Kim's Dark Eclectic Canadian Home filled with Vintage Finds
Kim Johnson's (@kim-dti on Instagram), house is filled with vintage treasure from her hobby of scouring flea markets. Her home is glorious mix of dark and moody colours in her living room, patterned wallpaper in her hall, pink in her dining room and art and plants and German pottery. Her dining room is a particular favourite of mine, with its golden ceiling light and pink walls to tulip chairs around the table. I would love to take it all home with me.
A little bit about the lady behind these gorgeous squares...
Introduction
Kim Johnson – supervisor of a web development team for the Canadian federal government by day, and interior design blogger (desiretoinspire.net – "I started this blog with my Australian friend Jo Walker over 10 years ago") all the rest of the time. Kim lives in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. With her husband, she bought their current house (in the downtown neighbourhood of the Civic Hospital) 3 years ago. They live here with a bunch of cats that rule the house (you can see a couple of them in her photos). This house is approximately 1600 sq. ft. and was built in 1940.
I asked what she likes best...........
"I love the dark, eclectic mix I have going on in my home and love its uniqueness."
So, have a look and see if you agree with me that this is definitely one home to follow.
Kim hired a tiler who removed the oak floor in the foyer and replaced it all with tiny hex tiles ("I had seen this exact tile in a local restaurant and fell in love", says Kim). Kim was afraid to tackle painting out the mahogany wainscoting on her own so "I hired someone to paint it for me. I went with Farrow and Ball’s Black Blue and it looks SO much better". Kim also had someone come and install their Tourbillon wallpaper in the vestibule, foyer, staircase and upstairs hallway. "It’s a dramatic, graphic addition to the house that I absolutely adore. "
Kim has done several projects over the past 3 years but there is still much to do...... A couple of major projects she did manage to have completed: "we hired a floor refinisher to sand and restain the oak floors in the living and dining rooms. They are now a beautiful grey. ", she says.
A tiler ripped up the cheap ceramic tile in the kitchen and replaced it all with tiny hex tiles
"I have painted most of the rooms in dark, moody colours which I think works really well with this style of architecture." says Kim
The furnishings are mostly vintage ("shopping at flea markets and vintage shops is my favourite thing to do on my time off") with some modern pieces added here and there to keep it really eclectic and unexpected.
"I love collecting West German Pottery and I also have a lot of plants though I don’t have the best luck keeping them alive" says Kim.
I love collecting bold, graphic artwork – particularly photographs
So, what more could Kim possibly have to do to this house? "I still need to renovate my bathroom (I can’t wait to get an electrical outlet installed in there finally!!!) and build shelving in our third-floor space that will become our library. (Right now, it’s a storage room filled with spare furniture). We plan to work on the outside soon as well, as the home has never had any landscaping done, and I am dying for an outdoor hangout so we will build a she-shed."
I think all of us have the urge to do more to our homes, I know I do, and they will never in my opinion be finished. However, I hope you agree that Kim's house is stunning and she has achieved so much already. I know I could happily move in right now.
The Girl with The Green Sofa
