Karla Nathan – Page 21 – Karla's Cottage

Molly goes pumpkin shopping

By Karla Nathan / October 21, 2023

Now that my grand fairies are growing up, I need to treat my dogs more like kiddos. We took Molly to the punkin patch and I let her be my little kid instead.

Ha, not quite true! While the doodle enjoyed our trip, this child (verging on 17-1/2) seems to have inherited my joy in outings that other people might consider “for kids” and had a great time too.

My partner in crime.
No, in adventures. Especially silly adventures.

I hope they never outgrow that. I can see us at 80 and 30, exploring together.

This pumpkin patch has such gorgeous vistas. It feels like you can see forever into the Kansas horizon. Doesn’t the sky look limitless?

Well, it felt even bigger after we claimed our perfect pumpkins and hauled them across numerous fields in a driving wind (with tiny dust tornadoes swirling around us and aiming at my eyes). Somehow, even with the wind, and a couple of too hefty gourds, we had some laughs and enjoyed the walk. We did not linger at the maze or other attractions, though, by the time we left, that blowing dust was making rethink my commitment to contact lenses. And doubt my upper body strength. I should’ve gotten a wagon…

Molly didn’t mind the wind, she met a new buddy who hung out with us for most of our walk.

She met someone who did not want to be her buddy too.

And kept her distance from these potential pals.

We had just picked her up from the groomer before taking her to the driving dust bowl, I mean, pumpkin patch. After her hairstyling and bath, she was given a Nightmare Before Xmas scarf. Sugarwings admired it so much, the groomer gave them one too.
One of our goals for the day was to find a pumpkin to match Molly’s fur. This was as close as we could get.

Loving Cup makeover

antiques/junking, how-to projects

By Karla Nathan / October 17, 2023

This summer, I picked up a few trophies at garage sales, then took them apart, salvaging the cups and some marble bases.

Most were dated 20-30 years ago, but I wanted them to look old, and metallic. First step was dark brown chalk paint.

Next I used a flat pewter and shades of metallic paints, including bronze and silver. I applied those in a messy, stippling fashion leaving some of the under color showing through.

They each got simple, rusty embellishments.

The plan was to fill them with trees. But when I did that with the large cups, they didn't look right. The bottle brush trees were too small, the paper ones too streamlined. They looked kind of like bullets.
So I’ve displayed the big cups without trees. I kept one for myself, and brought the rest into Juju for the November sale.

The smaller ones were ideal for my bottle brush trees. And one tall, skinny trophy got covered in old paper on some of it, then I removed the topper and replaced it with a tree. I really like that one.

Actually, I love them all. This was a project that I was very into. I guess you could say, I am loving these cups.

Don’t try this at home-

cottage, how to's

By Karla Nathan / October 14, 2023

Well, the floor is a bit dirty now, as it seems to typically be. Four dogs with a big yard to run (and dig) in, constantly in and out in all types of weather tends to add a layer of dust and dullness to the wood.

But it looks soooooooooooooooo much better than it did before I did some touch ups to it.

This is what it had become, in many places. Especially in all areas where the dog wrestling matches took place and of course, those were in the most prominent, big, open areas. There were also marks from moving a piece of furniture with a rough spot on its leg that left multiple scratches, wear and tear under the dining table from the chairs, and just plain old tired looking spots.

It hadn’t been all that long since the floor was completely refinished either. The hearth room we’d added is only a few years old, but like I said-

Dogs.

And lots of them.

The kitchen is a mix of many woods, the living room, yellow pine. Both are over 100 years old. The hearth room is pine that my husband and sons put in, then we had all three rooms sanded, stained and sealed to match. Which was a big undertaking and we couldn’t use the house for most of the week. We had been living through construction anyway, and this was the tail end of it, so it didn’t seem too bad at the time.

But the thought of the mess, expense, smell, and time it would take to do it over again was not tempting.

Or in my budget.

Here is the after, while still shiny and new. I love it! But I was so lucky it worked.

As a do-it-yourselfer, I figured I’d handle it. And luckily it all came out okay. It could have very easily gone very, very wrong, because I broke a lot of rules.

After cleaning the floor, and shoving some things out of the way (the floor was fine under most of the furniture, except the dining table, so why redo those places?) I opened all the windows, turned on the fans, expelled the dogs outside to the fence to enjoy a beautiful autumn day, then got to work. Husband was out of town, grandkid was at their mom’s most of the week, nothing to stop me.

I mixed a little bit of Jacobean stain (leftover from the professional’s redo) with a satin poly/stain in espresso, because I wanted the raw scratch marks to be covered well and dark.

Then started right in, dead center, highest visibility spot in the room.

Why? Stupidity.

Seriously, I should’ve tried an inconspicuous corner and waited a couple of days to see if it dried well. Nope, just started brushing on the concoction, and wiping it off with a rag. I feathered and buffed the edges to blend with the existing stain, and redid giant swaths of flooring, not just patches.

About halfway in, I started to wonder how well I’d stirred the poly blend. By then it was too late. But visions of a gummy, never drying floor stayed with me as I worked.

Did I stop working? Nope. In for a penny, in for a pound. I figured I might as well keep it going till the end, because if I’d ruined it, the entire room would have to be redone by a pro, not just my messed up areas.

My home is an old, far from perfect, farmhouse. So I don’t mind if if the wood floors don’t look perfect. Things wear over time and I appreciate that. I just hated the obvious scratches and dog destruction. This was a good solution for that problem and cost me under $10 to do.

Some areas dried faster than others, and I was feeling a little worried about a couple spots, but kept a fan on them and they started to slowly lose their stickiness.

It really could’ve gone either way, this is not how you are supposed to stain a floor. Dumping leftover stain a few years old into a different brand and color of poly/stain, and then trying to remember if I’d stirred the poly up first before mixing? No sanding or tsp, or much prep at all? Rubbing the mixture right over the existing floor as is? Going around furniture still in the room?

Nope, none of it was done correctly. But I am so glad I did it, and love the results!

Pony Creek Market

antiques/junking, friends

By Karla Nathan / October 11, 2023

One of my friends hosted an antique market, and boy, did she do a good job!

She had invited me to participate and at first I said yes. Then I realized that with Rich’s variable schedule with his consulting type thing he is doing, his truck might not be around when time came to haul stuff. So I had to say no, after all.

It is lucky that I did, because yep, he is working in Nebraska part time. And the show was an hour away, that’s a lot of trips hauling my junk in a RAV4.

I’d have loved to have been a part of it with my buddy, Angie who had a space there. She said it was a good show to set up at. I could tell, the parking lot had plenty of cars, there were happy people milling about with shopping bags, food trucks with lines, and vendors everywhere. All in a beautiful, country setting.

Beth and I shared a ride to go visit and had a delightful day.

Painted and glittered nutcrackers

Good JuJu, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / October 7, 2023

This weekend is the First Fridays shopping event in the Old West Bottoms.

While my spot is full on, Halloween/Thanksgiving/ Fall themed, I have to be ready to go for next month’s set up for the sale on 11/3-4 right after this sale.

November will be my winter wonderland and I’ve been so excited about it, I just can’t wait! I get to play with all of my favorite things!

Glitter, trees, Santas, reindeer, sugarplum fairies!

There is a plan I’ve been impatiently waiting to implement that involves a whole Nutcracker/Sugarplum Fairy corner. I had thought about doing a canvas backdrop of nutcrackers, then I saw these wooden cut out guys, and bought three to paint and embellish.

I even splurged and used some of my very, very best vintage trim on this guy.

All of them are painted with metallics, sprinkled with glitter, and trimmed with vintage rhinestones and white mink, but no two are the same.

I will be headed to Florida mid October for a Guncle visit, time with Terry and her baby girl at Disney, then beach time with my sissies and their baby girls, all jammed into one, way too short week.

Speaking of “way too short”, my time for set up at Juju and creating gets shortened by this week away. So I’ll be spinning my wheels to get it all pulled together before the vacation. This is going to be a hectic week, trying to de-black my Halloween booth and transform it into glittering whites.

Yum! My type of challenge! I am going to love every minute of it.

KC Renfest and unique hearts from Ryan

Dew Drop, fairies, family, Ryan, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / October 3, 2023

Renfest season is here! Sugarwings and I snagged a little getaway time and spent a couple of hours wandering around the grounds.

The kiddo isn’t such a kid now (17) but still my partner in adventures.

Both of us are more into exploring the sights than being fairies now.

There are still plenty of laughs and silliness though.

I have always loved the art and architecture that makes this place special.

The details, big and small.

And the characters.

We even saw a couple of the Sanderson Sisters.

It’s the first year that Sugarwings wasn’t into dancing around the maypole with the fairies. Although we did do a dance together along the sidelines.

We were nostalgic, talking about when Kya worked as a henna artist, when Sugarwings’ daddy participated in building the stone castle and sold his art there, when we’d come as a big family group, all fairied up in glitter and wings.

And we talked about the year Ry Guy came along to help me when I was on my own with two tiny grandfairies. He was never a person who did well among hoards of people, but he loved those little princesses and was a trouper that day.

It was extremely crowded, and extra hot that afternoon. The kids were great, we did have fun, but it was past nap time and past Ryan’s crowd quota. So we headed out before we became too overrun with heat and frayed nerves, leaving at just the perfect point, when everyone was still in good moods.

But then, oops.

Where on Middle Earth did we park?

Years ago, I had a car that I simply never recognized. I lost it quite often. Once even getting into the driver’s seat of someone else’s car as they were loading a baby into the back. We both screamed like that scene in ET when Drew Barrymore saw the alien for the first time.

Anyway, my car was lost in the over full, giant parking lot, and we slowly slid past the time when everyone was “still in a good mood.”

After 40 minutes of trudging through heat and dust, pushing a stroller and wanting to leave, we realized we’d walked right on by that car many, many times. Over the years, that became one of those jokes Ryan and I had between ourselves that we would reference and laugh about. Uhm, not that day, though.

Sugarwings didn’t remember that part of it, but we laughed together when I told the story.

Then my little sprite, who is always looking for glimmers from Ryan, pointed out these hearts. My horror story loving boy would have loved those!

Good Juju October Preview and and acting like a grownup

antiques/junking, collections, Good JuJu, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / September 30, 2023

Isn’t this dress to die for? (Ha, see what I did there, a Halloween turn of phrase).

I wish I’d gotten a close up of the lace. It is hauntingly gorgeous, but also delicate. This gown is a display only piece, it would be in shreds if even tried on.

Which is exactly what happened to this satin dress. And it was actually in good shape, but someone in my booth was twisting herself into it over some bulky clothes without trying to be careful. It was torn up under the arms. Well durn.

This probably would’ve made a lovely witchy dress for the right person at Halloween. Now it is also a “display only” a little before it’s time. Oh well. Vintage dresses are always just one tug over the head away from doom.

Plus, there is always breakage in retail. And now it is marked down to reflect its new status. Hopefully someone besides me will appreciate both black beauties for their qualities as is.

For September’s sale, my spot was over the top, nonstop, Spooky Season. I planned on two months of Halloween/fall goods, and that seems to have worked out well.

About half of my inventory that sold was the scary stuff. Since I was in the middle of a remodel in my studio at home, I thought I’d simply plop some fall merchandise in to fill holes and not do a flip like I try to make happen each month.

Because my talented boy got my floor redone in record time, I was able to replace everything in the studio much quicker than I could’ve dreamed of. So that gave me time to give my booth a shake up after all, instead of the refill I’d thought I’d be doing.

And since I am insane I enjoy the redos, packing everything in tubs, setting it aside, moving furniture, puzzle piecing it back together, adding in more. As soon as I am done, I get impatient for this month’s sale to be over so I can move onto my next planned design.

I was able to do half of the booth black with elements of October and the other side of my space in Autumn.

There was even enough time to add a delicious, fruity, fall, vintage wallpaper.

Then to fill that wall with what seems like a few hundred thousand knicky-knacky things. I might have done too much here…

This cabinet is stuffed with a Thanksgiving theme (I did it again, get it? Stuffing!)

I have jewelry at the front on my space. I didn’t get a photo of that.

And owls! More owls. I’d been collecting them all year just for this season. I know owls are popular and sell all year long, but for me, they seemed fitting for this time of year. Plus, I like saving up until I have a collection to display, groupings look good.

I was in the process of redoing this door on the end of the wall when my new neighbor came in and asked whose space it was meant to be. Well, since it had been there the whole time I was renting this spot, I figured it was mine.

It jutted out 10” or so onto her side, and she had hung items on that slice of the back of it, and my things were on the front. It was on a walkway between our two spots. I always used the tiny hallway to hang miscellaneous bits and pieces that didn’t match the themes I had going on, which was handy for me because they were often items that would’ve stood out too much if displayed with my other things. It had been a place for my hodgepodge stuff.

One of the owners was in, and told me that I should move it fully into my area to make it fair, and of course, she was right.

But it would’ve impeded walk space a smidge and that required moving furniture a couples inches and since I was set up, that was a step too much at the point, so I took it down. I have a more narrow shutter to bring in later, a better fit, half the size of the door. That door had been added by the previous occupant, and actually wasn’t my space after all, I just thought it was.

Apparently it was never mine to use, I just assumed it was. Although, after adding the shutter, I’ll still have half of it. And it will be legit this time.

A month ago, the front border of my booth was moved back 18” on one side and if you see how tightly I pack every inch, you know how much that hurt too. I’d always been extremely careful to never, ever go one tiny smidge over the marked line that I had been told was my border when I started. There had been tape on the floor which left a ghostly mark, so I could check myself. I was a bit shocked to find that the whole time, the taped off line had not been as straight as it should’ve been and when measured, it was incorrect.

I am trying to be a big girl (at 65 this shouldn’t be an issue) and telling myself, “Wow, wasn’t I lucky to have some bonus space for over a year?” But my inner, whiny little bitch says, “MINE!”

Working on acting like a grownup at any age isn’t easy, even after all of these years of making the effort. (Atthough, I almost wonder, is it even harder as a senior?)

I need to let go that I’ve lost some of my beloved space and act my age, making the 8-1/2’ I have look as good as I can, not complain about what I don’t have. I took myself for a walk around the block, calmly removed the door, vented to my bestie who always listens and gives a good prospective, then went on with my day.

Oh, but then I vented to you too. I guess I’m still a little whiny. I’ll get over it and hush up about it.

Nobody wants to hear an old lady sounding like a spoiled child.

Studio tour part two, behind some doors

collections, cottage, studio tour

By Karla Nathan / September 26, 2023

It would be impossible to pick a favorite thing about the studio redo. Unless it is the time spent with my boy. Adam drove out from NC for a week of work to transform the cold, hard, cement floor into a cushy, warm vinyl one.

While here, he got the work done in record time so we were able to have some fun adventures while we had him in the same state for a while. And he accomplished so many other giant, or little helpful tasks.

He repaired the basement foundation (very big!)

Tuck pointed the rest of the foundation

Hung chandeliers and branches on my ceiling

Repaired my desk chair

Replaced all of the weather stripping throughout the house

Fixed a water damaged threshold

Trimmed up some damaged siding and screwed the downspout into place so it wouldn’t happen again

Helped haul and reposition all of the furniture back into the studio once the floor was done, into a puzzle piece layout that made the most of my square footage

And that was just in the spare time he had since the floor was finished so quickly.

Basically, he wandered around the house and figured out what needed some tweaking or redoing, and just fixed it. He was busy all day long and into many evenings the whole week he was in Kansas. Sugarwings was thrilled to have her daddy around, and so was I. It’s not that often that a mom gets a complete week of one on one time with a grown son, especially one who is a master craftsmen and fixes everything that he sees wrong.

I had a vision of exactly how I wanted my tagging/shipping area by my desk, but the pieces didn’t quite fit. Adam stopped to cut small bits of wood to adjust heights and made this come together for me.

Having all of the items I need for price tags, printing, and shipping is going to make getting inventory ready to sale a breeze. I might hang a curtain over the bottom of the table though. The piles under there kinda take away from the streamlined look I wanted.

While adding my goodies back into the room, I spent time thinking about how to store them in a better way. Instead of piling all the fabric into this cabinet, I separated by type or color and used cardboard boxes and a basket to make dividers.

The loveliest fabrics and lace panels were put behind glass.

Instead of keeping my beloved wallpaper in a hard to get to stack, it’s now in multiple, easy reach containers.

Some things were left as is. I’ve always liked having this glass topped box of jewelry on a table near my work area. These are mostly pieces meant for gluing onto projects.

The stacked, plastic boxes of beads and findings to make jewelry are all stashed in this cabinet. I’d covered the back wall in a pretty wallpaper, but then didn’t like seeing the chaos of the plastic bins. So I got out more wallpaper and taped it up on the inside of the glass to hide the supplies.

This is a table that I hope to keep cleared for making jewelry. The tall cabinet is filled with books and behind its wallpaper covered door is tools.

Many of the things inside this piece are in the same spot they always were, just the cabinet is moved. Same with all of my little wallpaper covered chests. I can still find most things, the cubbies they are in haven’t changed. Old habits are hard to break, so I did my best to reuse the same boxes for the same stuff, just in a better way.

My paintings, family fairy pictures, and gifts from friends are gathered into one inspiration board type spot instead of scattered around the room.

This is the storage area back in the corner behind the screen. I’ll be bringing stack of painted furniture in to fill it up and possibly overwhelm this space. But at least it will be out of the way and in its own spot.

These shelves are filled with breakables and stuff that doesn’t easily fit in tubs. It’s all inventory for the antique mall. I also use clear plastic tubs to store stuff for my booth, and stack them up in the garage. As I buy goodies at garage sales, I sort them into color or season and put them into the clear bins. Now, if I could just train myself to tag them first…

All of the items for sale online go into a cabinet next to the computer so I don’t mix it up with my other inventory. I hope to get this piece stocked up for the holidays now that I have finished this huge reorg of my studio.

Of course, there is a dog bed and basket of toys by my desk too. Molly and Dorothy like to hang out with me there.

Molly always needs her toys nearby.

Thanks for looking around with me! Now, I’m going to go enjoy that room that we worked so hard to recreate.

Not just a new floor, a whole new look and organizational system in the studio

Chandeliers, collections, cottage, studio tour, wallpaper

By Karla Nathan / September 22, 2023

I have officially moved back into the finished studio!

And I adore each and every little nook and corner.

Not only is the new wall color calming and serene, the new floor warm and easy on the feet, the area seems so much more spacious.

Mostly, it is the same stuff rearranged into a more peaceful set up. Previously, my computer area was a dark, crowded hole because I wanted it out of sight. Now it is laid out so that everything is attractive and still workable.

Inventory for the antique mall had taken over the room. Now, I’ll be (hopefully) containing it in this corner, behind screens and pretty doors.

The lighting has had some big changes. My workspace is now in front of the window, which helps a lot. I’d had stacked furniture for good juju there and it had completely blocked any sunlight from streaming in, so that stuff is now located in the back corner storage area that doesn’t even have a window to block.

All of the table lamps’ and chadies’ lightbulbs have been switched out to clear, white, daylight LED bulbs. Which means I have an boxful of mismatched off white and soft white bulbs that I won’t be using. At my age, I need all of the clear, clean light I can get.

My son added two chandeliers on hooks above my work zone. I covered the cords in branches and floral vines.

I was able to gather all of the wallpaper cabinets together for a bigger statement. And they are convenient, right behind my rolling chair so I can glide over and grab supplies out of the drawers.

Rolls of wallpaper are no longer in the big cabinet once used for treats and storage. That giant piece is now in my breezeway, filled with outdoor cushions that I used to have to stash here, there, and everywhere.

The wallpaper is divided into five different containers and (sorta, but not quite yet) separated by color or style.

Pretty curtains that had been jammed into drawers, now are folded up behind glass so I can enjoy them.

Mt main goal was to find the very best options for all of the stuff that had taken over, and store it away into an intentional way. Labeled, or plainly in view. Because I tend to lose or forget I had things.

A place for everything and everything in its place!

Most of the cabinets are filled with functional supplies. But I did indulge a bit with just pretties. The one on the left holds my scrapbooks.

And my hutch still has a few collections behind the glass doors.

Although, about a third of the hutch is now used for supplies, not just pretties.

I’ll show you more details in my next post for now, I want to go and play in my new studio.

A musical interlude

antiques/junking, collections, guncles

By Karla Nathan / September 16, 2023

A few years back, Guncle Randy and I redid a couple violins and fell in love with the process. He has been on the search for more instruments for us to recreate.

After finding another violin for himself, he came across TWO more that his brother, Mark had. Mark and his partner, Allie had found them tossed away and snatched them out of a landfill.

How nice that they offered them to us to use. Allie wanted us to Halloween one up for her, and we were thrilled to have THREE to play with.

The one Randy wanted for himself had glowing wood grain that he didn’t want covered up, so his stayed natural.

Mine got painted white. (Big surprise)

With a crackle finish here and there.

I used crackle on the black one for Allie too. It didn’t show up much til it was accented with silver wax.

We used lace as texture too.

I didn’t get a full photo of mine, but will show one when I get it hung in the house with my previous creation. Allie says hers will go onto her mantel. And Randy’s will be wired into his Xmas tree.

This was our work space.
we moved all of the furniture to one side of the room to have it ready for my son to install the new floor. Randy and I had a small table hidden in the forest of cabinets. And we were lucky to have the guys here to help move stuff so the room was ready when Adam arrived to start on it.

I’ll leave you with some close ups of the musical trio.

Author name: Karla Nathan