“Since college I have lived in the city center. I love being able to walk to work and not rely on public transportation,” Kim begins. “Before this home we owned a century-old, 800-square-foot, 10’-wide house in Little Italy that had ZERO architectural details, and after about eight years there we knew it was time to move on. We searched for homes within about an hour walk to the downtown core where my office is.”

“When this home came on the market I knew we had to go see it. I was worried because it is on a major road and across the street from a hospital, so it can be a bit noisy, but the neighborhood is filled with these beautiful Craftsman-style homes from around 1940 with leaded windows and brick exteriors and each one different from the next,” Kim continues.

“When we toured this home and saw that almost every window was leaded or stained glass, a large foyer with wainscoting, a beautiful fireplace in the living room, double stained glass doors leading into the dining room, a large backyard … it had everything the last house didn’t have.”

When Kim and her husband first moved in to this home, they loved all the great architectural features, but what they didn’t love was the how all the walls were a plain “white-ish” paint and that the main bathroom “just had a shower, toilet, and pedestal sink,” and how the kitchen had “newly installed boring (but brand new) white IKEA cabinets.” There also was no real landscaping to the yard, and there were “lots of ferns popping up everywhere and some dead grass and overgrown hedges.”

Now, the white walls are long gone, replaced by a gorgeous array of moody paint shades, as well as an array of different styles. “The house is a bit all over the map because I can’t settle on any one style (especially being surrounded by all kinds of styles, thanks to my blog and the never-ending research I have to do to keep it going),” Kim writes.

“It’s got some vintage and antique furniture with some mid-century modern pieces and we redid the bathroom keeping it Art Deco to suit the house. And we landscaped the crap out of the whole property (we did the work ourselves).”

And they did a lot of painting and repainting over the years that they’ve lived in the house. But Kim admits that the renovations halted a few years ago “because we have to sell and move soon (due to some upcoming nearby construction we fought over),” Kim begins.

“[A] few years ago we heard there was a proposal for building new structures close to our house and so all of our plans for the house stopped while we awaited the outcome of all the fighting our neighborhood did to stop it from happening. It is going forward so now, we have the challenge of saying goodbye to this house and are having to move elsewhere. I only hope I can find a home as special as this one, or with potential to be as special.”

• Foyer — Paint: Black Blue by Farrow & Ball, Wallpaper: Tourbillon by Farrow & Ball
• Living room — Walls: Rustoleum Chalk Paint in Country Grey and Aged Grey, Trim and Fireplace: Down Pipe by Farrow & Ball in full gloss, Ceiling: Plummett by Farrow & Ball
• Kitchen — Wall colour: Picture Gallery Red by Farrow & Ball
• Dining room — Wall colour: Red Earth by Farrow & Ball, Alcove and trim colour: Picture Gallery Red by Farrow & Ball, Ceiling colour: Nancy’s Blushes by Farrow & Ball
• Bedroom — Wall/ceiling/trim colour: Mouse’s Back by Farrow & Ball
• Dressing room — Wall/ceiling/trim colour: Charleston Gray by Farrow & Ball
• Media room — Wall and ceiling colour: Inchyra Blue with Drop Cloth as the stripe by Farrow & Ball
• Greenhouse — Exterior and stripes in the floor: Green Smoke and interior walls and stripe floor: Yeabridge Green both by Farrow & Ball (catio is Green Smoke)

• Light fixture — Ottawa Antique Market
• Table — Highjinx
• Hex tile — Saltillo-tiles.com

• Floral upholstered chair + plaster bust + Italian polychrome side table — Gallery Elder
• Antique embroidered chair — Ottawa Antique Market
• Black leather chair — Local store that has since closed
• Marble tulip coffee table — Family heirloom made by an Italian relative
• Fool’s Paradise rug by Marcel Wanders for Moooi Carpets — The Modern Shop
• Table under window and screen/room divider — Vintage from My Paris Apartment
• Curtains — Simons
• Jielde light fixtures — Vintage (eBay and sold to me by a reader of my blog)
• Wood side table — Bluetooth speaker all built by my husband
• Marble column — Montreal flea market
• Art — Vintage, Etsy, landscape painting by Karine M. Studio, vintage tramp art frame from Joli Folklore
• Freeform Sofa & ottoman (covered in vintage fabrics) — Eternity Modern (blog collaboration)
• Pillows — Etsy and Indigo
• Art over sofa — Highjinx + Facebook Marketplace
• Antique tapestry — Objekts
• Flos Aim pendant — Collaboration with Flos
• Black marble Knoll coffee table — Alteriors
• Gold ornate mirror —  Highjinx

• Table — Made by my husband from hemlock with base built by revolvd.ca
• Large art — Stephane Cote (@decoeli.art)
• Buffet cabinet — Facebook Marketplace
• Vintage radio — Converted into Bluetooth speaker by my husband
• Vintage kilim rug — Collaboration with Revival
• Laurent 09 light fixture — Lambert & Fils

• Light fixtures — Facebook Marketplace

• Antique kantha quilt hanging behind bed — Etsy
• Antique chandelier — Yardleys Antiques
• Rug — Etsy
• Moroccan wedding blanket — Gifted to me as a wedding gift by my Australian blog partner, Jo Walker
• Linen bedding — Collaboration with April Notes
• Sheets/pillowcases — April Notes
• Curtains — IKEA
• Art wall — Mostly vintage, from eBay, flea markets, Bettencourt Manor, large painted cat portrait of our dearly departed Cheeks by a friend’s art professor husband, smaller cat portrait of our dearly departed Milo by Kevin Gates (@gateskev)
• Bench under TV — Matt Wallace
• Artemide Tolomeo wall-mount lights on bed frame 

• Sink cabinet — Facebook Marketplace
• Sink — Agua Canada via Wayfair
• Faucet — Esta Vessel Sink Bathroom Faucet with Drain Assembly by Kraus via Wayfair
• Tile — Local discount store for the black, green was Home Depot, installed by @artrenodesign
• Mirror — Highjinx, ceiling light
• IC Pendant light — Flos from The Modern Shop
• Wall-mount light — Wayfair
• Shower curtain — Marimekko from Bed, Bath & Beyond
• Painting — Mike Rachlis
• Rug — Vntage

• Light fixture — Ottawa Antique Market
• Sofa and ottoman — Collaboration with Expand Furniture
• Large art over sofa — Vintage via @vervemoderns
• Striped pillow covers — Indigo.ca

• Chandelier — Highjinx
• Desk — Vintage via @vervemoderns
• Armoire — Vintage
• Dresser — Family heirloom
• Chair — Vintage from a local MCM shop
• Rug — Ebay

Thanks, Kim!

This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.

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