My Studio

 

I am so thankful for the three rooms we have upstairs! The boys each have their room and the third room I claimed as my studio. It’s where I sew, craft, paint, scrapbook,etc. It still has the old linoleum that we eventually want to replace with something else, but for now it will have to do. When we moved into our house, all the trim, doors, etc. was stained oak and little by little I painted it. I think I have now officially gotten rid of all the orange in our house! The upstairs was the first paint project I tackled when we moved here. I think it took me a whole week to paint all the trim, doors, etc.! The past few years I had some red in the studio and recently I’ve been really attracted to whites and I thought that would be a nice bright color to work in. This is what the studio looked like before…

Now, after some paint and redecorating…

I confess to stealing this tool chest out of the garage. it was that bright red color  that most of those tool boxes are. I spray painted it white and added little labels on the drawers so I know what’s in them.

I bought these canvas storage totes at TJ Max for eight dollars each. I added the numbers using carbon paper to transfer the letters and a sharpie marker to paint them…

A few years ago, John and I made this desk/shelf combo. We used 3/8th inch plywood and spent only a total of $60.00! (paint&everything)

Love antiques!

One of my favorite spaces and it didn’t cost a cent! (just an old door and saw horses)

I love to use jars to store my things…

These clipboards cost only cents at Walmart. I covered them with a vintage looking drawer liner.

I couldn’t resist these little cuties! (Target, $0.50 each!)

This counter is on casters and used to be twice as wide. At one point over moving, we took the top off and cut it in half for easier mobility. The past years I had the two parts together and had it in the middle of the room where I used it to cut fabric. When we were Amish, I of course, made all our clothes. This was a very convenient space to unroll bolts of fabric and cut out dresses and trousers. Now, I moved the other half down to the basement canning kitchen to be used as an island. I hired my poor niece to help me move it desperately one day. I admit I am a very impulsive, often impatient person and when I get the urge to do something it usually has to happen now! Needless to say, these cabinets are very heavy and I am quite proud of Catherine (my niece) to be brave enough to help me lug the other half down two flights of stairs!

I saved a lot of space by putting the sewing machine in the closet and since the cherry color doesn’t match with anything else in the studio it works out great to just shut the closet doors…

So there, you have a tour of my studio…it’s still not totally where I want it to be but for now it will certainly do…

Thanks for visiting!

Bedroom Transformation

 

Who would of thought that the bedroom I had as young lady would someday be transformed into a room for a very special young man…one that has held, for the past thirteen years, a very special place in my heart…

It’s quite frightening at times how much he’s growing up! I do know that even though he can pick his mama up (or throw her down…if I’m laughing too much!) he will always be my special firstborn. He has always been a mamas boy and I pray that won’t ever change!

 

Kenny’s room is on the west side of the house and is facing our pond. Growing up, I remember very clearly the soothing sound of tree frogs and crickets coming through the open window during the summer nights and the croak of grandfather bull frogs as they led the chorus. The room had it’s disadvantages too, being the hottest in the summer and the coldest in the winter.

 

When I was Kenny’s age, I was in the middle of my obsession with horses and anything to do with the wild west…Indians, cowboys, outlaws, gunmen, etc. I now know I was pretty extreme because I would be seriously concerned if one of my boys would go to the extent I did. I had all my walls and furniture covered with posters of horses or native American decorations. I even had a saddle sitting in one corner. I read nothing but Louis L’amour (which I still like) and anything to do with cowboys & Indians. I used to know every detail of the OK Corral gunfight and every Billy the kid adventure. I even had plans to have my own ranch out west someday and raise horses…hmmm, now that never crosses my mind anymore. I do still stand in awe at the beauty of a horse and I would love to go out west someday just to see it, but all those dreams have been forgotten and long since become true in other ways that only God knew how to fulfill for me.

Anyway, back to the room that holds all those great memories..this is what it looked like before we redid it and turned it into an older boy’s room…(clutter and all)

  First, I removed the wallpaper border using warm water mixed with downy fabric softener…

I wanted to paint stripes on the one wall using four different colors Kenny and I picked out. He wanted his room to have a western theme and earthy colors. We picked a caramel for the plain walls and chose a dark red, off white, and dark brown to go with the caramel for the stripes.

The first step was measuring and marking to get straight lines for the caramel stripes.

The stripes have no set pattern. I made little marks up near the ceiling, in the middle of the wall and towards the bottom, just to get the masking tape straight.

I used a brush to apply the paint, A roller works great too but I didn’t have any on hand and thought it won’t cost as much to use a brush that can be washed after each color and used again.

I started with the caramel and by the time I came to the other end the first stripes were dry enough to take off the tape and apply fresh tape for the next color.

After some hours later (or more like a day)…

 

This is an old desk I picked up in a garage sale…

After…

 

Little bro running barrels

I was so impressed with the antique bed I picked up in a local thrift store. Incidentally, I had an old dresser here that matched perfectly. It was one I had gotten a few years ago in a garage sale. I didn’t need to do a thing with either of the pieces.

 

 

I ordered some glass knobs on ebay for a decent price. They aren’t real glass but serve the purpose for now.

I made the sign using carbon paper to transfer the lettering and painting with a paint marker.

I really, really would have loved to find a red bandana quilt set but, no luck. ( I am still thinking of making one someday) I thought it would fit in so well with the western theme and the red stripes on the wall. I ended up making the sham covers and horse shoe pillow.

This little piece of furniture is quite memorable to me. It is the very first piece of furniture that I took a skil saw to. It used to be a six drawer bureau and one day I decided I needed a coffee table, so I cut off the top part which served its purpose as a coffee table for a few years. I remember being deathly afraid of that saw! (or was it fear of hubs when I would need to call him at work with the news that I’m missing a few fingers?) Thankfully, so far I haven’t had to do that!

 

I wasn’t too sure if I dare enter Kenny’s room to take these pictures when I saw this sign…

 

Thanks for visiting! I always enjoy your comments and of course any in sight or tips you may have!

Kitchen Chair Makeover

Recently I have been doing some furniture make overs for people that I will share with you. So before you get rid of discolored, orangish oak furniture, consider giving it a new life simply by painting it. Here is a before shot of the chairs I redid:

Here they are still the original finish, which for some reason on a lot of older oak I work with, turns sticky. The owner of these had a hard time cleaning them since they were so sticky.

I used a rough sand paper on my electric sander and sanded them a little, not completely taking the finish off, just getting them a little more dull and removing any dirt.

After painting them with a black, painter & primer in one (I used my air sprayer) I distressed the edges. It’s always a good idea to distress furniture like this since it’s quite likely that some paint will come off over the years. That way it will just look like it’s supposed to be off.

For the final step here, I applied a coat of Polyurtherene, which will help with the wear and tear. I applied this with a brush.

The seats of these chairs got two coats of Polyurtherene, making them smoother. After the first coat was dry, I used a small piece of cardboard to sand and then applied the second coat.

So now the chairs are easy to clean, with a nice, smooth finish. And since most of the kitchen that they reside in is stained oak, the chairs give it a nice break!

Frosty the Snowman

Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul,
With a corncob pipe and a button nose
And two eyes made out of coal.

Well, maybe this Frosty doesn’t have a button nose and a corncob pipe but he does look like a jolly, happy fellow, doesn’t he?

He’s also very simple to make. And not to mention, hardly costs a dime. All you need is seven pieces of wood cut offs…

There’s more than one way to make the little guy. For this one, I used two 11” pieces for the bottom. Two 8” pieces for the middle and one 5” piece for his face. These pieces are all 4” wide. For the hat I used a 51/2” x 7” piece with a 3”x3”x4” topper.

You can arrange the pieces how you want, adding more for a taller snowman or less for a shorter one.

Next, I glued the pieces together and fastened them with nails. ( I did get hubby to hammer some of them since the wood was pretty hard and the nails wanted to go in crooked) Next time I’d stick with faithful screws. Either way, It works best to drill holes for the nails and screws first.

Next, I painted him…

Lastly I added the buttons, nose and scarf. I cut the nose I cut out of scrapbooking paper. I glued everything with my trusty glue gun.

Frosty will make a nice gift or a simple country decoration for your own home…

Good Luck!