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?

Paintings, pillows, Property Brothers, oh my!

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

My good friend Catherine and I headed into Toronto a few weeks ago for the Fall Homeshow.

Neither of us knew what to expect, but we’re both enthusiastic about our homes, so we decided it would be a fun way to spend a day together. We decided to go on the Saturday so that we could check out the Property Brothers.

As you can see from the photo, the PB presentation was a mob scene. Soooo many people, Catherine and me included.

Apparently, ’tis the season for me to be dazzled by TV personalities. Just like with Sarah Richardson a few weeks ago, I was impressed by Drew and Jonathan. Their presentation was straight-forward, funny and down to earth. They had a lot of good tips for people about everything from renovating to decorating to financing. I actually really like their show because I’m all about seeing the potential in a place and then working to make it live up to my vision. Plus, I think their designs are usually pretty liveable. BTW, there’s also a little known third property brother whom we also got to see.

Away from the main stage, there were lots of booths and lots of vendors. I had expected more exhibits, but pretty much every booth was someone selling something. Nobody was pushy, but I guess I was just looking for more inspiration than actual products.

There was one particularly inspiring exhibit by Habitat for Humanity where bloggers, handymen and women and other people had all upcycled various items from the ReStore. There was lots of creativity from shelving units to furniture to wine fridges and even a light fixture.

And amongst all of the vendors, there were two that I now covet.

The first was textiles from Andrea Hylton home. She had amazing pillows and blankets in beautiful colours and patterns. There were mellow earth tones, saturated jewel tones and sophisticated fabrics that would work upstairs. There were funky patterns and bright colours that would work in the basement. Can’t you just picture this green mohair throw paired with Strandmon in the basement? I could have bought everything in her booth.

The second booth where I again could have bought everything was artist Beverley Jenkins. She does amazing oil paintings. I love original art, and some day I’d love to have a few pieces of my own. I would have started with the birch forest at right below without any hesitation if only it hadn’t been out of my budget.

The really unique thing about her paintings is how highly textured they are. She sculpts the paint on with palette knives making a three-dimensional canvas. I tried to get a picture of the paint, but I’m not sure it really comes through.

Catherine was the perfect partner to go to the Homeshow with because she’s all about embracing whatever comes. So while the vendors may not have been what we came to see, we got into the spirit, trying out crazy chairs that gave full-body massages, watching cooking demonstrations, having detailed conversations about shower heads with a plumbing vendor, filling out surveys, entering contests and getting our pictures taken in our “dream” room at the Scotiabank booth (mine was the kitchen. Catherine chose a great backyard patio).

All in all, it was a fun day, and I did end up coming home with some inspiration. The best part was getting to spend time with one of my best friends. Catherine just bought her first place this summer, and she’s been busy painting, decorating and making it her own. Check out her blog to see her space.

Who else has made it out to a homeshow recently? Is anyone in the process of decorating a new house? Are there any other Property Brothers fans out there?

You can never have too many

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

I may have mentioned a couple of times that I have a bit of a thing for chairs. Just in case you missed it, this is the fifth post this month on the topic of chairs (out of a total 11 posts). I may have a bit of a problem, people.

Fortunately, I also have a supportive husband who does things like buy me a wingchair for my birthday and recruits his parents to go pick up another chair when the universe decides to support my habit by bestowing a chair on me as a prize for registering for BlogPodium.

So after a day spent absorbing lots of lessons about blogging, meeting a bunch of great people and picking up the second half of the prize, the decorating book Inspired Styles from Kravet, I came home from BlogPodium to find the Austin chair from Decorium sitting in my living room.

Here are the two halves of the prize together in Austin’s new home in the basement.

Inspired Styles is full of inspiration from different designers, including Candice Olson, who have all made fabric collections with Kravet.

Austin is already set up in the basement. His dark wood legs and deep grey upholstery go perfectly with our Decor-Rest sectional.

How good does he look?

Thanks to Decorium, Kravet and BlogPodium for a great prize. And thanks universe for enabling my chair ~~obsession~~ collection.

Birthday wish come true

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

See my full review of the Ikea Strandmon.

It was my birthday over the weekend. BlogPodium was my present to myself, but what about that other item that was on my wish list? A certain chair that I was hoping my family would give me…

Hmm… that’s certainly a new chair. Not sure about the style… or the comfort for that matter.

Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Ooooh! Goody, goody, gumshoes. I think my birthday wish has come true!

Behold Strandmon in my basement.

Behold me in Strandmon (reading the Inspired Styles book that I won through BlogPodium… and wearing Mickey Mouse socks… hmm).

All of my previous discomfort is gone. I love Strandmon. He perhaps may have the title of most comfortable chair ever. It’s only fair. After all, he shares the room with the most comfortable couch ever.

Thank you Matt and all of my family members for going in on this gift.

Now for a footstool and side table… and boy do I have ideas, people. Stay tuned!

Did you add any new furniture to your household over the weekend? What are some of your favourite birthday presents? Does anyone else buy themselves gifts for their birthdays? Does anyone else wear cartoon character socks?

Find a seat

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

Now that we have our new dining table, my attention is turning to my favourite furniture: chairs.

Here are my criteria for new dining chairs:

Contrasts with, yet complements, the traditional dark wood table.
Reasonably priced–especially as I’d like to buy eight.
Not upholstered.
Slightly country feel. We live on a farm after all.

Here are some of the options I’m thinking of.

The front runner right now is something wicker or woven. Sarah Richardson used rattan arm chairs around the table at her farmhouse. I’d probably go more of a parsons chair route, as I want to squeeze as many people around the table as possible, but I really like the contrast and casual feel of a woven chair.

Sarah’s House Season 3

Sticking to the wicker theme, I also like the woven seats and the ladder backs on these chairs from for the love of a house.

for the love of a house

Jen at Rambling Renovators found some great cross back chairs for a decent price. Their weathered finish would tone down the formality of the dining table and still keep the country feel that’s appropriate for our setting. Ikea has a white version that would contrast nicely with the dark wood table, but they look pretty plastic in person.

Rambling Renovators

Jenny at Little Green Notebook recently scored a great deal on some Louis style chairs. The fluting on the legs picks up on some of the details from the table, and with a white glaze or slightly distressed finish we could still avoid the matchy-matchy dining set look.

Little Green Notebook

Or I could just collect a whole bunch of old chairs, paint them all the same colour (cream, maybe?) and use them. I’ve seen people do this quite successfully. It would definitely be country and would probably be the cheapest option. I’m just not sure that that much mismatching is my style.

Sigh. I see why dining room sets are popular. Easy. No need for creativity or independent thought. Convenient.

What do you think? Do you like any of my ideas? Or do you have a suggestion of your own? I welcome any and all advice. How do you handle mixing and matching in your house?

Table for 2, 6, 10… everybody

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Every time we have people over for dinner, I realize we need a larger dining room table. The table that we have fits four comfortably, six if we squeeze. A typical family dinner, no matter whether we’re hosting Matt’s family or mine, usually involves about eight people, not including us. Special occasions like Christmas or Easter when we add in extended family require a second table and lots of extra chairs.

Well, we may still need a few extra chairs, but we should now be set in the table department.

I’ve been casually searching kijiji every so often (more popular in Canada than Craigslist), looking for a few very specific pieces of furniture. A couple of weeks ago, browsing the dining tables, I came across a beautiful antique dark wood table for an incredible price. I emailed, the seller replied, a meeting was scheduled. I borrowed my dad’s truck, we met, the table was examined, money was exchanged (a whole $130) and the table came home with us.

I know nothing about antiques, but I know I like this table. The unique legs obviously drew me in first. The size was what sold me: four feet wide by eight feet long when it’s fully extended. It has four leaves, and I think it could probably stretch to include a few more.

At some point I may have some more leaves made. I feel like our dining room can comfortably accommodate up to a ten foot table. If we do add extra leaves, I’ll definitely need to also add an extra support leg of some kind in the middle. The table has a wee bit of a sag when it’s fully extended, but nothing too noticeable.

I would also like to have the top refinished someday. It’s pretty rough, but since I use a tablecloth most of the time, I can wait on the refinishing. The finish on the legs and apron is in great shape, so I’m hoping that I could find someone who would just refinish the top.

I do need some bigger tablecloths. But not too big. I still want to see the pretty legs.

So who wants to come over for dinner?

Has anyone else had success with second hand shopping online? Any antique experts out there who can share what to look for in furniture? Anyone have any tips for refinishing furniture?

Coinkydink

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

There’s been some weird things happening this week… too weird not to share with you.

They could just be coincidences, but I’m choosing to believe that the universe is speaking to me.

Coinkydink #1: Tuesday, I posted about my wing chair dilemma. A few hours later, I found out that I won the Austin chair from Decorium in BlogPodium’s registration contest.

What I’ve not shared with you before is that I have a bit of a thing for chairs, so this is absolutely the perfect prize for me (even though I still want a wing chair). Between our house and my parent’s, I have numerous chairs, most in need of repair, refinishing and reupholstery. I see them sitting at the side of the road, and I just can’t pass them up. Long before we ever inherited our dining room set, I had first fallen in love with the chairs which I’d seen spread around Matt’s grandfather’s house.

Apparently, the universe approves of my chair habit. In fact, the universe is an enabler helping me to build my collection.

Coinkydink #2: After writing the post on Sunday afternoon about Baxter’s disappearing act, I checked my stats to see how the blog was doing as I do everyday. I found that someone had found their way to my blog by searching “baxter dog runs away.”

Universe, I got the message. I will keep him on the leash from now on.

I’m still looking for the lesson the universe had in mind when Baxter ate the tray of brownies off the counter, raided the garbage for chicken bones and then chased a skunk–with the predictable result–all within 12 hours. I mean, beyond the lesson of “thou did not set thy dog up for success.” That one came through loud and clear… and pungently.

So, there’s been some ups and some downs this week. How’s your week been? Does the universe ever speak to you? Am I just imagining things?

Not so fab freebie

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

See my full review of the Ikea Strandmon.

People, I am uncomfortable.

It’s affecting me physically, financially and emotionally.

It all began at the start of the summer.

A colleague at work was downsizing. She had furniture–extremely well-made furniture–and she wanted it gone.

I said, “What I’m really looking for is a wing chair.”

She said, “I have a wing chair.”

I said, “I’ll pick it up on Thursday.”

Of course what I really meant was I’d convince Matt to go with me to pick it up on Thursday, as there was no way a wing chair would fit in my car. If you’ve read any of Victoria’s hilarious blog, Matt’s reaction is a lot like Paul’s (although the wing chair is not in any way the same as the kingdom mirror).

So with only slight jeopardy to my marriage, Matt was on board. After he carried the chair out of the house, loaded it, drove it home, carried it into our house and down the stairs to the basement, he stood there, looked at it, and said, “Do you like that fabric?”

I said, “Of course not. I’m going to recover it!” And then I sat down.

And he said, “What’s wrong?”

And very quietly I said, “It’s not the most comfortable.”

Matt was silent.

Since then, the chair has sat in the reading nook in the basement. Occasionally, I sit in it, hoping it’s gotten more comfortable. It hasn’t. I had a friend come over and test it for me. She agreed. It’s just not a comfortable chair.

The seat is too shallow. The back is too straight and too short. The wings are too narrow. This is a sit up straight and balance your teacup on your knee type of chair (which I should have guessed from the fabric). This is not a slouch down, lay back, snuggle in and relax type of chair.

However, I found a chair that is exactly what I’m looking for.

Most of you are probably familiar with Strandmon from Ikea. This chair is extremely comfortable. The first time we met (before the uptight flowered one came into our lives), both Matt and I agreed that it is a great chair. You can sit sideways with your legs thrown over the arm and your head is still wonderfully supported by the wings–yes, I absolutely sat like this in the store. The back is the perfect angle to slouch a little bit but still be supported.

I want this chair.

But it’s Ikea. The chair that I have is probably full of hand-tied springs, high density foam and solid wood. There’s no way that Strandmon can match that. Plus, the chair that I have was just $25. Strandmon is $300. Twelve times more expensive!

Sure I’ve spent money on furniture before (hello most comfortable couch ever), but it’s always been a carefully researched decision into an “investment” or “adult” piece of furniture that will last us for years. You may say that $300 isn’t a lot to spend, but the rest of my furniture either came from garage sales or was made by me, so my threshold for sticker shock is pretty low.

The only way I can think of to make this work is to put Strandmon on my birthday list. September happens to be my birthday month. My family doesn’t typically do big extravagant expensive gifts for each other (and yes, in my world $300 is a lot to spend), but I think if all of my family members and Matt went in together, I would feel okay with them buying me Strandmon.

What do you think, family? Happy birthday to me?

Update: Check out if my birthday wish came true… and some more thoughts on the Standmon… in this post.

Update #2: See the finished reading nook here.

Vacuum verdict

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

It’s been nine months since our new carpet was installed. And it’s been nearly seven months since I posted about our need to buy a vacuum.

It’s been two months since we got Baxter, and it turns out that Matt’s sock fluff has nothing on dog fur.

The vacuum situation had become critical.

So, in the category of better late than never, I’m pleased to introduce Sebo.

Sebo, you ask? Who’s Sebo?

Sebo didn’t even figure in my original vacuum research, but after seeing it at the vacuum shop, it edged out the other brands. The salesman described it as comparable to Miele, which is also made in Germany. The Sebo has similar filters and attachments. However, I found the Sebo power head easier to maneuver than the Miele. Plus the power head is a little easier to take apart myself if something gets sucked up by mistake or wrapped around the beater bar.

The Sebo is about the same price point as the Miele, which is expensive. I may have spent more than I needed to on a vacuum, but I wanted something that worked really, really well and I didn’t want to have to buy another one any time soon.

So what’s the verdict?

Ladies and gentlemen, I am thrilled to tell you that my carpet looks brand new. It’s like I’ve gone back in time nine months. The beater bar is really effective at picking up all of the fluff and fur and bits. A dial on top of the power head sets the height, and a light glows green when the height is set correctly, so it’s really easy to figure out. I ended up lowering the power head by one notch. When I did, the drag on the wand increased noticeably, so it felt a little heavier to push and pull.

However, the vacuum is much, much lighter weight than any of the other uprights that I looked at, especially the Dyson. Weight was one of my biggest requirements because I wanted to easily vacuum the stairs. I pride myself on being a muscly (say it with a hard ‘c’ “mus-klee”) woman, but if I had to muscle (say it like a regular person) an upright vacuum up and down the basement stairs, I feared I would approach body builder proportions.

Doing the stairs still isn’t super straight forward.

The hose only stretches so far, so I have to carry the canister with me to reach the steps in the middle of the staircase. The canister will balance on the steps, which makes it slightly easier, but I’m still juggling equipment in both hands. If any manufacturer wants to make a canister vacuum with a twenty foot hose, I am on board.

The other wrinkle on stair cleaning is that the power head is a little floppy. The wand will lock in an upright position only, and when it’s locked the power head doesn’t run. Moving from stair to stair is a little awkward, but not overly so.

On a flat surface, the vacuum is super maneuverable. The power head pivots smoothly, and the canister rolls easily on its three wheels, tugged around by the hose. On the hard floor, the parquet head did a good job of picking up dust and fur. A lot of fur got trapped in the bristles on the bottom of the brush rather than being sucked right up, so I had to vacuum the attachment. The other attachments worked well too, although it did take a bit of figuring to work out that the furniture attachment had to connect the crevice tool and not directly to the vacuum.

Overall, I’m happy with Sebo, even though it wasn’t on my radar at first. The original vacuum post still ranks as my most commented post ever. Thanks everyone for your input. If you have any questions about Sebo, I’ll do my best to answer them.

Wee-wee-wee all the way home

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

You might think from the title of this post that we are adding some little piggies to the farm. However, the opposite is actually the case. We are getting rid of some pigs… pigtails that is.

Most of our lighting in the basement is still pigtails—much to Matt’s annoyance. The conversations go something like this. “You can’t say the basement’s done until it’s all done. Including light fixtures.” Finding the right light takes time though, so rather than choose the wrong fixture, I’m fine to live with pigtails.

Matt, not so much.

However, in my defense, I bought the lights for the long room nearly six months ago. They’ve been sitting in their boxes stacked in the corner beside the shop vac for just that long. Yes, I could install them myself, but under the division of labour in our marriage, Matt is the electrician.

Well, the electrician finally got fed up with the pigtails and decided to send those little oinkers packing.

Better, right?

Obviously, it’s still not “done” (the absence of furniture and art, the unpainted closet door, and the shop vac still in the corner kind of give it away), but baby steps, people. Or maybe piglet steps.