cottage – Page 20 – Karla's Cottage

Welcome to the Hellhole, or “Adventures in remodeling during a family reunion”

By Karla Nathan / August 2, 2016

When we invited family to visit, we didn't know this was what would be greeting them. Due to weather, our project has gotten behind, but our brave relatives came on in and faced the chaos of our home. What we didn't know was that we would be discovering a major foundation issue while they were here. Or that I'd be in the ER for most of the day when they arrived.

Did I mention CHAOS?

My sweet brother-in-law, Dale, was kind enough to refer to the madness as "adventure."

And while there was a lot of that adventure going on, we did manage at least one excursion out on the lake

to enjoy the sunset, and we had lots of tasty, family gathering dinners together.

Behind the scenes of most of the dinners, it looked like this on the other side of the kitchen. We had a slight snafu with the flooring guy, and to keep us from getting behind, my boy stepped in to do the job. We have a very old home, and our floors had some kinda sinky spots, that were going to make the new floors need some adjusted threshholds to match up the difference in the levels between the two.

Adam is not one to adjust things if he can fix them instead, so he ripped up some of the old floor to look beneath and found out that one of our foundation walls was nothing but dust and falling rocks.

Which meant that he, and my poor claustrophobic husband spent hours and hours in the Hellhole righting the wrongs time had wrought in the stone work.

Twinkle was fascinated and never left her post as a watch out. I think that meant that there were interesting smells coming from under the house, of old rodents and who knows what. I had some dreams about all of them coming up to visit us while the floor was opened up.

ugh

It was very impressive to see one guy who hates creepy crawlies and another who hates enclosed spaces work together to repair what could have been a costly, and dangerous problem. Before they started, there was over a 1" difference in floor heights, now the space is completely even and our home isn't going to fall into the pit of hell that lurks below it.

Plus, it is meaningful to have projects in my home that were done by family members.

This was also happening while we had company.

Which made for a lot of pounding, and dust, and FLIES!!!!!!!

Doors open all day for workers let in flies by the billion or so. Guncle Randy and I were on constant swatter patrol.

It wasn't exactly the visit he had in mind, or the gathering that I had planned, but I was so happy to have them all here to see us.

And the evening on the lake was just what I needed. The reunion was supposed to be Randy, Terry, and I in the studio all day, while the other guys played golf then boating every evening.

We only managed one lake night, but they were all very kind about it. And we did squeeze in some studio time.

And of course, we can't have Grandma Joan here without throwing a tea party.

Since I was under the weather as well as busy as a bee, Sugarwings planned and set the party up in the gazebo for her.

Although, I do feel bad that our short time together was interrupted by all the other things going on, I was sincerely glad to have them all here and I hope it wasn't too much turmoil for them all.

I'm feeling better now too, and everyone was helpful while I was down.

I just hope I get another shot at entertaining the bunch of them without all of the "adventure" happening around us. I could use a do over.

Wallpapered stairway redo

cottage

By Karla Nathan / July 31, 2016

When the wall came down between the kitchen and the room we are adding on, I could see my living room from a whole new angle.

The wall with the vintage book pages now was highly visible along with the rose wallpaper on the stairs. Previously, you could see the stairs from the kitchen, and the wall from the living room, not both at once. Now that they were on view together, they clashed, it was way too busy for me.

So, I took some of the paint color that I'll be using in the new room (Sandstone Cliff) and washed over the too bright white with roses to tone it down.

See what I mean?

At first, I'd contemplated changing the paper, but I did love the vintage rose wallpaper. With this fix, I still have my pretty flowers, but hopefully they are not competing with the wall covered in old book pages.

(In this picture, I've only washed the bottom two as a sample.)

And here it is all done, with an antiquing, bronze glaze over the paint. You can still see the flowers, but the paper has more depth now than it did with just the paint wash.

It was a quick fix, under a half hour to wash down all of the risers, then even less time for the glaze over that. And so far, I'm happy with it. I'll have to see once the room is complete and I can stand back and see how it all works together. It seems to match the text wall much better now.

A big girl room for Sugarwings- circus style

cottage, redos

By Karla Nathan / July 25, 2016

Last year, we repainted and laid a new floor in the guest room. Sugarwings was smitten and kept asking me if she could sleep in there.

Then, her baby sister starting to sprout up quickly and no longer fit into her tiny, four poster, vintage, pink bed.

Sob!

I loved tucking the grand fairies into that itty bitty princess bed, and it was hard watching how quickly their feet began to hang over the end of it. It seemed like that happened overnight. One night, Sugarwings was all of a sudden too leggy for the pink bed, and we were buying her a twin bed. Now, it is Dewdrop's turn to spring up over night and need to move into the twin bed. So, our biggest girl will move into the guest room.

Who will get the precious, mini, four poster? Maybe the dog… if it fits nicely by the new fireplace.

This room was already freshly painted and I thought the aquamarine color was a serene background for a big girl room (although our big kid was still requesting lots of pink).

It is a small space, and I still need to use it for guests sometimes, so I had to squeeze in two beds, not just one. I usually shop at garage sales and flea markets, but sometimes when I have to get something of a specific size, I buy new. And luckily, we have a Nebraska Furniture Mart nearby, where I found a double and a twin sized, space saving beds. They have no headboards, so fit well in this slanted ceiling room, plus have storage built in, so I didn't need a dresser.

She wanted to keep the desk that was already in the room, to draw at, and has art supplies in the tins.

This chalk board banner was found at Hobby Lobby, and I wrote her middle name, "Joy" on it, but left some chalk for her to change the message if she'd like.

The other banners are from Hobby Lobby too. The cabinet was moved out of the living room when we started the remodeling. It fit ideally under the slant of the wall, to form a hideaway behind it.

Now she has a cozy nook to curl up in with a good book.

The lamp is one I painted years ago. I might trade the table out and use it in the new hearth room when I find one I like better for here.

The other lamp is one that a friend had mosaicked. I added a garage sale shade covered in polka dotted tissue paper and trimmed out in pom pom fringe.

Her daddy's family has a performing troupe called the "Sacred Circus" and Sugarwings wanted a circus style room, but I didn't want to go too literal with the theme. Instead, we incorporated mismatched polka dots and stripes, with a few banners around the room to give it a big top feel.

I also hung two framed family quotes. (Created on Picmonkey)

This one is very special to us all. Sugarwings said this on stage after this Sacred Circus performance the day of her daddy's wedding.

And my Handsome Husband made up a song for this little phrase he loves to sing to his grand fairies. He has us all join in, and link arms while singing it. The tiniest girls just eat that up. The rest of us groan a little, but secretly, we all find it as adorable as can be.

Typically, my home is filled with vintagey things, so shopping at Hobby Lobby, TJ Max, Nebraska Furniture Mart, and Ross Dress for Less for furniture and accessories was quite different than my regular garage sale excursions. It was an interesting challenge and I have to admit, is a little easier than searching at flea markets and estate sales where who knows what you'll find.

I didn't make much for the room either. I turned a couple of pillow cases into curtains, decopauged the lamp shade, and that is about it. I could've made banners for the room but the ones I found at the craft store were ideal and affordable, so I ignored my do-it-yourselfer's guilt and bought them as is.

Although, I still haven't found a rug that I like, I'm using an antique one for now.

So far, our little one has been taking excellent care of her new room. She makes the bed, then turns off her night light and fan each morning she stays there. With the heat we've had lately, she has been sleeping on the sofa a lot, tho. This attic room gets stifling. I've bought a small window air conditioner to install, but I hate to lose all the light, it is a tiny window to start with. But a hot room is no use to anyone, so it is better to have it a bit darker than not use it at all because of the heat.

The important part is that our lil fairy gal loves her space. And when her baby sis returns for back to school, she is going to be feeling pretty grown up herself, with a big girl bed of her own, and becoming a kindergartener!

Studio Tour 2016- Where Bloggers Create

cottage, studio tour

By Karla Nathan / July 21, 2016

Oops, we almost missed out on joining in on Karen Valentine's annual Studio Tour.

Ya know, you snooze, you lose, right? But I checked her site and it looks like I can still add myself to the list.

And I even have a few changes to show from past years. Not big ones, but some things did get shifted a smidgen. Since, sadly, I didn't host Birdsong this year, I decided to enlarge my office space. The whole studio is one big room, just under 1,000 sq ft. I divide into sections with hinged doors, and large pieces of furniture. So, the room is rather fluid, and if I decide that I'd like to allot more space to one area instead of another, all I have to do is shift stuff around.

So, I gifted myself with about 8' of extra room in the office. Normally, I'm stingy with the desk area, and save all the extra elbow room for seating in the main space. Since there are no guests now, I thought the space would be nice to make use of in the desk area.

The bluebird backdrop is painted on plywood and usually, it sits by the treat cabinet and serves as decor for my Peeps at Birdsong. Since (very, very sadly) there was not an art event here this spring, I thought I needed a bluebird view to cheer me up and moved it to sit behind my desk.

Very cheerful!

And the poor treat cabinet is looking lonely, since I haven't had company to feed. It is being used for storage, not goodies right now.

Well, this isn't typical, but for now, the studio is set up for sewing.

YUCK

I really do not like to sew. But…. sometimes it is the solution to a problem. I'd bought a boxful of old lace curtains at an estate sale (for $6!) and wanted to make them fit the windows in the new room we are adding onto our cottage.

The sewing isn't going well, but I'll get there. There have been a lot of breaks to save my sanity. Too much sewing is rough on me.

I've been painting frames and getting family photos into them to hang in the new room too. We will have a fireplace and mantel! That will be a great spot to display some special pictures.

Another job that I need to tackle is recovering this ($30) chair from a garage sale. I'll be painting the wood too. Lately, I've been recovering some other seating, and have painted a couple of tables.

Packing up the living room and kitchen had me in the swing of organizing and spent time going through each cabinet in the studio to straighten and edit the contents. While at it, I boxed and labeled all of the supplies in this one! Can you hear the sound of me slapping myself on the back? I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. And in the last couple of months, it has stayed nicely sorted.

The corner cabinet was moved from the kitchen to the office, that is what started all of the shuffling out there. My son built this cabinet for me, and while I loved using it as a china cabinet in the kitchen, I think I'll like it even more out here.

With all of the redos going on, I'm afraid that I've neglected my regular work. I look forward to getting some time at my craft desk soon. Here is a view from my workspace. I miss it!

This is kinda new too. The cabinet on the right was a wooden one in my office area, and I covered it in some of my very favorite and vintagey wallpaper, then moved it to my work zone to keep supplies in.

As you might notice, I have a collection of these style cabinets. About half are original, the rest are newer ones that I've covered in old paper.

Of course, in my opinion, any storage is better if covered in old wallpaper.

Thank you for stopping to look. And have a good time on the rest of the tour, you can find the link on Karen's blog, here. It is her 8th annual Where Bloggers Create Studio Tour. Thank you, Karen for hosting again.

In the breezeway

cottage, dogs

By Karla Nathan / July 19, 2016

The breezeway of our home connects the main (old) house to the addition with my studio, my husband's office, and our son's apartment. It is the room that every one sees, the central entrance to all areas of the house.

Yet, it has gone to the dogs and cats. We feed the cats in there, up on top of a cabinet so that the dogs can't eat their goodies. And we leave the window open a few inches, with the screen removed so the kitties have easy access to the room. We learned the hard way to leave that screen out, those cats are insistent about being let in, if there is a screen barring their way, they rip it apart.

The little dogs hop in and out of the window too, but Honey is too large. Although that doesn't stop her from trying. Whenever I walk through the room and see her poking her head through the gap, I always say, "Hello, Mr. Ed". (Remember the palomino who had his head through the top half of the barn door to talk? ooh, I've really dated myself with that reference)

This is also the room where the muddy shoes, rakes, tools, and toys end up. Along with wheelbarrows of firewood in the winter. It has become more of a mudroom than the breezy patio room that I had envisioned. Too many items pile up, as people go in and out of the house.

But, in the last year, I smartened up and placed a couple of cabinets out there to hide at least a percentage of the clutter. And recently, I finally got around to painting this large wardrobe. It's wood stain stood out too much in this space.

Much better! (You can see a before in this post)

Have a seat

cottage, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Hand Painted Furniture, Hearth Room, Kitchen remodel

By Karla Nathan / July 11, 2016

Dorothy is happy to be back and to resume her role as blog model.

This chair has been needing a new seat for, well, way, way too long. It is Sugarwings' seat at the dining table, and she tends to be…a messy boisterous diner. The original seat was quite ugly, and I hated it from the minute I saw it, but it didn't show the results of her dining mishaps. I'd made a seat slipcover to use over it when company came, but didn't leave it on all of the time, because it was light colored.

When I saw these chairs on clearance at Nebraska Furniture Mart, I was inspired to recover Sugarwings' seat in a faux leather look, to compliment this chair, which I bought for the other end of the table.

Hancock Fabric is going out of business, and I got the cloth for 75% off, and a ruffled trim for an 85% discount. The two chairs don't exactly match, but I prefer things that blend nicely, not match perfectly. The other chairs are a mix match too, but I'm considering covering the seats with this 'pleather' stuff.

The kitchen/dining/living rooms will all be open to the new hearth room, where two of these genuine leather recliners will sit in front of the fireplace. The home will still be mostly whites and creams, but I'm looking forward to adding these darker, more rustic elements of leather, especially in the hearth area.

I'm not a fan of recliners, but my husband is. And the fireplace is his dream. So I searched high and low to find a couple that we could both live with. While I'd prefer some cushy, velvet seats with plush footstools instead, I have to remember it is his space too. And don't you think that this recliner is less recliner-y than most? It reminds me more of a leather club chair than a typical recliner, so I think I'll like it.

Maybe with a soft throw over each, and a distressed, white table between them? Oooh, and an alabaster lamp!?

Plus, they were half price. Well, at least the floor model was, and the salesman gave the second one to me at the sale price too!

See what I mean about how open it will all be? When the deconstruction started, it was a gamble, not knowing if we'd be able to have it this opened up or not. Old houses can be tricky and the builder told us we'd have to see what was in the walls before he could say for sure whether it would require supports or not.

But we lucked out and the room will be finished as we'd hoped.

Now, to pick out paint colors. And from looking at this photo, I think I need to redo the wallpaper on the stairs. In the past, you couldn't see the roses on the risers and the text on the wall next to them, at the same time. Now, from the new room, they are on full display and look a bit busy together.

There is a lot of work ahead, but I can feel it coming together.

Sometimes I like chalk paint, sometimes it isn’t the right tool for the job

cottage, Hearth Room, Kitchen remodel

By Karla Nathan / July 6, 2016

Here are a couple of pieces I am tinkering with to use in the new room we are building. The one in the back is a heavy, Victorian door, or at least a partial door (laying on its side here). About the bottom 3rd has been cut off. It has a big window in it that I want to put a picture in, then hang the door over the mantel. My contractor has promised to put a strong anchor in the stone to hold it for me- this is a hefty hunk of wood.

I was so impatient to get the project started that I didn't get "before" pics. Although, I did grab my camera to snag a "during" photo.

While I have often complained about the explosion of the the chalk paint trend (to me, it is right up there with the gluten free fads that have swept the country) I do believe there is a time and place when chalk paint is a good idea. It just isn't the only paint in the world you should use ALL THE TIME.

This door is a perfect example of when chalk paint comes in handy. I wanted to dry brush over the existing finish to allow all of the bumps and alligatoring that developed over time, to show through. If I'd had to sand or prime, I could have lost a lot of that wonderful texture.

Later on, when the picture I decide upon is ready and behind the glass, I'll show the finished door.

The other piece is also a door, this one is from a shelf/cabinet thing. The door was a bit awkward to open and close because it is so wide. To get to a book off of the shelf, you'd have to step back to swing this big door wi-i-i-i-i-i-de open.

It is much better off removed from its cabinet. I'm giving the doorless shelves to my son's family and I'm going to hang the stained glass door on the wooden wall of the new room.

At first, I was going to cut off the two blank, side panels. Then, it dawned on me to look through my treasure drawer to see if I could find anything to foof those side panels up.

Between the drawer and this apothecary jar of goodies, I had enough trims and doodads to arrange and rearrange til I came up with something I liked.

There were a couple of rose garlands leftover from my kitchen cabinets.

Along with metal corner brackets, and a simple, wooden top piece. It didn't matter that I was using wood, metal, and resin, all were going to be painted after gluing down with paintable silicone. This is the perfect glue for 3D trim pieces, it fills in the gap where the two pieces meet.

See, once painted, all of the bits and doodads looked great together. And I was glad that I had left the frame large instead of cutting the window out.

Once again, I used chalk paint. But not the full price, break the bank kind. I got this from the craft store with a 40% off coupon. I've never tried the aging wax before, but thought I'd give it a shot.

In my estimation, it is much, much, much harder to control than glaze. Glaze colors can be diluted for a softer look, and have a longer working period to wipe off some of the color.

Actually, I disliked using the wax. It went on too heavy and wouldn't wipe away like my beloved glaze tones do. I ended up dry brushing more white chalk paint over the wax to lighten it back up. Now I guess I need to seal the paint again, huh?

So, in this case, a bonding primer, a coat of paint, and some glaze would have been quicker and easier than messing with the chalk paint, wax, more paint, then a topcoat.

Either way, this was a small project and one more step didn't take that long, so I'm not complaining. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Now, I need to pick a paint color for the wall it will hang on. The room is progressing!

The construction project, in the midst of adding a hearthroom

cottage

By Karla Nathan / June 28, 2016

Things are coming along with the new room. There it is on the right, without the siding and door yet.

This is the view from the road. Our cottage started out as a tiny, 4 room shack almost 100 years ago. When we bought it, we added an upstairs, then rooms in the existing attic. Over the years, the kitchen has been redone a few times, as we could afford it. Twice, we have taken out interior walls to open it up, and now we are ripping off the exterior wall and adding an addition on the side of it, to make a hearth room.

You can see some previous incarnations of the kitchen here.

Ten years ago, we added my studio and a garage (on the left) with an office for my husband and an apartment for my son, above it. This is a very weird layout for a home, it is starting to look like a crooked caterpillar, isn't it?

As we have made our changes over the last 25 or so years, I've tried to keep the feeling of the old farmhouse in the new pieces we've slapped onto it. While keeping things as affordable as I could, which worked well because the original house was kinda plain and simple. But even while making efforts to have it all the new blend in with the old, I know that I was fooling myself, the odd ball, meandering shape we had created was nothing like a house built in that era.

Still, we love it. It is over customized and unusual, but it is exactly what we need. It has taken us a couple decades to get to this point, but I think we just might…. maybe… be all finished with remodeling after this last build on?

Last week, the contractor hung some plastic to protect the kitchen from some of the dust (there is NO WAY to avoid all of it), and within a matter of an hour, the two walls were gone, while I sipped my morning coffee and enjoyed the show.

We got a great preview of what to expect when the job was finished and the area would be one, big open space.

Then, some plywood was screwed up to block off the construction from our living space until a lot of the messy parts are finished.

Here is a view from our living room before the temporary plywood went up.

And here is a drawing from the plans. See what I mean about the weird shape? Good thing that we love our cottage, because I think we'd be stuck with it if we ever tried to sell it…

Overwhelmed, but trying to stay reasonable

cottage

By Karla Nathan / June 7, 2016

Kansas has been extra rainy this spring. Which, after years of draught, I shouldn't complain about and won't.

Well, maybe not much.

Just a little.

The mud has held up our remodel a bit.

I should be more like Sugarwings, she looked at the sloggy mess and saw mud pies.

The mud is a joy to her.

But for me, I'm kind of in chaos. The kitchen and living room are half packed up, the yard is a mess, which is all bad enough, but we also have a few other smaller projects going on and between those partially finished jobs, and the piles of tools and displaced items around is multiplying the other construction chaos.

Plus, everything seems to be falling apart around me. The computer, air conditioner, my camera, Ryan's car, and that is just a partial list.

My way of dealing with it all? I've gone on an organization binge. Since I can't control most of what is going on around me, I've gone over board on controlling what I can. I had to rearrange my studio and add a cabinet taken out of the kitchen. That lead to every single thing in the room being sorted and labelled and straightened up.

The construction, while delayed, is an exciting thing, and I'm not worried about the progression. I know our builder and know the project will go well. I just am overwhelmed by so much at once.

So, I'm trying to stay as organized as I can with what I can and take a lesson from Sugarwings to look at the chaos around me as opportunities.

Fried computer? Ack! But now, I have a new Mac!!! (its a learning curve, and there are issues, but I'm so pleased with it)

And I'm trying to concentrate on how lucky I am to be able to replace it.

And to remember that this is just a mud puddle, not a life threatening flood like in Texas. We are healthy. We are blessed. Life here is good, just sometimes a little messy.

Looking for Luck, 4 leaf clovers in the grass

cottage, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers)

By Karla Nathan / May 24, 2016

When I was a kid, finding a 4 leaf clover and learning how to do a back flip into the pool were two driving forces in my life. I'd sit in the yard for hours, fruitlessly searching through the patches of green, desperate to find my own lucky charm.

And as for the flip? I'd put on a heavy sweatshirt, to deaden the pain of slapping the water with my back, and relentlessly, toss myself off the diving board, trying to learn that trick. It was a good thing I had the sweatshirt, because my back got a lot of slaps, I never once made it all the way around into the turn to land feet first in the water.

I gave up on ever learning the flip when I was in my thirties, but never gave up on my hope of finding a 4 leaf miracle.

When I saw my friend, Angie, and Dewdrop's gypsy mama both gathering handfuls of 4 leaf clovers in a matter of moments, I doubled my efforts with some hints from them both.

What I discovered is that discovering one is kind of like those magic pictures that were so popular in the 90s. It's a way of looking at it, not simply searching. They are out there, if you can focus your eyes in the right way to see them.

Happily, I can now find one anytime I feel the need for a piece of luck to hold in my hand. But mostly, I just let them grow, and not pick one unless necessary. It is nice to know that the grass around my cottage is filled with Luck.

I've been known to scratch at the grass with a rake, and sprinkle clover seeds all around the yard. These plants are so much more interesting than typical turf. And the hope of a flock of four leafers spreading through the lawn, is a nice thing to think about.

Hmmm, now that I've learned the clover trick from two experts, maybe I should tap the knowledge of my circus performer family and finally master the backflip???

Somehow I doubt that I'll do that… but if I do give it a try, I'd better fill my sweatshirt pockets with as many lucky clovers as I can find!!