From Times Past Blog

Meet my Old House

August 10, 2010 By Johanne 1 Comment

The 1912 Bell Residence Meet my old house. It was "born" in 1912 and built by George Gibson, in the "Four square " style that was so popular in the early part of the 1900's. Being in western Canada, at 98 years of age it is considered fairly old (unlike those in Eastern Canada and the US!). George did not live here very long. The bottom of the real estate market fell out in about 1913 - 1914 followed by the First World War. It took a long time for housing to get back to normal and it never returned to pre - war boom levels. Many people lost their homes and their investments when they … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Decoration, My Old House, Restoration Tagged With: Arts and Crafts, decorating an old house, dining rooms, Johanne Yakula, mill work, old house decoration, old house renovations, old house restoration, old houses, plaster medallions

A Home Isn’t a Home Without a Pet

July 23, 2010 By Johanne Leave a Comment

This is our pup - I have no reason for putting her on this blog except that I came across this picture while I was searching for old house pictures. She is a Welsh Terrier and is ten years old. Many people think Welsh Terriers are miniature Airdales but they are a breed apart. Just yesterday a neighbour who owns an Airdale told me "Your dog looks like an Airdale that was put in the dryer too wet and shrunk". I forget that she isn't a pup sometimes and expect her to act frisky all the time. She is in good health overall and appears to have gotten over the habit on chomping down on what … [Read more...]

Filed Under: My Old House Tagged With: pets, WElsh Terriers.

Victorian Houses in Ontario

July 23, 2010 By Johanne 3 Comments

Entrance Hall of the Hill and Dale Inn in Port Hope

There are all kinds of sayings that refer to the serendipitous meeting of people you know. Sayings like " What a small world we live in" or "There are only six degrees of separation between people". We've all found this to be true. My favorite (although a bit crass) is "Don't piss anybody off because you never know when you will meet them again or someone who knows them". We have all heard examples of these stories. Stories like someone going on a safari in Africa and meeting up with people who live in the same home town. My brother told me he was talking to a coworker he had … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Antiques, Decoration, My Travels Tagged With: Antiques, Johanne Yakula, old houses in Ontario, Ontario heritage homes, Victorian homes

Nasty Victorian Punishment Devices

July 23, 2010 By Johanne 8 Comments

On a recent trip to Kingston, Ontario a family member and I decided to go to a different kind of museum - a Penitentiary museum. I'm not even sure I spelled that right! It's certainly not a word in my normal vocabulary. We decided that it was something that might be interesting in a weird kind of way.... And we were not disappointed. The museum seems to cover mostly the Victorian era to the 1970's. I felt that the museum curators did a good job of showing the pros and cons (sorry - couldn't help myself) of the correctional system. It was a very balanced approach to providing … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Antiques, My Travels Tagged With: Antiques, history of crime and punishment, Johanne Yakula, Kingston Ontario, nasty Victorian punishment devices, penitentiary in Kingston, torture devices of the past, Victorian

More Travels in France

July 7, 2010 By Johanne Leave a Comment

Some of my readers have contacted me to provide more pictures of my trip so last night I put together two separate groupings of photographs on my web site. One link will take you to more photos from France overall - the Chateaux, the churches and beautiful scenery. The second link will take you to photographs I took while at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs. You will see antique furniture, interiors and design icons of the last 100 years. This museum is a must see for anyone who loves the history of period interiors and antiques. The third link is several photos I took of the St Ouen flea … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Antiques, Decoration, My Travels Tagged With: Antiques, architecture in France, France, Johanne Yakula, old buildings, travel

Designs from the Past

July 5, 2010 By Johanne 3 Comments

This design at left ( and those below) are from the five that I bought at the St. Ouen Flea Market in Paris in May. This flea market is reported to be the world's largest antique market at fifteen acres in size! I always gravitate towards books and paper antiques - I just can't help myself. I was in heaven... The St. Ouen Flea Market contains a huge area that has posters, books of every age and title, prints, and anything else you can think of that is made of paper. These caught my eye because they 1. were easy to carry, 2. relatively inexpensive 3. and they combined my love of design and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Antiques, My Travels Tagged With: antique, antique paper, Decoration, flea market, from times past, Johanne Yakula, paint, St. Ouen flea market

How Do I Post a Comment on a Blog?

June 26, 2010 By Johanne 8 Comments

I have been responding to the blog entries several of you have sent me, and some of the comments were sent by regular email because there was some confusion on how to respond. So here goes. If you go to the top of the blog entry (called a post) you will see the words "Leave a Comment". You can click on that and follow the directions or you can go right to the bottom of the post and fill in the info there. You will be asked to leave your name and email then you can simply fill in the bottom of the page with your comments then press the submit button (or is it a post response button?). I get … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Appraisals, My Old House, Restoration Tagged With: book, France, how to do a post on a blog, Johanne Yakula, Travels in France