Tour a 100-Year-Old Victorian Farmhouse With Equestrian Style

Hi house and home, it's Jack Creasy of Jack Creasy Design, and I'm here at our project in rural Ontario, deep in horse country. This home is a Victorian farmhouse. It's over a hundred years old in the historic part of a quaint rural countryside town. Our client hired us after she already had permits approved or an addition to the existing historic structure. Our firm came in initially starting to assist picking a few finishes such as tile, plumbing fixtures, and the project really snowballed. It's been about four and a half years that we've been working on this project, and our firm has done everything top to bottom, including furniture, lighting, a lot of custom pieces throughout the space. She's extremely trusting. There was almost nothing that she said no to, really trusting of the vision and just believed in what our firm stands for, the values that we believe in, as well as the work that we're known for creating in the exceptional spaces. There's a lot of flow through the dining room. The front door leads through the living room into the dining room, which leads into the family room and kitchen, the back of the house. The family room, we installed a beautiful carved limestone fluted fireplace that just draws your eye across the space and helps accentuate height in this room. Being an addition done by a previous owner, this space has lower ceilings than the rest of the home, so we really wanted to work around that constraint and create proportions and visual interest to give the sense of a taller ceiling without physically changing the height of the ceiling. That room is where our client spends most of her time when she's here. It's really about cozying up by the fire, watching TV, whether it's before dinner, after dinner. So there it was important to have furniture that, again, you could sink into, was really cozy. The swivel chairs are custom designed with a beautiful pistachio piping against the rust performance fabric. Everything's really durable, low-maintenance. We don't want you to fuss when you're here. It should just be comfortable and casual. The console table behind the sofa is actually really near and dear to my heart because it's a collaboration we did with Kulikin and Company. It really speaks to the equestrian lifestyle and aspects of this home. So it's inspired by saddle stands. It has a really wonderful carved detail on the base of the legs. It draws your eye up to the beautiful tabletop, which has this wonderful concave detail on the underside. The rug is a custom-designed rug that we worked with Atelier Tortille from France to design one of their existing rugs and create our own unique colorway where we added some of the elements and colors that are evident throughout the family room and the kitchen, really tying those spaces together as they are open concept to one another. Moving on into the kitchen, the millwork was all designed in collaboration between our firm and my near and dear friend, Cassandra Arbour. We worked hand-in-hand to bring all of the millwork spaces in this home to life. I started with a little bit of a mood board for the kitchen, and I knew that it was a historical home. We were wanting to have fun with color. The style of cabinetry is English-framed cabinets. We have a flat face frame on the perimeter and a beaded face frame on the island. And then I selected a couple of different greens, and the Kulk green was my favorite. It's meant to feel a little bit more like furniture. It's more lived-in, and the color is very vibrant, so it pops. The hardware is very English. It's burnished brass hardware, and it's kind of fun. We have latches. We have cup pulls, knobs, all kinds of things through the kitchen. Originally, our client was going to keep the existing kitchen, and again, as the project started to evolve, she soon realized that the old kitchen didn't flow with the vibe of the rest of the home. It became evident that we needed to replace the kitchen, which gave us opportunity to vault the ceiling, which was previously flat, gain a little extra height in that space. But we were still working within the existing walls. Being a Victorian farmhouse, we wanted the kitchen to feel more relaxed, more lived-in, so all of the surfaces are designed with that in mind. The countertops are beautiful Calacatta Verde with an anti-etch, anti-staining treatment on them to prevent against any etching or staining that may occur. The beautiful stools have an inline leather. Every scratch, every wear and tear mark just adds layers of character, much like leather on a saddle that just patinas over time and has that beautiful heritage leather appearance. To separate the pantry and mudroom space from the kitchen, we installed this really beautiful Dutch door concept built into a pocket door, which is quite unique. Our client asked Cassandra how we could incorporate both of those spaces into one. And she came up with this beautiful way of dividing the mudroom and the pantry with a tall cabinetry wall. I did a little bit of a U-shape. We wanted to have some open shelving for display. We have our freezer back there. We have our food storage back there. It's actually like a little bit of a breakfast tea station. And then around the corner from our U-shaped pantry, we did a little mudroom bench, and we did our coat closet, and we really prioritized her dogs. And we have a little dog food storage bin back there. We have a lot of spaces in this house that serve double duties. So the laundry room is a hallway, essentially to the side of the home with a side door entrance. We've washed the cabinetry in a beautiful India yellow. Again, added butcher block counters that are black-cut white oak, English bronze faucets by Perrin and Rowe. Add just a touch of old-world charm. And probably my favorite feature in there, and again, I have to give Cassandra credit where credit is due. Under the stairs, we have a really cute pull-out drying rack, and it has an Armac Martin mesh on it that matches the hardware on the laundry side to give ventilation inside. And it's all painted out in that same yellow. Thanks for watching. This house tour is presented by Scotty's. So we're in our design studio. All our jobs start with a plain white tray. Every time. And whenever you see anything that you think is relevant to that room, you throw it in the tray. And then Linda takes it out. Yes. And then eventually, you have the things that are forming a vision. Mustard is a timeless color. It's bold and graphic, and it goes with everything. It really does. This collaboration we have with Scotty is fantastic. This box was inspired by my love of mustard. It's my number one favorite box. I can see that. It's a very you. And as long as I've known you, you've put a hit of mustard in every project you've done, not just in terms of design, but also in the clothes you wear, timeless accents, and it is your signature color. Yes. This kitchen, it needs a hit of mustard. This kitchen, which was done in mustard, has a mustard box in it. And it looks like it's there naturally. Yeah, naturally. This bathroom needs it. It also picks up the mustard in the rug. Yes. That you wouldn't notice otherwise. And this fabric, heavy linen, I love this fabric. And it was the inspiration for this box. Just because it's got a vibe. You know, the design process is not exacting. It's kind of like, what's the feeling you're going for and how are you going to get there? It's a great box. Try it in your room. See if you're trendy or you're timeless. The primary bedroom's really about a moment of calm and serenity. The color palette there is much more muted, natural linens and neutrals, really to ease the mind at the end of the day and give you that calming, fresh start in the morning. It's in the addition portion of the property. So there we were able to take advantage of the roof line and actually scissor the trusses and create this beautiful vaulted ceiling. We did custom nightstands on either side of the bed, beautiful writing desk overlooking the backyard. And then we actually utilized the space above the roof line to create a wall of beautiful built-ins that house all of our clients' linens. A couple of moments of open storage with beautiful arched openings at either end of the cabinetry. The principal en-suite's kind of like a theater. It's a little bit like a stage. So this is actually in the historic part of the home and it's elevated from the primary hallway. So it's two steps up. There's this beautiful sort of ascending feeling that you get when you walk into that space. It's so beautifully lit with natural light. And the entire room is limewashed in this stunning mint green that just sets off against the nude blush pink vanity. The tile in the principal en-suite was actually probably one of the first things that we selected for this entire project. That was something that really spoke to our client and we designed the entire bathroom around the tile. There's this repetitive wave and floral design that's seen in the floor. And we carried this up with this beautiful Cristallo Bianco quartzite. Again, durable here for everyday use, but we created this stunning visual of the wave backsplash behind the sinks. Across from the principal en-suite back into the addition part of the home is the principal closet and dressing room. The space is, again, very light filled with windows on two sides. There's lots of cabinetry wrapping the room on all three sides. A beautiful little makeup vanity with Cristallo Bianco countertops there as well for durability. And we really leaned into the blush pinks and the mint greens, as well as tying in a bit of the bedroom earthy tones. The guest room and guest bathroom are back in the historic part of the home. So again, we're a little more limited on space. The architect that our client worked with had proposed to put a dormer into the bedroom to extend the usable amount of space within the guest room. We were able to now fit a proper queen size bed with nightstands, as well as a little side chair for either dropping your overnight bag or somewhere to put on and off your shoes. The guest bathroom is really a moment of wow through simplicity and restraint. The vanity console is carved out of the block of marble with aged brass metal legs, beautiful wall sconces with seated glass feel historic, and a medicine cabinet hidden behind a mirror. We wrapped the wall tile, not only in the shower, but all around the entire bathroom, up all the walls, floor to ceiling. And I think it gives that impactful color that really just sets the tone for this space. The office is really a separate space for our client to do work. The closet has a built-in filing cabinets and space for printer. And then the daybed provides another space for guests when needing extra beds. It actually has a trundle that pulls out from underneath to give an additional sleeping spot for two more people. The formal living room also doubles as the front entry to the home. This room pretty much stayed the same in terms of size and layout, this being part of the historic home. We added a powder room under the stairs to create a bath on the main floor. And we replaced the staircase, the railings and banister, everything is all new. But the rest of it was really layering in those soft furnishing elements, decorating things like wallpaper, like this beautiful plant husk wallpaper on the walls here adds a wonderful depth of texture and movement. The art in the living room are two photographs by Maureen O'Connor. And the two pieces behind me really spoke to us in that they fit not only the color scheme and palette that we were going for in the front living room, but that really ties into the story of this home is they're just free to roam around and she captures the animal in its natural curiosity of exploring the space. With so much color and personality and interest happening on this side of the room, we really needed some element on the stairs that brought that side of the room to life as well. So we added horsetail sconces that carry your eye up the stairs. The runner starts off in the bottom of the staircase with the color palette in the living room, which is primarily this teal blues mixing in pinks and creams. And it's a bit of an abstract pattern that starts to evolve and change as you ascend the stairs. The pattern under the stairs, we wanted to create a special little moment. It starts before you even enter the space with the beautiful arch door and arch trim. As you open that space, what's revealed is this dramatic butterfly and floral wallpaper that just envelops the entire room. A beautiful blush pink cast concrete sink that I love. The dining room wallpaper, I would love to say that that was what started it all, but it actually was something that we added partway through the renovation. The space felt a little more like a hallway, a transition space. It didn't feel so special as a dining room should. We found this beautiful Carlucci wallpaper that tied in perfectly all the colors that we had going on in the home. And it really created this impactful transition moment. The bar was another addition. So the entire cabinetry was actually wrapped and faced in the same matching Carlucci wallpaper. Brass edging was applied to all of the edges that have the most chance of wear and tear to give a little added protection to that wallpaper. And it blends beautifully into the space. The Victorian farmhouse is small, shall we say, and the addition increases that. It almost doubles the size of the home, but we're still not in a large, massive home by any means. It's really cozy. It's intimate. It's the perfect amount of space. I would live here. I think it's just wonderful, but it has that feeling of a large home without feeling cold or utilitarian or sterile. It's really intimate and joyful.