Our wine cellar: part 3 and reveal

Our wine cellar is a huge source of pride in our home. We love it!
 We didn't have air conditioning in our home for two years but we had a cooling unit for the wine cellar. I know, our priorities are all messed up! At least we had lots of cool  wine to dink away those hot summer days:)

Here is it is- our cellar:

We are currently running low-ish on wine since we restock in fall/winter during wine making season.
We painted the walls a light buttery color, installed wooden crown moldings stained walnut, and the wine racks were also stained walnut. Yes, we stained and assembled all these wine racks- it took forever!!! The wine racks were purchased at Aux Plaisirs du Bacchus on Bernard Avenue in Montreal.
You can also see the end result of the travertine floor. It's just the right look for a wine cellar.

 

We use an old wine barrel to decorate a corner of the room and we got some wooden wine boxes from our local liquor store to hide some wine making supplies. Tip: In Montreal if you ask your local S.A.Q. for some wooden boxes they'll give them to you for a small donation.

 We have a small bistro table in the room, mainly for good looks. We don't actually drink in the room because it's cold in there (10-12 degrees celsius). 

View from the wine room into the living room. We installed an exterior grade cedar wood door. Ideally, the wine should be in a dark room and the door shouldn't have glass. But I wanted to be able to see into the wine room from the living room so we decided on this door. The room is large enough that the light that flows in doesn't disturb the wine

View into the wine room from the living room. Love it!

The light fixture was purchased at Home Depot and it's the right size. color, a style for the room. Just to add some pizazz we also installed a decorative medallion.

I think it's now clear to everyone that I love my wine. Every year since we've been married Tony and I have made wine, about 200-250 bottles each year. We also like to buy some inexpensive bottles and of course we love it when our friends bring us gifts of wine bottles- hint, hint! LOL- just kidding:)

Smiles,
Nancy

linking to Between naps on the porch and other parties on my Party Link page

Our Wine Cellar: part 2

My last post about our wine cellar mainly dealt with the construction and all the other necessary, but not so pretty, stuff. So today we'll begin to talk about the pretty.

But first, more of the necessary stuff:

 The walls went up. Because of the high humidity, it's necessary to use green humidity proof drywall.

 Then we planned the layout of the travertine tile floor.

 A water tile saw was used to cut all the travertine. You'll need a water saw to cut any natural stone tile.

And then we got to work installing all that tile.

Now, before I actually reveal the end result, I'll show you some of the inspirational images we looked at when building the room. You'll notice from our above construction images that we tried to mimic the light colored floors and wall colors in the following images:

Source: shelterness.com via Nancy on Pinterest

Source: google.ca via Nancy on Pinterest

Source: marcelbedard.com via Nancy on Pinterest

Source: designinteriorideas.com via Nancy on Pinterest

Check back tomorrow for the reveal!!

Smiles,
Nancy

Help a friend out: living room

On Monday I introduced you to a good friend Lena who asked me to help her out with some decorating ideas for her dining room, living room and bedroom.
You can check out the suggestions for her dining room here, and today we'll be looking at her living room.
Here is an image of how the space currently looks:

There are a ton of great features in this room: the window lets in a lot of light and is nicely situated, I like the light paint color, the crown molding and the wood floor. Lena mentioned that she wanted to get rid of the brown drapery and I think she is on the right track.

Suggestions: I'd like to see a brighter color, yet still light, used for the drapery. I am thinking in the blueish or greenish tone. I think a solid color would work best since the drapery cut off from view by the couch.

Here are some inspiration images. You'll notice that the paint or furniture colors are reminiscent of what Lena have in her space:

Source: decorpad.com via Nancy on Pinterest

Source: omurtlak5.bloguez.com via Nancy on Pinterest

Source: omurtlak5.bloguez.com via Nancy on Pinterest

Source: eclecticrevisited.wordpress.com via Nancy on Pinterest

Once you've selected your drapery color, you'll need some brighter colored decorative pillows for your couch. You already have the pillows so simply buying some pillow covers will do the trick. The pillows are where you can have fun with pattern and color.

Some suggestions:

Available at Iconic pillow on Etsy shop

Available at Pillow top and More Etsy shop

Available at theTurquoise Iris Etsy Shop

Also, you have those two pictures on the wall of the fireplace but I'd prefer to see them on the right side of the window and you can even add another two pictures to make a large square of four pictures. I'm sure you could easily find pictures of your baby boy to display:)

Where you currently have the two pictures I think you can go with a collection of small round mirrors.

Here is an example of what I am thinking:

Source: furnitureonnet.com via Nancy on Pinterest

The store Zone on St. Denis boul. has some great looking small round silver framed mirrors that would work well in your space.

Now for the fireplace:
Lena mentioned she thinks her fireplace looks unfinished and I kind of agree with her.

Here are some inspiration images for a fireplace surround:

Source: google.ca via Nancy on Pinterest

Source: housetohome.co.uk via Nancy on Pinterest

These two above images are simple and sleek. The following is a little more classic.

Source: elyounes.com via Nancy on Pinterest

You can find some ready made fireplace surrounds at any local hardware store. I also believe that Langevin Forest has some options. Otherwise, if you have a handy person in your entourage, a beautiful surround can be created by simply buying the moldings and cutting them to size.

Another concern Lena had was about her shelving unit in the corner of the room.

The shelf is dark and I think lining the back of the shelves with some decorative paper or painting it the same color as your walls or one of the colors in the fabric for your decorative pillows would really brighten it up. Also, collect the books together into larger piles and then place a decorative light-colored item on the other side. Another idea would be to purchase some pretty decorative baskets and then collect your books into the baskets in the shelf. This would create a sense of uniformity and is simpler than trying to make a shelf appear neat. The collection of vases is very pretty!

Hope this helps!

Lena and I would love to here your comments and suggestions.



 

Our Wine Cellar: part 1

When we purchased our house one of the first things that had to be done was the balcony off the kitchen. It was small, old, unstable, and dangerous. We knew we wanted to build a large balcony off the kitchen (about 14x11 feet) and got to work getting some quotes. The quotes for a fiberglass or concrete balcony were all so expensive! So we then decided to see how much it would cost to build an extra room in the basement that would double as the balcony off the main-floor kitchen. The price difference wasn't significant so we went with option 2 and turned the extra room into a wine cellar. My husband loves to make and collect wine bottles and I love to drink them!:)

Here are some pictures of the construction process. Needless to say, this part we did not do ourselves! 

This is the dug up space for the wine room.

The pouring of the cement.

Once the room was built, Tony and I framed the wall with 2x4s. On the right side of the image you can see the door opening into our house. This used to be the window opening before the building of the cellar.

The room was then insulated with urethane spray foam. The walls were sprayed with 2 inches and the ceiling with 3 inches. A wine room has to be very well insulated to keep the temperature and humidity stable. The benefit of urethane is that it expands into every nook and cranny and provides a thermal break.

Another image of the insulation- it looks like the background of a high fashion photo shoot- lol!

Tony and I had to then scrape the urethane off the edges of the wood so as to install the drywall (very long and frustrating!). A good company should do this for you since it is much easier to do right after the insulation is sprayed. Oh well, live and learn. On the left side of the image you can see the door to the exterior. Because wine is sensitive to light and temperature change a solid insulated door is best, especially if the door leads to the outside.

We purchased a Breezeaire cooling unit specifically made for wine rooms. Esthetically, it's actually dated looking and unattractive but one of the best we could get and luckily it's off in a corner of the room. The reason for a cooling unit specifically made for wine rooms as opposed to a simple air condition is that the cooling unit controls both the humidity and temperature of the room that is adequate for wine.

We ordered it from Rosehill Wine Cellar online and the service was great.

If you are interested in the many little necessary details in the creation of a wine room see the following information sites:
Bracksco Wine Nook
Wine Cellar Creations
Maitre de cave
Vintage Cellars

Later in the week I'll post about the pretty part of the process- flooring, wine racks, paint color, etc. Check back soon.

Now let me get back to my glass of red wine:)

Nancy

Dining room sprucing up: wing back chairs

I've been searching for wing-back chairs for the dinning room. Because of the busy floor tile I want to keep the color neutral. Here are some of the one's I've pinned.

I love the shape of these chairs as well as the carved detail on the legs. But at $4600 I can only dream! Seen on passing open windows

Lands' End Country Luxe Upholstered Wingback Chair - Mahogany Finis.  I find it has a kind of quiet elegance about it, but maybe too quiet. At $252 it's not too bad but still more than I want to pay. 

Martine Upholstered Armchair at Restauration Hardware. Cost $319. I like the linen fabric and the tufted back but I find the legs too simple (the legs are available in a  darker finish)

Sanctuary Wing back chair Hooker Furniture. Price unknown. I really like the script fabric but again the legs are too simple.

I've been searching craigslist, etsy, kijiji for previously loved chairs and here is what I'm eying

These two lovely ladies are $50 each. I'll have to reupholster them but that's fine by me. Problem: I've left two messages in the past 3 days but the seller hasn't yet contacted me:( We'll see what happens.

Smiles:)
Nancy