Karla Nathan – Page 8 – Karla's Cottage

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!

A Kansas Sunflower stone mosaic entryway

cottage, Hearts

By Karla Nathan / December 1, 2024

When is the best time to take on a project? Why, when the rest of the house is torn up with an even bigger project, of course!

Actually, that was true for me. When the guys first started on the under the house project, I couldn’t be of much help. We had plans to do the entire bathroom floor in little stones, so I wanted to try them out on the repaired (but not finished) entryway. I also wanted to see the grout color after it dried. I’m glad I did, because it was too dark, I switched to a lighter shade for the master bath.

I’d also hoped to use some of these marvelous, labradorite stones in the bathroom. Sadly, we decided they were too dark for that area. And the vendor I’d previously gotten these from at the gem show I attended did not bring any of their sliced stones this time. So I didn’t have any more options. I’d hoped for a warm moonstone, but it wasn’t available without special ordering, and time was short.

See what I mean? The bathroom colors were too golden for the labradorite stones. But we did manage to sneak in a few crystals.

Even with the golden flashes these had in the right light, they matched better by the door. So I used all of them up there. And love it! Labradorites and moonstones are both from the quartz family and tough enough to hold up in foot traffic. I guess I’ll just have to find another area to pave with moonstones slices, huh?

I did sneak a pretty, stone heart into the entryway. It’s a little thicker than the other rocks, so sits higher. I placed it back in the corner where that won’t matter. The grout I used in this spot is Cocoa, with Light Buff in the other space. There wasn’t a huge difference, but enough to matter overall.

It’s very good to have both areas done. And was hard to live through, but worth it. At some points, I was laying out flat on the floor to stretch my back out as I grouted and there might’ve been some Advil involved too.

Big jobs! But a big blast of design once it was done. I love them both!

Kinda like making lemonade when life gives you lemons

family, Food and Drink, jewelry

By Karla Nathan / November 28, 2024

Did I mention how hard the renovation we just went through was? The work was grueling. But after finishing for the day, we’d have jewelry parties at night.

Being with my boy, getting to be creative, certainly helped me get through the exhaustion. And the fact that Adam got the job done so quickly didn’t hurt either. If we’d gone through a contractor, we could’ve faced months of a torn up bathroom and laundry room, not just days. And doing it as a family saved us a ton of money too.

Mine is on the left, with a golden opal. Adam’s on the right with smoky quartz.

He crafted his with a mathematical scheme, mine was more random. I lay out piles of color on my bead board, and move them around til I find balance.

These are both mine, first is a mother of pearl “doublet” topped with quartz from the gem show, 2nd is a pearl mosaic I made. One is slightly longer than the other so I can wear them together.

I also whipped up a ton of holiday colored bracelets for Good Juju and to give to friends.
Too bad that I didn’t get more pics of what Adam made, he was as talented in creating jewelry as he was in rebuilding our foundation and creating a beautiful new bathroom.

His child joined in too, Sugarwings made these pieces. The kiddo stayed with us most of the time he was in town. It was great to have them both around during such a stressful time to turn things around into something special instead. Now, don’t get me wrong, it was strenuous labor to get through, but working by my son’s side, watching his skills with pride, making jokes, and then making jewelry was a delightful way to tackle a huge project like ripping out the back of the house and redoing the bathroom.

I was also lucky enough to have a new favorite person added I too my life. Adam’s partner, Jacquelyn flew out to join him for a week. I vastly enjoyed getting to know her, and appreciated the way she pitched in on the hard work too.

She made these two bracelets.

And some earrings, as well as a few other nice pieces. Once again, I didn’t get photos of them all.

Another thing I did not get enough pictures of? Jacquelyn’s cooking. Her plates of food were art.

Colorful, all natural, delicious, and healthy too. As the person who typically does all the meals, I appreciated the effort she made along with the discovery of how nice it is to work your butt off then sit down to a plate of tasty food someone fixed for you. What a treat!

Little Dewdrop couldn’t be here with us, and her dad missed her birthday to do this job for us. We sent her a gift and got to see her open it on FaceTime, but he was still pretty sad to miss out on being there in person. Each of us put together bracelets for her that he can personally hand to her when he returns to North Carolina.

The one with the silver and crystal moon is from me, because her nickname is Tiny Moon.

Everytime I wear one of the necklaces I put together during this reno, I’ll have a reminder of my son and how he turned what could’ve been a hell into a special time.

A nice day out

Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / November 25, 2024

On Saturday, we had a bonus shopping experience for Good Juju.

We had some good traffic, and honestly, I’m not quite sure what I sold. I think I did see someone pick up my two net trees.

They stand out because they are big and colorful. I know lots of other goodies left too, but was so exhausted by the end of the day, I did not take stock.

Working on the bathroom renovation after the guys repaired the structural issue wore me out.

Then, the clean up afterwards was brutal. We’d set up a plastic sheet to hold back the worst of the dust, thank goodness, but the cottage was still buried in a heavy layer of it.

A mere dusting wouldn’t clear it up. As I’d wipe it down with a wet, microfiber cloth, I’d get a smear of mud. So, it was heavy duty cleaning time, til everything sparkled.

Needless to say, my butt was dragging after all that. I’m so glad my booth was set up and ready before all of that!

After that, I went ahead and decorated the house for Christmas, so wore myself out even more. I kept reminding myself that I’m closer to 70 than I am to 60 now, but that didn’t change the fact that stuff needed doing, right?

I wonder when the point comes that I simply won’t keep dragging that tired butt around and not get done with what I’ve planned?

So when the time for our sale came, I was so happy to be out of the house and done with all the physical labor, I felt like I had a day off.

It was such a lovely day, festive and fun. I loved all of the Christmas decorations around the mall.

It was a great day, hanging with friends, talking to customers. And now I have about a week to gather up more goodies to bring in for the First Fridays weekend. But for today? I’m taking a real day off. Kicked back, watching endless tv in my comfy sweat pants, and sipping licorice tea while the Christmas lights twinkle.

Author name: Karla Nathan