makinghousetoronto – Volume 2!

November 22, 2013March 20, 20163 Comments

Yes friends, we’ve got some exciting news to share! After 4 long years of never-ending renovations, stories to share, pictures to post and general ups and downs, we’ve taken to plunge and bought a new home!

I have to be honest that this happened VERY FAST. It was about a week from the time that we started seriously looking at places, visited the bank for financing, and put an offer in on our dream home. We’re still in shock, and can’t actually comprehend that this baby is ours:

Yes, that’s a brand new build. In Toronto. We are over the moon excited. We have plans to put in a basement suite for rental income, however, that project is a whole lot of nothing compared to what we’ve been through at our original home in Leslieville.

We’re moving a bit north from where we are now, and will absolutely miss the charm the comes with our street and neighborhood, however, we’re so jazzed to start exploring our new ‘hood.

And what do I keep dreaming about, every single night? This. Kitchen.

There are no words. I think I’m going to have to become a professional chef. Watch out, Jamie Oliver.

So, with just a more sleeps until moving day, we are frantically packing and prepping. So stay tuned. While the DIY stories might be slowing down, we’ll still have lots to share when it comes to design, decor, entertaining, decorating for the holidays and beautifying our new (and much larger!) back yard.

Stay tuned!

Melissa

Mirror, Mirror

November 19, 2013Leave a comment

Sometimes I go a little crazy trying to find the right thing. Then I find what I think it’s the right thing, and Christian hates it. So back to the store I go. This cycle happened once already during my hunt for a mirror to put above the fireplace in our dining room.

Here’s the previous mirror (yes, it looks lovely, however, it’s borrowed from our upstairs bedroom! So was just a temporary fix):

The good news is, we finally found a great option from the wonderful world of HomeSense. At an already decent price $129.99 + a bunch of saved up gift cards, we were able to score this beauty for a mere $40 out of pocket. So, off this glam mirror went back up to our bedroom, and enter our new Home Sense friend

The final product? Stay tuned….we’ve had a few er…changes since we bought this, so let’s just say that this mirror isn’t the only thing that’s finding a new home 🙂

Dream Bathroom: Revealed!

April 18, 2013January 22, 20167 Comments

It feels like we’ve been sidetracked with all of this flooring drama. Actually, no, not “feels like”…we really have! We’ve had the bathroom about 85% done for several weeks, but all this flooring nonsense stopped us in our tracks.

This past weekend, we managed to get a lot accomplished. There’s nothing like the impending arrival of my parents from Vancouver to cross things off the to-do list. Oh yes, we have been busy bees. We can proudly say that our bathroom is now 95% done. A few finishing touches, along with the much-anticipated arrival of our bathroom art (really? 2 weeks at customs? For art posters!!??), and we’ll be able to bump that number up to 100% finito.

But I can’t wait. Must. Share. Progress. Photos.

First of all, remember this picture?

This has got to be one of my favourite renovation-related photos of all time. Anyhoo, back in this post of yore, I shared all the challenges that we had with our tiny, oh-so-narrow bathroom: we couldn’t physically be in there at the same time, the sink literally overlapped with the toilet, the shower head hit Christian in the chest (I think I forgot to mention that one), etc etc. It really boiled down to a non-functional layout for us.

So we changed it. A lot.

Before – view as you walked into the bathroom (sorry it’s so stretched…my SnapFish album went a little crazy):

This photo does not do the narrowness justice: the entrance was just 24″….Christian and I had to do the Tango every time we passed by each other in here. So, onto the money shot:

Yes, our bathroom is now a VERY happy place.

Let’s zoom in on a few fabulous things! First, the toilet. Yep, I’m leading with the crapper. Honestly, I never thought I’d be someone who got excited about a toilet but this thing is seriously gorgeous. And comfortable! I was kind of against the square at first but I’m so glad that Christian got me on-side. It’s a conversation piece. Yep, my toilet is a real conversation starter….what can I say?

The floor tile is from the store that never ceases to make me chuckle at the simplicity of the store name, The Tile Store. Soapbox moment warning! If there is one thing you take away from this post, let it be this: do not go to big box stores for your tiles without shopping around. The tile options that are available in this world will blow your mind! We have been so surprised at all the options that are out there, many at very reasonable prices. Yes, you can get lovely tiles at Big Box stores, but if you have a specific “vision”, shop around. Go to the mom & pop shops that only sell tile…you’ll be glad you did. Don’t compromise your vision just because Home Depot doesn’t sell it.

Moving on…..we opted for a teak-look vanity. Originally, I was really feeling the ash-grey look vanity (which this very same one comes in, by the way) but again, points for Christian for convincing me of the “warmth” of teak (I love that my husband actually cares about these decisions):

We picked up both the toilet and the vanity at Toronto Vanity, where Miguel was super helpful and responsive. If you’re into a bit more of a contemporary/ modern look, this is the place to be. Most vanities come with the sink top, faucet (see photo below for a close up of the faucet), AND medicine cabinet for around $1,000. Even IKEA vanities have a hard time beating that price…trust us…we did our research. What’s great is that there are about 8 different faucets you can choose from, all for the same all-in price. Customization without all the “I love this faucet more but it’s twice the price” drama. Cuz you know I’m always the one who wants the more expensive one. Always.

Now for a zoom-in on the backsplash, which matches the tile in the shower surround. It’s a beautiful ice-blue frosted square glass tile. Again, we shopped around and had a hard time finding anything like this for under $8.00/ sq foot….on a whim, we hit up Ceramic Tile World in the east end of Toronto, and there she was…on sale for $5.00/ sq foot. It was destiny! And I’m in love with my marble soap pump with a hint of sparkle that I picked up at the Bay…it’s so glam-squad.

Finally, the shower head. Christian loves the square look so I let him run with this one. We went to Bath City in the Beach and they were amazing. Honestly, if you want to learn everything you ever wanted to know about plumbing on a Saturday afternoon, go here. Their hours are awesome and the staff are super knowledgeable. We picked up the shower system and glass shower door from them. A+

The best part is? The shower head doesn’t even come close to hitting Christian in the chest…or head! It’s so tall! Yay! It’s a beautiful chrome finish rainfall shower and again, I’m in love. And yes, I *might* sometimes sing into the wand that you see in the photo, as it totally resembles some kind of futuristic microphone. Whatever.

What’s cool is that we really stuck to our “vision” board and things really came together! What the heck did people do before Pinterest?

So, there you have it! Our 95% complete bathroom! More to come on artwork, towel bars and other riveting finishing touches. But we’ll save that for later…too much excitement already for just one post!

xo M

The Carpets are IN!

April 16, 2013August 31, 2015Leave a comment

Yes, shout it from the rooftops and sound the gong: we have carpets! It was a looooooong wait, but last week, the carpets went in, and they are beautiful.

We decided on the Martha Stewart carpet collection at Home Depot, in “Gull”, which is a grey-ish off white. Very neutral….and so CLEAN. My heart does a little flip flop everytime I get upstairs. Let’s bask in the glory of before and after photos, shall we?

Main hallway facing the bedroom BEFORE:

And the same view AFTER:

Here’s a view of our master bedroom, just after Christian put down the plywood (following the extremely drawn-out flooring saga) in preparation of the carpet:

And a “progess” photo, just after the underlay went down:

But before we get to the final reveal, let’s take a trip back in time to 2009, from photos that we took on our very first day of official home ownership. Wowee:

Yeah, we’ve come a long way, baby…..

It’s beautiful. And our house totally smells like new car! Now it’s time to slowly put things back together….

Bathroom reno inspiration!

January 22, 2013March 20, 2016Leave a comment

It’s official = 2013 is the year of the major bathroom renovation!

Here’s to having a proper sized bathtub, not hitting our elbows on the wall every time we shower, being able to brush our teeth at the sink together (at the same time…what a concept) and not having the top of our toilet tank overlapping with our sink (true story)! Before, during and after photos will come as the weeks pass – we plan on starting this overhaul in mid-February. Until then, and as we begin shopping for all of the elements that go into a bathroom reno, I thought I’d share with you our ideas and inspiration for the design and aesthetic of the soon-to-be-finished product.

Our goals:

make use of the existing window inside the bathroom and allow natural light in
create a ‘spa’ feeling
create enough room so that we can both be in the bathroom at the same time

I’ve been adding to our Pinterest board for…about the past 6 months (what can I say? I was excited!) and it’s been neat to watch the progression of our vision. First, ‘spa’ meant more grey tones: stone tiles, and neutrals. But as the months progressed, our images started to move towards lighter, clean and crisp tones with pops of ice blue or seafoam green. I suppose spending a week on the west coast over the holidays, including a trip down to Cannon Beach, helped us to channel “sea shore” inspiration into our plan!

So, with beach inspiration fresh in our brains, it was back to the Pinterest drawing board! Here’s where we are at, and as we finalize our tile choices in the coming weeks, we are feeling great about our percolated vision (yep, it’s like coffee…you just have to let it brew, and it will come):

The main bathroom images above come from here, here, here and here…let’s highlight the one the really started it all, and really got us thinking about the beauty that is blue and white:

I love the simplicity of this bathroom (from Houzz.com). Plus, the fact that is the very same layout that we are moving towards, complete with an in-shower window, the look just clicked. So, our path is set and this shopping has begun! New bathroom coming very soon…

The Great Craigslist Challenge!

August 9, 2011January 22, 2013Leave a comment

I write this post while sitting on my living room couch, with my back to the massive hole in the wall behind me (on purpose; I can’t stand to look at it). Yep, we’re mid project, dust and dirt everywhere. Christian decided to tackle our “2nd” front door, which is one of the remaining key parts of our almost-complete front porch reno. So this is a bit of a we’re-in-between projects post, however, it is related to MY current project: the home office!

Our third bedroom, or “office” has been somewhat of a catch-all since we moved in. Over the past few months, I’ve been tackling it bit by bit, finding new homes for things and giving away/ throwing away things we no longer need. A few weeks back, I posted a few items on Craigslist: a love seat from my bachelorette days in my basement apartment (woo!), striped area rug, and a swivel office chair. All were in pretty good shape and we felt we could get a decent buck from the items – here are a few of the goods:

Christian and I agreed on the room make-over terms before we posted our pre-loved goodies on line: whatever we make off of these items will become our budget for the office makeover.

Well, I love a good challenge and Christian loves to be thrifty, so this little project was a match made in heaven!

And it just so happens that today marked the day that my make-over budget would be revealed! $215….whoop! Not too shabby.

We’re going for a sort of a 60’s inspired look with some modern pops. I’ll be suing the fab peacok blue and chartreuse green fabric that I recently picked up and shared with y’all in this post on DIY inspiration. Here’s another little bit of inspiration to help me stay focused, found here:

Gorgous. I love the modern look, the bright blue sofa and chairs, and that funky lamp! $215 will certainly not get me this room, but I’m excited to see what I can do!

In terms of great feature items for the room, we’re off to a good start. We scored a cool teak desk off of Craigslist (where else?) last year for $100, and inherited a lovely teak chair from Christian’s grandmother (here’s a sneak peak of our new desk chair…the recovering will be coming soon to a DIY post near you!):

Here’s what we plan on accomplishing within the room:

window coverings – fun fabric panels in a colourful print or solid textured material
covered bulletin board
black and white photo wall/ collage
recovered office chair
new handles for the Craigslist desk
recovered lamp shade
pillows for the amazing FREE arm chair that we scored on Craigslist a few months back
throw blanket for some extra colour
area rug to replace my striped friend that we recently sold
backing of existing bookcase with shelf paper/ wrapping paper for an added pop of colour behind our book collection

Good heavens this is a longer list than I thought! And I only have $215 to do it! Ah well, I’ll get crafty.

So I leave you with this challenge: what room are you looking to update? What “not perfect” or unused items do you have that you could sell to free up some cash for your project? How creative can you get?!

Bring it!

Inspiration all around us!

July 29, 2011February 8, 20131 Comment

Sometimes, it’s hard to get started on a project. You just aren’t sure what colour to work into a room, and walking into decor stores or even big-box stores can be extremely overwhelming, and cause you to spend 45 minutes considering the life and times of mailboxes (yes, I’ve done this…more on that another time).

So, where do we find inspiration for a room, design, or project? Well, everywhere. Start taking notes of things that make you go “Hey, I really like that!” If you see something you love, nab a picture on your phone and make a place to file your ideas and inspirations…it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t match anything right now, or perfectly fit into the guest bedroom you’re dying to dress up…just keep it….you never know when that idea or inspiration will come in handy! Here are a few quick examples:

I nabbed this fabric during a recent trip to Fabricland (during their down-town location closing-out sale…*sniff*) and was immediately drawn to the colours. I’m pretty certain it is going to be the inspiration for our office make-over project. So pumped!

This next one is all things funky. I was out for dinner last night with some girl-friends at Southern BBQ style restaurant, Harlem, on Queen West in Toronto.

Near our table was an array of funky prints, and this one caught my eye immediately. Welcome to DIY-ville, population: YOU! (or me). It’s a really cool twist on a large picture frame, involving what seemed to be an old window, handle and all, with distress marks for good measure. The classic print that is framed just met its match with this one! This is the kind of thing you can create with awesome garage sale, antique or auction finds.

Finally, a little vay-cay inspiration. Christian and I recently went on a little road-trip to Essex County, Ontario. En route, we stopped at the WindJammer Inn, in Port Stanley, ON, an adorable B&B with out-of-this-world food. Our room was cozy, and had a great rustic-cottage-meets-contemporary vibe to it. Right away I was drawn to the curtain head-board. I apologize that I don’t have an amazing picture of it, but here’s this one from their own website (they have since changed the cover to crisp white and light blue strip rather than this busy guy, which looks really awesome):And here’s one of me shortly after launching myself onto the giant king-sized bed (we have a Queen at home, and it never ceases to amaze me just how big King beds are). So for the quality…our camera was really acting up. But you get the idea, plus, who doesn’t love dorky pictures like this one on a Friday?:

Finally, here is a waaaaay better version to help with your headboard inspiration from (where else) Apartment Therapy:

Love the yellow-teal-chocolate brown combo!

So, there you have it – go out this weekend and get INSPIRED!

To enclose, or not to enclose: PART 2, the Grand Finale!

July 27, 2011August 24, 20117 Comments

For those of you who had the chance to read my recent blog on our flip-flopping decision relating to our porch enclosure, you will be pleased to know that it’s time for the grand reveal. There are, of course, several tweaks, finishing touches and final projects to be completed (it’s the renovation that keeps on giving, remember?), but you will get the overall gist of our latest renovation experience momentarily.

Before I get to the grand reveal, let’s review the stages of progress, shall we? As I’ve already shared with you, Christian and I would consider ourselves to be renovation vets, having already tackled a complete basement overhaul, re-wiring of our old knob-and-tube electrical (NOTE: we didn’t do the wiring, but cleaned up the massive mess afterward by patching and painting all the walls!), giving our kitchen a serious facelift, removing walls on the main floor, installing flooring and refinishing our stairs (oh, the blog stories to come!). Now, Christian and I decided to work on the porch enclosure and front-of-house over our main upstairs bathroom for two key reasons:

1) it would be faster, and,

2) it would be cheaper.

Turns out, we were pretty much wrong on both fronts.

Weekend #1: May Long Weekend

– Friday afternoon: demolition of old front porch enclosure

– Friday evening: start framing and replace front window on original exterior house wall

NOTE: Christian basically drills into his own thumb at this point; we probably should have gone to the hospital but he’s too darned stubborn so tough and manly that he forged ahead.

– Saturday all day: more framing, thanks to our friend Merv and neighbor Mike for the extra hands!

– Sunday all day: ply wood up and wrapping started, windows in! Christian’s brother shows up just in time to help install the double front doors

– Monday: finishing up framing, wrapping and starting on the electrical (again, get a pro to do this!)

NOTE: wondering where I am during all this? Oh, I remember, I was chiseling out all the old ceramic tiles and mortar that once was the floor of the enclosure. Worst. Job. Ever. Seriously, right up there with taring (water-proofing) our basement walls…more on that another time.

Yep, this was me. All weekend long. chip chip chip ow. chip chip chip ow. ow. ow. chip bang. bang bang chip chip.

What I learned later was that there is a power tool that does this job. In just hours (honestly I’m guessing I spent a good 20+ hours on this). One of our contractor friends said we “could have borrowed it”. Or, we could have even gone the Home Depot Tool Rental route. I can’t help but wonder if Christian was with-holding this information in order to keep me completely occupied for the weekend and out of his hair. I’m still laughing about this one. ha. ha. ha.

With weekend #1 behind us, we were already feeling behind. The siding wasn’t in yet (it was on special order). I was still chipping away at the tiles. We had clearly forgotten what it felt like to work 10+ hour days on weekends. The little projects were adding up to one massive to-do list.

Weekend #2: May 28-29th

Getting the siding up on the exterior (woo! the vision is coming alive!)

Insulation (another one of my not-so-favourite jobs),dry-walling and more dry-walling.

Let’s not even talk about the experience we had installing the ceiling dry-wall. Honestly, either get poles for extra support or hire a professional….that was not one of our finer renovating moments.

Weekend #3: June 4-5th

Finish drywall, followed by extreme muding and taping

Weekend #4: June 11-12th

We. Are. Over. This. Renovation.

How much time can a 200 square foot space to renovation? Too long. The little jobs just kept coming, and poor Christian was taking extra days off of work to help push our *little* project along.

Accomplishments:

– building the cedar landing and stairs at the front

– sanding the drywall

– priming and painting the walls

Weekend #5: June 18-19th

Ironically, June 18th marked the first year of marriage for us. We should take a break, right? Wrong. It was pretty fitting for us that we should spend our anniversary working on our house. Instead we:

– installed lights, finished electrical

– cleaned tiles and grout

– put baseboards in, windows trimmed

*We did indulge in a much-deserved dinner at the 360 restaurant that night…a 9pm reservation. We were literally falling asleep at the table after a full day of work. Ah, marital bliss….allow me to take a minute to share one of our favouriate wedding pics that I know you will all love and appreciate:

Photo Credit: Claudia Hung Weddings

*sigh* the good ol’ days.

Back to renovation-reality: The most rewarding moment of the entire process? Arriving home after our dinner in the sky at the CN Tower and seeing our newly installed lights, shining like a beacon in the night! Although it was a lot of work and not our first choice on how to spend our anniversary, we felt a sense of pride when we arrived homed, walked up our newly-built, cedar-smelling stairs and used our new front door for the first time! Kind of a touching moment, isn’t it? All together now: “awwwwwwww”:

Thanks for reading – share your comments below!

Starting small: a little bit of DIY inspiration

July 25, 2011August 17, 2011Leave a comment

My husband and I are often asked: “How do you learn the ways of DIY?”, and for those of you who are well-versed in this past-time, you will know that it is purely trial and error. Christian is Mr. Handy, and was fortunate enough to learn many of the tricks of the trade from working with his dad growing up. Me on the other hand, well, my mother likes to shop at Ethan Allan and Restoration Hardware – HA! Yeah, not in the budget for us.

The problem: “I want pretty things in my home, but should really put my money towards renovations/ fixing broken pipes/ leaky roofs/ etc!”

The solution: Furniture DIY. I’m addicted. It’s my new-found favourite past-time and it is sooooo satisfying.

Allow me to share with you some wonderful before-and-after shots of various items that we have spruced up for next-to-nothing. Who doesn’t LOVE before-and-after shots!?

First up, the dresser. Well, it was a dresser, passed on to Christian waaay back in University. Then is was repurposed into a bar for him and his roommate for another 3 years (glass ring stains and all!) and found it’s way into our Leslieville home. I hated it. But, we needed it and again the little-dresser-that-could found itself in the starring role of: entry-way table! Time for a face-lift. Here’s our over-loved friend before:

I used some left over grey paint (from our Master Bedroom walls), white trim paint, and knobs from Lee Valley Tools (the best location in the city for knobs, pulls and handles, in my opinion). Total cost for the project? One long weekend and 40 bucks. Voila – my masterpiece:

Well, I was on a bit of a roll after this.

Next up, we have our rescued-by-the-roadside night stands. Yep, we were driving somewhere near Gerrard-ish and Christian hit the breaks and started backing up. It was like the heavens had opened and revealed two night-stands, just waiting for some TLC and a new home! It was love at first sight…well, almost. We had a vision. I actually wrote a quick thank you note for the previous home-owners because I felt it was good karma to share my joy…

Here are the orphan night-stands before (well one of two – they looked the same!)

Remember: we had a vision. A vision of glossy pops of red in our bedroom….BAM! Here is the after:

Total cost for these babies? About $35 on paint + $10 on knobs (these ones are from Central Fairbank Lumber). We splurged and bought High-Gloss red paint and a can of Varathane. TIP: do not, I repeat, DO NOT use anything but foam rollers for this stuff. We used a sort of synthetic roller and got little bits of plasticy-fluff in the paint. So frustrating.

Now onto my vanity bench. Yes, I LOVE my vanity. Ladies, for those of you with the my-house-was-built-in-the-30’s sized bathroom, the in-room vanity table is your best friend. We picked ours up at IKEA for about $200 and it looks pretty awesome (no one believes it’s from IKEA). But, when it came to a seat for said vanity, I felt that it needed a bit of flair (on a budget, of course).

Here is a before(ish) – I didn’t actually take a before…isn’t that sad? But you get the idea…the legs are a different style, but this is pretty much what it looked like: Grandma’s old sewing bench (which is what it was, so it was free):

And the after – yes, it’s all about the pops of red in this room!

Cost? Can of spray paint @ $6.00 and a steal of a deal on this bold-striped Marimekko fabric from a bin at Crate&Barrel. For those of you who aren’t family with Marimekko fabric, it’s very bold, fun and pretty mod…and also pricey! Crate&Barrel collaborates with Marimekko on a bunch of stuff in the store and what’s cool is that the fabric ends and extra yards are available for sale at a super low cost (I think I paid $10 for 2 yards of this stuff). I. LOVE. DEALS.

And finally, the most simple face-lift of all – recovering a chair seat. We picked up this adorable diner-inspired kitchen set off of Craigslist for $25:

It sat happily in our kitchen for about a year, but I was inspired while on a recent trip to Fabricland during their closing sale (*sniff* the only downtown location is CLOSING!) and found this killer black-and-white geometric, very durable, indoor/outdoor fabric for a steal. The best part? They had an end that was more than enough for this project, but not quite a yard, so I paid $4.00 – whoop! Here’s a close-up of the new seat cushion:

I completed this project in under an hour, seated on the living room floor whilst watching Ashely cry her way through another *heartbreak* on the bachelor. All you need are scissors and a staple gun.

Here that? That’s the sound of my heart singing. It’s a sickness, people.

Next up on the furniture DIY hit-list? Upholstered headboard for our master bedroom – stay tuned!

What are you guys working on? Any quick and easy DIY projects that you’ve tackled recently?

happy healthy huggetts

a lifestyle blog for those looking for a bit more "happy" in their life.

Tag: design