Old and New... Design Editor

I've asked some wonderful bloggers to post about their favourite Old & New things - the old things which infuse their homes with history, meaning, or a sense of family, and the new things which make their home feel fresh and modern.

If you haven't visited Design Editor, the blog of today's guest Catherine, you're in for a visual treat. Just as the name implies, Catherine writes a well-edited blog about lovely things... fabulous fonts, illustrations, home design, with a dash of life with twin girls thrown in. I appreciate her simple style and her choice of old and new things too...

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Hi, I'm Catherine at Design Editor! On the left, is one of my favorite old things - silhouettes of my grandparents done in 1944. I love their hats. Its one of the few things I have from their house and I cherish them. The style still holds up today!

For my new favorite thing, I'm loving my brand new pegboard wall in my home office. Nine feet by four feet -- can't beat that for vertical storage!

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Old and New... Decor Happy

I've asked some wonderful bloggers to post about their favourite Old & New things - the new things which make their home feel fresh and modern, and the old things which infuse their homes with history, meaning, or a sense of family.

Today Vanessa of Decor Happy is taking the reins. Vanessa is a talented designer and Toronto blogger who I've had the pleasure of meeting many times. Her blog posts are always informative and well researched, and her room transformations sparkle. Go check her out if you haven't already! 

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Hello Rambling Renovator readers! So happy to be here as I am a huge fan of Jen and her blog.

My old and new items are actually old-ish items that I recently transformed with paint and new hardware.

The first item is my daughter’s dresser that was her change table when she was a babe. I painted it red but I wasn’t quite happy with the way it turned out. Blame it on a sad painting job by moi.

So I had it sprayed by Paint it Like New. The colour is Benjamin Moore’s Floral White and the glass knobs are from Anthropologie. When in doubt, paint it white and you can’t go wrong. What a difference it makes to have it professionally sprayed – no streaks and a “hard as nails” finish!

My second old to new item is this pine armoire that I bought in 1990 when pine was all the rage. It is a good, solid piece made by a local craftsman and was custom made to store my TV and components.

I was going to sell it but decided to repurpose it into an armoire to house all of the extra pillows and linens that overflow from my linen closet.

Again, I had it professionally sprayed and changed the knobs to these adorable ones from Anthropologie. I removed the box at the top of the armoire and installed a shelf.

I’m really happy with the transformation of these old pieces. The house already feels lighter and brighter as a result.

Thanks Jen for having me and I hope you are enjoying a wonderful, relaxing holiday!

Vanessa

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Fabulous old to new transformations Vanessa! How great that you were able to keep both old pieces and make them fit in with your current needs. And those Anthropologie knobs (and your pillows) are adorable!


Jen

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Old and New... Hi Sugarplum!

I've asked some wonderful bloggers to post about their favourite Old & New things - the old things which infuse their homes with history, meaning, or a sense of family and the new things which make their home feel fresh and modern.

Up first is the sweet and sassy Cassie of Hi Sugarplum! You won't find a home more fun and fresh than hers - check out her feature in her local newspaper to see some of her latest colourful transformations - but there are hidden old treasures in her home too. Take it away Cassie!

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Hi ya'll! I'm Cassie from Hi Sugarplum!, and I'm visiting today from way down South. I know Jen thinks it's hot in Toronto, but you don't know hot (& humid, blech) until you've spent an August in Texas. It makes for some sweet hairdos, if you're going for limp and frizzy. I'm thrilled to be guest posting, as Rambling Renovators was one of my first blog crushes.

My house is full of sentimental treasures, as I was lucky enough to inherit many things from my grandparents. And fortunately, they had exquisite taste! I couldn't narrow it down to just one, so I'll share a few, and each for different reasons.

First up is this gorgeous secretary. I remember playing with the little door and drawers when I was little, and feeling so fancy as I pretended to work at the desk. It's even more sentimental since it was a wedding gift to my grandparents 60 years ago! I've got plans for it that include gold leaf!

The next item I adore because of it's total uniqueness...a camel saddle! My great-grandfather was a Colonel in the Army, and worked in Afghanistan in the late 1950s supervising the building of their roads. They were so grateful, they gifted him with this beautiful camel saddle when he left several years later. It even has his monogram etched in brass. Just too cool!


Note to self: polish brass!

But lastly, anyone who ever adored their grandfather as much as I did mine (he called me 'Sugarplum,' hence my blog name!), gets choked up at the most random reminders. For me, it's seeing the hat he wore almost everyday perched on the corner of my son's bed.

Enough of the hard and heavy! Let's get to the newest love in my house...my Daughter's Room. It took me 9 months (but less than $600!) to complete, but everytime I see it I get positively giddy!

She's pretty thrilled too!

Check out all the DIY projects that made this room possible, as well as my plans for the next victim room at Hi Sugarplum! Hope you're having a fabulous vacation, Jen!

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How gorgeous are those antique treasures from your grandparents Cassie! Such great stories behind each piece too. And $600 for that incredibly stylish and fun room is crazy! I can't wait for the next "new" space in your home! Thanks for sharing.


Jen

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Old and New

Its Monday! What fun things were you up to this weekend? We enjoyed a family birthday, some swim time, and now we're packing up for vacation! We're heading way out west and I can't wait to head down to the beach and smell that ocean air.

While I'm gone, I'm leaving Rambling Renovators in the hands of some wonderful guest bloggers. They'll be posting about their favourite Old & New things - the old things which infuse their homes with history, meaning, or a sense of family, and the new things which make their home feel fresh and modern.

I think rooms come to life when you mix the old and the new. Rooms look eclectic, lived in, gathered over time instead of pulled off a showroom floor. In my home, we've tried to create a modern + vintage traditional look so you'll find lots of old worn things on our shiny new counters.

My favourite old thing in our home is this marching band photo...

 

Is it strange to love a photo of 200 strangers? I look at this photo and wonder what their stories were... who were these men? What were their lives like in 1912 when this photo was taken? Their non-smiling expressions and the uniformity of their, well, uniforms, draws me in. I'd been looking for one of these for a long time and finally found this at the Christie Antique Show. It was a good length and still in the original frame. I knew I wanted to place the frame over our bed - and we basically planned the layout of the panelled wall around the photo!

My favourite new thing in our house? It has to be the fireplace. One of the reasons we bought our house was because it had a fireplace - but the original wood-burning fireplace was large, crumbling, and very ugly. So we took it out a week after we moved in... we just didn't think it would take four years to replace it!

The new fireplace is modern but classic and timeless. I love the cool feel of the hard marble and how it looks against the blazing hot stones when the fire is on. But the thing I love most about it is that we made it; we designed it, we built the frame, we choose the stone (after many many many hours of discussion and compromise), and HandyMan lay every tile. Its a part of "us" that now stands permanently in our home. I guess new things can carry meaning too!

So what's your favourite old and new things in your home? Come back over the next two weeks to see what it is in the homes of some great bloggers. See you when I get back!

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Why, Thank You!

I just wanted to send a big huge THANK YOU to those folks who have mentioned Rambling Renovators in the last few weeks...

...to Home & Decor magazine, Singapore's leading design publication, for listing us as their Do-It-Yourself Site of the month! This is our first time appearing in an international publication so we're very thrilled to be included! One of HandyMan and my favourite trips together was to Manila/Bali/Singapore and we fell in love with Singapore's mix of Western/Asian culture, beautiful British Colonial architecture, and lush floral surroundings. I'll be devouring every page of this stylish magazine!

...to Making It Lovely for including our living room makeover in latest Honor Roll. It makes us giddy to know one of our "blog idols" likes our stuff :)

...to Beau Lifestyle for sharing our living room with her readers which is doubly flattering when you consider how stylish her apartment is!

...to Manolo for the Home who appreciated the before and after of our living room and to Inspire Me Heather who gave some link love to our How To Make A Panelled Wall video.

...to Wainscot Solutions who thought our DIY wainscotting was a good way to break up our crazy dining room wallpaper.

...to The Busy Budgeting Mama who gave the thumbs up to our DIY cakestand

... to Jen Selk and Michelle at AM Dolce Vita who were inspired by my thrift store display case to find ones of their own!

 

...to Lisa at Wicked & Weird who included us in her roundup of Great Canadian Blogs. Hers is pretty great too. Her son's bedroom is still one of my favourites.

 

...and to Dayka at Life+Style and The Raven's Spell who shared the tragedy of what happened to the Sarah's House houses with their readers. I'm still a little bit heartsick after seeing those After photos, aren't you? To rub a little more salt in the wound, here's one more before & after I forgot to include... it's the tween bedroom from Sarah's House 2. I'm guessing this is the same room, judging from the stained parquet floors and the placement of the window. So so very sad.

 So thank you to all you bloggers out there who share our projects and posts with others. We appreciate each and every one of your comments and links... you make us smile :) And if you've posted about us and I haven't noticed, please do let me know. I'd love to check out your blogs too!

Have a great weekend everyone!

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The Love List

Its Thursday and the weatherman is forecasting a sweaty & humid 39 degrees today. Ick. I'm ready for this week to be over so here's the Love List a bit early this week.

I'm loving...

...this perfectly timed photo. Splash!

...this pretty garden in a tin

...this DIY mirror on a mirror

...this sophisticated and sweet lavender nursery

...these temporary wall tiles (a great option for wallpaper commitmentphobes!)

...this country bedroom for two little girls. (What a great idea to hang pendants instead of using table lamps!)

Source: mixandchic.com via Jen @ Rambling on Pinterest

...and this nautical bedroom for two little boys.

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Sarah's Houses: After The Show

Do you ever wonder what happens to the homes you see featured on your favourite HGTV shows? What do the homeowners really think of the rooms decorated by our favourite TV designers? Do they keep them as is? Do they keep all the furnishings? Or do they change the spaces so drastically that they bear little resemblance to what we saw on TV?

I gave you a peek into the small changes Geeta and Jerry made to their dining room which was transformed on Sarah 101 Season 1. But what about the famous whole-house transformations from the Sarah's House series? Have a gander at what some of these rooms looked like once the cameras stopped rolling:

Sarah's House 1:

Of all the Sarah's House houses, I felt this one I could move right into and not change a thing. I loved the silvery neutral palette and the cream and grey kitchen. The children's bedrooms and study room were dreamy and the metallic industrial inspired laundry was petite and perfect. Let's take a look at the rooms as Sarah left them and what they look like now:

Master bedroom

Home office

Dining room

Girl's bedroom

 

Living room

 Bathroom

And the Boy's bedroom

All before photos courtesy of Sarah Richardson Design. All after photos are from the real estate listing.

Overall, I don't think its a bad transformation. The current furnishings just don't have that pizzazz or showcase the rooms at their best. I'm glad that at least structurally, not much has changed. But if Sarah's House 1 is still your dream home, you're in luck because this home is currently for sale for a cool $1.329 Million.


Sarah's House 2:

Hold onto your hats Sarah fans, because this next transformation may just break your heart a little. Sarah's House 2 was a real diamond in the rough, a 1960's ranch backsplit full of hidden potential. Sarah brought it back to life by opening up and lightening up the interior and creating a spectacular backyard space. Who could forget the living room with the glass wall and hits of soft pink? Or the sweet baby boy nursery with the handpainted letters adorning the walls? My favourite though was the graphic green, black and white guest suite in the remodeled basement. I swooned over the upholstered headboard and the white painted bamboo armoire Sarah found at auction.

These After photos were from the real estate listing when the house was for sale in April 2010. I have no idea what the current interiors look like, but these ones... well, not much left to swoon at in my books.

Master bedroom

 Basement

 

Kitchen

Laundry

Living room

Bathroom

And that adorable basement guest suite? Tragic, is all I can say.

All before photos courtesy of Sarah Richardson Design. All after photos via Carriage House Antiques.

 
Yes, its the same room. Goodbye whimsical wallpaper and bright white space. In reality, again much of the structure has stayed the same.  But for me, the home owner's accessories and choice of paint colours have dulled the space, aged it, and made it seem less appealing. What do you think of the change?

As Sarah told me, the majority of houses she has redesigned go up for sale very quickly after she's laid her magic touch. I can't blame the homeowners - how many of us wouldn't want to live in a "Sarah" house (or capitalize and make some $ selling one)? I just know that if I ever were in possession of a Sarah's house, I probably want to buy all the furnishings too, lock, stock, and barrel.

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