Displaying posts labeled "Kim’s House"

My newly landscaped backyard makeover

Posted on Mon, 17 Aug 2020 by KiM

This is the third house I have owned, and the first time I have really gotten to do some landscaping. If you know me, you know I detest winter and live for summer, so having a decent backyard space is essential to my mental well being. Throw in a pandemic and it’s a literal life-saver. We started this project last summer. Luckily we had a fairly blank slate to start. Not sure how no one had ever done any landscaping to this property since the house was built in 1940, but there was NOTHING but weeds for grass, and very wide, overgrown cedar hedges along the left side and the back. Above is right before we started the work, when husband brought home a fun mini-excavator to get this party started. Before this overhaul happened, we had at one point torn out the tiny back porch and built a massive 3 sided stair situation, and built the raised garden bed you see above (the odd white blobs are my massive fibreglass outdoor seating set I eventually sold). We tore out EVERYTHING – the grass, the hedges, the driveway. I’d love to say we tore out the garage too but that’s a makeover project for another time.

And this is what we ended up with. We are so sooooooooo happy with how this all turned out. Being total landscaping amateurs, we had a general plan for most of the yard and the rest was alot of last minute decisions and praying things would work out. We completed most of the structural work last summer (you may recall my “she-shed” post, now called the greenhouse).

We needed to rip out the driveway (the asphalt was in really rough) and rather than spend $8K replacing it, we figured it made more sense to keep the car at the front of the house and use up all of the backyard as hangout space. That area and the rest of the pathways are filled with crushed stone. It’s reddish, which I am not a fan of but all the quarries around here only produce that or the regular grey stone. The neighbour’s house (you can see it in the first photo) is about a foot from the property line and there are 12 windows that look out onto our yard, so one of the last projects which was a last minute design decision was to build some sort of fence to block their property. We found some online inspiration and came up with this haphazard design with some strategically placed cut-outs with views of a brick wall or the greenery in the neighbour’s courtyard, as well as a few shelves. Along this fence we created 3 zones. The first in the photo above is the sunny lounge area. The rope chair was from Home Depot, the bamboo lounge chair was $50 from Facebook Marketplace, the rest I already had.

Next to the lounge is a potting area. The pandemic has made it really tough to source the items I want for out here. The green table is not meant to be outside and I would love a really old wooden workbench, but maybe next year.

We ordered the hexagon picnic table at Rona and I painted it with a grey stain. This became our outdoor eating area. My husband wanted to build some sort of canopy for it, but I told him it was redundant, as the neighbour’s tree makes a beautiful canopy (I took these photos a couple of weeks ago and I’m amazed how much lower the branches are now). It’s really beautiful. To the left of the table is a wrought iron lamp that still needs wiring, and I found a bamboo plant pot in my stash and turned it into a lampshade.

At the beginning of May I placed an order with a local nursery for a whole pile of evergreens (which turned into a bit of a nightmare experience, but that’s pandemic life for ya). Since we live in Canada, and winters are long, I figured why put in plants that are just going to look brown and dead for 6 months? Evergreens look beautiful and alive all year.

Another last minute decision was to create a succulent garden. There were some cool engraved stones left in the garage when we moved in, so we buried some in the dirt and planted the succulents around them. To my surprise they are all thriving!

The back porch. We have a new door coming in October (?!) that we ordered a couple of months ago. We ended up tearing out the wood on the last 2 stairs and creating more herb/veg garden space because of the pandemic and wanting to be more self-sustainable.

The catio! When we initially built it, it went lengthwise into the yard and took up a fair amount of space, so another last minute decision was to take it apart and have it running width-wise which gained us about a 10′ square space. We also added a little addition in behind with an air conditioning cover box my husband had built but then didn’t want to use so we repurposed it for the catio. The ferals love this sooooo much. Just to the right of this photo is the BBQ deck/pad. We were able to move this closer to the catio when we turned the catio horizontally. You’ll see what we did with the extra space in a few photos 🙂

Another last minute decision was to reuse some of the leftover stone from the interlock driveway we put in and make a stone “carpet” in the large empty space within the crushed stone. We then hunted Facebook Marketplace and found a chiminea ($80) and the chairs ($40). We roasted marshmallows out there one night when it finally cooled down a bit. I loooove the smell of burning wood. And stuffing my face with perfectly roasted marshmallows. 🙂

Our raised vegetable and herb garden. Lots of goodies going on in there. The back corner is a massive tomatillo plant. I had no idea they grew so large. It’s taking over so I’m never growing tomatillos again. It hasn’t produced any yet!

Back to the other side of the yard. This area used to house the BBQ desk, but once it loved next to the catio we used the leftover space to put in a pond and bought a fountain pump! I really wanted to hear water to distract from the sound of traffic at the front of the house (we live on a busy street) and it’s been AMAZING. The bench is from Highjinx, that I reupholstered in black tufted marine vinyl. The statue is from Robert Plante and the pot is from my one and only trip to Homesense since the pandemic. (Man were the shelves empty!)

Felix LOVES drinking from the pond

The statue I bought several years ago from the One World Bazaar in Manotick. The scalloped pot I found at Rona or Lowes, and it became a water dish for the cats and my grey squirrel buddy Sherman who comes for daily peanut visits.

The greenhouse. I could not love this little outdoor sanctuary more. I have been working from home since “day 1” of the pandemic and as soon as the weather was reasonable I started working out there. It’s such a wonderful atmosphere compared to my regular office setting.

I’m hoping the neighbours paint this side of their garage soon, since they painted the rest a few weeks ago 🙂 I tried to hide it with these pots I found at a nursery. I could not afford really tall ones so I bought these @ $20 a piece, and then painted a wood door we had taken off a basement storage room with some leftover brown paint we had, and my husband made some legs for it. The tub in the background we bought recently while antiquing ($30). It’s an old bathtub that on hot days I will fill with water and soak myself in it.

You can’t see it clearly in this photo but another project we tackled this spring was husband built me a sofa for the greenhouse. On each end is a covered section with a hole cut out, and on the far side it houses a litter box. We built it to fit a twin mattress. Everything in here is either stuff I already had, or from Amazon (Macrame plant holders, sisal rug), Wayfair (fitted bed sheet), Indigo (some pillows) or I purchased from Mexico. The art of the wall was another Facebook Marketplace find.

The view while I work or when I spend time in there in the evenings laying on the couch and catching up on Instagram. We also installed a shelf on the back wall to hold a projector, and bought a fabric screen that is hung with hooks on the window wall so we can watch movies out there. We’ve done it a few times and it’s alot of fun!

I took this photo the night we roasted marshmallows. The string lights were from Canadian Tire, and the LED battery operated lights in the garden were from Indigo. It’s magical out there at night.

Hope you enjoyed my backyard tour!

My $50 dining room table makeover

Posted on Mon, 27 Apr 2020 by KiM

When we first moved in to our current house for some reason I had the bright idea that we needed a really long dining table. Possibly because our previous house had no dining room and therefore the table was in the middle of the kitchen. My husband spent many hours and much $$$ building me a 8 foot long dining table out of hemlock (with a steel base we had fabricated). As shown above. I love that dining table. But it took up the whole room. Having to walk around it to get to the bluetooth speaker/radio my husband converted, or getting to the buffet cabinet was annoying. And there’s 2 of us. And we never have anyone over for a meal. We both agreed a round or oval table would be ideal that seat 6, and I would use the 8ft table as a desk in the living room (more on that another day). I went hunting on MarketPlace and Kijiji. For months. Then the pandemic hit and I was working from home and figured this would be a great time to get this going. So I changed my strategy and stopped hunting for the perfect table and opted to just find something that was the right size. I found a round office table for $50 on Kijiji and figured what the hell, I could pimp it out and if I end up hating it, I’ll get rid of it and try again.

This was the table 5 minutes after bringing it home and disinfecting it. Stains all over the top, and boring all around. At this point all hardware stores were closed here and only offering online ordering which takes some time so I decided to try and work with what we had. I ended up spending nothing to fix up this table. First we cut strips of wood from some Ikea shelving we were no longer using and trimmed out the base with it. I then stained the slats black. I wasn’t sure what to do with the top but husband wanted to try sanding it down and seeing what the wood looked like (turned out it was solid wood). In the end the wood turned out to have such a gorgeous grain we just used some Livos on it and that was it.

As soon as we had everything in place we realized this table was in fact too small and we could have gone for something bigger (that fit 6 – this one only fits 5). But it is such an improvement for flow in the room and we absolutely love it so we’ll live with it until my dream table is found. Welcome to my $50 dining table!

Also, I think this might be the first time you’re seeing my new Lambert & Fils light fixture. I love the smaller scale of this one compared to what I had before.

I had to add in some pics of a special piece I got my hands on this past Friday. I spotted a quirky little side table for sale in the Instagram stories of Toronto-based Bettencourt Manor a while ago but could not justify the 4.5 or so hour drive to go pick it up. Turns out the guys of B.M. were headed to Ottawa and they delivered it for me. I put it in the dining room for a quick IG story but it turned out to be the perfect spot so I left it there. I love the angles on it.

My she-shed, bitch barn, backyard sanctuary

Posted on Tue, 8 Oct 2019 by KiM

In the spring my husband and I had several conversations about all the yard work we had to do this summer. Almost every inch of our property needed work, with the exception of our back porch and raised vegetable garden, which we built a few summers ago. We got started with some fencing in the backyard, and once that was done we started discussing the structure I wanted at the back of the yard. I wanted a place to hang out in over the summer months, and the conversations started with a deck with pergola roof, then turned into a covered roof so it could be used in the rain, then turned into a screened-in structure because I hate bugs, which then turned into a completely sealed structure so I could also store our outdoor furniture in it in the winter. What was maybe a 2-weekend project turned into a 3 months of weekends project. While this endeavour monopolized our entire summer, I look at these photos and I start tearing up. This she-shed is my dream come true. And we built the entire thing ourselves. (Before you start looking for step-by-step instructions, let me tell you that you won’t find any. We “winged” this and while it’s totally sturdy and meets all of my needs, we’re no experts). Unfortunately we finished it with only a few weeks left of warm weather, but the fact that we finished it with only working 1 day a week is a miracle.

I would like to thank the wonderful people at Farrow & Ball Canada for once again supplying me with paint for yet another one of my painting projects. This was built with basic pressure treated posts and a sort of bead-board style rough plywood for the exterior (and plastic corrugated sheets for the roof) so what were inexpensive materials and not very pleasing to the eye. I knew I was going to paint this structure and lawd half mursey was that ever an undertaking! I used their wood knot & resin primer in eggshell, then painted the exterior with exterior eggshell in Studio Green, and the interior with exterior eggshell in Yeabridge Green, and decided to stripe the floors with both colours. I will always sing the praises of Farrow & Ball paints, and now I can do so with their exterior paint. It worked like a charm and the rough plywood exterior thankfully only needed one coat. The colours are gorgeous and add drama to the exterior and a bright and cheerful vibe to the interior, whilst blending in with the tree and eventually the plants I’ll have planted next year. I could not be happier with how the paint turned out.

I mentioned to my husband one day that we should try to find some old windows for the front wall. Having no real plan in my mind we started searching Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace looking for old windows, ideally a couple leaded or stained glass ones to group and make one large window. Then husband stumbled upon a Kijiji ad that turned out was posted by Northern Art Glass, a stained glass artists’ studio a few blocks from our house, who were selling off about a hundred windows they had removed from a home (and replaced with newer ones). We went to look at them and were thrilled with how beautiful they were (despite being in rough shape) and they were selling them for $30 each! We had already built the front opening of the she-shed so husband took some measurements and realized that we could use 8 of the windows of a particular size and have them cover the entire opening. If that wasn’t enough of a miracle, when we went to pick up the windows they told us because we were buying so many they’d be $25 each! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! A whopping $200. Another miracle. And our house has all leaded windows so it gives the impression that the shed has been there as long as the house has (1940).

We had a bit of a hard time figuring out what hardware to use for the windows so they could all open and close without us having to worry about wind blowing and smashing the glass, but in the end we ended up with simple chain and eye hooks to prop open the lower horizontal windows, and my genius husband found some bronze lid hinges on Amazon for $12.50/4 that work perfectly for the upper vertical windows. And then sliding latches on each one to seal them closed.

On each side of the she-shed we installed barn door tracks and went to Habitat for Humanity Restore and found 2 gorgeous solid oak doors for $40 a piece. On the entrance side (the photo above) my husband built a screen door, and on the other side the opening is a screened frame so on really warm days all the windows can be opened, and both doors can slide back for air flow from one side to the other. With those openings screened in, and all of the windows having screened frames, and with the floor boards being siliconed in each of the seams (I told you I hate bugs!) this is a completely bug-free zone. So no matter how bad the mosquitos might get, I can relax out here and not fret. I should also point out that this area of the yard is shaded all day except for maybe 1.5 hours in the late afternoon so the clear plastic roof was a great choice as it keeps the space really bright and should not get too hot when temperatures soar.

Before I get to the interior, I will warn you that aside from the polka dot rug (H&M) and the floor lamp and basket (Homesense), everything else was sourced from around the house. With this project and the subsequent landscaping projects I have coming, there was really no budget nor time to do much else. The art I bought a couple of years ago from my friend Sara for I think $40, and all of the textiles and the hanging rope chair are brought back from past trips to Mexico. I’m hoping I’ll have some funds in the spring to have husband build a platform along the back wall and have seat cushions made, and then we can buy a projector and screen so we can have movie nights out here. When I dream, I dream BIG! In the meantime I have gotten as much use out of the space as I can before winter hits. I have even worked from home several days and spent it out here, and hope to get a couple more days in this week too.

The day of this photo shoot I dumped all of this black mulch around the she-shed to hide the dirt. We have lots of landscaping work to still do back here but you’ll have to wait until spring to see what we do. And the day before the shoot I picked up these sweet retro Solair chairs on sale from The Modern Shop. I was sooooo relieved because I’ve always wanted these, and wasn’t sure what I was going to put here that would look decent enough to photograph. Score x 4!

Throwing in a progress shot below. You can see why this was absolute hell to paint. Add in 8 windows to get the full picture of how much time I spent painting.

Eternity Modern and my new dream sofa

Posted on Wed, 4 Sep 2019 by KiM

A few months ago the folks at Eternity Modern emailed us about a blog feature. I had not heard of this company before so I took a look around their website and was delighted to know they are headquartered in Vancouver (Canadian eh!) and have an appreciation for some of the best classic mid-century designs. They carry sofas, lounge chairs, dining tables and chairs, sideboards, office chairs and more, of the designs of geniuses like Hans Wegner, Eero Saarinen, Le Corbusier, Finn Juhl, Warren Platner and many more. I was asked to review a product from their shop and I wasn’t sure what to choose at first, until I came across their version of the Noguchi Freeform sofa & ottoman. I have dreamt of owning a curved sofa for quite some time, and knew I would never come across one in the wild here in Ottawa, land of some of the most boring vintage furniture, so as soon as I spotted this sofa I was sold.

The 9 or so weeks I had to wait for my sofa to be made based on my fabric selection were the longest 9 weeks of my life. Selecting fabrics was a bit agonizing too – Eternity Modern has options for this piece of either bouclé wool, cashmere or velvet (or custom, using your own fabric!). They will send along fabric samples which is VERY handy to help with the decision making process. Given the amount of cats I have I knew velvet would be ideal for me (so easy to wipe the fur off!), but picking colours was tough. I was torn between rose mauve and ginger cider for the base and ottoman but after asking on Instagram it seemed the ginger cider was the winner. I then chose slate pebble for the back rest. That done I started thinking about furniture placement in my living room. This sofa is rather large – a little over 10 feet long. and it ranges in width from left to right to form the curve so it’s the perfect sofa to have at an angle. The ottoman is no slouch at almost 4 feet long.

I realized once it arrived that I would have to rearrange the entire room to fit it at the longer end as it really it quite large and needs a fair amount of space. The photo below shows an “aerial” view (me standing on a chair) so you can really get an idea of the curves. It is absolutely gorgeous.

And I have to say it’s really well made.The velvet is beautiful and I hope wears well over time. It is perhaps a bit more firm than I would prefer (I just noticed the site says “cushion softness customizable”) but I’m sure it will soften in time. I had a nap on it the other day and to be able to spread out with the cats around me was fabulous. 🙂

I am really happy with my purchase (keeping things real here – I received a discount on the sofa, it was not free of charge). The only issue that came out of this whole process was with the shipping. Perhaps my fault for insisting the sofa be delivered on the estimated day the shipping company had noted on their site as I had booked the day off work, but when only one guy showed up and could not get it off the truck, I climbed in, unwrapped some of the packaging and helped carry this beast (I think it weighs over 200 lbs) into my garage. I was so excited to finally have my Freeform sofa in my living room as I had sold my previous sofa right after purchasing this one, that I was willing to do anything to get this in my house!

I am in love. It really is the sofa of my dreams.

A couple of quick notes about Eternity Modern: the designs are all identical to the original, shipping is free over $1000, their prices are great and totally reasonable for the quality of their products, they have a large selection of really beautiful fabrics. And did I mention they have a Canadian site? That is key for me as I detest spending money on exchange rates, duty, handling, and all the other fees that mysteriously pop up when shopping internationally. They do have a US site and have warehouse and distribution centers throughout the world.

I took a few shots around the room to show what else I have going on in there since I really did have to rearrange everything to fit the sofa in. It was alot of fun to work it into the space and create a new, lighter zone in that end of the room. I’m still going to be fussing with the layout a bit and the accessories but this is what I had going on during photo shoot day.

My husband bought me this swing-arm lamp about 10 years ago off eBay from the Netherlands I think, and it has been in a box in storage waiting for the perfect spot all those years. When the sofa arrived I realized it matches  perfectly with the colour of the back rest. I’m so stoked to be able to finally use it!

My sister Jen was doing a tour of all the ice cream shops in the city she could find over the summer, and took this photo of my niece Adelina on one of their stops. She had eaten black ice cream and I had to have this photo blown up. I found a vintage frame in storage and for under $20 I have new art over my fireplace.

Where my last sofa was became the plant and book zone.

Across from the sofa I added some Panton chairs and a lucite table under my antique mirror (collage in the reflection that is hanging over the sofa was a new purchase for the space by Stephanie Clayton via Artfix Cultured Studios)

All about art

Posted on Sun, 30 Jun 2019 by KiM

I’m always on the hunt for new art for my home, so I was stoked when the folks from ArtPhotoLimited (a start-up based in France who just launched in the UK) contacted me recently. My absolute favourite medium is photography so this was right up my alley as they offer a wide range of fine art quality photographs in limited editions. The themes of their art are broad – wildlife, movies, vintage, landscape, street, sport, and many more including my favourite – architecture. I selected the photo above for my upcoming living room refresh. It’s a limited edition of 30 titled La lanterne by photographer Strec Gil from Metz, France. I chose 90x60cm and it was sent to me unframed (they offer framing) so off I went to Ikea and chose what ended up being a really terrible quality frame (the Lomviken, but I guess at $35 I deserved a frame that barely stayed together and bowed in the middle, though maybe because I could not use the mat?). It is printed on beautiful pigment baryta paper and I was very pleased with how sharp the photo turned out. I’m excited to get my new sofa and rug and see it all in place. Thanks ArtPhotoLimited!

While on the subject of art, I had to share this absolutely stunning home of painter Aurel Basedow in Lake Como. Aurel’s abstract art is gorgeous in his home, particularly the resin-finished pieces against the chalk?lime? painted walls. (And those hex tile floors!!!) Breathtaking! Via MilK Decoration, photos by Mads Mogensen