September 2016 – Karla's Cottage

A river rock fairy in Missouri

By Karla Nathan / September 28, 2016

Over the weekend, we visited Ava, MO again for a festival my son's family was co-hosting. While there, I spent some time down in the nearly dry creek bed gathering stones to make a fairy to leave on the beach. And just like last time I was there, I found one, single, tiny shell for the fairy to hold.

As I played with pebbles, I had a view of the circus rig and could watch the kids practicing up on the bank of the creek.

My grand fairies were giving lessons to the campers' children and at the big performance the next night, all the little ones got to come on stage and show what they'd learned.

I was serenaded by one of my favorite singers. Michael Lay, who was up on the nearby stage. His voice floated down to the shady spot along the bank where I was searching for the perfect set of wings for my fairy.

The stage itself was pretty cool, my son draped it in fabric, and did this string art installation on each end.

Dewdrop and a few friends joined me and created their own magical creatures.

They helped me put a ring of rocks around my own sprite. She is placed right by the foot bridge.

There was a larger river on the other side of the campground, where I spent hours walking through the crystal clear water, and parking a lawn chair in the shady shallows to watch kids and dogs splash around.

As I found the most perfect wing shaped rock, I got excited about making more sprites, and as I waded along, I quickly spied all of the bits that I needed to make another one. I figured I was on a roll and would have a whole flock of fairies!!! But all of a sudden, the river bed no longer had rocks that stood out as wings, faces, dresses, etc, all of them started to look like plain, old rocks and nothing stood out to me.

I decided to pocket the pieces I'd found to make the second faye, and brought her home to assemble in the mosaic I'll be doing in front of the fireplace. After all of the beach fairies that I've left behind on various shores, I figured it would be fun to have one in my own home. I think she'll be very happy living here with us, and I'll have pictures to show you when she is grouted down. Although, I do feel a little odd about locking her in place, all of my previous fairies have been thank yous to the beaches I've loved spending time on. I guess I'll think of her as a love token to my home instead, and a memento of the weekend with family in Ava.

Some things are meant to be

cottage, Hearth Room, junk

By Karla Nathan / September 24, 2016

I'd been hoping to add some old trim to the new room, to age it up a bit. There were quite a few options I'd seen, but I kinda knew what I had in mind and didn't want to rush a purchase just to have something on the wall, I was willing to wait for ideal, not just okay.

Beth was setting up a booth at Sandy's annual show in Lee's Summit, and I went to help her. I was standing in her spot and said, that I'd bet this show was a good place to look around for trim. As I said it, I saw these pieces directly across the aisle in a booth by some Good JuJu ladies. I ran right over and snagged them before the show even opened. (if you are ever invited to help a friend set up a space in an antique show, jump on the opportunity for some pre-show shopping! Better yet, volunteer your services so you know you won't miss out)

Normally, I'm not driving my husband's truck. The show was over an hour away, it wouldn't have been easy to run home to get the truck, but luckily I'd taken it that day to pick up some chicken feed. The trim is very light weight and was too long for me to shut the tail gate. It was lucky that I had that chicken feed back there to use as an anchor to keep the trim from blowing away on my way home.

This is probably the only time I'd ever gone to the feed store on my own, my husband always picks up the bags, so yes, this was a very lucky happenstance to have both the truck and the heavy bags of grain in the back of it so I could take these perfect strips of tin home with me.

See what I mean??!! Perfect for the spot. Rustic and old, but with a pretty design. Ryan and I used tin snips to cut them to fit and then hung them on screws. We didn't have a drill bit for metal, so we simply put screws in the wood wall and hung these onto them. Someday, I'll get the right drill bit and put them up better.

For now, I'm happy with them as they are, and I doubt if they will fall down.

Chairs for the hearthroom

Dew Drop, Hearth Room

By Karla Nathan / September 21, 2016

Well, this seems to be more of a photo of the puppeesh than of the new chairs, but I do LOVE these seats! I'm not a fan of recliners, but my husband is. I was thrilled to find a couple of them in slightly distressed leather that look more like club chairs than recliners. And they were on sale. At least I thought they both were, one was on clearance and the salesman was kind enough to give me a second for the same price.

We haven't had a fire in the new, built in woodstove, yet I'm already enjoying snuggling up in my cozy chair in front of the hearth. It surprises me how much I like them, considering the grumbling I did while shopping around for a recliner I could stand. Who knew I'd find some I loved? The dark leather seems ideal in this room, even with all the whites and roses. Actually, I think the contrast makes the whites prettier and the roses rosier.

Once again, this isn't exactly a picture of the chairs, but you can see them a little better here. The table in the background is full of tiles, I'm planning a mosaic on the floor in front of the fireplace. So far, I haven't gotten very far on it.

There is always something waiting to be done, huh?

Dew Drop, Sacred Circus, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / September 18, 2016

Sugarwings and Dewdrop are learning how to do aerial tricks.

Dewdrop has a natural grace and already has rhythm and good dance moves, so it is coming natural for her.

Sugarwings is more like my son, who we used to say looked like a muppet tossed in the air when he danced. But as he matured, he shocked us with his gracefulness and athleticism. That guy is as smooth as a cat now. Funny, how I never matured into any level of coordination, I still look like Jerry Lewis on a dance floor.

We call her act, freestyling. She has a flair, and is fun to watch, but makes it up as she goes. Still, she is paying attention and working on some moves. Both girls get a lot of tutoring from their big sisters and are learning a lot.

They have no fear of being on stage, and both know how to put on a show.

And are pretty brave up in the lira!

I'm very proud of them both. And so impressed that they are learning these skills!

Drawing in wet cement

cottage, Hearth Room

By Karla Nathan / September 15, 2016

One of the things we splurged on for the new addition was having a concrete patio in place of a wooden one. It wasn't that much more, but a few hundred dollars here and there add up if you aren't watching your invoices while remodeling. There are some areas that we went cheap on, and others that we didn't. Over all, I think we made some good choices. (although, the ceiling fan is a different story, more about that later)

While the 8'x4' porch with two steps was still wet, I picked up a nail and added some flowers, along with "Welcome."

Earlier, I'd sketched out an idea that I wanted to use, kind of in a chalkboard style, with the words, "Welcome to our Home" on the porch part. Then, I realized that my ams weren't long to accomplish that, and I could only draw along the steps and corners, the porch itself was out of my reach.

Wet cement has a very short window of opportunity to draw in. No time for planning, I just started drawing. It is far from perfect, but it is cute. There were only a few minutes to get it done before the material started to set up and I had to stop.

I'm happy with the choice of concrete and gravel for the front of the building. The cottage is not fancy and this seems to fit it just fine.

Little Decor Details- adding age to a new room

antiques/junking, cottage, Hearth Room, Kitchen remodel

By Karla Nathan / September 12, 2016

Beth gave a brass door knocker to me for my birthday last May, and I had not used it yet. When I was finishing up little things for the new room, and painting outlet covers and switch plates to match the walls, I decided to paint this too. It is now on the bathroom door, and gives the little grand fairies a lot of pleasure in BANGING it when the room is occupied by one of the sisters.

On it, and on the vintage brass outlet covers, I used a spray bonding primer in white, let it dry, and then washed the pieces with the "sandcliff beige" color I'd used on accent walls. Afterwards, all got a spritz of clear polyurethane.

Nowhere I looked had a vintage 3 toggle switch plate. So, I glued a little bit of old, metal trim onto a wooden plate, and painted it in the same way. Not many of my electrical covers match, I have a few different styles, so it seems to fit in just fine. I think it looks much better than the white plastic one that came from the electrician. That was way, way too shiny and new in our old house. I did what I could to make the new addition look like it belonged with original the house.

Like using vintage curtain fabric on the windows.

And re-using this old, iron shelf that had previously been in the kitchen. I debated hanging it up again (it is made from a chippy, iron porch rail and two rusty brackets, the rail is probably from the 40s and the brackets are new, but look old- plus they are birdies!!). It had been over the dining room window for ten years or so, and I thought maybe I was over it. But I realized that I'd enjoyed it for that long and still did, I was glad to add it back into the new room.

When I was a full time, antique dealer, my home felt like it had a revolving door on it. Things were constantly changing and I was always finding something better than what I had before. Stuff had stopped moving around as much as it used to, mostly it gets shuffled, not replaced anymore.

I figured I might be getting boring. And I shouldn't just reuse the same stuff over and over.

Then, it dawned on me that I'd found pieces that I really liked keeping and there was nothing wrong with having some forever pieces. Why get rid of them for the sake of change? I think I'd settled on these items because I loved them. And they all mix and match with other things I love in my cottage.

Also, as I unpack belongings, I am being picky about setting things out. Just because I own it, doesn't mean it needs to be out, right? I can have goodies stored away to play switcheroo with when I feel like a change. There still is a revolving door with stuff moving in and out, but now it is into a storage cabinet, not gone forever.

Costume head dresses for the Circus girls

Dew Drop, family, Sacred Circus

By Karla Nathan / September 10, 2016

One great thing about having a big studio is hosting craft days. I love seeing friends pour in with piles of supplies and watching the creations start developing.

My family was performing at a festival outside of St. Louis (where they got to be on stage with some of their favorite musicians, doing their act to the tunes) and they needed a little something to top off the costumes they'd chosen for the event's themes. Each day was a different color and theme, with outer space, ocean, and – Circus Sunday!

Kia made this one.

They are based on pieces of felt, adorned with fancy stuff, and then have a clip added to the back.

Here is one I made for Avahni. She wanted it slightly steam punkish.

Our friend, Amanda made this for Katie Tree.

Hers were the mermaid themed ones.

Kia also spent some time painting and glittering a Donation tin to set up for tips during their shows.

I adore my studio, and love it even more when it is filled with creative souls.

Here is one that I made for Sugarwings.

These aren't typically the type of things that I make, but it was sure fun to dabble with feathers and glitter for an afternoon. And to be inspired by some artists who specialize in this kind of glitzi-ness.

The Hearthroom is now the Circus Room.

family, Hearth Room, Sacred Circus

By Karla Nathan / September 10, 2016

We are enjoying the new room!

15' high ceilings made the space perfect for hanging silks so the grand fairies could practice (and give us shows).

There is still some work to be done on the space yet. These silks need a pulley in the corner of the room, so Honey doesn't keep confusing the dangling tails with a tug of war toy. And I need to do the mosaics on the floor. I have a few little knicky knacky things to distribute around the house and frames to hang, but with the cozy new chairs in front of the fireplace to curl up in with a good book, and flying fairies to entertain us, we already love the area, finished or not.

Faking a closet

cottage, Hand Painted Furniture, Hearth Room

By Karla Nathan / September 7, 2016

One thing I really wanted when we planned the new room was a coat closet for odds and ends, jackets, and a vacuum cleaner. But, we decided on generously sized windows that left no wall space for a closet. As a substitute, I added a wardrobe to use as a closet in the kitchen since we had removed an old wood stove durning the remodel and with some shuffling, had extra wall space there.

This one was $119 at the Old West Bottoms last month, and the wood was a little beat up, but it was a solid piece.

And was made in London.

The wood was too dark for me, so I painted it. I almost went with white, then thought I had too many white pieces and decided I'd try tan with white over it.

I painted it the base color after priming with a bonding primer (no sanding, no stripping) Then mixed some white paint with clear glaze and brushed it on in small amounts at a time.

I wiped off the white glaze with a washing motion using a damp rag.

I really liked the way the white glaze accented the ornamentation.

Pretty, huh?

I lightly distressed it with sandpaper too. No top coat was needed, I'd painted it with semi gloss latex paint, that is pretty durable.

The interior was in good shape, except where a huge hole had been cut to make space for the previous owners to use it as a TV cabinet. Plus, it was dark inside. I didn't want to paint the whole thing, so I covered the back in vintage wallpaper to match the paint and then covered the hole with a mirror.

The wallpaper is lazily tacked up, not glued down, and I didn't even bother to match the pattern. I just wanted to lighten it up. Don't you hate looking for something in a dark closet? This brightened it up nicely. And the piece is perfect for hiding boxes of Shopkins, Playdough, and princess dolls.

I hope I can squeeze in a few jackets and a vacuum cleaner like I'd planned on. Seems like toys take over pretty fast.

Rebuilding an old mantel

cottage, Hearth Room, Kitchen remodel

By Karla Nathan / September 4, 2016

In this photo, the room is close to being done. I still need a large, ornate, white frame for the smaller painting. Once it is on, I'll be leaning it against the mirror as it is now. Unframed, the scale is a bit off, it needs to be larger.

I have a mosaic planned for the floor, pics as it gets planned and completed.

The old mantel that a dear family friend gave to me 20 years ago and had been saved thinking…someday. Sadly, it didn't fit the space after all. But we saved it! The builder cut it in half, added a center block to widen it, then built up two blocks to heighten it.

But, in doing that, we lost the old trim on the piece. And the shelf board thing on the top had to be removed.

But I found a rough, piece of oak still with the bark on it that was long enough to use, and I stained it dark like the floor.

As the contractor was putting the boxes that would support the mantel together, I thought it would be sweet to turn one into a time capsule. I wrote on the interior with a Sharpie and grabbed a crystal heart button that fell off of Sugarwings' cape. The cape was one of the four Aunt Terry made for the girls for Christmas, and it represented a meaningful family moment for me. (I can pick up another button to sew back on the cape later.)

All of the wood was painted pure white, semi gloss after the pieces were assembled and I'd replaced the ornamentation on the mantel with some reproduction pieces.

After that, I painted a dark walnut glaze over the paint and wiped it off with a soft cloth to take some of the "new" away.

Ta da!

Next up, that mosaic floor and searching for a large frame for that leaning painting.