I grew up in a 100+ year old Edwardian house with what can only be described as having a lot of "character". My parents still live there and they are still renovating 25 years later. They usually try and tackle one major project a year. Two years ago, Tom and I helped them GUT the dining room, horse-hair plaster, lathe and everything!

Last year they worked on painting the 30 year old kitchen cabinets and sprucing up the kitchen. A great way to save some money without doing a major kitchen renovation. Read more about how to paint kitchen cupboards here.

Today I thought I would share a few inspiration ideas from my parents house. A few small and a few large updates that could make a big impact in an old home.

When you enter the house, you are greeted by all of these lovely faces - my ancestors! Setting up a gallery wall like this can be very costly and time consuming, but you could work at it over time and collect frames from garage sales and thrift stores. Such big impact with a black and white gallery wall like this - especially with the bold red paint. Read more about our ancestral cheerleaders on my mom's blog.






This is the back door of the house that leads into the kitchen. The little shelf is the go-to spot for keys and sunglasses. The curtain on the back door is actually a tea towel that my mom cut in half and sewed in a curtain rod pocket.



My mom's studio is amazing. My brother likes to call her a "functional hoarder" and the studio is a great example of this. There is a storage spot/drawer/box for anything you can imagine. My brother and I were super lucky to have this amazing resource of stuff for our school and craft projects!

It's also the creative space she uses to make incredible artwork like this. Check it out, I'm so proud of her, she even won an award!



My parents bedroom used to have green shag carpet and faux wood wall panelling. It is one of the only rooms in the house that they have yet to demo. To give it an inexpensive refresh, they removed the carpet and painted the wood panelling a soft green. The painting was a garage sale find of my mom's.  I also love the curly twigs in the white water jug.







Finally, this little glass shelf in the bathroom is a nice reminder of the beach and our family cottage.  A shadowbox frame with some driftwood and lucky glass (polished beach glass), and of course scrabble tiles.



So there you go!  A few tidbits from my parents century home!