December 2024 – Karla's Cottage

A twist on traditions

By Karla Nathan / December 30, 2024

One word describes our Christmas- Fun. From the endless variety of mocktail and specialty coffees Sugarwings made, to the games and dances we did, to the parties and plays we attended.

We had laughter, silliness, and togetherness.

Plus kazoos.

After the huge bathroom remodel and foundation catastrophe, I was behind in my work. When you’re in retail, the last quarter of the year takes over your world, and I had taken a huge break from the stuff I needed to do. It took some energy to ramp up my inventory and be ready for the rush.

So as Christmas neared, I still hadn’t started my shopping. Plus, I’d just spent an unplanned chunk of cash on the home repairs.

My solution? Presents under the tree for only the two teens, games with prizes for everyone else. Prizes were gift cards, cash and socks.

Soooo many socks.

An exception was made for the dogs, it breaks their hearts to see gifts unwrapped and not get one of their own.

One year, they did not receive anything to open and they were so sad, I promised to never leave them out again.

So of course, they each got a little something just for them.

Everyone else had to win a gift, but I had plenty to make sure all got a couple. Most games were of the red cup variety, seen on tic tok. This reindeer game was a little different, and kinda hard.

The dogs found these antlers in the woods, and Sugarwings wrapped them in lights. Then we used glow stick bracelets as rings, turned off all the lights and started a ring toss.

But the highlight of the night was our dances!

We paired off and made up interpretive dances to our favorite holiday songs.

I got to be Rudolf and Rich played both Santa and Prancer. He was pretty good. And we did it with a straight face, a major accomplishment.

I might have just stumbled upon the best way for us to do Christmas. Experiences, not gifts. Except for missing my boys, it was about the best holiday I’ve had.

A gingerbread village

family, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 26, 2024

We tried something new this holiday season.

We skipped the gingerbread and used chipboard houses or wooden birdhouses.

The fam makes some spectacular cookie houses every Christmas, and they get fed to the chickens when we are done.

Using wood and chipboard gives permanence to their creations so we can enjoy them year after year.

We already got a chance to display these homes for our cocoa party on the 25th.

Some people used a gingerbread colored paint for a background, others used royal icing tones. I made my two blue, they are gifts for my sister and her favorite color.

On the back of hers is an “S” for Sissy and a heart for our lost sister, Bobbie.

The “icing” we decorated them with is tubes of puffy paint or glitter paint meant for tee shirts.

Sugarwings made polymer clay candy and cookie shapes to add to them, and I provided bowls of odd and ends I’d collected over time.

New tradition? I hope so!

Cheers!

Uncategorized

By Karla Nathan / December 25, 2024

Cheers! Wishing you a special Christmas!

A Christmas Collection Over the Years

antiques/junking, cottage, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 23, 2024

Yummy, huh?

Guncle Randy had a boxful of these vintage beauties and sold them to me for a sweet deal.

My plan, and it was a good one, was to keep a couple faves and sell the rest.

Oops!

Somehow they all landed on my own tree! Who could pick a favorite from them? Too pretty and full of vintagey goodness.

My home is filled with good intentions. This is a bench I paid my son to build for me, I painted it and planned to sell it. 20 years later, here it sits, still in the cottage. That banner was made to sell too, I kept it because I love the word, MERRY.

When I was first in the junking biz, there was a revolving door of inventory that I’d decorated with then sell and replace. Over time, I appear to have gathered bits and pieces that never leave. These mirrors, each with a rose theme, have found a home here and seem to be permanent.

There are some things that just seem to fit where placed and deserve to stay there. This cabinet is the perfect size for this wall.

As is the hutch that sits near it. But what about the holiday decor? As I was arranging Christmas decorations this year, I was pondering that.

What makes something “a keeper”? Often, it’s a gift, or from the past.

Other times it’s something I made at a friends’ gathering.

Or a project I made that no one bought. Same with inventory I bought to resell, and it just got overlooked and is still here.

Sometimes, there are special, family items, like these snowflakes my great aunt made.

There are even pieces I found in trash along the road, like this broken buggy.

All I know is that, whatever the origin, heirloom, trash, hand crafted, unsold inventory, gifts, all of it- when they come together to fill my home- it feels like Christmas.

Confessions from a Christmas Tree-aholic

cottage, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 20, 2024

I like Christmas trees.

Lots and lots of them.

Very many lots and lots of them.

After collecting and crafting ornaments for a lifetime, I have plenty of Foof to throw on the trees too.

So different areas of the home get divided up in to themes. This is my woodland corner. It seemed suitable to have by my husband’s fireplace. This trio is all from Walmart, they have affordable and attractive ones there. And I like mixing mine up, with this spot holding three narrow ones in various heights.

My dear lil deer belong by the silver forest.

At a garage sale this past summer, I scored this ombré pink tree for five bucks. It’s on the dog kennel and while it would’ve been clever to cover it in pet themed ornies, nope- it is filled with shiny Brites and putz houses.

Here is another metallic one from Walmart. It is champagne toned instead of silver.

The theme on top of this cabinet is silver and gold with cherubs.

My embellished violins are out all year, but I think they add a nice touch at the holidays too, so leave them displayed.

In the living room there are multiple mini trees on top of the wardrobe that holds the tv. And a nice, fat, white, tabletop one filled with hand made pieces by the sofa.

Here’s more minis on the mantel.

This is the baby pink tree that used to be Sugarwings’ as a child (theirs is now a silver one decked out in Nightmare Before Christmas and kept by their bed.) That kid has moved on from pink, but I haven’t, so now it holds a few of hand painted balls from over the decades.

Hmm, somehow I missed getting photos of my main, big tree (and I have to admit, a few other small ones).

But here is my newest fave- a simple white tree with a single strand of teensy lights to enjoy while I soak in the tub of my newly repaired and revamped bathroom. There might be wine involved while gazing at this tree.

A Cottage Christmas Open House

celebrations, cottage, Food and Drink, friends, holiday decor, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 18, 2024

Angie, Beth, and I cohosted a holiday get together at my house last week.

We had planned for plenty of food, and generous guests brought delectable goodies too.

It became a true feast!

And a feast for the soul too.

I loved having a houseful of festive friends filling up my space and my heart too.

Dorothy got plenty of attention and spent her days choosing which laps she wanted to visit. The hooligans, I mean, big dogs, were banished up to Ryan’s apartment.

Because they’d have loved to be climbing onto laps too. It’s not as cute when a 60 pounder does it as it is when a 6 pound dog wants attention.

Two nights earlier, I’d made dinner for my book club buddies, then Rich was out of town, Sugarwings was at mama’s house, so the cottage was already for party number two. I just shifted the extra tables around and brought in chairs from the studio.

Since I was on my own for a couple of days, well except for said hooligans, the house stayed cleaned up. I did need to re-mop, but with 2 doodles and a golden retriever that is the story of my life. I’m a full time mopper.

The outdoor tables with lights strung underneath worked well for the dinner party on Tuesday and just as well for Thursday afternoon’s gathering. They are my new favorite hosting trick and I’ll be wrapping lights under them all the time in the future. It will be a nice bit of sparkle for a summer night’s garden party too.

The cocoa station got beefed up for the day too, and we set out some tasty liquors plus whipped cream to mix in with the chocolate.

I might’ve gone overboard on the cocoa packets. But as much as Sugarwings and I enjoy our parties by the tree, plus with family coming, it might not be too over the top.

I feel quite blessed to have had these fun ladies all come to our party. Most were from Kansas City, so had to make a drive to get here. I appreciate them making the time to come and celebrate with us.

Holiday party season, part one

celebrations, Food and Drink, friends, holiday decor, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 13, 2024

An event that I look forward to every year is our book club Christmas party

We do a book exchange, have dinner and wine together and just take time to chat.

I try to come up with party favors to reflect the season. This year I made stretch bracelets in genuine stone beads the colors of the holiday and used them as napkin rings.

Dinner was slow cooked beef with red wine gravy, rice, and sweet potato/squash casserole. Plus a salad. I realized at the last minute that I forgot to buy salad dressing, so whipped up a cranberry vinaigrette with the berries I’d bought to serve as a side dish. Lucky I had them available, huh? Plus, now that is my new favorite salad topper. I boiled the cranberries in orange juice with cardamom, then whipped it up in the blender with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and fresh thyme, from my flower bed with a little salt and pepper. The blender made it almost creamy, I guess that is called emulsified?

Typically I make the entire meal, but this year I asked if friends could bring desserts. What a great idea! These bon bons were sorta like cake pops, but even better.

And who knew you could make cookies with tumeric? Oh my, what a treat.

We have a large group, which meant I had to be creative with the seating. Instead of setting up a folding table, I brought in my two glass topped garden tables. Our special farmhouse table that we had made has a an epoxy river running down the center and lights below it. To match that, I taped up some lights under the glass of the two I brought inside and I really loved the outcome.

Then we had a few cancellations, and ended up not needing either one. Oh well. It’s party week and I am using them again for the next group, so am glad to have carried them into the cottage before it got so cold outside. It all worked out. In the meantime, I was playing musical chairs, switching up place settings as each person dropped out.

In my world, the best time to host a party is the same week you just had one- you only have to clean your house once! I had a great time with the book club and am looking forward to part two with the next group.

The after of the bathroom I forgot to show

cottage

By Karla Nathan / December 10, 2024

I realized I’d been talking about my bathroom, the foundation issues and all that went with it for a month, but didn’t post the results.

It’s no fun to get befores without afters!

A guest left behind a couple of plants while staying in Ryan’s apartment, and their pots match my new color scheme, so I added them in with the plant in my mosaic pot. I didn’t have the heart to toss them out, so I’d babied them back to health and gave them a home.

For now at least, that person might be picking the plants up later on.

I also have the one my Sissy gave to me. It was from Bobbie’s funeral, we divided the plants into two pots and shared them.

Previously, I had all of these in the living room, but after fixing up this space, I thought they’d all look great gathered together by the tub.

Especially with the outdoorsy, natural pebble floor.

Because of the dramatic wall color along with some foofy elements, I wanted to make sure the room was grounded with nature, stone and wood.

This stain glass was a gift from a talented friend and is a major focal point. The curtains are French net, that I trimmed to fit.

No sew!

I did have to sew these vintage, bark cloth panels, but it wasn’t too hard. Basically, I was trimming them down to fit and adding a rod pocket.

Everything in this cabinet got taken out, washed down and rearranged. I got rid of some things, then added a few splashes of my new favorite, blue.

I’m finding that shade is a fun accent color that goes well with my roses and birdies.

It’s not just the new color that makes me so happy. I love it all! And loved working on it with my boy. Thanks, Adam!

A few new pieces for Good Juju

Good JuJu, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 6, 2024

Our bonus shopping day at Good Juju in the Old West Bottoms of KC was super busy!

And while I made sure I was very well stocked for our five dates for holiday sales, I felt like I needed to make a few more pieces for the last two days.

So, for this First Friday weekend, I crafted a couple boxes full of new pieces.

Honestly, I probably had plenty of goods.

But if I have an excuse to make something, I'm gonna take it!

Before and during the big make over

cottage

By Karla Nathan / December 4, 2024

This is how our bathroom was before we ripped it apart to get to the crawlspace. The supports under the house needed replacing, there was no ventilation, insulation, or entry to get in. Major work needed done, and we needed access.

While we probably could’ve gotten away with cutting through the plywood floor in the closet instead, it might have been hard to get long boards through the turn into that room. Plus, the tile had cracks and the drywall was damaged. That space could use a good make over.

There was also a second door in the bath that led directly to the closet. Not only was it never used, it took up wall space in the closet that could’ve been utilized for storage. And now is, after closing off that entry.

We had been gifted these rough cut boards, that sparked my idea of turning the door way wall into barn wood instead.

I painted them and my carpenter son put them up.

Didn’t he do a great pattern?

To compliment the wood, we went for an all natural rock floor. But oops! As it went down, we started freaking out about the lines between the mesh squares. Before grout, it looked like a grid pattern.

Freaking out was putting my reaction very mildly.

A few adjustments were made with adding rocks into bigger gaps, but over all, we decided to trust the process and start grouting. I like the overly grouted look, with it covering up some stone.

After it was done, all of those scary grid marks were gone! My only regret is in not placing a few more crystals here and there. I’m thrilled with the floor, though.

While the room was torn up, I decided to repaint. Everything. Ceiling, trim, door, cabinet, tub surround, vent covers. I even sewed new curtains from vintage fabrics I’d been hoarding.

With the shower curtain down, I could see how much hard water buildup there was on the walls. So I made a paste of baking soda, vinegar, and peroxide to leave on for a couple days, then remove with a steam cleaner. It didn’t work as well as I’d hoped, so I scraped the buildup off with a razor blade.

I was committed to a whole new, fresh room, all details mattered!

Including washing light fixtures and replacing the bulbs with brighter ones.

I even got out a tiny brush and cleaned up all messy grout lines along the trim too. As hard as we worked on this, I didn’t want wonky lines distracting from the room! My son did such a wonderful job, I love the room and every tiny corner of it!