Old Farmhouse Renovation

A few years ago I decided to do a crazy thing, which was to renovate my grandparents old farmhouse (with a lot of help from friends and family of course). Set just outside of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, the farmhouse is on thirty acres of land with a big ole barn off to the side. Once a fully functioning farm, my grandparents originally bought the property as a hobby farm and homestead. For me, it's simply my home with a massive yard for my dog and cat to run around in.

Out with the old

My parent's own the house and were renting it for some time. We started by ripping absolutely every shred of old carpet out of the place, and let me tell you it was absolutely everywhere (even the bathroom).

Goodbye carpet, hello whitewash

After the carpet removal and initial demolition in the kitchen, bathroom, and upstairs bedroom (where we took two tiny rooms and made them into one big one fit for a king and raised the ceiling) we went through the fun process of laying down 10inch pine boards, whitewashing and varnishing them, sanding in between multiple coats, and adding baseboards and trim. The reason we chose the whitewash as a finish is the house felt so dark and small, we wanted to brighten the space up. In rooms where there were old floorboards we made a bold choice to paint them a fun light blue rather than an entirely classic colour. The walls, including the extensive bright pine, we painted a clean white.

Tackling the kitchen

The floors in, bright and new, and looking around I see how dark and dated the kitchen is. It's a 70's classic with brown and yellow tile and dark stained plywood cabinets. I have to laugh because the countertops were two different heights, one short for my tiny grandmother, and one tall for my way above average grandfather - not hard to see which side I get it from. My mum and I, crazy as we are, decided to make all new cupboard doors and adjust the countertop height to all be the same. The colour we chose, is a blue that reminds me of the winter sky, and periwinkles in the ocean. The countertop is simple and white, no frills there.

A big shift

At this point of the process, I haven't even mentioned the addition that was put on by my grandparents in the 70's. Huge, with tall ceilings and a loft, this space was meant to be used as the main living room. However, attached to the end is a large bathroom with a clawfoot tub as my grandparents realized that late in life they may need that space as a downstairs bedroom. Josh and I, hoping to both live in the house and rent out the other side with all of the bedrooms for Airbnb, realized this space was perfect as our own sanctuary away from guests. We neutralized the mismatched tones of bright pine and dark flooring by again whitewashing the pine and painting the walls bright white. The pink ensuite bathroom with dated fixtures we painted a blue, added wainscoting to give it a feeling more in keeping with the rest of the house, and updated the fixtures.

The shiny new bathroom

In the old part of the house, there used to be an old front entry with some storage, split with a laundry area with dropped ceilings. By removing the wall, the storage, and the dropped ceiling, the space became luxuriously large. As the only bathroom in the house was off of our private bedroom, we had to add another one and there simply was no space upstairs with the three bedrooms. Here was the perfect opportunity to start from fresh. White walls again, but with a rich deep blue for the cabinetry and an added sense of elegance with large elongate 'marble-looking' porcelain tile and chrome fixtures. We sourced an incredible sink made of stone for our statement island. The tilework we did ourselves (my mum is a pro, and she's been teaching me her trade)!

Someday I may write a room-by-room account of the renovation, but for the highlights that I missed here is a gallery of the rest of house in all of it's glory.

Thanks for tuning in!