Welcome!
I’m so happy you’re here!
Hi, I’m Lindi Joe. Welcome to Blythe House 1860.
I am a Christian, wife, mother, homemaker, and artist. My husband and I are raising and homeschooling our five children while restoring an old stone farmhouse built in 1860 in rural Ontario, Canada.
I love old things, music, singing, theatre, heritage arts, reading, and making our house homey. Besides painting “peeps” and creating things for Blythe House, I also teach art and music part time at a private, homeschool hybrid, Charlotte Mason Cottage School.
I enjoy welcoming people into my home and hosting simple (and large!) gatherings. I am also passionate about saving and restoring old homes and buildings.
A little Bit About Me
I grew up in a creative family and was always encouraged to use my own creativity. My Grandma was an artist, and her folk art style painting was an inspiration to me. I’ve always found satisfaction in painting, singing, embroidery, photography, sewing, or just making anything with my hands.
They say that “necessity is the mother of invention”. I believe that limitations can inspire creativity. When my husband and I were newly married and starting a family, it was our financial limitations that inspired us to buy and fix up our first house ourselves, to create a home with our own hands. I was inspired to learn new skills and to create the beautiful things that we couldn’t afford. I made gifts for my own children and others. I thrifted or refurbished furniture and decor, and taught myself to sew special occasion clothing for my kids. Now, five kids, a “new” fixer upper old house, increasing inflation, and many years later, the financial restrictions are still there, and are still spurring me on to create this life we love.
I absolutely hate waste. I’m sure it has something to do with the way I was raised, (and my mother, and her mother and so on…) but nothing annoys me more than senseless waste. I like to make things that don’t just contribute to more waste. I love the feeling of using something I already have, to create something new. I am also very frugal and love the challenge of making something from almost nothing.
I think there is value in beauty. If I have to choose between something practical or beautiful, I’ll often choose neither. Instead, I’d rather find a way to make it myself, or hold out until I find the perfect piece that is both practical AND beautiful (and usually cheap!). I think my love for beautiful things is what draws me to antiques and old houses. I deeply admire the detail and design of antiques and heritage buildings.
Being an artist myself, I can appreciate the quality, and time it took to make or build an old item. I love creating beautiful toys, clothing, or décor that are timeless and heirloom quality so that they can be passed down to the next generation. There is something so special about playing with a toy that your grandparent played with as a child or serving a meal in a dish your mother used. When I make toys for my kids, I can imagine my grandkids playing with them someday.
I enjoy hosting gatherings, parties, holidays… anything that draws a group of people together. Over the years we’ve hosted too many gatherings to count. Even in our previous (much smaller) home, I was always squeezing in as many guests as we could fit. Now that we are in a much larger home, with a large property (and parking for more than one car), hosting gatherings is a lot easier. We have made the most of the space we have indoors and out, but I am always finding more ways to improve the house to make hosting even simpler.
My hope for Blythe House 1860, is that it will be like a home place of the old days. A place to return to again and again, to find inspiration for creating your own “Blythe” House”.
At Blythe House 1860 you will find:
Handmade Heirlooms
I’ll share my creative projects, including “peep” (wooden peg dolls) painting patterns, along with steps and advice to create your own gifts, heirlooms, and useful, beautiful items for your home.
Timeless Homemaking
Before and after photos of our historic stone farmhouse, as we slowly chip away at the never-ending list of restorations. I’ll also share seasonal ideas for decorating with a timeless approach and affordable ways to create a comfortable, collected home that loves to be lived in.
Simple Gatherings
Easy, practical ideas for creating beautiful traditions by practicing hospitality in your home. I’ll give tips for affordable and doable birthday, holiday, or celebration gatherings in your home.
Why Blythe House 1860?
When my family moved into this old house, we were moving from a small brick Queen Anne (c. 1897) in a tight urban neighborhood, near the downtown of a large city, to a much larger stone farmhouse (c. 1860) with some land and surrounded by old barns and fields. It was a dream come true. Sure, the farmhouse had sat vacant for six years and needed some major love, but it was our dream house, our forever home.
The house is built in a folk Victorian gothic revival style. It has a steeply pitched roof with dramatic gables, two huge bay windows, and an impressive-ish side porch. Not to mention that it is made of huge chunks of local field granite. I felt that a house so grand should have a name. Don’t all the great old houses have names?
I have always loved the name “Blythe” and had wanted to use it for our first born. My husband wasn’t a fan of the name for a daughter, but he didn’t mind me naming our house “Blythe House”, so I did. The word “blithe” literally means joyful, cheerful, glad. I just love that, and I think it suits the house. I prefer the look of the spelling with the “y” so that’s what I chose.
A little while after we lived here, we discovered that our home is in a local history book about stone homes built in our area. We also found that our home was referred to as the “Hayes” house, after the family who settled here and built it in 1860. How neat is that? I’m slowly researching the families that lived here before us and their history in our area. I find that sort of thing very interesting.
Making a house feel like home can take some time, and we’re just getting started. Often, it’s the time that passes that makes a house feel like a home. A home can’t be bought from a catalogue or copied from Pinterest (although it’s fun to play.) The most inviting homes to me are the homes that look collected, layered, passed down, and even a little worn. Homes that are filled to the brim with treasured items made or restored by your own two hands (Or the hands of a loved one). I love that almost every piece in my home has a story. To me a “Blythe House” is a home that welcomes others. Where gatherings are commonplace, joy filled, and nothing is too precious. Children are included, valued, and treasured, whether they abide here or are little visitors.
Beauty is all around us and it’s free, we may as well fill our homes with it. There’s not a lot in this world that we can control, and there is a whole lot of ugly. I find comfort in knowing that I can make my home a welcoming, beautiful place for those of us who live here and those we welcome in. My hope is that Blythe House 1860 can inspire you to use your creativity and hospitality to fill your home with what is good, true, and beautiful.
“Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable; if anything is excellent or praise-worthy, think about such things” Philippians 4:8
