Displaying posts labeled "Kim’s House"

I thought I would share a few small happenings around my house from the past long weekend. First is a new mirror for the newly renovated powder room. I could not find a vintage shaving mirror (thrifting/flea markets for the most part suck around these parts) so we had taken the door off an old wooden medicine cabinet (as seen in this post). Home decor shops also for the most part suck around here (there’s no C&B, West Elm etc. etc. – we have Ikea) but last week my sister and I headed down to Zone Maison because she wanted some knick knacks and I ended up finding the perfect mirror for my bathroom! And it was $49.50! I hung it over my Jieldé et voilà:

Last weekend after taking my mom out to lunch for Mother’s Day in Chinatown, we stopped in at Highjinx – one of my favourite thrift shops (where all proceeds go to helping Ottawa’s homeless). I dropped off a gorgeous table I have had for years from Pier 1 Imports that no longer works in any of my immediate family members’ homes (my twin had been using it for a few years) and found a vintage wooden toolbox that I had to bring home for $65 (and my thing is to always pay about $10 more than the awesome ladies who run the shop ask for, so make that $75). I decided to use it on my dining table filled with random stuff, so the wooden rod/handle was removed and I now have a new centrepiece! Inside are a tin candle holder I bought in Mexico, a West German vase with eucalyptus, an Asian lantern, a plant from my coffee table, a candlestick from an art shop in Almonte, a vintage chipped vase with billy buttons from my wedding, and a bottle of wine my mom gave me that my nonno had made before he passed away (in the 80s).

This new centrepiece meant I had to do some rearranging around the kitchen. So this happened on a corner of my counter:

I also did a bunch of gardening lately…all in pots/boxes etc. because we still have hopes to wreck this house so nothing permanent. We used all of the plastic barrels my husband had brought home last summer and cut in half – they house lavendar and some tomatoes and peppers. I put some herbs in a box and a half a barrel and some plants in some cute pots I had found at Ikea and BMR. Phoebe thought it was fun to hide amongst some of them.

There is only one room in my house that had not been touched at all since I bought  this place in 2007 – and that was the powder room. And it was horrendous.

This embarrassment of a bathroom is on the main floor of my house (and there is one full bath on the second floor), which means if any guests came over, this is the one they would use. Everything was so gross, including the worst tile job ever and a ventilation fan in the ceiling that sounded like a jet. The only good things about it are the size – 5′ square, and that it has a pocket door (but with a full length mirror so you can watch yourself while you pee). Since we appear to be stuck in this house a while longer, my husband Jeff and I had talked about fixing it up on a budeget. To my complete surprise, while I was in Mexico in February, he tore everything out and started renovating it! We have been super busy so this project only saw completion yesterday. It is such a huge improvement and we are both so stoked over the transformation. YAY inexpensive reno projects!!! (Boo tiny windowless rooms! – makes for difficult photography)

There she is, in her new glory. I now do not want to puke when I use this bathroom. I instead want to do a little dance. 🙂 Anyway, here is the lowdown. My mother-in-law had come for a visit while I was gone, and she did the painting, including the back wall which is now black, and Jeff screwed in red oak barn board (he got it from a friend who was getting rid of his shed). The boards are a bit roughly cut, so the black helps hide the gaps. It barn board was also used as trim/baseboards. The walls and ceiling were given a couple of coats of white paint. The teak cabinet is vintage from my mother-in-law who refinished it several years ago in Prince Edward Island and brought it to us on a previous visit. It has been in storage for a few years now so I was happy to find it a home again.

This set of 4 cat prints is by Hidden Moves – I bought them for my husband last year at Images on Bank. They were hung here several months ago when I ran out of room for them in the living room. Coincidentally, they worked rather well with the industrial/rustic theme we ended up going with.

On the opposite wall is this poster by Alexandre Laquerre that came from Mike’s fabulous store The Modern Shop. It too was hung in here a few months ago because it had no where else to go. It also worked perfectly. (PHEW!)

On top of the teak dresser I piled a couple of deer antlers, some things from the living room (including my Lup candle holder by Hay Denmark, also from The Modern Shop), and snapped some dead vine branches from my backyard (to be replaced with something a little less dead eventually).

My husband won this light in a contest on Instagram a few months ago. It was made by Jon Perea (@gasweld45). The light over the sink didn’t provide enough light in the space so I suggested we hang this in here. I love it (and should have turned the shade so the seam was on the side instead – OOPS).

The chunk of wood on the ceiling to the right was the location of the awful, broken ventilation fan. Jeff tore it out and the result was a gaping hole – and the only place in the ceiling with electrical to hook up the pendant light. He stuck a piece of the barn board over it and the spot where we hung the pendant (it’s pretty heavy so this worked really well to anchor it so it won’t come crashing down).

On Christmas Day 2011 I burst into tears (I swear) when I opened my gift from Jeff – inside were 2 wall mount Jieldé lights he bought on eBay. I had been lusting after these lights for ages and was shocked that he scoured the internet to find me some that weren’t ridiculously priced. They have been in the basement ever since (which killed me, although luckily I managed to get my hands on a 2 arm table lamp version last year that resides next to my desk) so I suggested Jeff rewire it and we use it over the sink. I am so happy I am using at least one of them. 🙂

I can’t find a vintage mirror that is similar to the one I have in my head that I want in this bathroom so Jeff decided to take the door off the wooden medicine cabinet that we had used in our upstairs bathroom (it was replaced a few weeks ago with a cool metal one) and mount it on the wall. Why not?

The sink was made while I was away on vacay. Jeff asked his barn board friend to whip him up a trough-style sink with some metal he had laying around. The faucet was Jeff’s creation – his first ever attempt at soldering. It doesn’t get much more rustic than this! I even love that the tap on the right ended up at a 45 degree angle. I was going to get him to redo it but decided to hell with it. I like wonky.

Jeff tore up the tile floor and glued down 3 pieces of chipboard which got a some coats of flat black paint. This part was also done while I was on vacay – he knows me very well. 🙂

This first aid kit was an artifact unearthed from the basement – I think we bought it at a thrift shop many years ago. It is so cool because inside (I forgot to take a photo) are old glass bottles of medicine and ointments and bandages etc….and it has my last name on it. 😉

This vent cover cracked both Jeff and I up. Another awesome attempt by my handy husband.

The towel bar and toilet paper holder are gas pipes and fittings. Go industrial or go home!

I too will resume regular posts starting tomorrow (I didn’t receive enough pet entries for today anyway). I thought since I had time this long weekend to do a bit of organizing and photography, that I would share my latest home endeavours. Nothing too serious, mostly just some rearranging to fit all the things I had purchased in Almonte last weekend.

Once again, my kitchen shelving has been reorganized. When I was digging through the basement a few weeks ago looking for items to sell at the Ottawa Antique Show, I came across a vintage brass tea set (?) and some brass pineapples that I had thrifted and bought on Etsy several years ago. I could not let these go, so instead I tried incorporating them in my shelving display, along with my new Catherine Holm bowl I am totally stoked over (and coordinating pot I already had).

Catherine Holm bowl from Samantha Howard Vintage ~ vase from The White Monkey ~ Oaxacan vase bought in Puerto Vallarta ~ thrifted brass pineapple ~ silver egg bought in Puerto Vallarta ~ thrifted brass flower frog ~ Lumberjack candleholder by Normann Copenhagen from The Modern Shop ~ Catherine Holm pot from Etsy shop CrankHeartPony

Love that print (in my new vintage frame) by Emily McDowell purchased at Hello Yellow ~ vintage pot from Almonte ~ vase from The White Monkey

Vintage pot from Almonte ~ Oaxacan skull from Puerto Vallarta ~ candleholder by John Ward from General Fine Craft ~ thrifted Dansk candleholder ~ Hay Denmark scissors from The Modern Shop ~ air plant from Sparrow Floral Design

Saturday while running errands, my husband took us to a wood shop called KJP Select Hardwoods. *SIGH* So many glorious slabs of the most beautiful wood I have ever seen. I spotted a piece of Claro walnut that I had to have. I decided to use it on my dining table as a sort of tray for a centrepiece.

On top I clustered a bunch of pottery I did not have room to display anywhere else. 🙂
Eucalyptus from Sparrow Floral Design in a vintage Hornsea canister ~ a brown West German and no-name vase found in Almonte ~ new bud vase by Michael Doxey and bowl by Don Cormier, both from General Fine Craft

My new West German vase from Almonte now resides on top of my pantry cabinet (one to the far right) along with the rest of my collection and antlers found on a farm in Alberta.

I had purchased some vintage hangers from Tin Barn Market and had hooked them on my stair railing to bring up to my dressing room. They never made it up.

Art from Arte Limited – Lina Ekstrand and Florian Meacci ~ vintage pepsi crate now liquor cabinet from High Jinx

I had purchased a vintage dress form at the Ottawa Antique Show a few weeks ago. I was hoping to have her live in my dressing room but it is too damn small in there so she is hanging out in my bedroom. I dressed her up in some necklaces and a vintage faux fur jacket.

I am SO EXCITED about my new vintage steel medicine cabinet from Tin Barn Market. The medicine cabinet we had there was about half the size and jam packed with my daily toiletries/makeup etc. Now my husband has room for his toiletries as well.

The former medicine cabinet had a handy bar along the bottom where we hung a hand towel. This new one does not have one, so I went down to the dungeon/basement and unearthed an Anthropologie hook I had purchased several years ago and never had a chance to use.

There isn’t anything too exciting going on around my house but I figure if I make myself share some photos every now and then it will keep me motivated to keep puttering about. 🙂

First up – there is a new piece of art in my home. One of my favourite homes I have featured since starting this blog with Jo 7 years ago is Tom’s apartment in the Hollywood Professional Building on Hollywood Blvd. We have kept in touch since then and the day after the Academy awards Tom sent me an email. Tom often strolls along Hollywood Blvd and takes photos of wacky people (check out his Flickr), and did so the day of the Academy Awards. Included in his email was a photo, and I insisted he send it to me in high-res so I could print it and hang it in my home. So awesome! (Thanks again Tom!)

Mr. Cool Dude Kitty is now hanging in my bathroom.

I did a bit of rearranging of my kitchen shelves yesterday. It was my successful way of avoiding doing my taxes. 🙂 I want to spend more time rearranging these shelves, and create different types of vignettes since it’s really the only decent display area in the whole house. Right now it is a mix of vintage stainless tea pots, my beloved Catherine Hold pot, some West German, Japanese and Oaxacan pottery, a couple of Danish teak candle holders and my Tivoli radio.

I went to Ikea Friday to get a frame for Tom’s cat photo (I wanted thin black, which to my horror was nowhere to be found so I had to use a silver one), and spotted this really cool chair cover. It is supposed to be for the Esbjörn chair but it seems to be pretty close in fit to my J104 chair by Hay Denmark. I use it as a desk chair, parking my butt on it for hours on end so I was desperate for some cushioning. I think it’s adorable – like a little duvet for my chair but sadly the cover only comes in a natural colour (I would have preferred grey).

I KNEW the cats would take it over!

I wanted to share some new art I have hanging in my home. These pieces are alot more meaningful than all the other art in my home so I deemed them worthy of a post (hope you all agree).

My husband’s birthday was Friday. His 40th was last year and due to alot of chaos at the time, we didn’t do much and I didn’t get him anything special. When I found out a co-worker’s husband is a super talented art teacher, I immediately knew what I wanted to get Jeff as a present. When we lost our cat Cheeks in November, Jeff was absolutely devastated – moreso than I was as Cheeks was his little buddy for the past 10 years. I thought a portrait of Cheeks would be the perfect gift and a way to remember our special boy. The artist, Ranajit Sinha, chose this photo for the painting (and decided on oil/acrylic on canvas):

When Ranajit’s wife Gayatri brought the painting in to work, I balled my eyes out (I know that would happen so I made her bring it to my more private cubicle), and balled my eyes out with my husband when I gave it to him that night (and I’m fighting back tears as I write this).

It’s perfect. It’s SO Cheeks. Rana could not have done a better job. Thank you Gayatri and Rana. 🙂 (If anyone wants Rana’s contact info send me an email through our contact form – he’s looking for some side projects)

And on a much happier note, my blog buddy Peggy (also here) whom Jo and I have known since the beginnings of this blog, sent me some of her photographs she had printed. She did this a while back and we finally got around to getting them up on the wall. While I was in Mexico my husband cut and screwed a piece of OSB board into the wall in our upstairs hallway between the bathroom and dressing room – essentially the only wall I could make free in the house. I then just cut some pieces of neon pink duct tape and taped them to the wood. Peggy had thought we could make some rustic frames for them but this was a helluva lot easier and I think it looks really cool. Thank you Peggy for these awesome photos – I love my new art wall!