I am a wife, a mother, an auntie and a friend. I love thrifting, garage sales, re-purposing, creating, painting, anything that makes our little rental home more welcoming, comfortable and cozy. I have discovered the "art" of amateur photography & I love the idea of capturing the beauty in the ordinary everyday things that surround us. Blogging is a wonderful way to make new friends and share with people who have the same interests. My personal taste in decorating leans towards "casual cottage/coastal decor". I now have a small shop on etsy, called "SandySeashore" where you'll find some of my vintage finds, my photography and some handmade things. I hope you take the time to check it out! Thanks for droppin' in!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Farmhouse Kitchen Makeover

Hi! If you've read my previous post, you know that I spent a week in Saskatchewan with my lovely niece Adele and her future hubby Tim. 

The 1970's bungalow they live in is a fixer-upper for sure. They are tackling it little by little, as the budget allows. It's sitting on 22 beautiful acres of land. On the property they have the bungalow, a large barn (love it), a garage, and a kwansit. There's a fresh water creek with a beaver damn and a lovely swimming hole Tim put in, with a dock. There's a large double sized hammock hanging off a couple of trees, a trampoline, a swing set, playhouse and monkey bars for the kids. They have a little menagerie of farm animals, which includes two goats, some hens, chickens, a rooster and a turkey. They have a sweet lab named Sadie and some cats, including their adorable kitten, Petunia.  My niece is a lover of animals, so I imagine they will collect more along the way! 

The land is adjacent to a Native Reserve that has wild horses that often wander over to visit them. Deer also roam the property on a regular basis.
Sadie does a good job of keeping wolves, bears, foxes and other predators at bay. She followed me around the property every single time I went for a stroll, never more than a step away from me...I've never met such a friendly, sweet & protective dog.

They wanted to update, lighten and brighten up the kitchen. They both agreed they wanted a fresh look without breaking the small budget. Here's what it looked like before...

 Homemade plywood cupboards, old knobs/pulls, dark moulding around the windows,
dark red paint on the walls.
 Painted over tile on back wall where the woodstove used to be.

I took the following pictures after we had applied the filler to the walls.


 Before I got there, my niece removed and sanded all the cupboard doors
in preparation for the butter cream paint we chose.
In this picture you can see a bit of the newly painted cabinetry as well as the dark wood around the dishwasher and the dark entrance with the washer/dryer in it.
This is the color we chose for the walls. It's a custom color we called "Comeau Blue"  
(My maiden name and her surname)

Adele painted and distressed the wood around the dishwasher to tie it in with the rest.
We decided to "hide" the washer/dryer in the entrance/mudroom with curtains,
making it feel more like a finished space.
A very kind neighbour offered the 100 year old barnwood from this old outbuilding, all we had to do was remove it...it's more work than it sounds like!!! You'd think stuff this old wood would just "fall off", trust me, it didn't. It was built to last! It took us a good 4 hours of pulling, hammering and removing nails to get enough for our project...
 Remember this ugly wall?
 Well, after some blood, sweat and tears...
(I hit my thumb with the hammer) LOL
 It started to look much better...
 I mean, really,
what could be more appropriate for a farmhouse in Saskatchewan...?
 I finished the ends...
I absolutely love the patina of the old wood!
 We hung a few things....
 I built a table from some old wood,
found an old crate to put on the shelf....
 "feathered it" with some finds, old milk bottle filled with broken glass and a cow skull found on the same land as the barnwood.

 Added a shelf Tim made years ago, hung some drying herbs,
and a few treasures I collected for them...


 See the old fork part of a pitchfork we also found?
and the beautiful wheat lamp Adele made.

 Here's the lamp lit up...
Isn't it pretty? 
I just love it. 



 We painted the window frames butter cream as well.

 Adele found this heavy iron horse on the property!
 There's the sign I made for them.



 The old gate is leaning up against the wall to hide the pipes for the washer/dryer. In front of which sits a long crate that we painted
(used to hold artificial christmas tree) and distressed, 
now being used as a bench and for shoe storage.

 Pictures, frames and key box I brought for them.
 This is the old farmhouse table and four chairs we found at the Re-store last year for a steal!
It's not perfect, but it is a vaste improvement.
It feels so fresh and airy now.

I was disappointed that we ran out of time and didn't get to finish some things.
  1. tiling the backsplash
  2. some cabinets need one more coat of paint
  3. we spray painted some knobs and drawer pulls black, they need to be put on
  4. barnboard trim around the door and barnboard baseboards
  5. cafe style sheer curtains
  6. door or curtain for the pantry (on barnboard wall)
  7. painting the ceiling. 
I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures once it is all finished.... 


(Update: my niece just sent me some pictures to show me that she did the barnboard trim around the door and the baseboard, and installed the knobs on the cabinets - via her phone/sorry for quality of photos)

 




 Both Adele and Tim are very happy with the makeover and thanked me for my ideas and hard work.
I was just happy to help! I hope they know how much I love them!
And of course, I do love a good project! :)

Thanks for following!
xx
Sandra


3 comments:

  1. WOW WOW WOW! You are doing big WOW stuffs there! The result is so awesome amazing dear! You should be very proud of yourself cos' I am so proud just to know you and have a friend like you! Wish you are here in my house now! LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG Sandra!!! amazing! job well done girlfriend!

    ReplyDelete
  3. OH MY GOSH THIS IS GORGEOUS!!!!!!!! Look at you "I just built a table"! You are amazing my dear friend and so so talented!! I am so jealous of all the gorgeous barnwood, that wall looks perfect!!! The wall color is perfect and I love the accessories and your keybox and sign look beautiful there. :) It looks like a completely different house. You guys worked your tails off and it was so worth it, you should be very happy with your work!! :) The area that she lives in sounds so beautiful and it sounds like she has a beautiful heart just like her beautiful aunt. :)
    xoxoxox

    ReplyDelete