Mudroom reveal

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

This post has been a long time coming, and I’m not meaning just this week. Fixing up the mudroom was on the fall to do list last year. I started the project but never quite finished it. However, I am now declaring the mudroom done, and today is the day for the reveal–the first room reveal on the blog.

Aren’t you just so excited?

I know I am!

Just a reminder, here’s where we started.

And here’s where we are today.

Better?

As I said at the beginning of the week, this was a cheap and cheerful update, so paint was the most important weapon in my arsenal. I took down the hooks on the walls and the old shelving in the closet, stripped the pinwheel wallpaper, patched the drywall and spread nice fresh paint over all of the walls–simple white primer in the closet, Wythe Blue on the walls and Cloud White on the trim.

Painting the trim was the biggest delay on this project. I just could not motivate myself to do it, so the mudroom sat with blue walls and flesh trim all through the winter and spring. However, when we were trying to convince Baxter to spend time in the outdoor dog run, the mudroom proved to be a good place to hang out. I could listen for barking or whining to assess how he was doing, and I could see when he escaped… all while painting trim.

Along with addressing form, I also had to address function, which mostly meant the closet. I decided to split the closet in half, allocating one part for hanging some of our outdoor gear and storing taller items and at the other end adding floor to ceiling shelves for everything from shoes to cat treats to dog toys to work gloves to sport equipment.

I reused the two sets of hooks from the old mudroom, installing the wire one in the cupboard and removing the three wrought iron hooks from their backing board and hanging them vertically to handle leashes, the towel we use to wipe Baxter’s feet before he comes in the house and our ever-so-handy shoe horn.

This ridiculous woman made me climb up on this bench when everyone knows dogs are not allowed on the furniture. I’ll just stare at my leash and think happy thoughts until she’s finished with that clicky thing. #pleasesendhelp

The bench that Baxter’s not so fond of is just about my favourite part of the makeover. It’s just a simple rustic bench, but it gives us a place to sit down and put on or our take off our shoes. Plus our most frequently worn shoes and boots tuck conveniently onto trays underneath. My Pinterest challenge umbrella stand hangs out in one corner and in the opposite a galvanized metal pail (Knodd from Ikea) holds bird seed. A large cocoa fibre mat covers the floor to trap dirt, leaves and puddles.

This is about the limit of the accessorizing I’ve done in the mudroom, unless you count rotating display of feathers, pebbles, egg shells and nests that I bring home and arrange on the window sill.

The mudroom is not heated, so we’re strategic about what we store out here. For example, on a freezing winter morning I can handle putting on chilly boots, but I absolutely need a warm coat. So coats live in the closet inside the house, and boots live on the tray under the bench.

The best thing about this makeover is that everything now has a place. Need a pair of safety glasses? I know exactly where they are. Hungry cats at the door? Oh look, here are some treats for them. Found a golf ball? Add it to Matt’s stash.

The second best thing about the makeover is that the first impression of our house is no longer cloaked in the smell of manure. For some reason, that’s what the mudroom smelled like when we first took possession. Yuck.

And yes, I do consider being organized more important than being not smelly.

In the category of “even better if,” I didn’t do anything to the popcorn ceiling, the boob light, or the unpainted front doors, so there could still be some work if I feel like it. For now, I don’t, and I’m not really too concerned with these leftovers.

The one thing that I really should fix is the doorbell. I managed to kill it during the makeover when I was trimming a section of drywall to prepare it for patching. (Don’t tell Matt. All he knows is the bell stopped working. He doesn’t know it’s because I accidentally cut through the wires). A wireless version would be a good fix… and prevent any future mishaps.

Overall, I’m thrilled with the mudroom, even though it doesn’t yet match my ultimate vision. This is a good interim solution. It looks nice. It works well. It was a simple update, and we didn’t have to spend a lot of money. Let’s look at it one more time, shall we?

I may be a year later than planned in finishing this project, but we are finally all set for whatever mud or snow Mother Nature throws at us this winter. And I’m even more thrilled to cross one room off my to-do list.

So, what do you think of the makeover? I know a lot of people were voting for opening up the closet and putting in some built-ins. Are you on board with my interim solution? How are you getting ready for winter at your house? Who hates painting trim? Has anyone else spent a full year making over one room?

Mudroom inspiration

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

How many people dream of a mudroom that looks like this?

Mudroom with built in cabinetry and brick floor

Mudroom by Country Club Homes via Houzz

Yeah. Me too.

This was not in the cards for our mudroom update.

Some day, I plan on having this mudroom. However, that will involve demoing the current mudroom, building a front porch, relocating the front door, constructing an attached garage and converting part of the pool room to my dream mudroom–complete with heated floor and built-in cabinetry. This is a project that is somewhat, shall we say, down the road.

My current mudroom project was all about the budget challenge: make the room both functional and pretty for minimal money. That meant DIYing, reusing and lipsticking. You know, a makeover, not plastic surgery.

The first decision that I made was exactly what colour of lipstick. It might be an unconventional choice for make-up, but I knew I wanted to go blue–something like the sky outside. The mudroom is a transitional space between inside and out. It seemed appropriate to reference nature. While paint usually intensifies when it’s put on the walls, I was worried that the colour actually might appear lighter in the mudroom, given the number of windows we have. When I saw Wythe Blue on House of Turquoise, I knew I’d found my paint.

Wythe Blue via House of Turquoise

I may be more than a year late to the Wythe Blue party, given that Benjamin Moore named it colour of the year for 2012, but I finally made it.

Inspired by this entryway update from Casa de Lewis, I considered installing paneling, or board and batten, or even just a very simple plate rail.

Board and batten entryway from Casa de Lewis

But then I remembered that with two doors, a window and a large closet, actual wall space was pretty limited, and I decided that extra mill work wasn’t worth the effort (plus, let’s be real here, it would have upped the budget ever so slightly, and I am super cheap).

I also wanted a place to sit down and put on/take off my shoes. By that I mean, a better place than the park bench plopped in front of the closet doors. A simple rustic bench with enough space to tuck boots underneath would do nicely.

Rustic bench from Amy & Eric McVey on Design Sponge

My final inspiration is for a project you’ve already seen: the umbrella stand inspired by Karen’s Country-Living-inspired basket–wow, that’s very inspirational.

Rustic basket inspired by Country Living via The Art of Doing Stuff

My plan was to put it all together, cross my fingers and hope that when it came time for the big reveal, I had a tearjerker What Not To Wear moment and not an Extreme Makeover gone wrong.

And that will be coming up next.

What’s your favourite shade of blue paint? Have you added paneling on your walls? How do you handle seating in your entryway? Are you a What Not To Wear fan? Who remembers Extreme Makeover when it was plastic surgery?

Mudroom before

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

How many of you out there dream of a proper mudroom? [Both hands way up]

I have always wanted a mudroom–a place to put jackets, shoes, bags, mail, keys, boots, gloves, hats, toys, leashes and everything else that seems to live in that in-between space of outside and in.

Since moving to the farm, I’ve learned that a mudroom is a necessity. Because, you see, there’s mud.

A transitional space where the mud (and leaves, grass, gravel, dirt and all of the bits that surround us) can stay is essential. Sure some of mother nature still ends up in the house, but sometimes she stops in the mudroom to look around first.

Fortunately, our house came with a mudroom. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite match up to the vision in my head.

Here are the befores, starting with a not-at-all-weird panoramic image composed of three pictures. At this point, I’d added a mat in front of the door and some boot trays in an attempt to corral some of the dirt. The bench was supposed to give people a place to sit down and take off their shoes. The fact that it was placed in front of the closet was only slightly inconvenient.

The good feature was that it was a big room (9 1/2 feet by 9 feet) with lots of natural light.

There was lots of space in the closet (if only we could access it) although the storage wasn’t as functional as it could have been. At the one end, the shelving was held up with the metal posts people normally use to stake trees. Of course, they were rusted.

The not so good features were that it was all the same flesh tone. And that flesh tone was made up of lots of different textures.

There was the painted anaglypta wallpaper on the closet doors, the pinwheel wallpaper on most of the walls, the painted brick where the addition tied into the original house and to top it all off the popcorn ceiling.

This definitely was not the first impression I wanted to give when people came to my house. And it’s not the first thing I wanted to see when I came home at night.

Stick around, and I’ll show you what I did to fix it.

But first, I want to hear from you. What’s your favourite feature of the original mudroom? What would you do to fix it? Do you have a mudroom? What is absolutely essential in your dream mudroom?

Building a family tradition

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

There’s a tradition in my family of working on projects together. Always. For as long as I can remember. Take this picture, for example, of my Dad and I building a bird feeder. I had probably just turned four that fall.

Here’s my Dad and I posing with the finished product (and my little sister) as we put seed in the feeder for the first time.

Fortunately I have a nephew who likes building things with me, so I’m able to carry on the tradition that my parents established. When he and his brother came to stay with us for a few days, building a bird feeder was top on my list of projects.

Using the measurements from my Dad’s feeder, we drew it out on a sheet of 5/8 plywood. He held the wood in place while I cut out the pieces with my skilsaw. Then, we switched jobs, and I held the pieces while he nailed them together. We used a bit of wood glue on each joint and some 1 1/4 inch finishing nails.

If I was to build another bird feeder, I might consider painting it before putting it together, but let’s face it, when working with an almost 14 year old, waiting for paint to dry is as exciting as… well… watching paint dry. So we put the feeder together and, after letting the glue set, I was on my own for painting (and yes, I used pretty much the rattiest piece of plywood I could possibly find for the roof).

A few quick coats of paint on the feeder and one coat of Tremclad on the pole that my cousin welded for us–seriously, the most sturdy bird feeder post I’ve ever seen–the feeder was ready to go outside.

As my nephew hasn’t come back to visit yet, Matt stepped in as my helper. He hammered the post into the ground, and I screwed the feeder onto the post. Still nephew-less, I did the first ceremonial seed dump on my own.

Perhaps the birdies are waiting for his return before they partake of the seeds, because no one has come to test out the feeder as far as I’m able to tell.

I’m thinking it could be because they feel the feeder is a little exposed. I put it on the turnaround where I can easily see it from the dining room table. However, that means there’s no bushes or trees close by for cover.

Birds do hang out on the turnaround, so I’m hoping it’s just a matter of time before they discover the feeder. I know the design appeals because nearly 30 years later my parents still have the same feeder in their backyard, and they have a steady stream of customers.

If you’re interested in building a bird feeder of your very own, I drew out the plans and you can download them here. This is a perfect project to do with kids because it’s quick and there’s lots of parts they can help with. And if the birds ever show up, I’m sure they’ll like watching them snack too.

Do you have a bird feeder? What bird seed do you use? Any tips for enticing birds to a feeder? Do you like to build things with your children or nieces or nephews? Or did you build things with your parents when you were growing up?

Trick & treat

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

In honour of Hallowe’en, Baxter wants to show you his tricks.

Dude does love his treats.

Happy Hallowe’en from Baxter (and Matt and me). Haaaaaa-woooooo! (That was a howl).

What tricks does your dog know? Any suggestions of what tricks Baxter should learn? Any training tips to share?

Check out last year’s Hallowe’en post, our Drac-o-Lantern, here.

Charmed

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

It’s been awhile since I’ve shared a treasure post, and I wore one of my most precious treasures the other week, so I was inspired to write about it.

This is my charm bracelet.

It was a gift from my grandmother when I was young. She had two charm bracelets herself: one gold and one silver. I remember them as being loaded with charms and full of memories. My ambition is to create the same with my bracelet. Over the years, I’ve slowly added to it, always looking for opportunities to remember a special trip or a momentous occasion with a charm. Friends and family know that I collect charms, so they also give them to me every so often. Every link now has one charm, and a few have two.

I can tell you where each charm came from and who gave it to me. It started as a memory of my grandmother, but it has become so much more… so many people and places that have been special in my life.

Just in case I ever forget–or on the off chance you’re curious what everything is–I’m including the list here. Bottom row left to right: teddy bear charm from my friend Catherine, bag piper from Halifax, Nova Scotia, green stone bear from Jasper National Park in Alberta, Hershey kiss from a visit to the Hershey factory during a family trip, heart locket (my very first charm given to me by my grandmother when she gave me the bracelet), goose from my mother, maple leaf from myself, thimble to symbolize my love of sewing, Cupid given to me by my grandmother one Valentine’s Day, coin from Matt’s and my trip to Cuba, good luck symbol from my friend Catherine’s trip to Mexico, 20th birthday (and the year 2000) charm from my aunt, amethyst from my Dad and sister from a school camping trip to Sudbury, knitting needles and a ball of wool to symbolize my love of knitting, green stone totem pole from Jasper National Park, round charm from my university, fairy from my friend Laurie. Along the top, there is a running shoe from my brother Adam to symbolize my love of running, a sapphire (my birthstone) from Matt, and interlinked hearts from my sister’s engagement party.

Over the weekend, I picked up a new charm to add to the bracelet. At my sister’s baby shower, her mother-in-law had charms of baby footprints.

I think this will be a great memento of my newest niece or nephew. This baby will be the first grandchild on my side of the family, so it’s definitely a momentous occasion.

Anyone else have a charm bracelet? Do you collect mementos? How do you remember special times in your life?

Hammer time

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I realize I’ve neglected to introduce two very important sidekicks that are always on hand to help us with our projects: Matt’s and my hammers.

Don’t they look like they’re kissing?

Ahem… tough DIY blogger here. Note to self: Do not let people know that you anthropomorphize your tools.

Anyways, these are not just any tools. They are our right hands–literally. And we’re each pretty particular about our hammers (insert “u can’t touch this” joke here).

Mine is on the left. It’s a 16 oz Estwing straight claw that my Dad gave me. It’s the hammer that he’s always used, and when I started working with him, it’s the one I used too.

Matt’s is on the right. It too is a family heirloom from his grandfather.

Now, I’m not trying to knock Matt’s grandfather (and you’ll see later why his is a very special hammer), but I do want to explain why my Estwing is superior. (I’m sure most guys appreciate it when their wives explain how they’re superior).

Take a look at the head on Matt’s hammer. Notice the gap below the head where it joins the wooden handle? You can see that the head has slid off the shaft just a little bit. Over time, the wood shrinks and the head shifts, and eventually the hammer can come apart.

The other drawback of this hammer, in my opinion, is the curved claw.

Let’s take a look at my hammer for comparison. Obviously, the hammer and the handle are all one solid piece of steel. They’re not going to come apart any time soon. (Please note that the duct tape is not structural. It’s simply my Dad’s labeling method so that we can tell whose hammer is whose). The handle is wrapped in a rubber sleeve that helps with grip as well as shock absorption.

My favourite part of this hammer is the straight claw. Yeah, a curved claw gives you more leverage, but you’re severely limited on where you can use it. Hammering in a tight corner and bend the nail? You can contort that hammer many different ways, but you may not be able to get the claw on the nail to pull it out. Trying to pry two pieces of wood apart? The straight claw will slide in, just like a wrecking bar. Good luck doing that with the curved claw.

Wooden handle and curved claw aside, Matt’s hammer does have one very special feature. His grandfather’s initials are carved into the head. In fact, Matt doesn’t even call this a hammer. He says instead, “I need TVP.”

And now we’re back to anthropomorphizing our tools.

Let’s draw this post to a close, shall we?

I’ll leave the final sign off to MC. (I know dude is known for his pants, but holy bicycle shorts, hammer man! I’d forgotten about those.) Break it down.

I guess I should add the usual blogger disclaimer here. Estwing has no idea who I am. This post is just my opinion. I was not compensated in anyway for this post.

Escape artist

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

For those that have been following along, the obvious question after last week’s post about Baxter’s baking attempt is why was the dog in the house instead of the dog run? Wasn’t your plan to let him stay outside when you’re not home?

Well, that was the plan, but you may have heard the saying about the best laid plans…

The dog run was not a hit.

We started slowly in the summer, trying to have Baxter spend just a few minutes in the run.

The first time he didn’t even make it a minute. It turned out the gap between the gate and the fence was big enough, and our dog is strong enough that he could push his way out.

I adjusted the hinge, tightened up the screws and closed the gap.

It didn’t work. Bax braced his shoulders and still pushed his way out.

Plan B was a second latch at the bottom of the gate. The result of that was a tunnel.

Look at the happy dog, free at last.

Plan C was a mesh base that Matt and his Dad wired to the fencing along the perimeter of the run.

I buried the mesh in dirt and then covered it all with a layer of wood chips. The result of that was more excavation and another demonstration of Baxter’s strength–this time in his teeth. Look at how he tore the mesh.

Moving on now to plan D. I added patio slabs over the mesh in front of the gate where Baxter most liked to dig.

This worked for a little while and we managed to make it up to about 3 hours in the run at a time.

But as we headed into the fall, neither of Matt nor I was really comfortable leaving Baxter alone in the run all day when we weren’t there. He loves being outside, sniffing all of the smells and watching all of the birds and animals, but he hated the run. We weren’t confident that he’d still be in there when we came home at the end of the day, and, most importantly, we didn’t want to stress him out all day.

We tried leaving him alone in the house, and he seemed to do okay, so we decided to go with that plan.

We did revisit the run on the Day of the Skunk. I’d given him a bath and kept him on his long leash outside all morning, but I had to come up with a better solution when I couldn’t put off going in to work any longer. I chose the run. I took the long leash and snapped it onto the fence just in case, gave him his kong full of kibble and a big dish of water, latched the gate and drove away.

I came home to definitive evidence that the run was a big fat #fail. The mesh was completely torn, the fencing was bent, the rocks that I’d used to fill previous holes were exposed and a new tunnel was dug.

Because of the long leash, the dog was still in the run, but we decided it was for the last time.

Now, Baxter is completely an indoor dog. He spends most of his time snuggled in his bed.

Although he does occasionally take advantage of being home alone to bend the rules.

What do you mean dogs aren’t allowed on the furniture? Matt gets the couch. You have your chair. This one’s mine.

We haven’t tried a crate, and our fingers are crossed that Baxter continues to do okay on his own in the house. If his baking urges return, we do have a separate mudroom where he could spend the day.

Does anyone else have an escape artist dog?

Blink and you’ll miss it

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

This is our second fall on the farm, yet I feel like I didn’t notice the leaves changing colour this year. This weekend walking around and actually looking around, I was surprised to notice that most of our trees are nearly bare. The colours are gone, and I didn’t even see them.

It feels like time is moving so fast these days. Friday was my last day at work. I’ve spent 11 years at the same organization, starting as a student intern, moving to different departments, trying different things, meeting different people. It was a great place to begin my career. I’ve been very nostalgic this fall as I prepared to leave my job. I have a new job to go to at a different organization, which I’m very excited about, but first I have a two week break.

I’m hoping over the next two weeks to slow down a bit and savour my time at the farm, with family, friends and Baxter, working on my projects, relaxing here and there.

How do you slow down? Any suggestions for how I should spend my two weeks? Any advice for handling a job change?

Pudding puppy

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Baxter was feeling a bit lonely one day last week while we were at work. To show us how much he really cares, he decided he’d bake something for us.

Okay that’s not it. That’s the birthday cake that he helped Matt with last month.

Check out Bax’s solo effort.

He got as far as getting the flour out of the cupboard. Then, unsure what to do next and still feeling a little lonely, he did what most of us do. He turned to comfort food.

In Baxter’s case, that’s chocolate. (If there was any question about whether he’s meant to be our dog, his chocolate obsession has cleared that up).

Fortunately, there were three boxes of instant chocolate pudding powder in the baking cupboard. Snuggling down in his bed–his favourite place to eat his kong–he eased his lonesome heart with powdered sugar and chocolate crystals.

The good news of the day:

Baxter’s new bed launders very well.
I store the real chocolate–bakers squares, wafers, chips–in large canisters, so the foods that are really truly dangerous for him are not accessible.

That afternoon we arrived home to our usual enthusiastic greeting and an unusually messier house. Matt took our baker for a long walk to work off his sugar high, while I stayed behind to install baby locks on the cupboards.

Baxter seemed to suffer no side effects from his pudding powder binge, although he did have the inevitable sugar crash.