Homes
This Picture-Perfect Farmhouse Has Loads Of Country Charm
Updated on July 11, 2018
Real estate agent and Toronto restaurateur Wispy Boivin was leading a busy city life in Toronto’s West End with her chef husband, Christophe Boivin, and two young children, Huxley and Tennessee. But she’d long dreamed of wide-open spaces and a slower pace. When she listed a pretty farmhouse in Collingwood, Ontario, that came with more than nine tree-lined hectares, a barn, outbuildings, two donkeys and a pony, she ended up falling for it herself. But they needed to transform the little three-bedroom, two-bathroom farmhouse into a place big enough for a family of five, plus an ever-changing number of dogs.
They connected with the builder of the home, Robert Gerschwiler of Gerschwiler Building, and enlisted him to construct a two-storey, 500-square-foot addition. To strike a more modern tone throughout, the honey-toned pine floors were sanded and whitewashed to a Scandinavian blond, giving the farmhouse a fresh facelift. Whimsical prints on throw pillows and rugs, plus loads of painted furniture add personality and a curated touch. Click through for a look inside the idyllic space.
Traditional beadboard wainscotting paired with a pretty printed grasscloth by Eskayel are unlikely but happy bedfellows in the home’s entry. The green-grey limestone floor picks up the wallpaper’s subtle hues of blue, green and black. The windowed front door invites the outdoors in, filling this transitional space with natural light.
On the front porch, a mod Acapulco chair lit by a row of barn-style enamel pendants is a surprisingly stylish counterpoint to the traditional Cape Cod siding.
Traditional beadboard wainscotting paired with a pretty printed grasscloth by Eskayel are unlikely but happy bedfellows in the home’s entry. The green-grey limestone floor picks up the wallpaper’s subtle hues of blue, green and black. The windowed front door invites the outdoors in, filling this transitional space with natural light.
Homeowner Wispy on the hearth of the fireplace in the great room. To help the room feel bright year-round, she painted the walls in Benjamin Moore’s Cloud White (CC-40).
Wispy wanted the fireplace in the new great room to look like it could be original to the farmhouse. “I wanted it to look like you had busted through the wall and stumbled onto it,” she says. The furniture in the room is a happy mix of old, new and found: the tables are vintage, and a new blue rug layers in cheerful color along with an eclectic collection of patterned throw pillows.
Pine flooring is a fraction of the cost of hardwood and whitewashing gives it a modern feel, but the process takes patience. “It took us forever to get it right,” says Wispy, recounting how the red of the pine kept bleeding through the whitewash.
The kitchen received an update with new brass hardware, an elegant gooseneck faucet and a large, dome-shaped pendant light made from an upside-down vintage bowl.
In the dining room, a traditional wood trestle table was painted for a lighter look. An assortment of mismatched chairs brings a collected-over-time feel.
A casual lounge area is warmed by the home’s original Rumford fireplace.
In the dining room, a vintage baker’s rack, bought off designer friend Kristen Vermeulen for $750, is a less fussy take on a china cabinet.
A bedroom on the second floor was converted to a den. Wispy discovered she had family history in the area when they moved — her great-great-grandfather was a mayor of Collingwood. Above the daybed is a framed survey of the area done by her ancestor that she found at the local library.
A blown-up Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album cover makes for affordable statement art in the mostly all-white principal bedroom. (Similarly, a Nouvelle Vague album cover hangs in the home office.) Pillowy linens give the simple space a feeling of luxury.
A vintage cabinet holds extra linens in the principal bedroom. Kristen Vermeulen artfully draped a linen ruffle curtain over a branch. “The curtain was a splurge at $800, but the branch is from the surrounding woods,” says Wispy.
A border of pillowy hydrangeas grows along a wall of the new addition. The blooms add a blush of cultivated color to the natural green setting.
Robin Stubbert
House & Home June 2018