Tintides

A sharp “friend” visited one of my apple trees last night! What a cutie.

I also learned that I was wrong thinking they could shoot/shake their quills at predators. Thanks for everyone who chimed in when I expressed that fear.

The porcupines have killed a pear tree on my property, and my attempts at stopping them from climbing up my fruit trees by wrapping the trunks in plastic killed another tree. This one ate the fruit for more than an hour and then climbed down without too much damage.

I’ll share the bounty… for now.

Lots of new faces around here (hello, 2K+ new people!) so I thought I’d introduce myself! I’m Gillian, dreamer, owner and hard-worker of Tintides, a home built on the south shore of Nova Scotia, Canada way back in 1895.

▪️I named it Tintides after the two original tin ceilings inside and the tidal waters it looks out on.

▪️I was born and raised in this area, travelled and lived around the world, and then started planning to move back and buy the house I had been dreaming of since I was a teenager.

▪️I finally found my paradise in 2020, bought it sight unseen, without ever setting a foot inside: best decision ever.

A little more about me:

▪️I have zero training on any of this restoration and renovation stuff, but a passion and drive to learn and do as much as humanly possible. And I am! I love EVERY single second of every single project I embark on- even when my body is sore, my bank account empty, and hands are cramping.

▪️I hope to one day start a YouTube channel and bring everyone along for the ride and empower people to trust themselves to learn new things, especially in your 40s and long after.

▪️I’m a leatherworker and independent designer by trade, so working hard comes naturally. You can see my work:

I’m so glad you’re here.

Love a good before and after… The Room of a Thousand Chairs is no longer! The dark wall colour has been replaced with one of my favourite whites: White Blush by Benjamin Moore, the texture ceiling soaked up an entire gallon of Simply White in one coat, and I treated myself to a super comfortable Article couch and ottoman. More art and accessories will be carefully added as they come into my life.

All good with Fiona!

Finally found the “dead body” that so many people have been joking about this weekend. 🙃 It’s the size of my fingertip and fell from the ceiling while removing the lath.

What a wonderful, community-building afternoon it was, with thanks to the organizers of ***rpride. The South Shore was often a tricky place to grow up as an out q***r kid, but I pushed through and flourished… but not everyone did. Events like this make it better for EVERYONE and are so important for visibility, acceptance, friendships, and finding love. I am so thankful to have witnessed this day and two of the events- it filled me with hope that I will find my community here. Love, (one of!!) your friendly neighborhood le***an on the Lahave.

Bought some old tin ceiling panels on Facebook Marketplace here in Toronto. They’re from a house built in 1895, which happens to be the same year of Tintides! I don’t know where they’ll end up, but thinking maybe the future revamped back porch? There are about 18 24”x24” panels.

They were ripped out from a house under construction and the reno guys were just going to throw them in the landfill. Breaks my heart. But it already feels good to know I’ve rescued them.

Now time to strip!

Tintides is now on WhatsApp.

One easy change I made that I’ll be sticking with is taking this cheap and ugly Canadian Tire Special sink thing (not shown is the ugly mirror the house came with) and adding different elements to it instead of replacing it.

I found this beat up antique mirror while thrifting; it’s wood with some old pink paint. I’m sure when it was first made it was pristine, but you know I love it rustic.

I also found these hand-painted yellow drawer pulls while thrifting and swapped out the old nickel ones. Small, cheap upgrades with decent impact!

I don’t love it, so I probably shouldn’t keep it, right?

Though this is a low budget make-do makeover, this is also one of my favourite rooms in the house, the one with the best windows and an incredible view. It used to be the darkest grey with a light grey ceiling, and I wanted to change it and test a different colour before the whole thing is gutted and revamped in the next few years. This colour is NOT one that I’d use again. It’s not offensive or anything, it’s just not perfect… except during the sunrise and sunset.

Apparently I didn’t take a before-picture of this corner with the trim painted white, but this is my trial run with the trim painted the same as the wall colour, which I prefer over the white.

This photo does accurately depict the colour better than my iPhone. Maybe some decor would help? Better than spending another $100 on a can of paint. 💸💸

You know I’m probably just going to paint this room another off-white, right? 😉

A mini half-bath makeover happened last night after a glass of wine. Properly equipped with the wrong tools and a small roll of peel and stick, my old friend Michael and I spent just over an hour installing our first ever wallpaper. I made some small mistakes, and then fixed them, but overall it was a pretty quick and easy project! I have decided that I need to paint the walls to be a better match, so that’ll happen in December. This room is right off the kitchen, without a door, so I will have to paint something that matches the green cupboards. any idea on which colour I should pull out of the wallpaper?

Anyone know what to do with these windows?

My house has a granite foundation (I’ve previously posted about), and three windows at the rim. The frames are rotten and windows broken, so need to be replaced. I do plan on spray foaming the rim to help with keeping the home warmer in the winter.

Should I dig out a well around the windows, and line the well with something? Should the new windows be sliding ones to air out the basement? It has a natural stream in it (but now a vapour barrier and gravel floor), so there is quite a bit of moisture down there.

Phase one of the basement is complete! Vapour barrier, gravel floor, new sump pump and sump pump well! New jack platforms and jacks! My contractor and assistant worked for literally seven hours over the past month and they made incredible progress. I still haven’t decided to spray foam the walls, but have decided to start with the rim. It’s a whole new basement!

The bathroom wasn’t HORRIBLE. It’s half-assed, no question about it. But it’s one of the top three rooms in the house, if anything because of the original curved windows.

The last owners updated it with new flooring and drywall (installed over the lathe, rather than going down to the studs), dark grey paint, a bathtub surround, and a sink unit. The trim was only partially installed, and someday I’ll rip everything out and start anew. But for now, another make-do-makeover.

Basically, that means paint. After much deliberation, I decided to go for a pink (still not sold on it), and this is it after one coat. More details coming soon.

Big things happening in the basement! I decided to move forward with doing some upgrades to the original mud floor before I do anything to the granite walls (boy, what a controversial decision. Purists think I’m absolutely WRONG/EVIL to even consider spray foam insulating them, but everyone I know swears by it. Anyway, that’s a post for another day.).

After dealing with a 7C kitchen last winter, I knew I needed to make some changes. I’m starting from the bottom and working my way up. The water-filled trench that was dug is apparently from a natural stream, so that’s something to work around. The contractor removed some of the old rocks, installed a plastic well for the sump pump (the old one was sitting in a hole in a milk crate), dug the trench a bit deeper, replaced an old joist with a new one (fingers crossed my plaster walls survived). They will be adding a layer of gravel, then a vapour barrier, and then another layer of gravel. They made quite a lot of progress in three hours today!

Without question, one of the best things I’ve found mudlarking on the shores of the Lahave River is this tiny spoon, carved out of bone. It even has a flattened part at the bottom. I wish I knew its story!

A great street treasure find yesterday in Riverport! Destined for the dump, I spotted this antique jam cupboard on the side of the road, turned around, and loaded it into the car. Obviously well loved and in need of a refresh, this is PERFECT piece for somewhere at Tintides!

I obviously need to put some elbow grease into this piece before bringing it inside, and of course I’m up for the challenge. I don’t know anything about it, but after a bit of preliminary research on the only element I have to go on- the handles- which are plastic and metal and have a slight art deco vibe, I’ve found similar ones online that are date back to the 1950s. I have no idea if they are original or not.

The unit is sturdy, even if cosmetically it has seen better days. I really want to strip the old paint off the exterior and start fresh. Perhaps give it a new top after removing the old one that’s held on with a bird s**t and bandaid concoction.

Though I’ve had amazing luck with finding great stuff on the side of the road, I’ve never stripped a piece of furniture before and am excited to try it. I love a project and learning new skills.

I believe it’s known amongst mudlarkers that like-materials are often found together. Find one coin, you’ll find more nearby, and so on. I found one nail, and then within a tiny 3” x 3” area came across a lot of old metal screws and nails. It was if someone had taken a handful of these gnarled pieces and buried them together, just waiting for me to come across them a hundred years later.

Most of the way through my Make-Do-Makeover of my kitchen! This felt like a group project thanks to you, and I had a thousand cheerleaders on my side every step of the way. Thank you all for chiming in with opinions and kindness- it has given me the motivation to see this project through to the end.

I joke that this was just a couple of coats of paint, but in reality it was two long weeks, eight hours a day of backbreaking (literally) labour. Sanding and priming and wood fill and painting and then sanding and painting and drilling and painting and shopping and stripped and scrubbing, and more painting. In the end, it’s exactly how I pictured it, I’m thrilled with the paint colour Peale Green (Benjamin Moore), I stuck to my budget of about $500, and the kitchen has been transformed from dark and dated to bright and trendy-classic.

But really, besides all the steps, it comes down to updated hardware and different paint. There’s a video reveal in today’s Stories, and I’ll be adding them to a Highlight reel and adding more snippets as I continue to work (more painting and installing light fixtures). Hope you like it!!

Giving love to the smallest forgotten details. It may not be something everyone would do, but when choosing to restore this old house, rather than renovate whenever possible, these are the choices I’ve made.

During this kitchen Make-Do-Makeover, I wanted to use ALL of the elements that were there, including these hinges. Copper plated, filled with grease and gunk and paint. Oxidized beyond recognition, and definitely worse for wear. All it took was a water bath in a crock pot overnight and some scrubbing with a little wire brush, and I got them sparkling again. Another crockpot bath with Mr Clean helped get rid of the old kitchen grease and any leftover paint.

I had considered spray painting them to match the brass hardware (handles and pulls), but instead I think I’ll leave them copper. They have the patent number and date stamped in each one, which I find positively charming, even if it’s a hidden detail. 1967; PAT 3,601,420

Who knew choosing a green paint colour would be this fun/anxiety-inducing/polarizing/community-building/confusing/exciting.

Two days of painting over dark and dreary greys in the kitchen with a warm white (Benjamin Moore’s Simply White) was the first step in my kitchen project, which I’ve nicknamed “Make-Do-Makeover” because my budget is small, my intentions are big, and I only want to do the bare minimum until I gut the entire space within the next few years. Textured ceiling stays, dark floor and countertop stay, oversized appliances stay. Paint, hardware, light fixture. That’s all I’m changing.

As the room only gets a few hours of direct sunlight (at sunrise and sunset) every day, I wanted to brighten it up on top, but due to the dark floors and countertop, choose a colour and tone that wouldn’t confuse the eyes when you first walk into my home. Next step is to paint the upper cabinets and all the trim a bright white (Benjamin Moore’s Oxford White) instead of this dull grey with purple undertones.

And THEN the green: Not only an homage to the green paint I’ve found on windowsills to floorboards here, but definitely on-trend. The big question of the week is: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHICH GREEN?!

Here are the contenders: Benjamin Moore’s Pearle Green (darker/jewel) or Cambridge Green (lighter/warmer)?

Kitchen paint decision time! Taking this dark and grey space to the next level.

I’m really good at manual labour, but making aesthetic decisions on my own is really tricky. I used the Benjamin Moore website to do these rough mockups; three paint options for the lower cabinets: Saybrook Sage (lightest), High Park (mid), or Backwoods (darkest).

The cabinets are old, hardware will be switched out, and I need to make the space lighter and brighter, but also work with the existing dark countertop and dark flooring.

This is a budget makeover because I will be gutting the kitchen within the next few years. No tiling, no cabinet changes, just paint. Opinions welcomed!

2020 was a s**t-show of a year, one that I really struggled through in every element of my life, and when I look back at it, I am so thankful that I found this place through all of it. And especially now that the real estate market has exploded beyond comprehension, because I snuck in under the wire and my purchase price wasn’t inflated like nearly everyone else’s is now. This home, this project, is what I’m focusing on when my days are dark and Ontario is still so sick and scary. This is waiting for me. It is mine.

This is a huge chunk of glass that I found buried on the side of the river, amongst all the other shards I’ve dated back to the late 1890s. I have no idea what it once was... maybe a vase? A water pitcher? I love its details.

I think all glass was hand-blown back then (I know nothing about the history of glass), but I do see a seam between what would likely be the front and the back. Anyone have any ideas?

So many things to discuss in this picture! The bare floor joists, the hand-laid granite foundation (bragging time: my septic plumbing guys said it was the thickest granite they’ve ever seen), the small river that runs along the floor, the plastic-covered broken window, and then there’s the noticeable lack of insulation.

That’s what I’m here to talk about.

I have a big fondness for obvious signs of handmade features in a home and I really would like to highlight these features and not hide them. However, my house is COLD in the winter, and this is a big reason why. I got a quote from a spray-foam insulation company to cover the granite walls and hit the ceiling where house meets the foundation. I’m curious to know if anyone has done this and what kind of a difference it’s made and if you’d recommend it. I’m also curious to know if the quote I received is fair and on par with the standard, or what you paid. We can DM about that part, if you’d prefer.

The biggest unveiling yet, I think. The day before I left Tintides I decided to make another bedroom filled with the stuff I’ve been collecting since September. New king mattress and frame, crisp new white bedding, thrifted washbasin cabinet ($24.99), thrifted throw, thrifted crock, thrifted lamp, handmedown tall lamp, handmedown cat artwork, and a new gender-bending print that I bought for myself more than a year ago by an artist in Nfld.

And in case you’re wondering... I think I like the paint colour.

Another bottle find! I’ve found pieces of several of these Rawleigh’s bottles before, but never a fully intact one! I brought my friend Michael to my secret spot, and he unearthed this lovely piece- his very first bottle find along the Lahave.

Rawleigh’s was a popular “direct-to-customer” business in the early 1900s, meaning you bought the products by mail or from door-to-door salesmen. They used to sell medicinal supplies, flavoured extracts (like vanilla) and ground spices (and more).

Hello, new followers! Time I introduced myself again. My name is Gillian and I’m the owner of Tintides!

I was born just down the road in Lunenburg, and then grew up on a farm on 30 acres of land about half an hour from where I’m sitting. Since my teens I have travelled this river road to go to my favourite beach (Hirtles) and dreamed about owning an old white farmhouse with a big front porch.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself in my 40 years is that I can make things happen. And I did. Simultaneously, I also never thought I’d come home, but I’ve also learned I can be wrong. A lot.

I believe in hard work, accepting help, feminism, and if I’m being honest? Measuring once and cutting twice.

The sunrise took my breath away.

We don’t get much snow here, so when it comes, especially in this quantity, it’s a blessing. A perfectly-picturesque place gets somehow downright heavenly. There are few grey, sad days here... not when the winter season looks like this. Mild temperatures, hovering around zero and the bright crisp sunshine just makes you want to get outside and enjoy.