Farmhouse Fantastic (Part 2)

Here are a few more photos from April's farmhouse.  I am so smitten with this beautiful project and how personally everything is decorated.  It's my new inspiration home!

Beyond that amazing door is a perfect mudroom and bathroom:

This is the dining room:  I love the curtain fabric.

Even I would enjoy laundry here:

Little landing desk nook:

My absolute favourite little girl's nursery, belonging to April's daughter:

Ok, so  now you know I'm obsessed with this house.  I just really love when someone is able to put together something this polished and amazing, without the help of a designer.  It seems like every piece in the home has been carefully selected and is meaningful to the family who lives there. I'm so inspired!  Love.

xo Meg

Note:  All this hard work is April's so if you'd like to pin some of the photos here, you should go to her blog to pin them directly from there.  You can also read about how she has transformed the tired farmhouse into something beautiful.

The Basement

When we first looked at our home, we were thrilled with the amount of usable space in our basement.  It's uncommon in a neighbourhood like ours to have a high ceiling or large windows on the lower level.  But our house does.  It has also been renovated - sometime in the eighties, but renovated nonetheless.

The basement houses a family room, the laundry area,  Jay's little office nook and lots of storage. Great usable space, right?

There's a couple of problems though.  First off, it's being used as a total dumping ground.  I'm talking leftover supplies from projects, laundry piles, sports equipment, boxes of questionable contents, extra furniture more sports equipment... you get the idea.

 I want to make the space function well for our family.  I want the family room down there to be somewhere I might actually watch a movie and the laundry room to be a place I don't cringe when I have to throw in a load.  However, I don't want to spend much money on re-designing the space right now.

The first step will be to remove the strange kidney-shaped counter.  That's free and I can do it myself.

As far as the storage area at the bottom of the stairs goes, we need to store the following sports items:

•  hockey equipment & tree for hanging it to dry
• goalie pads for road hockey
• skis (three pair, plus boots)
• snowboards (two boards plus boots)
• soccer gear (including balls and equipment bags)
• lifejackets
• baseball gloves
• assorted balls & outdoor gear

Additionally, there needs to be a place for the kids to hang up their winter gear.  It all needs to fit into the area at the bottom of the stairs (see below).

 I'd like to create two lockers, like these, which Jay made for a client:

These lockers will be where the kids can put their winter clothes and boots.  

We also need some closed storage for the sports gear.

This one's my all time fave.  I love the cupboard and hook combo.

 via

Today, I've been focused on clearing out the junk and re-organizing the rest. I took some photos of the before mess.   I used my blackberry so you wouldn't be able to see the mess very clearly. I'll show you those tomorrow, along with the progress I've made so far.

xo Meg

Project Progress

Ah the messy, nasty tear out phase of a renovation project.  

Remember that laundry room/bathroom reno I told you about here?  This morning, it looks like this:

Nice, huh?  At lease they have another entrance and bathroom to use during the renovation!  I'll be back tomorrow with a mood board for the bathroom that's part of this project.

Happy Tuesday!

xo Meg

Laundry Room & Bath Project

Today I have a new project to tell you about.

  We are currently working on a renovation to a ranch style house.  The house is really dated, built in the early 80's with lots of linoleum and brown throughout.  But the house has great bones - generously sized rooms and lots of potential.  Plus, it sits on a beautiful piece of property with mature trees and lovely landscaping. It's owned by my brother, Mason, and sister-in-law, Karly, and their two sweet kiddos.

The first phase of the renovation includes the side entrance.  It is the main entrance for their family, being just off the garage and beside the kitchen.  Currently, the space houses a hall closet, small pantry cupboard, bathroom and sauna (yes, sauna!).  We are re-vamping it to include a message station, locker storage, a laundry area and a bathroom.

Mason and Karly like a bit of a contemporary aesthetic.  Clean lines and simple decor with warm colours.  I think this style really compliments the architecture of their home.

So here are the before photos of their current side entrance/bathroom:

Here are a couple of inspiration shots for the laundry area:

(from Veranda Interiors)

Sarah Richardson

I created this mood board for them.  Hopefully this helps them to narrow down the choices for their finishes.

1. Slate Tile
2. Mini Chevron  and  PomPom Play from Tonic Living
3. American Standard Faucet
4. Paint Colours by Benjamin Moore:  Sweet Daphne # 529 (walls) and Gunmetal #1602 (Chalkboard)
5.  Stainless Steel Tube Pulls from Lee Valley
6. Glass Tile for Backsplash
7. Caesarstone Countertops in Whisper 4620
8. Ikea Ribba Frames with B&W photography




I'll be back tomorrow with the bathroom mood board!
xo Meg

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Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post.  The blog universe is so strange and I feel so attached to so many of you people who I've never even met in real life.  Your comments are always read and appreciated by me - probably more than you know!

Mudroom Roomspiration!

Most of the homes my hubby renovates are old homes.  You know, the kind with beautiful baseboards and trim and tons of charming character.  There are, however, drawbacks to owning this kind of home.  We simply don't live the same way families lived a hundred years ago.  For one thing, we have way more clothes and shoes and these old homes never have enough storage for them.

In most of the renovations Jay does, a mudroom or laundry room renovation is high on the list for the homeowners.  A nice, organized place where kids and pets can come in and put away their things.
Here are a couple of examples of mudrooms created for our clients:

Jay designed and built the space - with custom cubbies for each family member and pretty bead board panelling to back them.  I love the bench for the little ones to sit on while they put their shoes on.

 There is also this custom shoe shelving unit to house the family's extra footwear.  It is tucked into a little space in the side entryway that would otherwise be wasted.

I am currently only dreaming of having a functional mudroom in our home.  My office has several hooks and I installed a 'launching and landing pad' for my kids backpacks, shoes and sweatshirts.  But the office serves a lot of purposes - it has a storage closet, powder room and desk space - so a full out mud room is out of the question.

I know, a little pathetic looking.  But it really does help keep us organized!

Hopefully someday it will be awash in white painted panelling with dark hooks.  Here are a couple mudrooms I especially covet:

via

That panelling is to die for and I love the hooks and the built-in armoire.  Of course, we could all only wear jackets in tasteful shades of grey and beige...

    Okay, okay, it might just be the adorable black lab that makes me love this one.  I do like the idea of a doggie bed in the mudroom though.  Our Gilmore comes in at the back wet and muddy a lot.  This would be a good place for him to dry off. 

Here's my dream mud room.  It is huge!  I love the graphic black and white, the benches, wood plank ceiling.... etc. etc...  very cool.

So there you have it!  My mudroom inspiration.  I'm looking forward to tackling this project at our new (very old) home.  I'm linking up to the Roomspiration links again today!  It's over at Elizabeth's (The Mustard Ceiling).  She is lovely and I know you'll enjoy her blog too!

xo Meg