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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1990-04-04, Page 25Ho i Holmsted House s a countr. BY SUSAN OXFORD The Holmsted House Bed and Breakfast in Harpurhey is open for business again after being, sold to a Toronto family. Jean.. Akroyd and her two daughters, SnsarC,Char'les, 30, Sandra, 26, and Jean's first grandchild, John Charles, 2, moved in- to the house March 1. The bed end breakfast opened its doors to guests April 1. "This is a family business," said Jean. "We couldn't do it without each other." The first guest at the new Holmsted House was Toronto artist, Santo Cervello, part of the Erewhon Theatre Company that entertained children at Seaforth Public School. Future reservations include a wed- ding dress rehearsal and photo party, poets from Toronto and a couple from Alberta who are return. guests. The house is 100 -years -old and the exten- sion 30 -years -old. Jean has made no struc- tural changes to the building but plans to put in patio space so guests may eat outside. "The previous people did a wonderful job with the paint and paper and we want it to remain as is," said Jean. "We're mainly concerned now with furnishing the house with more antiques." Jean caught the auction -bug about 1971 and collects depression glass, silverware, occupied Japan and Blue Willow china and plans to use them at the bed and breakfast. Her latest acquisition is a green early American cut glass butter dish she bought in Mitchell. The house has ,, four large bedrooms available to guests. On the main floor a blue guest room, done in rattan furniture with an en suite bathroom, is the most ex- pensive room. Three more guest rooms, and the family's private rooms, are upstairs. One guest room is outfitted with a cannonball bedroom suite Jean had grafted 15 years ago. Another has an an- tique iron bed with a •wood dresser set and the last room is outfitted entirely in anti- que wood. There are cots available for families with children. The dining room has an art nouveau wood set with table, chairs, hutch and side board. The large drawing room has a gas fireplace and is decorated with two tapestry covered sofas ani chairs. Plants hang down from the balloon curtained windows. A tea room is being set up and:should be open early Mity Here patrons will be able to enjoy teas and baked goods from'Jean's kitchen and novelty, coffees made by Susan. Jean will be doing most of the cooking. She is planning a vegetable and herb garden and is also looking for local sources for home-grown produce to serve her guests and family. Susan will be doing the promotional work for the business and San- dra ! :,s dec' . red herself the potato peeler. TME HURON EXPOSITOR, APRIL 11, 1990 — 3 NEW FAMILY FOR HOLMSTED HOUSE - The new proprietors main drawing of the Holmsted House are the Akroyd family. Susan Charles • the changes (left) and son John, Sandra Akroyd and Jean Akroyd sit in the photo. "Cooking is an art and a gift," said Jean. "If you love it you can be excellent at it." "Mom's an excellent cook," confirmed Sandra. "I've counted 94 cup'. s ands in the kit- chen," said Jean as she started pulling some of them out. "Here's a sewing cen- tre and pullout chair, a telephone centre and chair - all in cupboards,, it have tin lin? !t ed ones and corner lazy Mans." Jean, with her braided long black hair, `• may look similar to her Mic-Mac Indialn, i grandmother. Born in St. John's, New- foundland, Jean has woven an uneven trail on her way to Seaforth. From New- foundland, at 16 years of age, she moved to Toronto with a family member. There she married at 17 and had five children, 1, DECORATING IS ALMOST DONE - Shelley Hunt of Sills Home Hardware store Is putting finishing touches to the shelves in the plumbing section at the back of the store. Oxford photo. Facelift freshens up interior BY SUSAN OXFORD Sills Home Hardware Store is undergoing a facelift to "freshen up the place," said Jim Sills, part owner of the store. The owners and employees of Sills have been busy since the fall with renovations to the 120 -year-old building that has been a hardware store for 00 years. The side yard has been paved and steel siding plac- ed on the storage area. The exterior, sign fascia and the pressed tin ceilings will be painted in the near future. "We're reorganizing things to make the whole store more accessible to the public," said Mr. Sills. "All the plumbing products are in the back room, which is open to the public. We're replacing the wooden door with a glass and steel one soon to allow customers direct entry to the plumbing section." "Men have known about the plumbing supplies at the back, but most women weren't coming back," said Mr. Sills. "Now maybe we'll see more people at the plumbing section." In the back room wooden pigeon -holed storage bins are being replaced with steel baskets hung from yellow pegboard. The same yellow peg board is being used at the front of the store to brighten up the appearance. The changes make better use of the available floor and wall space and product location easier for the public. "We have many products available to us through Home Hardware and we can get pretty well whatever a customer wants," said Mr. Sills. "The changes here will help customers find the products they want." Another change at Sills Home Hardware is the new Wednesday hours. The store is now open regular weekday hours on Wednesdays. "We're open Wednesdays during the Christmas shopping season and this year we just stayed opened Wednesdays. I guess competition from other stores had something to do with the decision, and now we work rix days a week," said Mr. Sills. "Staying open Wednesdays just helps us serve our customers better." "But we won't be open Sundays for a long time to come. That would take some real change. And be over somebody's dead body." room. Guests are welcome to stop in and see made to the local bed and breakfast. Oxford two daughters, and three sons who still live in Toronto. The family moved from Toronto to north Pickering. They bought a house with three acres and there Jean raised her children. In the 1970s the federal government ex- propriated their house to make way for the proposed Pickering airport. "The government gave us $2,000 less than what we paid for the house," Jean said. "We fought against it for over four years while werented our home from the government. Finally, one February, the government forced us off our land. They decreased the wattage into our house which damaged my appliances and fur- nace, causing a six inch ice buildup in the basement. My furniture froze into the floor." They moved back to Toronto and rented for a few years until the cost of rent forc- ed them to buy another house. Jean was reluctant after her Pickering experience, but did buy in Toronto's Beaches area. When she 37 -years -old she went to Seneca College to study social work. After graduating .she started up a day-care at her house. Sandra studied early childhood education and then worked with her mother. "I'd thought about leaving the city and moving back to the country," Jean said. "We heard about this area and I liked the idea of a bed and breakfast. We saw the Holmsted House last August, loved it, and bought it. It took a while to sell the house in Toronto. Real estate was in a slump and the interest rates went up." The crime rate in her area went up, too. One month before Jean moved she heard a gunfight, and her daughter Susan once caught skinheads vandalizing her car and jumping on the hood. "This house is a testimony to our libera- tion," laughed Jean. "We don't have the frustations here we had in the big city and must learn to slow down. Here we can maintain the old way of life." "People are friendly here and we like the area," Jean said as she looked out to the garden. "We want to have an open house in June and invite friends and neighbors." The Holmsted House is open to visitors seven days a week. Room prices are $350 per night for a single room with a shared bath, or $50 with a private bath. A double is $50 per night with a shared bath or $65 with a private bath. Rooms at the Holmsted House are also available for meetings and parties. The telephone number is 522-2040. Pri Tose & Pa BY SUSAN OXFORD Primrose & Panache had its grand open_ Ong on April 5 and the new gift shop an business is getting off to a go , , start. The shop, at 37 Maun Street, will ffeatur products from around the world that especially suited to those with Victori traditional and country tastes in decor. Lynn Burke, owner of the shop, said sh chose the more tradition: ! theme becaus it is the style she prefers to work with "It's hard to blend contemporary wi traditional, and I'm not a lover of m •e at all," said Lynn. `,I Uke tra,iitional wa and things." Lynn chose the name Primrose Panache terportray tie t ette "of gifts sh sells. Primrosd is a "delicate flower an panache is an ornamental plume, or tuft feathers," she explain ,i. All the gifts for the store , ve bee carefully selected by Lynn. She feature teas from Great Britain and Dutch coffe beans that can be ground at the store There are Canadian wood toys, music in s truments and jewellery. From Pollanthere are hand carved wood boxes an plates. There are linens and wicker fro and jewellery from the Phullippines She is especially pleased with th capstone carvings from Kenya. Lynn will iso be making custom order gift baskets or all occasions. For those who like to create their own rrangements she also : s dried flowers and baskets to choose from. Business has been steady since the ore's opening and Lynn said she already expanding the coffee line. She would like disp;:.y work by loc. i artists ong'with e work she has from Edmonton and oronto artists. Lynn is from the Staffa area and is mar - ed to Tom Burke. They have three hildren. After high school Lynn studied rasing in London and worked as a RNA t the London Victoria Hospital. After her third child was born Lynn stayed home for years. When the store location came available the middle of January Lynn quickly be to think about opening a gift shop. weeks later she went to a gift show d e ase an, e e rn ys e d of n s e d d m China e s a f a st is to th T ri c n a two in b Two the owner prefers trach o 1 PRIMROSE & PANACHE - The owner of the new gift shop, Lynn Burke, said business is good. The store is named after a delicate flower and a tuft of feathers. Oxford photo. at the International Airport Centre in Toronto to begin selecting gifts for the store. There was another gift show in Toronto in February that Lynn attended. In late January Lynn made the ar- rangements to take over the lease and open for early April. Before she moved into the store at the old Knitter's Loft location, Lynn and her husband painted the store exterior and did a makeover to the interior. They stripped and finished the floors and put in drywall. They painted the walls white and the ceil- ings dusty green. The ceiling trim was also painted green "to make the ceiling look lower and more cosy," explained Lynn. Tom made some of the cabinets Lynn will use to display her gifts. He also refinished some of the antique dispflay tables. The fireplace mantle was made by Tom and Lynn uses it as an area display gifts in a more stylish setting. All the renovations took two weeks of Tom's spare time to complete. "I always wanted the challenge of : v- ing a store," said Lynn. "When the chance came along, I took it." Also helping Lynn with the store is her mother Angeline Swart who is moving to Seaforth from St. Columban. Primrose & Panache will be open Monday to Saturdays. New showroom boon to plumbing business BY SUSAN OXFORD through Seaforth Plumbing and Heating. Bill and Marlene Holman, Seaforth There is a new line of gas stoves for home Plumbing and Heating owners, have com- or cottage use, gas clothes dryers and pleted renovations to the building at 15 fireplaces. Also new are gas barbecues. Goderich Street East they bought in September. The building had not been home to a business for a few years and needed ex- terior and interior work. Inside the building a few old cars and motors were bung stored and "was a mess" according to Marlene. "We had to do extensive changes," said Marlene from behind her new front counter. "We were at the old store at 94 Main Street South over four years and had outgrown it. We couldn't have a showroom there anymore. Now we have a showroom and it looks like a store. More people are coming in to look around." To accommodate the new showroom the Holman family, friends and employees in- stalled new insulation and drywall and painted. The cement floor had holes that were filled and then carpeted. New wiring, heating and plumbing were also installed. Steel siding was put on the store front and the exterior was painted. Gravel was put down in the back parking lot and there are now nine parking spaces. Parking is also available at the front. Most of the work was done on week nights and weekends while the Holman continued the plumbing business. The renovations were completed by October 15 and the store reopened with a grand open- ing coffee and muffin party. New product lines are being offered The store will also carry everything it did in the past including bathroom fixtures and Jacuzzis. Customers can order pro- ducts and usually have them delivered the same day, or for special orders, up to 10 days. "At our old location we had about 1,400 square feet and now the showroom alone has about 1,000 square feet," Marlene said. "In the backroom we now have another 2,500 square feet for our trucks, supplies and equipment." "We have more room for everything now Turn to page 5 Wed. Apr. 11 Sat. Apr. 14 1:30-4:00 p.m. — Senior Shuffleboard at SDCC 10:00 a.m. —Easter Egg Hunt at Victoria Park 7:30 p.m. — Seaforth and District Minor and St. James School Yard 1:30-2:30 p.m. — Sed Ind Library Story Hour Hockey's Annual Meeting at the Arena 8:00 p.m. — Seaforth Horticultural Society has been cancelled Indeflnitely meeting at Seaforth Public School 7.00-9:00 p.m. —Roller Skating at S.D.C.C. 9:00 p.m. - 12 Midnight — Welly Teen Dance at S.D.C.C. Thurs. Apr. 12 Sun. Apr. 15 8:45.8:45 p.m. — Adult Golf Lessons et Golf Course Fri. Apr. 13 GOOD FRIDAY HAPPY EASTER Tues. Apr. 17 8:30-8:00 p.m. — Senior Baseball Practise at S.D.C.C. Wed. Apr. 18 1:30-4:00 p.m. — Senior Shuffleboard 1:30 p.m. — Senior Games - Softball Throw at Arena