A few DIY blunders

I don't know about you, but whenever Joe and I have holidays together, it usually means tackling a home project or two while we have the time. Unfortunately, this holiday, our projects weren't completely successful. (Don't worry...there are some successes among the mistakes!)

Let me tell you about the first blunder. Although the colours of the house were mostly neutrals when we moved in, both Joe and I felt that we needed to freshen them up and make them more "us". I vowed in this house NOT to paint everything beige and grey. 

When it came to our living/dining room (the biggest room in the house, which was painted a yellowy-beige colour), my biggest challenge was to find a paint that matched the original, oak trim in the windows, and that wasn't one of those light neutrals (even though in my heart I knew that would probably be best).

The "before" colour

 

So, I spent a lot of time going over inspiration photos online and looking at paint samples before I decided to go with a light blue-green called "Amusement Park" by Beauti-tone. We had already decided to paint the trim on the doors and baseboards white and started with that. Then we started painting. It became clear almost immediately that the colour was NOT what I had envisioned. It was coming out a light, frosty blue which came across as quite cold... definitely not the warm look I was going for. But, we kept going in hopes that once the original dark yellowy-beige colour was covered it would look right. Well... it didn't! It still looks quite cold looking.

Somehow...this photo makes it look how I wanted it to look!

Which brings me to my second blunder. Although I did spend too much a lot of time choosing the colour for the living/dining room, what I didn't consider was the rest of the main floor, or how the blue-green would look next to them. Not only was the colour not at all what I had envisioned, but it looked even worse next to the hallway and kitchen. Oh man. Unfortunately I was in such a painting frenzy that I forgot to take photo evidence of the mis-matchedness (although you can see a little bit in the photo above. And I'm too lazy to go photograph the kitchen mismatch.)

I thought that maybe painting the trim in the hallway would brighten things up and at least make the blue a little bit better.

Hallway before

Hallway before

When we bought our home, I always envisioned painting the trimwork. I know... painting original, almost 100 year old trim would seem like a HUGE no-no to a lot of people. In fact, I heard so many strong opinions against painting it that I doubted myself. However, I love the look of white trim (and really love the look of big, old trim that is painted), so I decided "this is my house, I want to live here a long time...I'm gonna do what I want!" And... well, I am quite happy with how the trim looks painted. Don't worry, that wasn't one of the blunders. (And I think I'll do a how-to post on painting the trim soon).

Hallway after

Hallway after

We also decided to take out the large, oak wardrobe that we had since it made the entry feel so much smaller and darker. And it was becoming a catch-all. So, we moved it to the back playroom to see if we can make it work. I'll give more details about our plans in my next post.

Fortunately, painting the trim also helped the blue look better next to the hallway. So there, one little success. (Although I'm still thinking about repainting the blue... we'll see)

Now let me tell you about the last blunder. I had always been up in the air about whether or not to paint the window frames white in the living/dining room. Quite frankly, the two larger windows are in beautiful condition. I mean, really, even for someone who doesn't love the natural trim look, they are so nice.

You can kind of see the trim quality in this terrible photo.

However, the smaller, stained glass window's frame is in not-so-good shape. It is full of nail-holes and has a lot of random paint splotches, and is generally just bad looking. So, while we were putting wood-filler in the trimwork of the hallway, I told Joe to do the same with the small window in hopes that it would look a little less ratty.

Well, apparently once you put on the wood filler, you are supposed to paint or stain it to match the trim and it is basically impossible to wipe away the excess filler. Basically... the wood filler made a hot mess of the trim, and we may need to paint. I may try one more time to get the excess off before doing so, but it is a little frustrating. Although, maybe it solved the painting debate... paint it is! (Or is it?)
Stay tuned.

Basement bathroom makeover!

When we moved into our house, the basement bathroom was kind of the house's dirty little secret. It was in definite need of some help. The previous owners had done some patching in there and I didn't repaint. On top of that, it had an old claw-foot tub that had been painted a textural pink, the existing wall colour was a soft peach, and the vanity brought back memory of our previous kitchen with it's melamine/oak cabinets. Joe said it was maybe the ugliest bathroom in the history of the world. (But really...did he forget our old bathroom in our old place before we painted it??!)
 

The strangest thing of all might have been the window... or lack thereof. Instead of a window there was a piece of Styrofoam in front of a storm window. For some reason it glowed red. It reminded me of Amsterdam come nighttime. Definitely not the vibe I generally go for in my home.

I didn't think the bathroom was going to be anywhere near the top of my to-do list, but then we got the basement windows replaced and I felt like it wasn't an impossible task. Then, I was going through all of the paints we have (leftovers from previous projects, and paints left by the previous owner) and realized that we could easily improve the look of the bathroom for free. With paint. So I did.

I started by painting the tub with a shiny black that was leftover from a previous project. Then I painted the trim and ceiling with the white I used in our old bathrooms, and the walls with leftover gray from the upstairs bathroom. I also painted the oak trim on the vanity, which hugely improved it's look without needing to replace it quite yet.

I put up some art we had and some matching hand towels, and voilà! It actually looks decent. 

Of course, if I actually want it to be a nice washroom I would still need to replace the yellowed floors, the vanity and the old toilet, but for now it is just right!

Henry's Orange & Mint Nursery

Our first new house project is complete! Or at least, as complete as it's going to be for now. As I had mentioned in my last post, we decided to go with an orange and mint nursery, as inspired by the nursery on this blog.

The first order of business was replacing the nursery furniture. Henry's nursery in our other house was a fairly large room (I think about 12 x 12 ft?), so when we put his furniture in his new nursery (which is much smaller, about 8 x 10 ft, with awkward doors on 3 walls) it seemed like the furniture was swallowing the space. Not good.

I noticed that a few of my favourite nurseries had the same crib in them (It is the Hudson by Babyletto)... and then I found it at a local shop, The Baby Boutique. It was fate.

We also decided to go back to using his first change table. It is a dresser we found on Kijiji for $30. It fits nice, although it is a bit trickier to fit all of his things in it! But it works since he also has a good-sized closet. 

When we first began painting, I was a little panicky. The paint was looking rather 90's sea-foam greenish. But as we continued painting it definitely grew on me. And once we put everything back into the room it began to come together. Thank goodness!
 

As for where we got things: Most things were budget/DIY/gifts/thrifted. Our one splurge was the crib, but we even got that on clearance since it was the floor model. (We saved $115 even though it was in perfect condition!) We got the shelf, frames and carpet at Ikea. 

I do still have a few small items on my wishlist. Although none of them are overly necessary - such as a bunting (this one, perhaps?), and maybe a new crib sheet and/or changing pad cover in oranges/tans/mint. I'm also trying to figure out a book display/storage so that they are within reach of the chair. For now, they're just in a basket.

We are pretty happy with how it has turned out!

New House: The not-so-fun stuff.

We have lived in our house for 3 months, as of yesterday. It seems a little crazy that it has been *only* 3 months. In some ways, it feels like we've been here forever and our last house is a distant dream. That being said, we are still loving it!

Moving here, I had (and still have!) many dreams of quick updates, like painting, that I would do right away. Well, 3 months in, and I haven't changed a thing esthetically. And I'm feeling OK with that! To be honest, I'm enjoying just living in it for now, and really thinking about what I want to do before taking the plunge and doing it. In our last place, we hastily painted all of the rooms. While I was mostly happy with the colour choices, it felt a little too neutral for me. So this time around, I have been doing a lot more reflecting before making changes. I'm getting there... changes will be happening soon!

Our last home: Perhaps too neutral?

To add to my lack of haste to make changes, Henry is entering a super busy stage (which I think will last...oh, 10 years or so? Ha!)

Our house is usually looking something like this. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time picking things up. I've also been really focusing on Henry and enjoying him as he changes more and more every day! He is so much fun.

Unfortunately, we've also had to focus on the not-so-fun parts of home ownership. Like installing a water softener (and then scrubbing years worth of water damage, sometimes unsuccessfully, off of everything it touched). And the big one: When we turned on our furnace for the first time, it didn't turn on. Yep, broken. Instead of pouring money into fixing a 15-year old, mid-efficiency furnace, we decided to expedite our wish to install a high-efficiency furnace instead. Although the furnace itself is going to save us a few hundred dollars per year in energy costs, it was still a pretty big expense up front.

Oh, and did I mention we're getting a new roof? And new basement windows? We signed those contracts before our furnace broke. Basically, we have been bleeding money here. And the house looks no different! And our wallets are almost empty.

Oh well, that's home ownership for you.

Cottagy Porch Décor

We spent our last week of summer here:

This is the lake at my mum and her partner, Rick's, cottage.
I love being at the cottage. It is so relaxing, and it is amazing living by the lake. Since summer holidays are over, I knew we'd be missing the cottage so I thought I might try to recreate the cottage feeling in the outdoor space at our house: The porch. While we were at the cottage, Joe and I kayaked to the island (on the right side of the photo) to go driftwood hunting. We came back with 3 great pieces. When we got home, one was a clear winner as it perfectly fit the space we had wanted to fill. It didn't even need anything to help it hang on the nail... it just worked! Best of all, we had been wanting something to hang there since we moved in, and this was free!

One problem with our porch, however, is our old wicker chairs. This might be the last season for these babies. To be fair, I have used them for 4 summers (mostly outdoors, uncovered) after scoring them for free off of Kijiji. And the chair pads were a thrifting purchase for a few bucks a piece. Needless to say, they are starting to look pretty sad, and aren't really too comfortable anymore.

So, back to my cottage inspiration. My mum bought these amazing faux-wicker chairs a few years ago at Winners for the covered porch at the cottage. Joe and I would LOVE a comfy style chair like that for our porch, especially considering we have spent most of our down time out there since we moved in. We love it! I think it might need to wait until next summer, though. That is, unless we find something great on clearance! 

Our New House Tour

It is definitely time that I give the tour of our new place! We have been here for about 2 1/2 weeks and are feeling settled. This house makes us happy. Just to warn you... this will be a long-and-mostly-pictures post! 

Of course, these are the "before" pictures. We have a lot of ideas of projects for this house. However, for now we will likely be holding off on most of them until we get more of a feel for the house. We actually don't mind most of the paint colours and they seem to match our style well enough. Except for Henry's room, which needs some patching and repainting soon since we had to take down some shelving in order to fit his furniture.

Main Floor

Entryway: We love the original wood trim and the stained glass. We bought the wardrobe off of Kijiji last week since there is no closet. 

The Kitchen: I originally didn't love the colour of the cabinets, appliances or the countertops when we bought the place. But it has all grown on me! It is such a great, functional kitchen.

Mudroom: Off of the kitchen there is an addition leading to the backyard. We currently don't really have much of a use for it but are thinking of eventually putting in a powder room. 

Living/Dining Room: Like our last place, there is one long living/dining room. The difference here is that we don't have a second sitting room. We don't mind... it was honestly just wasted space in our last place since we seemed to favour one room over the other. It is a much cozier size. 

Upper Level

Hallway:

Henry's Room: These aren't the best pictures... I had to sneak in quickly with my phone while he wasn't taking a nap!

Computer Room/ Dressing Room: This doubles as both. What you can't see is the large wardrobe on the other side of the room. Also - This is one of my least favourite colours in the house, so may change soon.

Guest Bedroom: This is maybe my favourite bedroom! Unfortunately the closet was too small for Joe and I, so we took a different room as our own. 

Master Bedroom: It is definitely a downsize from our last room. All that means to us is less wasted space!

Bathroom: It is perfect. I won't change anything! I am glad the previous owner did such a great job.

The Attic

Yet another thing I am thankful the previous owner finished. It isn't currently really set-up. We have dreams of turning it into a TV room, or maybe one day a master bedroom.

The Basement

Another finished space. We are currently using it as a play room, and the bathroom as Henry's bathroom. It definitely needs some work. 

The Exterior

The Front:

The Front Porch: Our favourite part of the house.

The Backyard: I have big ideas for the backyard, but they might not happen for a few years. For now, it is still a nice space. 

We are so excited to be living here.