Our Bedroom Makeover...

Our bedroom renovation began in December of 2013 - one morning Larry woke up and decided it was time to rid the room of the old red wallpaper. Here are two photos of the room as it looked during our home inspection in April 2011.

As the wallpaper came off, or perhaps I should say some did and some didn't, we consulted with friends  and our designer Tim Badgely of Acanthus in Port Hope as to what to do with the walls. Larry found many cracks, a combination of drywall and old lathe and plaster and he was not sure we could restore what he found under the wall paper.

We decided to stop the wallpaper removal and put up new drywall in the entire room. This was no small feat and we were greatly helped my a local craftsman and within a week we had new fresh walls and a lot of clean up as a result.

Here are a few photos of the new drywall going up.

You can see the lovely molding at the ceiling and the trim that comes down the wall. We moved the trim up higher than it was originally to give more space for the new drapery hardware. We were pleased to use the drapery panels that were in the room originally as they were of a wonderful quality, fully lined and in our colour scheme. After an expensive trip to the dry cleaners the panels came back to life.

 We chose bedding from Acanthus and their team made the bed skirt and matching shams. We found a funky carpet in Peterborough and our wonderful chair also came from Acanthus.

The room has been completely revived and we love waking up to the sunny colour.

We are still on the hunt for a great picture to go over the bed and the fireplace may someday be enhanced with a gas insert but in the meantime candles work well.

Upper floor bathroom finally completed in May 2012

Here are some before pictures of the bathroom on the upper floor.

We left the floor plan the same as the original and had the old claw-foot tub refinished ... and believe me that sub-contractor was a whole other story!! Here are some pictures of what I call my favourite bathroom; it is so heavenly with the grey, white, black toile wallpaper; the mood is one of relax and refresh and I am inspired by the bathing beauties that hang above the tub...

We took these light fixtures from what used to be the dining room and they fit so perfectly with this bathroom  

Main Floor Bathroom Renovated in February 2012

Before

Here is a photo of the gutted main floor bathroom...

Here are a few photos of the main floor bathroom ...  the floor is the same black slate as the kitchen ... the cabinets are white and the granite countertop is a black speckled (not shown). And yes we went wild with the "birds" wallpaper and funky art and the same bright green accent colour. Currently this is the only shower in the house and until we add more bathrooms on the second level.

This cabinet houses the washer and dryer 

Our progress over the spring and summer of 2012

More progress: The kitchen was completed November 2011 and as we have been living with it for several months now this summer we have decided to change the paint colour and will get started on this project later into  the month of September.  The medium grey walls are not "popping" according to my dear husband and the dark ceiling and trim (BM Wedgewood Grey) is simply not our style ... we will post more updated photos of the improved colour with some "pop" later this fall so be sure to follow our blog!! We also changed our kitchen light fixtures as the small schoolhouse size (in the previous blog photo) wasn't the right scale given the ceiling height ... here are the new larger sized ones.

And we have been accenting with a wonderful lime green colour and have some small decorative pieces added that make us smile every day! Here is a close up of our kitchen "peas".

In May 2012 Larry finished staining the old pine treads of the stairwell and the colour is a great match with the hardwood floors but alas pine and two dogs are not a good mix so we settled on adding a wonderful wool runner in a multi colour wool called Africa. The decorating team from Acanthus did a great job helping us add a few finishing touches to the hallway ... now all we are looking for is a wonderful bench to go under the "Birch Trees" .... see our progress...

Now that summer is almost behind us and we are getting focused back to "our project" the blog should have more updates. And if you really want to see our progress send us an email and let's find time for a visit. xo Donna and Larry

Kitchen renovation: Here are some pictures of the kitchen during our home inspection back in April '11. 

Larry's Mom was part of the inspection crew

Here is the kitchen gutted just after Thanksgiving this past October.

The slate floor tiles were being installed.















Larry painting the kitchen ceiling, walls and moulding ... we started with white and yellow and he is putting on BM Dior Grey. Given that we have  10.5 ft ceilings the dark ceiling provides a dramatic look and feels wonderful. The ceiling and moulding are now the same colour as the new island.

And the finished kitchen

Of course every project has a bump and ours is the granite. We are awaiting a visit from the company representative from Pro Stone to find out what can be done as the finish is not properly done. 

The kitchen renovation team was made up of two wonderful men; Kevin Foster of KTF Kitchens and Kevin Racine of Icandurenos and what a wonderful team to work with; they were on time, professional, clean and treated our kitchen reno like it was their own. To save on the cost Larry did all the demolition and the painting and then we left the cabinet making and installation to these two PROs.  We are so impressed and pleased with their work we have secured them to renovate two bathrooms in the New Year! Many thanks to both Kevin's for helping us achieve our dream kitchen in the Sonning House!

Painting and re-painting the Living and Dining rooms

Yes the title is accurate; Larry painted the WHOLE living room and dining room and then ... we were unsure of the choice.   Larry and I think our mistake was trying to replicate the house we loved on Jedburgh; the same colours don't really work here and we have had to step back and re-evaluate our strategy for this home. 


We settled on a Benjamin Moore colour called Bone China - CC 426 - after a thoughtful consultation with Richard from Glam in Port Hope; we are getting more clarity on how to make the Sonning House our own. Who said this would be an easy process or project?? NOW we are reupholstering our main piece of furniture in the LR - the couch (Yes Richard suggested we tone down the piece as it was done 10 years ago and was a bold choice). Stay tuned for the update as it will be ready in 8 - 10 weeks ... maybe by Christmas ...in the meantime we are happy to report our other pieces will work - plum/purple with a taupe theme.  

This is the original colour we chose ... it was Benjamin Moore - Linen Sand 2151-60 a slightly lighter shade than in our Jedburgh home - BM Straw Hat.  


Thanks for peeking, now onto the hallway, family room and kitchen paint colour choices...Richard come back!! 

Floors refinished and walls being restored ...the list goes on!!

Larry has painted all the ceilings on the main floor to the upper hall with BM Cloud White; the ceilings are a flat finish and the mouldings are in semi-gloss to add a visual punch ... the walls are the most work and as you can see from the many photos he will be taking more time to have them ready for painting.  Between job searches and a few interviews Larry is very focused on getting the walls ready to paint before Thanksgiving weekend. This holiday Monday he is sanding walls and filling cracks ... this part seems to be an endless task!! 

The hardwood floors on the main level are almost done; the final satin finish coat will be going on next Friday; the colour is a medium brown and the grain of the oak shows through the colour beautifully.  We were both expecting it to be darker (perhaps similar to the house on Jedburgh) yet we chose a colour closer to the stain on the railing to guide the floor choice. We are very pleased with the outcome.  Doug from Northumberland Flooring has been a meticulous tradesman and Larry has been very impressed with his work and attention to detail. The old floors are simply beautiful.  This week the stairs are being worked on and we have decided to leave the hardwood on the second floor in the honey blond colour, at least for now. 

Our goal is to have the main floor finished by Christmas. If Larry finds the job of his dreams then that timeline may alter. Do stay tuned for more updates as the kitchen has been designed and ordered... over the next weeks we share our choices on the colour scheme, flooring, granite and back splash. We will be  posting before photos and by the end of October hopefully the final product.