This Refreshed 1953 Bungalow Is Now a Colorful, Maximalist Forever Home
Lauren Kolyn
·9 min read
Marina Porter, her husband, Alexander Arseneau, and their dogs, Cooper and Chelsea, have lived in this house for a year, and have done a bunch of renovating. Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
The couple owns the vintage shop Rainbows and Retro and sells "everything from salt and pepper shakers to lighting to furniture and more." They have a booth at the One of a Kind Antique Mall in Woodstock, Ontario and a booth at the Hamilton Antique Mall in Hamilton, Ontario. Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
"Our personal style would be colourful, eclectic and maximalist," Porter explains. "Our interior design style is inspired by vintage pieces we’ve collected over the years, interior designers we see online and colour." Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
"We also can’t forget that our personal home style is constantly changing and evolving as we source vintage and secondhand goods for a living, why not change our space up too?" Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
"Our favourite thing about our home is how all of the pieces we’ve collected over the years have finally come together in the perfect maximalist space we’ve always wanted," Porter admits. Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
"We’ve been renting for quite some time prior to purchasing and to have the ability to finally express our creativity through hand painting murals throughout the house and constantly changing up our decor and how we want to express ourselves means so much to us!" Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
The accent color in the living room is Behr's “Pink Wink” and the couch was found at HomeSense. The giant crayons, the disco balls in the fireplace, the green ball chair, the tooth stool, the arc lamp, and the cloud shelf were all found on Facebook Marketplace. The plastic wall art was found at IKEA.
The hand chair and the brass shelf were both from Facebook Marketplace. The rug is from Amazon and the mushroom stool was found at Urban Outfitters. The giant pencil was found at the Aberfoyle Antique Market.
The paint colors in the dining room are Behr's “Pink Wink,” “Taffy Twist,” “Florida Sunrise,” “Yellow Jubilee,” and “Tart Orange.” The dining table and chairs were found on Facebook Marketplace. The cat mirror was found at Aberfoyle Antique Market and the parrot was found at the Hamilton Antique Mall. The chandelier is a Lightolier from Harris Furniture & Antiques. Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
"Our biggest challenge would be finding the home that had the potential for our vision," Porter admits. "We especially wanted a deck, backyard for our dogs, bay window, natural light, two bathrooms, a door to the backyard, a great neighborhood, and walking distance to local businesses." Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
"We also didn’t want a home that had to be renovated from top to bottom because we are both working. While looking for a home, we saw quite a few that haven’t been touched since 1940, not the nicest neighborhood, no air conditioning, which weren’t in the cards for us!" Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
"It was dated with old fixtures, counters, cabinets, tiles, and hardware, the underside of the cabinets were wide open, and the appliances were modern in contrast to the old cabinetry." Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
"We painted everything, ripped out the counters, tiles, and drywall and replaced with new, changed out the cabinet hardware with vintage ones we found secondhand, properly enclosed the cabinets, replaced the appliances and fixtures with second hand ones. All in all, we only spent about $1000 and it took three weeks to complete." Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
Behr's “Yellow Jubilee” and Behr's “Sugar Poppy” are the paint colors in the hallway. The light fixture was found at IKEA. Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
The Trecco nightstands in the primary bedroom were found on Facebook Marketplace. The rug is from IKEA, the fan is from Home Depot, and the curtains are from Value Village. Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
The paint colors in the primary bedroom are Behr's “Yellow Jubilee,” “Taffy Twist,” “Florida Sunrise,” and “Tart Orange.” The duvet cover is from Society6 and the mirror was found at the Hamilton Antique Mall. Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
"The most unique feature would be that our furniture, decor, lighting, and clothing are constantly changing. We are always sourcing vintage pieces for our business and sometimes, we keep them," admits Porter. Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
"We have to keep some of these treasures for ourselves, right? This means that nothing is permanent in our house; our business allows us the freedom to always change things up." Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
The closet in the primary bedroom is from IKEA. "Everything in your environment should have a purpose," Porter advises. "It can be functional. It can also just simply bring you joy. If it doesn’t do anything for you, get rid of it. Although that can be difficult at first, you’ll thank yourself later." Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
The vanity desk is from HomeSense and the lips chair was found on Facebook Marketplace. Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
"We often get a lot of messages when sharing our home online 'I could never decorate like that' and the fact is, you can," Porter begins. Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
"Don’t decorate your space based on what other people will think, don’t decorate it based on the fact that it’s a 'rental' either or you know you will eventually sell it down the road. It is YOUR space so make it YOURS." Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
Accent paint colors in the guest bedroom are Behr's “Tart Orange,” “No More Drama,” “Glitterazzi” and “Pimento.” The Trecco nightstands and the table lamps were found on Facebook Marketplace. Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
The Trecco dresser was found on Facebook Marketplace. The main paint color is Behr's “Florida Sunrise.” Credit: Lauren KolynCredit: Lauren Kolyn
“Once we decided to start searching for our perfect home, we visited over 50 homes in Hamilton within five months,” begins Marina Porter, who along with her husband, Alexander Arseneau, owns Rainbows and Retro, a vintage shop they started in May 2021.
“As we started looking in Hamilton with our realtor (who helped us get into our previous rental), we weren’t finding what we were looking for, which was a big backyard, natural light, bay windows, and a fireplace,” Porter continues.
“While house hunting, we came across our current home, but when it was listed the bathroom was gutted so we overlooked it thinking we weren’t ready for a massive renovation. The more we continued to search, the more we weren’t finding the house we were looking, for so I showed my partner, Alex, our now-home one more time and he said, ‘Let’s go see it,'” she writes.
“The home was built in 1953 and has exchanged hands of five previous owners. We are hoping to make this our forever home,” Porter explains of the house they ended up putting an offer on the same day they viewed it. “We absolutely love the bay windows (something I always wanted in a home rental or ownership), the fireplace, and the open concept living and dining room. We also now love the backyard and how it ended up coming together.”
But although they fell in love with certain elements of the home, plenty others needed work. “We renovated pretty much the entire main floor of our home (from the outside of the home to the inside),” she writes.
Inside, they renovated the kitchen (replacing the backsplash, counter, and appliances) and they updated the main bathroom (adding new tiles, a new-to-them sink and vanity, and a heated floor). The old front door was “peeling everywhere it was so old,” so they replaced it. The second bedroom had no closet in it when they purchased the house, so they added one, and also added a clothing unit to the primary bedroom. They also added TONS of color and personality with paint and vintage finds.
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