

Practically IN the tub/shower. Everyone made lots of puns about how "shocking" it could be to bathe here.

The water shut off valve for outside was also located inside the shower. I didn't get a photo of it. Our contractors kept saying how incredibly weird this was so I thought it worth mentioning.

Anyway.... We had thought about saving the sink, since the nook is so tiny and it would be hard to find something well-priced to fit (and, duh, because it would make the sink free which helps the tight budget we are working with). It is white and I thought a new faucet would dress it up. This drippy one didn't do it for me:

But as it turned out, the sink had a giant crack in it and as such leaked onto the floor. Bye bye, sink.

A few other details and shots for you:

I like the idea of storage on this wall above the toilet, but this odd cabinet (with open shelves maybe 2 inches deep) seemed utterly useless to me and got the heave ho. Also, the moisture/mould issues in here (did I mention there was no fan and that the window didn't open?) made me worried about reusing it elsewhere, in case you were thinking it could get a cool second life somewhere else in the house.

Hard to capture in pictures (a small room like this is so hard to photograph!) but there were numerous ceiling heights, which made the whole thing feel even smaller. The ceiling was also a piece of poorly painted plywood in the middle, rather than drywall or cement board. My contractor said this was extremely odd.

And nothing felt finished, even though they had DIY'd this reno about 6 years ago. The little things -- like not painting behind the toilet -- left a lot to be desired.

But the toilet was white, and in great shape! Keeper!

(You can see above that some of the tiles were not grouted. Weird, right? They were also glued directly to the concrete subfloor, we later learned. Also weird).

This light (the only light source in the bathroom -- again, that window looked out underneath the deck, so no natural light) was actually decent in real life. Keeper!

Everything else -- from the mouldy panels to the cracked sink to the burgundy floor tiles -- was dumpster bound from the moment I laid eyes on it.

I can't wait to show you how far we've come down here. Maybe guests will actually want to shower here!

Here's a quick pic of one of my fave new things -- the white and grey marble floor. Check back soon for all of our plans and choices for the space and a full run-down of our progress (with proper photos, none of these iPhone snapshots -- I promise!).

Already so much better.

Hope you had a great St. Patrick's Day, and have a happy Monday!

Jenny xo

UPDATE: Want to see more of where this is going? See the bathroom design plan, mood board and read about the things we've chosen for this awkward little space right here.

Since we are working with what we have -- a teeny, awkward space, odd angles.. basically limitations galore -- and can't change the footprint or size, I'm joining Emily's great link-up. You should too!

Also joining: BNOTP, Coastal Charm, Love Grows Wild, Sugar Bee Crafts
Gingersnap Crafts, DIY by Design, Southern Lovely, Shabby Creek Cottage, Romantic Home
French Country Cottage, Simply Sweet Home, Thrifty Decor Chick

Renovation Reality

2013-03-17T09:18:00.003-04:00

Have you ever done a renovation, big or small?

So often in magazines and design blogs it goes from a before photo right to a gorgeous after. It seems so fast and magical. In real life, there are a lot of weird in-between phases. People probably don't share them because these in between bits are super ugly. Well, I'm going ahead and sharing it all anyway. Brace yourselves.

First, let me say this... We've made mega progress and are actually pretty close to moving in (I'm hoping two weeks and we will be officially full-time living there, though we'll still have about a hundred years worth of tweaks to make, ha ha). With that said, parts of the house are still in shambles. Many parts. There is nothing even close to an "after." But that is real life. And all part of the fun, I think.

Today, I thought I'd share some snapshots from around the house over the past little bit (as I said, some sadly still current - a number of these pics were snapped yesterday). Some of these spaces I've yet to introduce you to, but we'll get to those starting Monday. For now, thought anyone who has been there might get a laugh out of some of these. And if you've never done a reno (this is our first) here is a glimpse of what you can expect should you decide to take on one yourself. Enjoy!

This, my friends, is our beautiful mess. Let's hope those "afters" are worth it.

Jenny

P.S. I promise there are prettier pictures coming up soon :)

P. P. S. Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

BNOTP, Coastal Charm, Sugar Bee Crafts, Shabby Creek Cottage