I remember being a kid and going back to school in September and on the first day, the teacher would always ask us to stand and talk about what we did for the summer. Coming from an immigrant family with limited funds, I had no fascinating stories to tell about far-flung destinations visited, or summer camps that I attended, or even the new bike I had received and rode endlessly. For us, it was about playing outside, with friends, and when it was too hot, being lazy and hanging out down by Lake Ontario or at the local splash pad.
That trend has continued for me into adulthood. I don’t travel in the summer, except locally. I don’t own a vacation home or RV or trailer. Instead, I make the most of my suburban home, creating a peaceful garden oasis with outdoor seating, a pond, bird feeding stations and perennials. I love it and it serves me well.
This year, I decided I needed to do the same inside, modernizing and updating the visible surfaces (ceilings, walls, floors) with new materials and colours. For most of the summer, my house was awash with contractors, and I was living in the basement, eagerly awaiting for the changes to be completed. Why would I post about this on a photography blog? Because I found the artistic choices made for the inside of my home are very much related to my current aesthetic as a photographer. Find out how.
I have to admit something out of the gate: home improvements have never been a priority for me, at least not the home improvements you often start first to improve the look of the home – the resale value stuff. I’ve done roof, windows, doors, furnace, A/C, water treatment, insulation, structural repairs, organizational improvements. But paint, floors and colour choices, along with kitchen and basement upgrades – not touched in almost 30 years. Yikes. Yes, I really had pink wall to wall carpet.
There came a point where bathroom fixtures had to go so they were done first. When I bought the home, coloured fixtures were the rage. Remember those pink bathtubs? I had/have a beige one still. The others weren’t done so much for aesthetics but for utility – getting older, I needed more “comfort” with higher and wider plumbing fixtures. Sorry to the next family that owns this house – you’ll need a step stool for your kids. But even here, I shied away from difficult design choices – white for everything china that was replaced; chrome for all handles, spouts and heads on the water fixtures. Easy peasy.
Before deciding on what to do with the interior, I had to make another important decision. Over the past 18 months, I’ve been going back and forth on an often not addressed question – how much longer will I stay in this home? As a senior, sometimes those choices are made for you because of declining mobility and health. Certainly mobility is now a factor for me. The stairs become more challenging each day. But after careful consideration, lots of calculations and lots of discussion with family, I’ve decided to stay in the home for another five years for sure, and reassess then. So I would definitely benefit from the refresh. And off I went.
Home shows provide one-stop shopping for all your reno needs, but are often overwhelming in the choices and frantic nature of trying to decide how to proceed. I went to both the big Toronto Spring 2025 Home Show and the smaller, locally focused Durham 2025 Home Show. Made some great connections and scheduled visits from contractors to see what was possible for my home.
These contractors deal with uninformed and uncertain folks like me all the time, thankfully. That can sometimes mean a condescending attitude but thankfully that was not the case with mine. Expert advice, expert suggestions and within a month, a plan was made. My challenge was colours and finishes of course, and they encouraged me to take samples home, lay them out and assess them over several days. Such a good process. I wanted colours and finishes that would not only make me happy today but could potentially be appealing 5 years from now if the decision is to sell the house. That of course meant neutral colours mostly, but I decided to add splashes of tasteful colour in 4 key locations:
- Main living room/great room
- Master bedroom
- Dining Room
- Feature room with a peaked ceiling that I use as a library
I took home 1/2 dozen sample pods of paint and happily slapped them on my walls to view in morning light, afternoon light and in warm artificial light. I don’t know about you, but when I edit a photograph and finally land on the look I want, I know it right away. That’s what happened here. My base colour was a lovely light grey known as “Balboa Mist”. I chose to pair it with a grey/green simply known as “Flora” that matched my love of green growing plants and gardens. My house is filled with indoor plants that help get me through the drab winter months and this splash of colour would make that even better.
All of that would be matched with new flooring called “Toasted Almond” that provided the base, the trunk, the anchor to everything above it. Everything pointed to the outdoors indirectly in these choices and has given me a pleasure in my surroundings that I didn’t expect but absolutely love. The colours complement one another and pop when needed – just like the perfect photograph.
The work took just over 6 weeks, allowing for some time gaps to potentially manage delays. That included moving everything big out of the house or into the basement, removing all the existing wall to wall carpeting and replacing it with the new flooring, and painting every wall and most ceilings. There are always unexpected challenges, like two crew members who separately had to deal with the passing of a parent during my project, or being flexible with the painters so that they could do outdoor projects for other clients on good weather days as long as the overall project window was not affected. It also turns out that my floors and walls have very few straight and level runs and these contractors were masters at handling those issues, but it did extend the timeline for completing the work a bit.
It is a challenge living through a renovation, especially at my age. Luckily it all went smoothly and despite the discomfort of sleeping on a camping cot for 6 weeks, it was worth it. But would I do it again? For the outcome, yes, but not at this stage of my life again. I do expect to enjoy the result for a few years to come, but nothing is predictable now healthwise. And as an added side-benefit, I’ve downsized and rearranged my creative spaces for reading, photography and media editing to make them even more inspiring as I use them. I feel joy and calm when I am in them. Looking forward to putting them to the test.
What did you do for the summer?
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