Making a new house old...

Well as our story continues, my journey back to a DIY blogger is slowly taking shape--a new shape.

The house we were to purchase in High River was full of stories we will never know. It's walls were thick with history and we were thrilled to be adding to the stories that would be written in the home.

Since we lost that home, we have purchased a new home in Okotoks and are scheduled to move in next week. (Cross your fingers this one works out!)  Interesting enough, this house is brand new and has never been lived in, (well that's a tiny lie--it served as a home to flood relief victims immediately following the flood). 

The new house!

 

So begins our journey to create stories within these new walls.

As you can imagine, I have been obsessed with searching for ways to create character in a new home. Thanks to my trusty pal Pinterest, I have come across some amazing ideas that I will for sure be trying out.

Creating character will be the new direction I take with the DIY projects I complete.

All of our 'stuff' waiting to be painted, arranged, re-discovered!

For my own organizations sake (and perhaps your interest), below is a list of projects I will complete through out the next few weeks, months, years!

-refurbish Patio Set (FREE pick up from Kijiji)
-butcher block (gifted from grandparents when they moved out of their home)
-refurbish coffee table
-turn armoire into office
-command center

To name a few! I am giddy thinking about the above DIY projects and can't wait to share the story of each piece with you!

I believe everything happens for a reason and for now, I'm holding onto the idea that the reason this home has come to us is to allow us the opportunity to start from the ground up and create our own feeling within the walls.

Thanks for stopping by and reading. Your support means so much.

Redefining home...

My husband and I are finally on the road to picking ourselves back up and are ready to move forward. But that didn't come in one day, or even two days, it came with lots of reflection, grieving, arguing and a total revamp in our way of thinking.

Our dream of moving to High River was a long and methodical one. We had already welcomed one perfect little babe into our family and knew that eventually we would like to grow our family. The biggest problem was that we lived in a small, 2 bedroom townhouse with no yard and little breathing room. Although we became very efficient at organizing and finding a place for almost everything, we knew it wouldn`t last long.

But more than the foundation and walls, we were looking for a feeling. An experience that we could give our family for years to come. And so began our hunt.

Despite his initial reaction to my idea about moving to High River, it slowly grew on him. We would spend afternoons driving through the little town on the hunt for our favorite lunch and coffee spots. We are both history junkies and quickly fell in love with the historic character of the town. We knew that we felt right in the community and so began our hunt for the perfect home.

                                               Evelyn`s, our favorite lunch and ice cream stop!

                                          Colossi`s Coffee House--Our favorite coffee stop!

Both Levi and I LOVE old things and old homes--The great thing about High River is that many of it`s streets are lined with old trees and old homes. After at least a year of waiting (with no success)  for the perfect home to come on the market, we decided to take things into our own hands.  We made a list of all of the homes we were going to `door knock`. We were going to plead our case to these strangers about if they were wanting to sell their home, and why they should consider selling to us! It was a risky move but we were becoming desperate!

Nearly less than 2 weeks later, we got an email about a house that had just come on the market. I recognized the address and knew it was on our list of door knockers! The first sentence I read was that it was originally owned by Levi Bradley, owner of the first saddlery shop in High River nearly 100 years ago. As if this house wasn`t perfect already! It didn`t take long for us to move forward in purchasing the home.

All of our dreams about the perfect house in the perfect community  had come true and we were beyond excited. The countdown was on.

In literally minutes, our dream home went from picture perfect, to basically condemned. Our dream community was ravaged by flood water and was best described as looking like a war zone.

I believe that everything happens for a reason. Although it may not be clear yet, little lessons are coming up through the loss of our dream home and dream community. We are amidst another search for a new home in a different community and I am realizing that, we don`t need a house that has the perfect layout, or the perfect finishings, or the perfect yard. We don`t need a house that is on the perfect street in the perfect community with the perfect neighbors. What we need is a house that we can call our own. The rest is up to us.

Edward Sharpes song Home is wherever I`m with you has completely new meaning to me.

We`re moving forward and are feeling excited about the new chapter that is being written... stay tuned and thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking time out of your day to read my story!


photo credit:

http://www.highriver.ca/index.php/en/publicforums/107-heritage-inventory-project

One chapter...

This post has nothing to do with DIY and everything to do with one of the scariest days of my life. How this all fits into my DIY obsession will come in a separate post. 

As many of you reading this know, my husband and I were days away from moving into what seemed like our dream home. As previously described, we had found our little piece of heaven in High River Alberta on two lots, in the form of a home built in 1908. We were to take possession on June 21, 2013. 

June 20, started out like any other day. I was taking my little girl to her dayhome in High River and getting prepared to wrap up one of my last weeks at school. As I drove out of town I crossed a bridge and noticed that the water was extremely high. I thought to myself that I shouldn't have even been on the bridge. 

High River floods often enough that people know which houses are on the flood plain,  and to not be alarmed by flood warnings if your home is clear of those plains. 

At 11:00 I read a tweet that the NW side of High River was being evacuated. That was where my little girls dayhome was. I promptly left my school(located in a community south of High River)  and went to pick her up. My husband was meeting me to take her home to Calgary. At about 12:00, I was on my way back to school, and my husband and little girl were safely on their way home.

At about 12:40 I got the frantic call from my husban that while he was attempting to get lunch for our little girl at the local Co-Op, roads washed out and he and she were now stranded in the town that was amidst the worst floods ever seen in its history. 

Unable to call due to phone lines that were down, I sat and waited for any communication that the two most important people in my life were ok. I received a phone call from my husband that the RCMP were going to attempt to rescue them by boat. I was later informed that those rescues were too dangerous in the raging waters. 

I have never felt so helpless in my life. I felt lost and stranded myself. Frozen in a world that I knew was drastically changing. 

Nearly 9 hours later I received a phone call that my husband and daughter were safe. Rescued by combine and left in town to wait for me. 

Words can't express how I truly felt that day. The problem was, that day continued to unfold and has since altered everything that we as a family were looking forward to. 

So here we are, nearly 3 weeks after the historic High River flood, and we, among thousands of others, find ourselves grieving, an without a home. 

However, our story is still being written, and that day is just one chapter. Stay tuned....there's more to come...

When two become one...

As many of you have experienced, and as many of you can imagine, getting married means more than committing to one person for the rest of your life--it also means committing to your significant others' stuff.

My husband (Levi) and I moved in together and I quickly learned that my style wasn't best suited for a man. I also learned that he had his own style and that I would need to tread very lightly to ensure that both of our design styles 'meshed' in our new house. 

One of the first projects I did to marry our styles was to refurbish some night stands.

Here are the Night Stands today!

Levi brought a relatively nice looking, classic IKEA night table into the marriage. The problem was there was only one. So began my hunt for another night stand.

To no surprise I found the perfect piece at Goodwill for only $14.00! It was a two drawer filing cabinet from the 70's or 80's with a curved front.

My next challenge was figuring out how to make both of these, very different night tables work in the same space. I chose to paint each night table the same color--and if you read my last blog post about the desk, you won't be too surprised to know that I painted them a nice earthy shade of blue.

I was happy with how they turned out but still wanted to add a bit of personality. I dragged my husband out to one of my favorite shops for the home (Anthropologie) and began hunting for new knobs! I figured that having Levi choose his own knobs for his own night table, would be a good way to make him feel included in this whole refurbishing process. (I bet this is a good strategy for kids too!;)

The Goodwill Find

The classic IKEA

The best thing about these nightstands is that they can be painted again to match any décor. What ever I decide to do, their story as a married couple is turning a new leaf...I wonder what's in store for them in the new house???

-Jill

A little help from Jillian Harris...

I need to start this DIY post with my original inspiration. A designer friend of mine is also part of the DIY movement and has taken her career to the next level. Her blog is full of inspiration and she is pretty neat too ;)

Below is a picture from her website, of a reclaimed desk she did. This desk (including the staging around it) is so adorable. As if you wouldn't want to grab your cup of coffee, turn on your stylish Mac computer (it's on my wish list)  and blog away!

The image of this desk was in the back of my mind and I was dying to recreate something similar. The DIY gods must have heard me because check out what my husband and I stumbled upon in the back alley one sunny afternoon...

The first thing I had to do was fix that dang hole (thanks to it's previous life as a sewing table--I think). Thankfully my husband was in the midst of carpentry school and eager to help out! He fashioned a lovely top to cover the hole for me!

I then  faced the task of choosing a color. Now, girly, single Jill would have chosen to paint it a shade of white (I LOVE white). But, knowing that this desk was going in a high traffic area of our home, and knowing that my husband was getting tired of all of the white 'stuff', I knew I had to go in a different direction! (enter inspirational rug)

A few lovely, world travelling family members gifted us this rug for our wedding--I believe it's from Turkey. I wanted to give it some justice in our home and so it became the inspiration for our desk. With the help of my sister (the paint expert) I chose a blue color to match the desk. I took it a bit further and chose to paint the wall behind the desk the terracotta -ish color that you see in the rug.

 

My apologies for not being able to see the color of the desk--I obviously need some photog skills. I have to admit, I was pretty happy with the end result. Mostly because I forced myself out of my comfort zone and tried something new with color. My husband appreciated it as well.

That being said, another desk has come into my ownership and I have 'girly' plans for it in our new home. Stay tuned!

--Jill

One woman's trash...

...is another woman's treasure. I have a DIY frame hanging on my wall that has travelled with me to 4 homes since I originally rescued it from a driveway in my university town. 

I always keep my eyes open for the perfect DIY 'find' but I certainly didn't expect to find this treasure. It had a ripped canvas (thanks to a teenage boy I was told), and was painted colors that would never work in my home--I'm actually surprised it even caught my attention--the red, black and gold frame was far from my personal idea of style. I knew I had to have it.

After a quick discussion with its owner, and an awkward walk home, I had a new project on my hands.

The DIY transformation began- and let me tell you, this was just the beginning.
(As it goes I've got no pictures of the beloved frame from it's early days--if you can imagine an ornate French country frame on the wall with nothing in it...you've got it!) -- And that's how it stayed for years, starting many conversations like, "what are you going to put in it?" and,  "it's kind of creepy,

Then I got engaged. And of course, planning a DIY wedding was right up my alley! I decided to include the frame in our wedding design. With the help of burlap and chicken wire, the frame quickly morphed into our seating board.

The frame as it hangs today...

 

Check out the burlap and chicken wire detail! Love this idea!

 

Then I had a baby. And of course, having a baby means taking pictures. What better canvas for displaying a collection of baby pictures than my burlap and chicken wire frame!

The Birthday Frame

The frame has now been packed and is ready for the Green House. I have NO idea where I am going to put the frame once we move--I'm sure I will figure something out. Any suggestions you have would be appreciated! (I'm open to changing it's function too by the way!)

Stay tuned to find out the next chapter of this DIY treasure :)

--Jill

P.S. A new frame was added to my collection a few weeks back-it's story in our home has just begun-- possibilities are endless!

Let the DIY story begin...

After much time spent pondering how to start a DIY blog, and much time spent deciding whether or not it was something I actually wanted to do, my excitement and passion for DIY 'stuff' got the best of me. I'm diving into the world of blogging!

I have a fairly long commute into work and have a lot of time to think about what DIY projects I can do, how I will share them and what I will get out of it-- Conveniently, my husband and I recently purchased a 100 year old home and will be working on making it a "home of our own". This--for obvious reasons-- lends itself nicely to a budding DIY blogger!

As mentioned in my first "Welcome" post (apologies for not being a good host and refraining to post for 4 months), my mom and I both have incredible passion for bringing used objects into a home and giving them a new 'story'--thus we have created Second Story Furnishings (more on that later).

Little does my husband, daughter or new house (appropriately named The Green House) know, I will be documenting our journey via this blog--reporting on the latest and greatest DIY projects in and around our home. As you can imagine, the house has over 100 years of story to tell--I can't wait to add a few more chapters ;)

The Green House...

Thanks to Speechie Evie and Kanelstrand Simple Living for providing some great tips on how to get started!