A Little Hallway Update with Lowe's

After moving to the lakehouse, Hubby and I tackled a ton of budget-friendly, temporary makeovers to make this house feel bright and modern - and "us" - while we planned and saved for major renovations.  I'm so glad we took the time to do those spit & polish type projects because, other than the main bathroom, all of our major renos (full kitchen, laundry room and powder room gut, new roof and siding, new fireplace and secret door, fish room to laundry room conversion, etc.) had to take a back seat to some major life upheavals.  Although I love the temporary changes we made, I have to admit that I have been feeling a strong urge to pick up a sledgehammer and demo something!  I really want to renovate - probably motivated by motivated in part by the fact that all of our appliances are failing at once - but I have to cool my jets a little bit longer.  I'm so excited that I have had this fish room makeover to work on to satisfy my need for change.

In the meantime, I've been focusing on making small tweaks to our decor.  I've been eyeing the kitchen for a little upgrade and I have been dedicated to finding some missing puzzle pieces to finish the budget-friendly makeovers we did early on.  There are definitely some decor pieces that we have needed to help make our home more functional and help some spaces feel more complete.

Luckily, I have Lowe's Canada to help me out!  They have new home decor themes and one collection - "Modern Nostalgia" - definitely has my name on it, so I brought home a few accessories that are as practical as they are beautiful, in the hopes of putting some finishing touches on previous makeovers - and satiating my urge for change!

I'm sharing the piece with the biggest impact today, but come back to see a few more peeks into the fabulously curated decor finds from Lowe's Canada.

After painting the hallways walls, trim, and doors white, upgrading all of the interior levers and exterior door hardware, we replaced all of the boob lights and even switched out the dated door for one with a more mid-century modern inspired look.  We hung up some art and added the only piece of furniture the small space can afford: a little hand carved stool.  Most recently the floors were painted, along with the kitchen, but there was still a missing puzzle piece: a mirror!  

Whenever I wanted to fuss with my scarf or check my lip gloss before heading out the door, I'd either run back to the bedroom to use the full length mirror in there, or dash through the laundry room to the half bath and use that mirror. 

I had forgotten what a wonderful thing it is to have a mirror by the door!  Plus the hallway can be a little dark at times because even with the wonderful windows, our exterior door is often sheltered from the sun thanks to our carport.  So this Columbia Frame mirror helps bounce a little light around.

It's a beautiful addition to the space, adding warmth to my cool color palette of blues and whites.  It's made from solid reclaimed wood with a hand waxed finish, which adds a lot of gorgeous texture and interest. 

After I ordered it, I was worried it would be too chunky or too rustic, but although the diameter of the frame is very substantial in size (31/5"), it still feels delicate.  Plus I just love how the hand waxed finish plays on the lakeside vibe with its driftwood feel.

In my city, Lowe's Canada took over a lease at one end of our shopping mall and that's where the BEST parking is, so I always park there and slowly loiter my way through Lowe's to enter the mall.  I am so excited that Lowe's stocks beautiful home decor in addition to renovating supplies because I love browsing the aisles but I'm not quite ready to start appliance shopping or picking out tiles yet!

Soon, though, soon...

I was provided product and compensation by Lowe's Canada, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Salamander? Check. Also: How to Stop Gutters from Leaking

Hubby and I tend to drag our heels a bit when it comes to projects around the house that lack a certain panache.  But we are motivated by saving money, so when our municipality offered a free landfill day, well, that lit a fire under our bums to get some things done (normally a truckload is $25).  It started with cleaning out the garage and tidying up around the property so we could take the opportunity to throw out/recycle all of the debris, but once we were in the zone there was no stopping us.  We replaced/added about half a dozen motion lights (now a squirrel can't even cross our property without being lit up like an opera singer), and put up driveway markers in the hopes that this winter I won't ditch the truck (again).  We gleefully stashed the lawnmower, but sadly serviced the snowblower, plus I got a refresher course in operating it (I do 50% of the snow removal, yay).  We were busy bees!  Shortly before free dump day we realized that we had a bit of room left in the truck, so we decided to remove the busted stairs leading up to the garage.  Hubby had acccidentally put his foot through a rotten step in the summer - it was in terrible shape and totally pointless. 

He tackled Project Stair Removal while I was giving our headboard a refresh.  We allotted ourselves a half hour to complete our respective tasks.  While it took me closer to an hour to spray paint the headboard and nightstands, Hubby realized he could just flip up and remove the entire set of stairs in minutes, instead of taking it apart piece by piece as he had planned.

He spent the rest of his half hour examining the salamander he found:

Once the salamander was thoroughly examined, we tackled a few more projects - propelled by the victorious feeling that accompanies a problem-free project.  Our gutters had been leaking all summer, so I asked my friends at Rustoleum if I could try some Leak Seal:

I tried to demonstrate the leaking in a manner that didn't involve me standing outside in the pouring rain (I think Hubby longs for the pre-blog DIY days when we didn't have to document everything):  

Happily, the Leak Seal - a flexible rubber sealant - seemed to work perfectly and it took barely any time at all to seal up the cracks.  Eagle-eyed Hubby had been keeping tabs on the gutters during rainy days and already knew exactly which spots needed sealing.  Next spring we want to add gutter guards because they get filled with leaves and cleaning the gutters is a weekly job, but at least they're no longer holey.

We were on fire, right?  I even started doubling up on jobs.

While we were splitting and stacking firewood at my father-in-law's, I absconded into his awesome spray painting booth and knocked out a few fun projects (photos soon!).  I also tackled one boring one: our doorbell cover was beige and stood out against our white walls.  A blast of Rust-Oleum's Universal Paint + Primer solved that problem!  I obviously love that this paint is formulated for plastic. 

I really wish I had painted to doorbell cover in the townhouse.  It always bothered me but I just never got around to it, not because I didn't have the time, but because it seemed like a totally boring project and so I avoided it.  It truly was a boring project, and I doubt you even spotted the difference in my most recent hallway post compared to the original reveal, but every day I notice the difference.  I'm so happy I took the five minutes to paint it.

Now

Before

Our to-list is far from complete, and now that we've discovered that all 202 episodes of The X Files are on Netflix I suspect our productivity will decline, but I'm thrilled that we tackled so many projects this fall that normally get eclipsed by more fun and rewarding projects, like making frames for paintings and rub 'n buffing hardware. 

A huge thanks to Rust-Oleum for providing the Leak Seal and Universal Paint + Primer (and thereby also providing that extra dose of motivation to get stuff done!)

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How to Make a DIY Float Frame + Turn Your Photo into an Oil Painting

When I was approached by Artsheaven to choose a piece from their selection of oil painting reproductions, or have one of my own photos turned into a painting, my thoughts turned dark.  Part of me was really tempted to order a copy of some truly famous painting, then convince my wee niece and nephew that I was an art thief and had stolen the original, and what people were seeing in the Louvre was actually a copy.  I'd feed dinner guests who had imbibed a little too much the same tall tale.  In the end, though, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have one of my favorite photos turned into a painting.  It took me all of five minutes to decide which photo (you might remember it from this post):

This photo from Hungary is one of my favorites!  It's a drugstore around the corner from the apartment I lived in while doing research in Budapest.  The building still has the original red lettering from when it had been a home decor store.  I frequented this particular drugstore often, for soap and toothpaste (and chocolate, I'm not going to lie), so the familiarity of it is comforting, but the real showstopper in the photo is the orange moped parked in front.  I love this photo and I knew that Hubby - with his lust for motorcycles (close enough) and penchant for orange - would appreciate this hanging on our walls (plus he spent some time in Budapest with me, and recognizes the place too!).   

I sent in the photo, but asked for these changes:

• Remove the old dudes who were staring at me.
• Make the aqua window trim more saturated - I didn't specify how much more vivid
• Turn the little red car lime green.  This is an homage to my beloved Charlie (but I also thought the red competed with the orange moped).

Here is my photograph turned into an oil painting:

I didn't know what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised.  It turned out so beautifully!  I'm currently thinking about putting it in one of two very prominent spots in the lakehouse (which is a testament to how much I like it, because some of my favorites - like my framed agate slices - have yet to find a home).  Right now I like my new oil painting in the hallway:

It picks up some of the orange and green from my DIY triptych:

I hadn't even thought to ask how my new painting would be shipped and was a little disappointed when it arrived un-stretched.  It makes total sense, though, because it's a safe and cost-effective way to ship a painting.  However, even though I've stretched many of my own canvases for my DIY paintings, they've always been gessoed after.  I have always thought that stretching canvas that's already painted looks like a huge pain.  What if the paint cracks? What if I wreck the painting?  How do I get it taught enough when it's so stiff? We Googled and then dove right in.

Supplies: 

• Canvas pliers (seriously, you will want them)
• Staple gun
• Staples
• Canvas stretcher bars 

Here's how to stretch a canvas painting onto a canvas stretcher:

Hubby and I bought canvas stretcher bars from Michael's but because they were out of the size we needed, we bought a size larger and instead of clicking them together with the pre-cut slats, just cut the edges and made mitered corners.  In hindsight, because we could have customized the size, we should have made it a smidge smaller than the painting, which would have made stretching it a snap.  As it was, the task was a little tricky because there was very little wiggle room for getting the painting positioned evenly and squarely.  It took a few tries, and a lot of staple removal, but we eventually got it centred and it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - it's a lot like upholstering a chair seat!  The paint cracked a smidge on the corners but it's not seen from the front.  We were able to get it fairly taught, even without canvas pliers (which I really think would be handy).

Our hands were full so it was tricky to take photos, but there are a lot of great tutorials with step-by-step photos and diagrams.   I recommend this this wiki article about how to stretch a canvas for its really clear diagrams, but this article about stretching canvas also has a video if that's more helpful to you.

For the corners, we looked at various tutorials and found many different ways to do it.  In the end, this is what we were able to do, given the thickness and stiffness of the canvas:

Here's the back when it's all finished:

It was hard to get the corners to be really smooth and flat, but for our first try I think they turned out okay.

Once the painting was stretched, a float frame was a snap.  A Beautiful Mess has an excellent post about how to build three different frame styles.

How to built a float frame for a painting:

I like the look of a float frame, so we picked up eight pieces of pre-planed wood from the molding section of Home Depot - they were .5" x 1.5".  All we did was glue them together into an L-shape:

We used a miter joint to be put them together, with wood glue and small finishing nails.  We used an air nailer, but the ABM tutorial shows how to do this with no power tools required.  The frame is ever so slightly bigger than the canvas - we left a 3/16 gap between the canvas and the inside of the frame.
  

Once assembled, I lightly sanded the edges and sanded the surface smooth before applying multiple light coats of Rust-Oleum Universal primer + paint, in Satin White.

After the paint was dry, we attached the frame to the canvas stretchers from the back, just screwing the back of the "L" to the canvas stretcher bars.  We used cardboard shims to make sure that it was centred in the frame while the frame was being attached to the painting.  The finished piece is hung with screw eyes and picture hanging wire.  This was a different approach than the last frame we made, and it seemed just as easy.  We could have painted/stained the back of the "L" to create some depth/interest but I liked the white on white look.  Plus, because the edges of the painting are white, the unpainted edges disappear in the white float frame.

The cost for the frame was about $20 and the stretchers cost roughly $25 (they could have been cheaper because the size we actually needed was less expensive).

Szuka doesn't give a hoot and just wants me to stop fussing with this painting and go outside and play with her.

Artsheaven provided this custom painting, but I was not otherwise compensated for this post or encouraged to provide a positive review.  Special thanks also to Rust-Oleum for providing the paint for this framing project.  And thank you, Szuka, for trying to get into every single picture.  You're a cutie and with photos of you included, I know I can just type total jibberish and no one will notice.

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Hallway Perch

One of the things I don't love about our house is the compact entryway.  My dream house has enough room to put a substantial console table or bench, but I'd settle for enough room to turn around comfortably.



After we painted the hallway, replaced the lights, and hung some artwork, I started pondering furniture.  This is going to make me sound like I'm 100, but lately I've been needing a place to sit down while I put on my shoes.  It's not because I can't touch my toes, it's because Szuka loses her mind if she so much as hears the coat closet open.  While I'm bent over tying laces, which confirms for her that were are, indeed, going OUTSIDE, she often knocks me over with her zeal.  

I really like Sarah's fresh spin on the DIY tree stump table but we have a DIY to-do list that is a mile long and, truthfully, hacking away at a stump doesn't sound like fun.  When Natural Wood Decor approached me about reviewing one of their products, I immediately started pouring over their inventory of wood stools and end tables.  I thought a cute wood stool or table would be a perfect perch for putting on shoes, plus a handy place to set my purse.  When (if?) we have the time to make something custom for the space, it could be used in the living room for parties, outside on the deck, or even as a plant stand - I love hardworking, versatile furniture.  I liked quite a few styles, like (clockwise) the C-shaped wood end table, the oval drum shaped table, the wood balance table, and the inverted V mango wood stool (which was a close second choice for me, but I thought the wood was a bit to orange for our place).

Ultimately I chose the round zig zag wood table because it reminded me so much of Sarah's DIY version, but much more polished because this one has been hand carved.  It's made from beautiful, sustainable Acacia wood and is available in two finishes; I chose agate grey.  No two are exactly alike.

The grey finish, made from natural and non-toxic oils, is so pretty.  I'm also pretty mesmerized by the heart of the wood.  In fact, when I was paying HST at the Canadian Border Services Agency, the fella working the cash was obsessed with this table.  He was excitedly explaining to everyone else who worked there about how these are made, and what an art it is.  I wish he'd been enthralled enough to waive the HST. . .

Here it is in the hallway:

Because of your advice, I decided to keep the door for now but splash on a coat of paint - I am just waiting for it to be warm enough.  I was leaning toward orange but then I decided to go for my love: turquoise (no surprise there).  A cheery door will add some more personality to the space, and the grey-toned Acacia wood will look great against a vibrant aqua.   When you actually stand in the hallway, it's much more colourful because you can see the turquoise kitchen cabinets, the turquoise polka dot laundry room curtains and the hallway artwork. 

To the right, you can also catch a peek of our DIY kitchen pantry.  I'm very excited to see the lakehouse becoming more functional.

Disclosure: I was provided the zig zag for review, but was not compensated or encouraged to provide a positive review.  All editorial decisions, including which item to review, were mine because I'm bossy like that.  It is currently on sale for $204 with free shipping within the U.S.  For International shoppers, and residents of Alaska and Hawaii, Natural Wood Decor use Bongo International as a 3rd party shipping carrier.  To purchase, create an account with Bongo (info can be found here), and then checkout on the site using the address Bongo has provided.  I appreciate that they go this extra step to ship Internationally because I've seen so many shops refuse to ship outside of the U.S., or ask that the consumer arrange shipping.  Natural Wood Decor is celebrating their fifth year in business, so it's no surprise that they know what customers want!  Take a look at their blog, Verde Lifestyles, for more inspiration on green living.

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I Need Your Thoughts: Is Paint the Answer?

Monday you saw the refreshed hallway and now I need your help with a decision I've been waffling about.  I don't love our exterior door.  I thought paint might help, but I found a photo of a similar door, side by side with a more modern door (both painted the same cheery colour), and I'm still feeling a little meh about it:

via

As a reminder, here's our actual door:

If money were no object I'd replace the door with a Crestview door, to imbue our 1990s bungalow with the mid-century inspired simplicity I'm inching toward.

Door 1, 2, 3

We're thinking of eventually turning the carport (behind the door) into an enclosed garage, so our main entrance might, quite literally, not see the light of day.  In that case, a cheap, simple option would be great.  I found a plain slab door that rings in at about $300 (we need two).  But the window-less door will certainly darken the hallway, and our garage plans might never come to fruition anyway. 

There's another window-less version that's really popular at the hardware store and it's much cheaper.  The ABM studio recently got one and they painted it turquoise (I'm drooling over here).  I love the colour, obviously, but the differently sized panels totally make me twitch.  Why can't they be the same size?!?  I literally see someone buying one of these doors every time I venture out for reno supplies.  I could probably even snag one in the classifieds for even less. 

A Beautiful Mess

In our city, I have yet to find a plain door with a window.  It's an elusive combo.  All I can find are doors that are incredibly ornate or traditional looking - even the plain slab I finally tracked down is a special order.

The miserly part of me says "just paint the door you have!" while the optimist says "don't waste time and money on a temporary fix - hold out for the one"!  You know my style and my vision for the lakehouse, so what do my lovely readers say?

EDIT: Wow, thanks so much for answering the survey I originally had embedded here.  So many responses!!  I appreciate you taking the time to weigh in.  These were the results:

Paint our existing door = 75.53%
Buy and paint the cheap paneled door = 2.13%
Buy and paint a plain slab door = 2.13% (what are the odds?)
Keep questing = 20.21%

I think that, for now, I'm going to go with the majority and paint our existing door.  We have no shortage of projects to tackle this summer - some of them quite pricey - so our budget will appreciate an inexpensive solution.  But like so many suggested, I'll keep my eye out for "the one," or maybe next year we can build a custom door like some readers proposed - I think we're up for the challenge!  Thanks so much for all of your feedback!!

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Mid-Century Modern Inspired Interior Door Levers

When we enter the lakehouse through what we deem our main entrance, we're greeted immediately by the hallway and a whole lotta doors.  The hallway originally boasted beige paint paired with oak trim and doors.  Combined with worn out gold door hardware and boob lights, the overall look was a little disappointing to come home to:




I wanted a brighter and more welcoming entryway and hall.  The first step was to paint the walls, ceiling, and oak trim white, along with all of the woodsy doors.  Next we ditched the lights in favor of my cheap and trusty Ikea lights.  We collapsed the previously separate smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector into one sleek unit from Nest.  Then we hung my DIY triptych (which fills the wall, making these humble little abstracts look much more grand), along with my framed Hungarian embroidery.  My little thrift store painting got a new, slimmer frame (the refurbished one was dented during the move).  Swapping out the dinky and dated brass knobs for more substantial, mid-century inspired Juneau levers from Sure-Loc is the latest update.  We still have more to do, but here's our much happier hallway: 

I'm (almost) always Team New Hardware, but this change is special because I've wanted this exact style of door lever for years.  Even though I loved our little $10 silver knobs in the townhouse, their main attributes were cheapness and newness.  They were good enough (spot the hideous "before" ones here), but not really enough to make me say "wow". 

Small knobs in the townhouse

The Juneau levers, on the other hand, are gorgeous and have a beautiful scale to them; they have presence, which you can see in the side-by-side comparison with the old doorknobs (above).  With simple, straight-forward doors like ours, a lever with some wow-factor adds some much needed visual interest, while keeping in line with my vision for an uncluttered, modern look.

Whenever I do a product review I like to take some time to really test out the product so I can tell you something beyond, "it's shiny!". You've likely spotted the levers in action in the bedroom, the laundry room and the bathroom.  Now that we've put them through the ringer, I can report that we're really happy with our Sure-Loc levers.  They were straightforward to install.  The only trouble is that they are not perfectly straight (I'm talking about millimeters here); they have a slightly hand-made look to them which is really subtle and something we determined we liked.  Mechanically, they have a firmness to them when you open and close doors - there's a really crisp mechanism inside.  Fingerprints show up a smidge on the brushed finish, but they really popped on the sheen of the former gold knobs. 



Disclosure: I was provided six Sure-Loc levers for review but was not encouraged to provide a positive review.  Many bloggers accept complimentary product for their homes and I know some readers wonder if they would have chosen the same item, had it not been provided for free.  I thought I'd share the background details that are sometimes elusive on product reviews: after tracking down the style I wanted, and then falling in love with other styles from their inventory, I contacted Sure-Loc about a partnership and am thrilled that they were excited about working with me.  I would have purchased these levers had they turned down my request (shhh, don't tell them).  The Juneau levers are stylish, well-made, and are exactly what I envisioned.  I can't imagine the hallway without them.  If you're interested, you can find them at Direct Door Hardware.

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