Archive for the ‘Primitive Crafts & Country Style’ Category
Feb
2
So many of you commented or emailed me about Kickstarter that I had to check it out. Kickstarter bills itself as “a new way to fund and follow creativity.” It’s a funding platform to help creative projects get off the ground. The Kickstarter philosophy: “A good idea, communicated well, can spread fast and wide. A large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement.”
Kickstarter accepts creative projects only, and a project must be accepted and approved by Kickstarter before it can launch. The Studio at Sassafras Farm project was accepted!
The way it works–you pledge your chosen amount. The funding is all-or-nothing. The project must meet its goal, be fully funded, or no money changes hands. For each pledge level, there is a reward you (as a contributor) will receive if the project is fully funded. There’s a time limit! I’ll have 30 days to meet my goal. You can keep an eye on the “days left” and the pledge totals every time you check the page.
The goal for the project must be enough for 100 percent completion so that your project is ready to open the doors. It’s exciting and scary–if you don’t meet your goal, you get nothing! (Scary!) If you meet it, you’re in business! (Exciting!)
You can help me even if you can’t contribute a pledge. A Kickstarter project depends on community and sharing. Please share my Kickstarter project link on your Facebooks, Twitters, and anywhere else you can! The more people who know about a project, the better the project’s chances of success. I added a few of my most popular farm videos to the page so there is something fun there to share with friends and family.
You can contribute as little as one dollar. Thousands of people can make thousands of dollars!
See me on Kickstarter and please spread the word! Here is my Kickstarter project page:
The Studio at Sassafras Farm
Thank you for your support! Let’s have fun with this!
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Jan
16
I love vintage green and blue Mason jars, but I don’t have very many of them and they can be hard to find. I also don’t like to buy jars. I have a lot of free jars already. I was intrigued when I came across this tutorial for tinting Mason jars in rainbow colors using a mixture of water, food coloring, and Mod Podge. Canning jars used to come in all kinds of pretty colors such as blue, green, and amber. Why they stopped doing that, I don’t know, but they are the most beautiful jars if you can find them.
Here is one that I have in green.
It’s the real deal, a vintage Mason’s Patent Nov. 30 1858 jar. Can I recreate that look using nothing more than a mixture of glue, water, and food coloring? I had to find out! I followed the tutorial linked above and had some trouble. The idea itself is a great one, but after a number of trials, I want to share with you what went wrong and what worked for me–so this is both a review of the process and my own tutorial take-off on the method.
One, however many jars you want to do, go with a 1:2 ratio on the water to the glue. The quantities in the original tutorial are a little fuzzy. (“A tablespoon or so,” for example.) Forget the “or so” or your mixture will be too thin. Not to mention, a 1:2 ratio in tablespoons is far too much for a pint jar. Or even a quart jar. One teaspoon water and two teaspoons glue will do a pint jar. Two teaspoons water and four teaspoons glue will do a quart jar. (You can do multiple jars at once–just multiply the quantities.)
Two, go heavy on the food coloring! I tried three drops the first time, 9 drops the second time (on a quart jar). My second attempt made a green jar similar to the color of the vintage green jar. I used that much or more on a pint jar quantity of the mixture when I made a purple jar–I wanted a deeper color. I used even more when I did a pint-sized blue jar. When you mix the water and food coloring, then add the glue and mix, you can add more food coloring to the mixture until you’re satisfied.
Three, DON’T ADD THE GLUE DIRECTLY TO THE JARS. It’s difficult to properly mix the water/dye solution with the glue in the bottom of the jar. It ends up leaving gummy unincorporated glue on the bottom of the jar that takes a long time to bake out. Mix the water/dye and the glue in a separate bowl and add all together to the jar. I find it easiest to use a paper bowl that can be put in the trash afterward. (Remember that you don’t want to be washing excess glue mixture down your plumbing.)
Four, skip the drain time suggested in the original tutorial. Take the jar directly to the oven for the best color retention.
Five, when you place the jars on the cookie sheet, line the cookie sheet with aluminum foil before placing a sheet of waxed paper or parchment paper on top. I found that when I lined the cookie sheet with waxed paper or parchment paper only, as the jar continued to drain and start baking in the oven, the mixture would soak through. A sheet of aluminum foil underneath will protect your cookie sheet.
Six, place the jar upside down on the cookie sheet for no more than three minutes then turn the jar upright (using kitchen gloves to move the jar, of course). This avoids a collection of gummy residue at the rim. Carefully wipe the rim then return the jar to the oven, upright.
Seven, my oven doesn’t have a “warm” setting so at first I set it on the lowest temperature it would go–170 degrees. Later, I experimented at 200 degrees and that worked better (faster). It also occurred to me that you could bake these in an Excal! As to the baking time, bake as long as you need to. I have found that some streaks may remain no matter how long you bake. In most cases, at 200, it takes 30 minutes to an hour, but it’s variable by the jar size and the thickness of the mixture. Once you remove the jar from the oven, let it set to cool and thoroughly harden before placing anything inside of it.
Eight, if your jar comes out too pale, re-do it (same jar). Just let the jar cool and repeat the process.
Nine, if it doesn’t come out how you like it AT ALL, run hot water into the jar with a few drops of dish soap. Let sit overnight. The next day, run more hot water and soap in the jar and scrub it out. The longer you let it sit and dissolve, the easier it is to clean. You can restore the jar to its previous sparkling clear state any time you like.
Jars I didn’t like, soaking to clean out:
Ten, (with the above changes) it DOES work!
Jars I loved:
In addition to the items listed below, you will also need a bowl, measuring spoon, aluminum foil, waxed paper or parchment paper, and, of course, your jars.
Remember your ratio is 1:2 (water:glue) multiplied out to however many jars you want to do. This “recipe” is for one pint jar.
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How to Color Mason Jars:
1 teaspoon water
food coloring (to your liking)
2 teaspoons Mod Podge in gloss
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Add water, food coloring, and Mod Podge to a small bowl.
Mix well and add more coloring until you’re satisfied.
Pour mixture into a pint jar.
Turn the jar carefully to distribute the mixture all over the inside of the jar.
Holding the jar over the bowl, slowly pour out the mixture, turning the jar as you do, in order to coat the mouth of the jar.
Place jar upside down on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper or parchment paper on top of a sheet of aluminum foil. Put it in the oven for three minutes.
Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and turn the jar upright. Wipe rim carefully with a paper towel to remove excess then return the jar (upright) to the oven. Bake until the color is clear and beautiful.
This is a very quick and easy project, and something you could even do with kids. The part in which you are actually doing something is just a few minutes. You’ll need to plan at least an hour for this project, but it’s kind of like making bread–most of the time involved, you aren’t doing anything.
Some additional notes: You can’t use jars treated with this application for holding flowers in water. The glue will dissolve. On the other hand, this is also an upside because you can always dissolve the glue and wash out the jar if you want to. Also remember that you should never use the jar for food, of course. Jars colored with this method are for craft and (non-food) storage.
Mod Podge is a waterbase sealer, glue, and finish. You can find it in most large craft stores, or online. After buying the Mod Podge, I saw this tutorial on how to make homemade Mod Podge using Elmer’s Glue with water (for matte) or the addition of varnish (for gloss). You will need gloss for this process.
If you really want to use your colored jar to hold flowers in water, you’ll have to color the jar on the outside. Here is a method using glass paint and thinner that is ragged onto the outside of the jar.
The glass paint/thinner method doesn’t appeal to me for a couple of reasons (including the special supplies), so I haven’t tried that one. The Mod Podge method is too easy–and I have other true vintage colored jars to hold flowers in water. I also like that I can find the supplies for the Mod Podge method right at home–mostly in my kitchen–and next time, I’ll even make my own Mod Podge. For non-food storage and craft purposes, I think this one is the way to go. I even like that I can wash out the jars if I ever want to use them for canning–or just change the color! (I considered trying to apply the Mod Podge mixture to the outside of the jars as an experiment, then decided that wasn’t a good idea as handling the jars during the process would be next to impossible. Being able to put flowers in water in the jars wasn’t important enough for me to pursue it. If you try that, let me know.)
My “new” green jar, left, and a vintage green jar.
When Morgan saw me experimenting with this process, she requested a blue jar. The “new” blue jar, left, and a vintage blue jar.
As you can see, the new blue jar has quite a bit more color than the vintage one. As I experimented, I started having fun trying for deeper color. If you’re going for a true vintage look, use less coloring. If you just want to have fun, use more.
Who’s gonna try this? If you experiment with this or another method of coloring jars, I’d love to hear about your results!
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Dec
27
My Oklahoma grandmother sewed draperies. She didn’t always sew draperies–she was a farm mother on a dusty plains farm for most of her life. I wish I’d spent more time with her, but I didn’t see her very often and by the time I was in my 20s, she was in a nursing home. When I was little, she taught me to crochet, but I bet she could have taught me a lot more. (She said, “Do you want to learn to knit or crochet?” And she showed me the implements. I chose crochet because there was only one hook.) One of the few memories I have of my Oklahoma grandfather was him sitting on the curb outside our house in Silver Spring, Maryland, the Christmas I was five and got my first bicycle with training wheels. He watched me ride up and down the street. He died not long after that. We visited my grandmother periodically during my childhood–by then, she lived in a little house in town in Frederick. It was a small town, and I don’t know what it’s like now, but there was still a little department store in town and a short main street with businesses. It was so different from anything I knew. I grew up in the suburbs of big cities. Even more bizarre was when we drove outside the town to visit the old farm. Just tumbled-down fence posts and deserted broken-down barns framed by an endless horizon. I couldn’t imagine my fancy mother could have possibly sprung from such a dusty desolation.
My grandmother’s house in town was the littlest house I’d ever been in. All the rooms opened into each other, no hallways. In the back she had a porch with a bed where you could sleep outside in the summer, and there was a chicken house in the yard so she could wring supper’s neck. You can take a farm mother off the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the farm mother.
My grandparents left the farm and moved to town after my brother died in a tractor accident on their farm. This happened before I was born, but I’ve been scared of tractors all my life. Since I live on a farm, this type of lifelong paranoia is super handy. My mother never learned to milk a cow, by the way, despite growing up on a farm. I asked her about this once, after I got BP, and she told me that my grandmother told her that she was not allowed to milk the cow. If she knew how to milk a cow, according to my grandmother, she would end up marrying a farmer. My grandmother wanted “better” for her, so she was not allowed to milk.
My mother did her best, but darn it all, her own daughter left the bright lights and ran off to a farm and got a cow.
Just goes to show ya.
Anyway! After my grandmother moved to town, she set up shop in her little house making draperies for the townies, which surely means I am genetically drapery-oriented.
As if that’s not enough, there are the curtain rods that crossed the prairie. Yes, I have in my possession the iron curtain rods carried across the prairie in a covered wagon by my great-grandmother in 1904.
I come from a long, well, okay, short, line of people who honor window coverings.
And yet I loathe, despise, and abhor curtains. I used to like curtains. Curtains were a huge part of styling any home I lived in. I changed curtains frequently, always seeking the perfect curtains. Never finding them. Eventually, I realized I just didn’t like curtains. OF ANY KIND.
At Stringtown Rising, I gave up curtains completely. There were no curtains in that house. There were wood blinds on the master bedroom and bathroom windows, that’s it. No curtains or blinds elsewhere in the house.
I loved it.
When I came to Sassafras Farm, the first thing I did was start ripping down curtains.
There are shades in the living room and dining room, and so far, I’ve left them. They’re inconspicuous enough to be tolerable.
I was reaching out to rip the curtains down off the kitchen window when “my Debbie” (those of you from the CITR retreat know Debbie our cook) stopped me and implored me to try living with them a while. I’m trying.
We’ll see. I pushed them all the way to the sides as far as I could.
The house at Stringtown Rising was halfway up a hill, so no curtains made sense to most people. No one could possibly see inside. Here, the house is not far from the road, but still I have never lowered the shades in the living room and I never pull closed the curtains in the kitchen. I can only live with them if they are out of the way all the time. Even at night. There are white wood blinds on my bedroom window, and I can take it there, but I can’t take anything covering a window anywhere else in the house.
Possibly it’s a form of dementia. Bare window psychosis.
How about you? What is your psychological window profile? If you have curtains because your house is on the street, would you have curtains if you didn’t feel as if you had to? Are you a curtains person?
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Dec
15
The studio at Sassafras Farm is built over the old cellar. The cellar was built into a hill behind the house, and the studio was, of course, a later addition. It backs to the house and faces out to the upper pastures.
It’s accessed by the steps to the deck from the driveway.
Or by a stone path that leads around the other side to the back porch of the house.
The space is amazing in its bones. In the details, it’s a total gut job. (Note that the studio is currently a major landing area for unpacked boxes as well as furniture that doesn’t fit anywhere else.)
As it currently exists, there is a small but complete kitchen in the rear. It has a gas stove, small fridge, dishwasher, etc, and they even left a microwave.
There is a large closet taking up quite a bit of space to the right side of the kitchen area.
Oddly, when I first saw the studio, there was a bed in the kitchen. Right next to the kitchen sink/cabinets, etc. It really was just about the only place to put a bed, I suppose. This studio is really not big enough for a kitchen, bed, and sitting area. The only bed that would fit in here would be a Murphy-style bed or a sleeper sofa. As I mentioned before there were two men living in the house at the time I first saw it, and the sister of one of the men lived in the studio.
There is also a full bathroom in the studio with a shower.
In order to create a health department-approved commercial kitchen for classes and anything else I may want to do with it in the future, numerous changes will have to be made–which is why I say this is a total gut job. Aside from my “wants” there are also specific codes that must be followed. The flooring is unacceptable as is. (Carpet is a no-no for commercial approval.) I’m not sure about the walls, but they are most likely unacceptable and will need sealed in some way at the least, if not drywalled. I appreciate wood, but the studio walls and ceiling make the space very dark–in spite of the walls of glass doors. I like light and bright and airy. And of course, the kitchen setup as it stands is also unacceptable for commercial purposes.
However! What fun! I get to reimagine it and recreate it. The space itself is perfect. Here is what I see.
Closet–ripped out. It’s taking up space in my kitchen. The kitchen should wrap around all three rear walls, big commercial sink and so on. Huge island in the center of the kitchen space for demonstrations and classes, surrounded by bar stools for students. The walls and ceilings redone to make the space light and bright and airy, just how I love it.
In the outer sitting area, there is room for a large dining table for entertaining and other gatherings.
The views are awesome from the walls of glass doors.
There is a great multi-level deck leading off the studio going out to the upper pasture or down to the goat yard and barn area.
The possibilities this space offers are HUGE. And while I was much closer to achieving my dream of a commercial kitchen for classes and more with the work I’d done at Stringtown Rising, this space is SO MUCH BETTER. (And I don’t regret the work I did on my downstairs project at the other farm. That space is now a “sellable” space whereas before I did the work on it in the past year, it looked like a disaster. Now that the house is on the market, I’m glad to have the space in a marketable condition that adds value to the property. I didn’t know that’s what I was doing at the time, but sometimes life works that way.) It will take me longer to achieve my dream here, but my dream here is so much bigger because the space offers so much more potential.
The studio doesn’t offer any space for accommodations, of course–and neither does the house, since it’s quite small. BUT! Here is the direction I’m headed now: I want to build cabins–and there are many sites on this farm that are suited to this idea. (Not in the house area–along some of the nature trails at the base of the hillsides.) I’m thinking about cabins such as these–with the studio as the gathering/dining/teaching space.
So, as you can see now, this is a goal I’ll have to accomplish in stages, but I’m very excited about the potential here. Watch me make this amazing space happen!
I shall start with unpacking….
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Dec
13
This is one of those projects that cause Morgan to say, “You’re so insane.”
I’m a big fan of real Christmas trees. Whether we go out in the woods to choose one and cut it down, or pick one out in front of a store, a real tree is Christmas to me. And maybe because when I was growing up, my parents always had a fake tree. In similar fashion, Morgan–who has almost always had a real tree growing up–longs for a fake one.
The human spirit is so contrary.
I turned this Christmas tree issue over in my mind for weeks. While I love real Christmas trees, they can be a hassle to handle, getting them in and out of the house, in the stand, and so on. Do I really want to handle a real tree on my own? They have some truly lovely fake trees now that are pre-lit (no tangling with lights!) and some that are “slim” trees that would fit perfectly in my small living room. I looked at various slim pre-lit trees, mostly in the 7- to 8-foot range. The nicer ones were a tad expensive, but if I’m going to buy a fake tree, it would be smarter to make an investment in one I truly love, not just buy a quickie cheap one that I would eventually be dissatisfied with and want to replace. I can’t afford a nice fake Christmas tree right now.
Meanwhile, I was distracted by brink-of-winter preparations at my new farm, much more focused on hay and fencing for the animals, and trying to get the house painted and feeling like my own. As the temperatures got a little colder, it hit me that there was no coat closet here, so I’d turn over in my mind the need for a coat tree or there would be coats scattered all over the house all winter. Then I’d remember the Christmas tree and think about that again. Then I’d spend the day getting hay and forget all about my other winter conundrums again. Then I’d wonder how I was going to paint that very tippy-top part of the wall over the stairs.
Then I’d worry about the fact that we had no Christmas tree again.
THEN I HAD A BRAINSTORM.
So I went to K-Mart and bought an inexpensive coat tree for $29.99 and two packages of plastic green hangers for $1.79 per package and I came home and put the coat tree together.
And hung the green hangers on it.
And strung lights and garland.
And decorated it with ornaments, balls, dried orange slices, cookie stars, and gingerbread men.
Morgan came home and said, “That is NOT our Christmas tree!”
Then she got on Facebook and started sending pictures of the tree to everyone she knew. They called it epic and the best tree they’d ever seen. She brought a friend home for the weekend and her friend said she wished it was her Christmas tree. Every time someone comes over, she can’t wait to show them the tree. Me, too. The tree makes people laugh, and that’s a good thing.
I’m not quite done decorating it yet. I’m planning to add more ornaments and some popcorn garland–if I find time to make it. But here’s the tree:
Now Morgan loves the tree, and so do I. There are many years and many Christmas trees along life’s road, and most of them are forgotten or blend together in the haze of time. But one day, Morgan is going to be decorating a tree with her children and she’s going to say, “Let me tell you about the time Granny Suzanny didn’t have enough money to buy a tree and you know what she did…..”
Yep.
Best Christmas tree ever.
And even better?
After Christmas, I’ll have a coat tree!
P.S. I haven’t figured out yet how to paint the tippy-top of that wall yet. Perhaps I need to find a holiday into which I can work a ladder purchase.
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Dec
8
I’ve been working hard painting. Sorta like peeing on the house, ya know? (Sorry for that analogy.) I have an intense need to make it mine. I painted my bedroom, then painted half of the downstairs–the living room and the dining room. I’m probably going to take a break from painting now and go back to unpacking and sorting things out, then I’ll go back to painting. I have a lot of painting to do as I intend to paint the entire house.
For now, here is the new living room with the accent wall at the fireplace finished.
And yes, all the cords will be hidden when I complete the open floor-to-ceiling shelving project.
I’m taking the “sandbar” neutral throughout the house, but the dining room is set off by molding and seemed to call out for its own color. I didn’t want to go too different there as I didn’t want it to compete with the fireplace accent wall, so I used a color two shades down on the same color card as the “sandbar” so that it would be complementary. Here is the finished dining room paint job:
I really like how that came out. It’s similar enough that it doesn’t compete or conflict, but different enough to lend a certain presence of its own to the dining room and ground it as its own space. (And to the right, behind the china cabinet, that is still the old yellow paint. I haven’t gotten to that wall yet.)
The transformation is dramatic. The space has gone from too bright to warm, cozy, inviting, and earthy.
There is much more to do in these rooms as I have barely started decorating. It will take some time for me to live with the rooms and figure out what I want to do with the walls and to complete projects like the shelving and the vintage window wall art, etc. But, that is part of the fun. If everything was done all at once, what would I have to think about? Paint is the foundation. Now I will enjoy slowly completing the spaces to suit myself.
Meanwhile….
….I’m enjoying myself here at Sassafras House!
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Dec
6
Upstairs!
As you can see, the yellow paint is still alive and well in the stairway. I’m working my way from the living room, back through the house, and then around and up. It’s going to be a long process.
If the paint color looks weird, that’s just lighting. It’s the same yellow everywhere. At least, downstairs. Once you get upstairs, it’s mostly white.
This house is small. I find it cozy and perfect. But, it is small by today’s standards, and I’ve been told that size was the major obstacle in selling it. A family just can’t see themselves in a house this size, and the size is no more apparent than when you go upstairs. That said, I’ve been told that at one time, many years ago, a family with TEN children lived here.
Those were different times. Today, a family of four can’t see themselves here. But, for me, it’s perfect and I love it. By the way, I apologize for taking so long to get to the upstairs tour. I was hoping to get more things hung on the walls and fixed up better, but I guess I will have to do an “after” tour later! I got quite distracted painting downstairs. Please remember that we only moved into this house a couple of weeks ago when you look at these pictures. It’s mostly a mess.
There are three “bedrooms” upstairs, though by today’s standards, you could realistically only claim two and an office. There is also a full bathroom up upstairs (and there is another full bathroom and laundry room downstairs).
This is the smaller room, which is QUITE SMALL. It was used by the previous owners as an office.
I have a twin bed in here and it makes a place for Ross to bunk when he visits. (Weston sleeps in the studio.) Ross did actually stay here over Thanksgiving, but most of this “stuff” wasn’t here then. Morgan’s idea of packing is packing at the last minute. In other words, she finished “packing” over the weekend (THIS weekend!). We did our major move a couple of weeks ago, but we are still moving and cleaning out over at Stringtown Rising. Meaning, the kids’ rooms. Especially Morgan’s. And so here is a collection of her dolls and other things that she has temporarily landed here while she’s working on organizing her room.
I also have some temporary landing boxes in this room.
Here is the small hallway upstairs. This is one of my other landing areas for boxes.
One of the things I love about the upstairs is that all the rooms follow the roofline. Every room has slanted ceilings in one way or another.
This is Morgan’s room, which has a neat alcove where she put her bed.
She wanted her bed directly on the floor in the alcove. She wants to paint the alcove one color, and the rest of the room another color. She’s collecting paint chip cards. And when I say “she” wants to paint her room, I mean she wants ME to paint her room.
In the slanted ceiling of the alcove, she found a love note left by some long ago lover in the drywall. “I love Daniel.”
This is the view of her room from the other direction.
She loves it. It’s cute. I like it, too.
And now for my room…….
I LOVE MY BEDROOM.
I painted it a dusty rose on three walls, and mauve as an accent wall behind the headboard.
SUZANNE! YOU PAINTED YOUR ROOM PINK! YOU’LL NEVER GET ANOTHER MAN THAT WAY!
Exactly.
The previous owners left this little antique writing desk.
I love it. I’m using it as a TV stand.
Here’s my little green table. I have a phone, my Kindle, and my remote control.
On the little shelf below, I have my study book du jour.
I want to start keeping bees.
There’s also an awesome closet in my bedroom that was a surprise. I opened the closet door and looked in when I first toured the house, but clothes blocked my view of how deep this closet went.
There’s more space here than I realized. Excellent. Right now, it’s just boxes stacked around because I haven’t had time to organize yet. My clothes aren’t even in here yet. I’ll get there. It’s a great closet. When I started moving in and discovered the true size, I said, “Whoa.” And Morgan said, “That’s not fair.”
Did you see that sign?
I’m guessing that was the previous owners’ farm sign. I found it in my closet.
And that’s it. That’s the upstairs! It’s adorable, all of it, and I love it. I especially love my bedroom. It’s my haven. It’s small, but that’s the best thing about it. I feel enclosed, safe, warm, and cozy there.
I’m so in love with this little old house, it’s ridiculous.
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Dec
5
The living room is undergoing a transformation.
This is how it looked when I moved in.
This is what I’m doing to it now.
I’m taking a soft neutral color (“sandbar” on the paint chip card–Walmart, for those of you interested in the color) throughout the first floor and up the stairway into the hall.
I liked the accent wall around the fireplace, but the green there was too light to provide contrast against the neutral sandbar, so I’m redoing it with a richer, deeper green (color card name: “cool tropical reign”) that really stands out and makes the mantel pop. I’m going to be doing something special in the dining room, too, and I’ll show you that when I get to it.
My color inspiration for the living room comes from this throw that I love.
It has blues, greens, cranberries, golds, and tans. I just love that combination. It’s interesting, but relaxing. Dramatic, but cozy. (If you find yourself really attracted to something in your house with a certain color combination, think about building a room around it. You’re sure to love it!) I have all of those colors in the room with my furniture and the walls, and I have a few more touches coming up with some projects.
One project is to build floor-to-ceiling open shelving on either side of the fireplace. I want the shelving open, revealing the rich green behind it, but the shelving will also allow me to hide cords using decor on the shelves as well as provide a lot of storage and display space for my favorite things.
I browsed around trying to find help with figuring out how to build the shelving in my imagination and found these shelves. They aren’t exactly what I want to build, but bear enough similarities in the expression to help me think better about what I want to create. I love the welded steel supports for the shelves, and the reclaimed wood shelving. I’m not sure I can come up with the reclaimed wood, but I’ve got the word out. Meanwhile, I’m also thinking of other ways to do the shelves using new wood. I want to bring in the “blue” from my inspiration throw here with a grayish-blue stain or whitewash on the wood, and if I end up using new wood, I can always distress it.
For the wall to the left of the fireplace wall, I have another project.
This is a window that came out of an old school. I used it at one point as part of a homemade cold frame. At this point, this vintage wooden window frame is so naturally distressed that I’m going to have to add some white paint, then sand some off to create a weathered look. I’m going to hang the window frame on the wall and add a beady or vine-y something to it, not much. I’ll be going for a minimal, simple look. I’ve always wanted to use an old window as wall art, and now’s the time. Here’s a link that shows some neat ways to use old windows.
I’ll show you more photos as I work on the projects in this room, and when it’s all finished and put together. I’m having so much fun with my cute little old house!
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Posted by Suzanne McMinn |
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