Office and sewing room reveal

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

My Mom taught me to sew when I was young, as her Mom had taught her. As my great-grandmother taught my grandmother. Now I have a new space for sewing, crafting, writing, working, creating. A space filled with heritage and history from these women and so many other special people in my life.

Welcome to my new office.

Spread around the room, you will see my collection of vintage hats. Most of these are my grandmother’s. One was made by my great-grandmother. I remember finding a scrap of material in my Grandma’s stash and recognizing it from the hat. I was blown away that someone could simply make a hat. This legacy of creativity and ability is something that I’m very proud of and try to live up to.

As I was decorating the room and styling the shelves, I realized that the hats needed some support. They didn’t look right just sitting on the shelves and I couldn’t see their details clearly. Of course, my initial thought was, “I need some heads.” But I quickly came up with another solution. I chopped up a broken pipe we had left over from redoing our sump pump outflow. I sprayed the pipes gold and voila. Cheap, simple, fancy hat stands. Creativity and ability, check.

The rest of the shelves are filled with books, photos, sewing patterns, mementos. There’s a pickle bottle Matt’s Dad found that is made by Matt and Steve–their names. There’s a football my Dad bought me when I was a baby. There’s a collection of buttons in a powder box that smells just like my Grandma when I open it. So many precious, special things that I can see and enjoy now that they have a home.

Matt and I installed the cabinets when we set up this room as his office. They provide such great storage for all of my sewing, knitting, wrapping and other supplies. I would like to update the doors and give everything a coat of paint some day, but for now I am enjoying their storage and ignoring their style. This is the first time I have ever had all of my sewing and knitting materials in one spot, and it’s so helpful for projects.

The backsplash is a very long bulletin board. This corkboard is full of things that I find inspiring, beautiful, fun. Cards from friends, crafts from Ellie, even a few notes from Matt. I will be sharing more details about this project in a future post.

The biggest function is the huge corner desk. I have two workstations here, one for my computer and one for my sewing machine. Each zone comes with its own drawers for office supplies or sewing materials. There are also four large file drawers that hold all of our paperwork and even some extra crafting supplies. Above the desk, I have some open shelves for more storage and display. I’ll be going into more details of how I built this desk in an upcoming post because I am very proud of how it turned out (more creativity and ability).

As part of the sewing zone, I have a valet stand that my Dad built for me. When he took up woodturning, he had some signature things he liked to make. One was valets like this. It is perfect for holding in progress sewing projects. Behind the valet I hung Matt’s and my diplomas. They fit perfectly in this space, and I like that Matt and my Dad are both part of this room. So many legacies in this one corner.

A gallery wall on the other side of the room holds more pictures and things that are special to me. The window sill holds a collection of thimbles from Matt’s Mom and other small trinkets. Ellie needle felted a goose to look like my long ago pet Bill and I hung it from the ceiling so it flies over my sewing machine.

The two sets of green metal drawers came from an auction we went to years ago. They’ve been in the driveshed ever since waiting for the right spot. Now, one sits on the counter and the other on my desk. They give great extra storage, and I love their rustic green patina.

There are so many details in this room, I feel like I could keep going forever. There are a few things I’m still hoping to add (Matt chose the cheapest light fixture possible, and it’s terrible), but I love how this room turned out right now. It is functional. It is pretty. And, like all my spaces, it is personal.

The coop has more doors

Posted on March 24, 2025 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

In my last coop update, I had found one door (a sentimental memory that my Dad made for our childhood coop) and resigned myself to making two more.

Making the doors turned out to be a much bigger deal in my mind than in real life. They went so smoothly. I’m still really proud of them.

I was able to use some of the leftover siding. I ripped a few pieces in half on my Dad’s table saw for the outer frame and then used my Kreg jig to drill pocket holes and screwed them together. The jig is a super easy way to do joinery, though it took me a minute to remember how to use it (it’s been awhile).

I reinforced all the corners for extra stability. Then I stapled mesh on the top section so that we can peek in at the birds.

My Mom raided my Dad’s hardware stash for hinges. She also found hooks and eyes to keep the doors closed. I found handles in my hardware stash.

The finishing touch was a fun one. Above my Dad’s door (which is a bit short), I made a sign that says “stoop your head.” This is another sentimental memory. On the last night of our Ireland trip, we went to a restaurant called Stoop Your Head. Inside the restaurant was a low doorway with a sign above. I copied the sign and hung it above my Dad’s door. Seeing the sign in our coop is a fun–and helpful–reminder.

We are so close to finishing the coop. We are so close to birds! In fact, they’re on order. ETA April 22!

To see the doors in action, check out the videos I’ve been sharing on Instagram. Follow me at juliaon129acres, and catch up on all the construction in the coop highlights (part 1 and part 2).

The coop has walls

Posted on March 10, 2025 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

There has been major progress in the coop. All the walls are in place.

I actually built the two interior partition walls on the last day before Christmas holidays (when I finished the floor). Then, when I returned to construction in January, I put up the cladding and built the rest of the walls.

Of course, there’s more to the story. Let me back up a bit. As always, I have details.

Reminder, the coop is going to have three pens. Each partition sits on the new floor I built and lines up with posts I put in. (This post shows the plans for the coop.)

The interior walls between the pens were easy. Studs 16 inches on centre. Wood cladding on the bottom half (including some fancy tongue and groove salvaged from the old coop). Mesh on the top.

At one end, I decided I could use the exterior wall of the barn as the wall for the coop. At the other end, I needed to build a new wall to achieve my room-within-a-room plan. This wall gave me a bit of trouble.

Like the other walls, I built it flat on the floor and then lifted it into place. Given that this wall was going to be against part of the stone of the barn, I thought it would be helpful to put the cladding on before it was installed. I stapled my mesh, then I decided to use a piece of metal roofing from the old coop to cover the other half.

As I lifted it onto the platform, I realized I’d missed a crucial step. I forgot to square up the wall before putting on my cladding. When I tried to slide the wall into place, sure enough, it didn’t go. The wall was a parallelogram. The opening was a rectangle.

I took off all the cladding then Matt’s Dad (who came to help me out) and I lifted it out, laid it back down on the floor and tried to square it up. We couldn’t line it up, so we put it back in the opening, where it straightened itself out perfectly. Only problem, the cladding wasn’t attached, and I had very limited space up against the stone of the barn. After borrowing my Dad’s right angle drill and testing my limits in stretching and contortion, I managed to get the metal back on.

The front walls of the coop were much more straightforward. I had been holding off building these ones, as I wanted to have my doors so I knew what size openings to build. I had a plan to use old screen doors, but it turned out secondhand screen doors are very expensive. Once I accepted that I was going to be building doors, I realized I could make the openings any size I wanted.

The first wall I built was the middle one because I was able to find one door. This is a very special door because my Dad built it for my childhood coop. The coop is now a storage shed in my Mom’s backyard, and she, knowing I was looking for doors, suggested I could take the one off the old coop.

I love having a door from our family’s coop built by my Dad as part of our coop. My Dad set me on this path of birds when I was younger than Ellie. I remember him building the coop in my grandfather’s garage. Now I’m building our own coop and continuing something that he really enjoyed.

Like the partition walls, the front wall has wood cladding on the bottom and mesh on the top, then the doorway is centred.

The last two front walls, Matt’s Dad and I knocked out in one very productive day. I built these doorways a bit taller to accommodate the doors that I planned to make.

Having the walls in place is another major milestone. It actually looks like a coop!

As I mentioned in my last update, I’ve been documenting the coop construction on video and sharing on Instagram. If you want to see more about the coop, follow me at juliaon129acres, and catch up on all the videos in the coop highlights (part 1 and part 2).

Main bathroom plans

Posted on February 17, 2025 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Renovating our main bathroom has been a long time coming. I’m really excited to finally tackle this project this year.

I am planning to do as much of the work myself as I can. I have a great plumber who worked with my Dad (and by extension me), and he’s going to be my main resource. When I called him at the start of the year to talk about the project he said, “I assume you’re going to be doing most of this yourself?” I love it when someone knows me and trusts that I’m capable.

The vision is for a bright, fresh, farm bathroom. For me, this means white, wood and chrome. It means paneled walls, natural stone (no more Care Bear countertop), shaker cabinets, and cross handle faucets. Here is a moodboard of some of what’s in my mind.

This bathroom from Heidi Callier continues to inspire me. I love the edging on the countertop, the V-groove on the walls and the wood-framed arch mirrors.

Country bathroom inspiration — *Source: Heidi Caillier*

The layout of the bathroom is going to stay the same, but everything is getting a major upgrade–including insulation, electrical and storage. I’m also going to finally fix that creak in the floor in front of Ellie’s sink.

I have two months between when I finish teaching this spring and Ellie finishes school, so that will be my renovation window. My mission between now and then is to have everything ready to go. So I’m lining up my trades (I want an electrician and a tiler, along with my plumber), making all my decisions and ordering all of my materials.

I’m hoping that I can make the final result as beautiful and functional as I imagine.

Do you have any bathroom reno tips to share? What makes a farmhouse bathroom for you? Do you have a project you’ve been waiting to tackle at your house? What’s the biggest project you’re doing this year?

Office makeover plans

Posted on February 10, 2025 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

The office makeover is a project I’ve been dreaming about for more than a year. I’ve been working for myself from home since before Ellie was born, yet I don’t have a dedicated workspace.

If I feel like sunshine and a view, I sit at the dining room table. If I’m feeling cozy and the fire is on, I sit on the living room couch. Most nights, I’m on the downstairs couch. I like the flexibility, but having an actual office would also be nice.

It took me a while to realize that I could turn Matt’s office into my office. As soon as I did, I got very excited thinking about everything this room could be.

Matt’s office is a room that only appeared on the blog waaaaaay back when we first moved in and were renovating the basement. After Matt set up his space, he wasn’t keen on sharing it and it wasn’t very photogenic, so I never featured it here.

That is all about to change.

This is the before, a mostly clean slate. (In my excitement to start this project, I couldn’t resist patching nail holes and putting some paint samples on the wall.)

When we did the basement renovation, we reinsulated all of the exterior walls, moved the office door around the corner, put up new drywall, had new carpet laid, and installed the cabinets (which used to live in the main room of the basement).

The foundation of the room was good. But I wanted to make it work for me.

Here’s a collage of some of the things that are in my plans.

First up is the colour. I’m going to be sticking with green for the walls, but a slightly different tone.

My plan is to have a large desk with two work stations that wraps around the corner. On one side, I’ll have my computer. On the other, I’ll have the sewing machine.

The base of the desk will be two filing cabinets and two banks of drawers, all painted white. Above the desk in the corner I’ll have some open shelving (likely painted green) for storage and display.

The cabinets are staying where they are, as they are (for now). I’d love to transform these into shaker doors like I did in the laundry room and give them a coat of paint, but that’s a later plan. For now, I’m grateful to have the cabinets as they provide a lot of really useful storage for fabric, yarn, office supplies, wrapping paper and more. I am planning to add a corkboard “backsplash,” as I love a bulletin board.

Then the rest of the room is decorating. I have art and objects that are special to me, and I want to finally have a nice spot to display them.

I am very excited for this project, and work is already underway. Stay tuned for more updates.

Do you have an office at your home? What’s your must-have (or wishlist) for an office?

The coop has a floor (and more)

Posted on February 3, 2025 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

A lot has happened in the coop since my last update. Key word, in the coop. Over the last two months, I’ve been working inside the barn to build the actual coop.

The plan is to make the coop a kind of room within a room. I feel like this is best way to make it secure from predators. It’s also easier to construct a standalone space, rather than trying to tie into the existing barn, which may or may not be square and level.

So this means I’ve been building a floor, walls and ceiling.

First step was setting three new posts. These support the floor, walls and ceiling. I drilled into the concrete floor, put in three saddles and then put up 4×4 posts that are screwed into the ceiling beam at the top.

Then I could move onto the floor. I wanted a subfloor elevated above the existing concrete floor because this corner of the barn is sometimes a little wet. There’s a grate in the floor that appears to be connected to some kind of drain. But I have no idea where the drain goes and I suspect that it may be plugged, as every so often the grate overflows. We also a have a problem downspout and missing eavestroughs at the coop corner.

I’m hoping that new eavestrough and our new block wall will help to keep most of the water out, but to make sure our chickens don’t get wet feet (and our ducks don’t go swimming inside), a raised floor seemed like a good idea.

My mission with the floor was to not buy new lumber. We have a large amount of wood left by previous owners, so I raided that for joists. I found a lot of very long 2x10s (I was hoping for 2x8s), so we have a very strong floor.

I put a rim joist on the new block wall, and then worked my way around to my new posts, keeping everything level. Then I installed hangers and set my joists in place. I do not enjoy nailing joist hangers, but they definitely made setting the joists much faster and easier to do on my own.

Once the joists were finished, it was simple (though heavy) to lay down some sheets of plywood and the floor was done on the last day before Christmas holidays.

I’ve done more since then, but I’ll save that for my next coop update. In the meantime, if you want to see more about the coop, I’ve been documenting the construction on video and sharing on Instagram. Follow me at juliaon129acres, and catch up on all the videos in the Coop highlight.

Home Goals 2025

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I am really, really excited by the projects I have planned for this year. This year will bring a lot of new and big things for us and the farm. They’re all centred around how we live, how we use the house and what we want for our lives here.

Here is what I’m hoping to accomplish in 2025.

Coop

Source: Feathered Acres

Having birds has been a goal since Matt and I were thinking of buying a farm. I made really good progress on the coop last year (updates are coming), and I’m aiming to finish it soon so we’re ready to welcome some new feathered friends this spring.

My office

Source: Ampersand Living

Following our big cleanout last year, Matt’s office is ready to become my office. I am excited to have my own space for working, writing, crafting, sewing, whatevering. This will be the first project of the year. (In fact, it might already be underway.)

Ellie’s playroom

Sources: Lush Home & Young House Love

A dedicated play, crafting, creating space for Ellie is the second step in the game of dominoes that is our whole home reorganization. After I move into my new office (and remove all of my things from Ellie’s old bedroom), setting up this room just for Ellie is next on the list.