The DIYers
The Krasic family wanted to escape the pandemic and immerse themselves in country living. Their solution: buy and renovate a farmhouse near Toronto, then start shopping for livestock
Who: Kate Krasic, an interior designer at Kate and Amanda Design, her husband, Chris Krasic, owner and builder at Milmax Builds, their kids Max, 12, and Mila, 9, and their three-year-old Bernese mountain dog, Mate.
What: A four-bed, three-bath converted farmhouse on 23 acres in Honeywood.
The Krasic family live in a detached house in Sunnylea. They’re avid skiers, and back in 2019, they joined the Mansfield Ski Club, about an hour and a half’s drive from Toronto. It was a bit of a trek, and they’d been thinking about buying an income property, so in the summer of 2020, they purchased a $705,000 farmhouse just a 15-minute drive from their ski club.
The interiors were dated, but Kate and Chris have mad reno skills, and were excited at the prospect of customizing their new property. They did all the work themselves, gutting the kitchen and adding two full baths, a rec room and a bedroom. The work was completed on New Year’s Day—just in time for another round of lockdowns to hit Toronto—and the family escaped to their farmhouse. The kids do Zoom school (the Wi-Fi isn’t bad), and after lessons and chores, they head outside for the rest of the afternoon. Max has gotten into birding and also captures videos of the countryside with his drone, while Mila, a crafter, makes wreaths from grapevines. Kate and Chris have also discovered a love for country living and, in the future, they hope to bring in livestock, including a goat, a pig, a cow and a horse.
The kitchen is partially open to the upper level, which floods the space with light. Kate and Chris added tongue-and-groove boards to the ceiling, Shaker profile cabinetry, a Monogram gas stove and a Carrara marble countertop:
Chris built the table with leftover white oak planks from the floors. Kate sourced the darker set of chairs from Instagram-based vintage shop Château High-Low. The others, which she painted white, are from Kijiji:
Kate chose mostly white furniture and wooden pieces to keep the space bright and airy but also warm. The coffee table is from her parents’ home, and she found the white linen Pottery Barn couch on Kijiji:
Kate and Chris installed picture-frame moulding on the walls of the family room to emphasize the two-storey ceiling height. They also converted a bay window into a window seat:
They added headboards to the upper-level bedrooms to give them a quaint country feel. The bronze sconces are from Restoration Hardware:
Here’s Kate and Chris’s room. The bed is from IKEA and the sheep art was a HomeSense find:
Here’s the rec room in the main house:
Kate and Chris also converted the stand-alone garage into a rec room, adding a pool table, a dry bar and hardwood planks to cover up the dirt floor. The wreath is a Mila original:
During the winter lockdown, the family made s’mores around the outdoor firepit, and spent time relaxing in a new hot tub they installed:
They replaced the roll-up metal doors on the the garage with wooden barn alternatives. The pool to the left was added in the spring of 2021:
, and after lessons and chores, they head outside for the rest of the afternoon. Max has gotten into birding and also captures videos of the countryside with his drone, while Mila, a crafter, makes wreaths from grapevines. Kate and Chris have also discovered a love for country living and, in the future, they hope to bring in livestock, including a goat, a pig, a cow and a horse.
The kitchen is partially open to the upper level, which floods the space with light. Kate and Chris added tongue-and-groove boards to the ceiling, Shaker profile cabinetry, a Monogram gas stove and a Carrara marble countertop:
Chris built the table with leftover white oak planks from the floors. Kate sourced the darker set of chairs from Instagram-based vintage shop Château High-Low. The others, which she painted white, are from Kijiji:
Kate chose mostly white furniture and wooden pieces to keep the space bright and airy but also warm. The coffee table is from her parents’ home, and she found the white linen Pottery Barn couch on Kijiji:
Kate and Chris installed picture-frame moulding on the walls of the family room to emphasize the two-storey ceiling height. They also converted a bay window into a window seat:
They added headboards to the upper-level bedrooms to give them a quaint country feel. The bronze sconces are from Restoration Hardware:
Here's Kate and Chris's room. The bed is from IKEA and the sheep art was a HomeSense find:
Here's the rec room in the main house:
Kate and Chris also converted the stand-alone garage into a rec room, adding a pool table, a dry bar and hardwood planks to cover up the dirt floor. The wreath is a Mila original:
During the winter lockdown, the family made s’mores around the outdoor firepit, and spent time relaxing in a new hot tub they installed:
They replaced the roll-up metal doors on the the garage with wooden barn alternatives. The pool to the left was added in the spring of 2021:
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