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A Rambling Renovators Home Tour

Welcome! If it's your first time here at Rambling Renovators, I'm glad you stopped by. Today I’m joining up with Shannon of Home Made Lovely and Christina of The DIY Mommy on their fun Canadian Blogger Home Tour.

Today, I'm sharing what my Canadian home looks like. If I were to describe our style, I'd say its a fresh take on traditional with a heavy dose of DIY. You'll notice that a lot of details and thought went into our home renovations: in this world of do it quick, get it done fast, temporary fixes, we like to slow it down, think carefully, and add the "+"... those smallest of details which make a space memorable, original, and special. I have never done a whole house tour on the blog so this one will be epic - warning: this post is extremely photo heavy.

If you've been here a while, you might have seen some of these photos but I've included many never before seen :) Let's start with the top floor.

At the front of the house is our master bedroom. Here is an example where one small change can transform the entire look of a room: the wall behind the headboard had a portion which jutted out into the room and limited furniture placement. We decided to frame out a new flush wall and created a panelled treatment using MDF and trim. This wall became the focal point of the room and really added interesting detail in a simple, inexpensive way.




The entire room is painted a warm white (Benjamin Moore Sea Pearl) which creates a really calm and peaceful environment. Again, we've added a few vintage details like the swing arm sconces and the classic radiator cover (one of several built by my husband!). To keep things from feeling too boring and monochrome, we added the floral curtains. Choosing such a bold pattern was a bit of a risk, but I'm happy to say that four years later, I still love them!



Our house is a typical Toronto city house which means bathrooms are teeny tiny small. Next door is our main bathroom:

Rambling Renovators | new traditional bathroom black white frosted door

Rambling Renovators | new traditional bathroom black white subway tile

We've really tried to make this small room feel big and airy by using lots of reflective materials like polished chrome, glass, and mirror. The half frosted door (a custom order from our local lumber yard)   is one of my favourite features and helps carry the natural light into our dark hallway.

Rambling Renovators | new traditional bathroom black white marble floor subway tile

Throughout our house, we've tried to reintroduce traditional details. In the bathroom, elements like the classic subway and pencil tile pattern on the walls, the Bath decal on the door, and the bridge faucet add charm and character.

Also on this floor, is my daughter's former nursery. The key feature in this room is the radiator cover/bench we built beneath the window. It's framed on either side with Ikea cabinets that we gave a more built-in look.

Rambling Renovators | nursery bedroom built in bench radiator yellow

Rambling Renovators | nursery bedroom yellow

We've since transformed this room into a guest room. The play kitchen we built has moved to the basement and some of the child friendly decor has disappeared but the room has basically stayed the same.

So where is our daughter's room? We've moved her next door. We originally renovated this bedroom into a home office built for two...

Rambling Renovators | home office for two ikea

... and more recently renovated this room again into a playful room for a little girl. You'll see where the home office ended up shortly ;)


Rambling Renovators | big girl bedroom

This is a small room so we maximized storage wherever we could. My husband built the window bench + bookcase in one, again hiding the radiator below. We also widened the closet and customized off-the-shelf closet storage shelving, to make a truly functional and attractive closet.


The wallpaper, Swan Lake by Nina Campbell, has long been a favourite of mine and I'm glad I got to use it in this room. I really wanted this room to be useful for a long time, so I didn't want the furnishings to be too childish. The classic bed and chandelier are from Pottery Barn Kids and the storage bench (we painted the espresso legs to match the wall) is from West Elm. 




Moving down to the main floor, you see one of our biggest transformations when you enter our home. The living room used to be chaotic and dreary, but now its bright and welcoming.

Rambling Renovators | living room blue yellow

Rambling Renovators | living room blue yellow beachy art

I have two favourite features in this room: our painted hutch, and our DIY fireplace. Many arguments were had over choosing just the right stone, but I think we found one that blends a traditional style with a modern scale beautifully.

Rambling Renovators | living room marble fireplace
Rambling Renovators | living room painted hutch

Just beyond the living room is our dining room. This is actually the first room we renovated. Again, you'll notice another custom radiator cover and our DIY wainscot. Can you tell we love mouldings and trim?

Rambling Renovators | dining room yellow wallpaper

Rambling Renovators | dining room yellow wallpaper

The kitchen is also an area that received an extensive makeover. It's been five years since we renovated this room and luckily, we still love it today.

Rambling Renovators | white kitchen shaker cabinet ribbed glass

Rambling Renovators | white kitchen shaker cabinet ribbed glass

Our house isn't that big (only 1400 sq ft plus the basement) so its very important to us to maximize the use of the space. This media station in the kitchen is one of our hardest working areas. It houses our TV, radio, chalkboard, and is a great place to prop up a laptop when we're hunting for recipes!

Rambling Renovators | white kitchen shaker cabinet ribbed glass media station tv

Just beyond the kitchen is our newest renovated space, the covered back porch. It's still a work in progress, but here's a peek at one area that's just about finished:

Rambling Renovators | white covered porch nautical

Let's hope we get it finished off before summer is over :) Now onto the basement. This was a huge renovation that took over a year and transformed 700 sq ft of living space. It included renovations of small spaces, like this new mini-mudroom in our stairwell. This area was under-utilized before - we really created this space out of nothing!

Rambling Renovators | white mudroom breadboard
Rambling Renovators | white mudroom breadboard

At the bottom of the stairwell is our new vintage inspired basement bathroom. We brought in many classic details into this small room like beadboard and label holders. Its so different than what we had here before!

Rambling Renovators | white black bathroom vintage
Rambling Renovators | white black bathroom vintage
Rambling Renovators | white black bathroom vintage

The new laundry room might be my favourite room in the house. Originally, we had a large combined  laundry/storage space but opted to create a "room within a room" - the storage room is just behind the door with the ironing table and wraps around the new galley style laundry room.

Rambling Renovators | white black laundry room galley

Rambling Renovators | laundry room glass tileRambling Renovators | white black laundry room galley

We've packed this room with storage and given it more of a beachy vibe. Stainless steel, mirrors, and glass tile add sparkle and shine to this small space.

Rambling Renovators | white black laundry room galley


Across from the laundry room, we've created a fun little space for our daughter. Who wouldn't love a secret playhouse under the stairs? We painted the triangular shaped wall with magnetic paint and its become a space to display her latest works of art.

Rambling Renovators | playhouse under the stairs magnetic wall

Rambling Renovators | playhouse under the stairs awning diyRambling Renovators | playhouse under the stairs

Rambling Renovators | playhouse under the stairs

Finally, the main part of the basement was transformed into a large all purpose room. During the winter months, we spend most of our time down here so it needed to be welcoming and multi-functional. This part of the basement contains the home office...

Rambling Renovators | home office basement martha stewart cabinetry
Rambling Renovators | home office basement martha stewart cabinetry
Rambling Renovators | home office basement martha stewart cabinetry

a craft zone...

Rambling Renovators | craft zone basement
Rambling Renovators | craft zone basement
Rambling Renovators | craft zone basement


Rambling Renovators | play zone basement
Rambling Renovators | play kitchen basement

and entertainment zone.

Rambling Renovators | entertainment zone basement
Rambling Renovators | entertainment zone basement
Rambling Renovators | entertainment zone basement

We packed a lot of living in our basement! And that, friends, is the end of our house tour! As you can see, we've transformed every inch of this house and we couldn't love it any more. If you care to see more details on each room, check out our Project Gallery page.

I hope you enjoyed your visit! Be sure to check out these other great Canadian homes:


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