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When God Shows Off

September 12, 2017

Karen Coldspring Leave a comment

Friends, before I start this post you need to know that I do not believe that you are blessed because something bad doesn’t happen to you.  If I believed that then it would mean that you are NOT blessed if something bad happens.  I just don’t buy it.  Here is why:

It has been rough around these parts lately.  Unless you live under a rock you might have noticed that my neck of the woods got hammered by a dude named Harvey.  FYI, hurricanes are no fun in case anyone is wondering.

We, at Providence Acres got 51 inches of rain over three days but nothing significant flooded.


We got plenty of water, but our house and shop stayed dry.

My parents who are 80 and 82 got water in their home.

Their home- the house I grew up in- got about six inches of water in it.  That six inches was compounded by the fact that there was no electricity for over a week.  Oh, and all the roads leading to their home were blocked.  You literally couldn’t get there without a boat.  Thankfully they had evacuated to our house and ended up with us for 11 days before they could even see the house.

Fast forward a week.

My son and three friends got the nasty wet carpet and laminate out.  What a way to spend Labor Day.


These young men were my heroes.  I will forever be grateful.

The house sat after that.  No electricity, limited accessibility, and all of those who could help had jobs. My parents kept going to the house.  My buddy the Social Planner loaned them a travel trailer to stay in on their property but the house kept getting more and more toxic.


Mold growing, moisture level high, no way to get things better, me worrying, school starting back.  It was a rough week.

Sunday I got a call from friends of my parents letting me know my Dad was on his way to Urgent Care.  We had begged, pleaded, cried, and negotiated to keep them out of the house to no avail.  Dad had a sinus infection and bronchitis. We rushed back to their home for the third time in a week to find my mom sick, my dad sick and nothing had changed with the house.

I was mad.  Mad at them for going into the house after promising that they wouldn’t, mad at where they live for not getting it together enough to get power on and services coordinated, and… mad at God.  Where was He in this mess?  Had he forgotten these two? I cried.  Buckets of tears folks and it wasn’t pretty.   When I arrived at their home I realized that help had arrived.  A team from near Tyler was busy getting the house emptied of stuff and was dealing with two very grumpy seniors who were not feeling well.


They had packed up everything in their home and moved it out under cover while they were at the doctor.  I didn’t get a single picture of them because I was so distraught but the photo above is what they did for us.  I don’t even know where they are from, but it is near Tyler, Texas and the word Rose is in their churches name. Oh how grateful we are to them.

It took some work and my promising to stay at the trailer overnight to get my parents to leave and go get a good nights sleep.

With a weak plan my brother an I decided to attack the house and get started on the muck out.  Before 7:00 my brother showed up with his son and  got started taking out baseboards.  That is when God decided to show off.  We were tired, scared, and more than a little overwhelmed when a van pulling a red trailer pulled up.  People started getting out of the van in rubber boots, they were carrying hammers, crowbars and wearing masks.  Today, on the only day my brother has had off in 13 days, with my son, my husband, nephew and me there- they arrived to help.


It took their crew 5 hours to do this:


They really were the hands and feet of Jesus.  They were kind, they worked hard, they honored my parents’ wishes, and they never stopped smiling.


They will never know what their one day of service did for all of us.  We will be forever grateful to First Baptist Church Malakoff, Texas.

A big shout out to my brother who had worked 13 straight 12 hour days before showing up to clear the house and my nephew who jumped right in with both feet to get things done.


It was a great day.  We left the house locked up with bleach soaking the studs.

Thank you to those of you who have been praying for Texas and now Florida.

Blessings,

Karen

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Our Outdoor Kitchen Adventure 

June 30, 2017

Karen Coldspring 1 Comment

 

If you check in with me on Facebook, then you know we have been working on an outdoor kitchen in preparation for our full-time indoor kitchen to be out of commission.  Mr. Math has worked hard on the kitchen but with teaching summer school and my new and much more demanding job, it was a slow start.  Just about the time we were making progress, sub tropical Cindy rolled through and the tropical moisture has hung around.  We are getting rain daily.  Our yard is beautiful, especially for end of June, but painting and carpentry outside has been a challenge.  I am happy to report we now have running water, a sink that drains properly, a galvanized metal counter and a storage cabinet that has sealed rusty metal as inserts n our outdoor kitchen.

A glorious sink outside.  This will be a place for the dudes to clean up when they are working on machines, cleaning fish, and smoking meat.  Yay for me!  No more nasty stuff coming inside.

The counter top will look weathered with time and when I am happy with the finish it will be sealed.  The backsplash is the same material.  I am not sure it is finished.  I think it may need more screws to smooth it down.

We are grandparents now and it is funny the things that worry us that we might not have worried about before.  Like sharp corners.  They are all covered with corner piece.

The cabinets are painted with Behr Circus which is a soft, rusty, red.  It blends well with the redwood stained picnic table.

I love those corrugated tin inserts.  The tin is from Mr. Math’s family farm.  It is at least 60 years old, but my guess is it is older.  It all got coated with polyurethane before being installed to seal it.

Here is what is finished.  We couldn’t finish the shelf underneath because we ran out of 1X6 boards but it will be quick work.  I am going to stain and seal the boards.  I am thinking that the drain needs to painted either silver or black.

The porch will be great once we are through but right now it is a mess.

The slate top is not done and the trim work needs to be finished around it but it is going to look great.  Stone sealer will keep out the yuck.

This is going to be a great spot to hang out, entertain friends, and cook.  I am looking forward to getting this one finished.

Thanks for following along on our journey.

Blessings,

Karen

Weekend Update

June 18, 2017

Karen Coldspring Leave a comment

It was another busy weekend here at Providence Acres.  We had family over, we made a trip to see my sweet daddy for Father’s Day, we picked a pile of peas, tomatoes, squash, peppers, and kale.  I now have a freezer full of produce for later.  

We also made progress on the outdoor kitchen.  This is a low budget, heavy use project so, we were way more concerned with functionality than aesthetics.  It will be stained barn red and will look better, but honestly not having the dudes run in the house to use my sink to clean fish, wash nasty hands, or drip meat juices makes my heart sing.   The timing of this project is crucial because my inside kitchen is about to be under renovation and I will never wash dishes in the bathtub again.  Two homes we lived in required me to do dishes on my knees at some point and I am over that.  Forever.

Mr. Math built the sink base out of treated 3/4 inch plywood and 4X4 posts.  The stainless double sink was a side of the road find.  We bought the cheapest faucet they had at Home Depot that had a spray attachment.

It took us over an hour in HD to puzzle out the plumbing but the sink now drains 55 feet away so the fish water won’t be gross smelling when we are sitting on the deck.

The counters are this sheet metal.  It took two sheets to clad the counter.

So far, we have the metal roof extension, counter clad in metal, deck power washed, drain in, and plumbing for water worked out.  We didn’t get the right water connection but it should go quickly. 


Next will be to add cabinets up on the deck that will back up to the sink and will be backed and topped in metal.  We are also going to be adding a very small hot water heater.  

I am so excited that my farmhouse sink and faucet arrived from Overstock safe and sound.  


The quartz has been selected.  Zodiaq concrete.  


The backsplash will be this awesome herringbone marble.


Mr. Math is going to redo the cabinets so that they look like white shaker style.  

Next week I will be so super busy that I will be out of commission but soon I hope to have pictures of a finished outdoor kitchen all staged and looking nice.

Have a wonderful week,

Blessings,

Karen

A Little Update

June 12, 2017

Karen Coldspring 2 Comments

I promise I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.  Really, I am still alive and kicking.  Right after I wrote to you that I missed you and was back, there was another turn in my road.  I was offered the opportunity to be Director of Elementary Instruction for the fast growing district I have worked for the past four years.  Crazy.  It has taken all my extra minutes just to catch up.  You see, for the past 10 years my focus has been secondary and or advanced students.  I have had terms to learn, programs to get up to speed on, research to read, and plans to make.

I am excited for this opportunity and expect this to be my last stop in public education before  retiring, but I would have said that about my last position too, so what do I know.

In the next week, I will have a few posts that include our outdoor kitchen (which had to be finished first), the kitchen renovation that is imminent, and what is up at our little cabin in the woods.

I spent a few moments this evening looking longingly at my shop.  I must make time to get back to what feeds my creative side.

I hope all is well in your lives,

Blessings,

Karen

Using the Restoration Hardware Finish to Fix a Problem

April 11, 2017

Karen glazing, rescuing damaged furniture, Roadside Rescue, vintage style , , Leave a comment

A pile of tables were given to me.  I know.  I am so very lucky.

tables

The table I worked on this weekend was the one at the back in this picture.  I know I should have taken a better picture of the table, but in true form I just got in the mood to paint and jumped in.  It is how I operate when a lot is going on.  Paint first, think later.
The tables had been in a vacant house left by previous renters and this one was in pretty rough shape.
I fell in love with particular table because I have an identical one that is in great shape from my mom.   My table is a family piece that I would get grounded if I painted.  This one I am free to do what I want to.

I spray painted the legs with chalk spray paint I picked up at Walmart.  I liked the paint but frankly it wasn’t worth the extra cost for the chalk finish.  I should have just purchased flat white paint.


This table at one point sat under a leak and had water stains along with a water ring that just wouldn’t come out, even with sanding the finish off.  I tried my darkest stain, Minwax Jacobean, and the stain still showed through.  Bummer.


I knew I wanted the top of the table to be stained with the bottom painted, so I knew I needed a solution to my water problem.  The solution was my Restoration Hardware Weathered Oak Finish for the top.

I figured out this finish through trial and error and have used it several times like here on the bathroom vanity in our suburban house

dresser to bathroom vanity

and here on the top and sides of the Funky Dresser

Funky Dresser

It is a finish that covers a lot of flaws and is almost foolproof.  This finish is the most popular post on my blog, so I guess I am not alone in using the simple process.

Pickling Stain on top of the stained wood then wipe off in the direction of the wood grain almost immediately.


It always looks a little nasty at this point and every time I second guess my decision.

The next step is to apply a coat of Jacobean stain over the top.


Wipe off the excess stain with the grain and voila- the water rings disappear.

I sanded the paint slightly on the legs and will ne adding a clear protective finish to the top of the table once I am sure the stain has dried completely.


It turned out great and gave me the satisfaction of getting one project done this past weekend.

I don’t know where this table will end up, but I really think it is pretty.

I hope you were productive this last weekend,

Blessings,

Karen

Hair Pin Leg Winfall

April 10, 2017

Karen cedar lumber, Coldspring, DIY, Mid Century , 1 Comment

I have a thing for mid century stuff.  I particularly like hairpin legs.  I never really cared for the Formica topped version of the 1950’s atomic, futuristic, sharp angled tables but I love the bent metal legs mixed with natural elements.

The photo above showed my screen when I searched Google Images for hairpin legs.
Two times in the last month hairpin legs fell into my lap thanks to The Social Planner.

At an estate sale my buddy, The Social Planner found this set of four coffee table legs.  It was Sunday afternoon.  They were getting ready to wrap up.  I am not sure they knew what they were.  I got them for $2.00.  For the set.  .50 per leg.

The coffee table legs are going to get a slab of cedar for a petite coffee table in the guest shed.  It is under construction now.



The next set, my buddy found in a trash pile at our little cabin in the woods!  There are three table height legs which isn’t that unusual. It was common to have three legs in hairpin tables.  I wish I had a picture of her climbing into the pile to get them out.  The photo below shows a three legged table off Etsy from Winespirations.   I wish I had a wine barrel lid, but I think I will have something even cooler if I am just patient.


See the giant fallen tree below? Mr. Math is going to cut a section of this tree (called a cookie) for me to put on top of theses legs.  The diameter of the trunk is 34 inches. I am not sure where it will end up when finished.  I may be selling this particular table.  It is going to be a fun project.


I sprayed all of the legs with a rust arresting spray paint then flat black paint.  The will last forever if they aren’t allowed to rust.


Above is the difference between the legs once they are cleaned up and sprayed.

This is going to be a long process with lots of coats of poly, but I am looking forward to have something to do each evening that is pretty mindless.  My life is about to have another twist in the road that even I did not see coming.  More later.  For now, the weather here is beautiful, the garden is growing, and it is dry enough to paint outside.  Now if only the gale force winds would stop.  Oh well, we can’t have it all.

Didn’t Mr. Math do a stellar job on the south pasture this weekend?  It looks like a golf course.

I hope you had a great weekend. 

Thank you for following along on our journey.  

I love hearing from you,

Karen

The Guest Shed

April 3, 2017

Karen Coldspring, family, Fun with friends, JJ Lane, Mid Century , , 1 Comment

One of the reasons we bought this beautiful property we live on is so that we can share it with our families and friends. We have done what we could with our home to allow for more overnight guests.  We have a sleeper sofa, a Murphy bed in the craft room, a queen bed and a a crib in the guest room.  The house holds a lot of folks.  More than once it has held 20 + young men.  (We stayed with friends those weekends… that was too much of a good thing.)

As our family and friends have come to visit we have realized that we need a separate space for visitors.  I even see us heading out to the guest house when our friends with a lot of kids or when both of our kids come with their families because we are early risers and noisy.  We also have an early riser dog. She is noisier than we are.

 This is my idea for a guest house:

I call her the guest shed.  I have dreamed about redoing her since 2015 although the colors have changed, I still want that mid century vibe.

The previous owner used this space as his woodworking shop and “man cave”.  He installed a sink, hardwood flooring reclaimed from a gymnasium, and cabinets.  He also built a wood burning stove that is the craziest looking thing ever.  


It needs a good coat of high heat paint. ( Can you tell he was a welder? )

 We are going to add a bathroom to the space, move the sink location, set up a kitchenette.   More on the bathroom later.

The vibe is going to be mid century-kitsch. The walls are going to be a really pale turquoise, there will be plenty of red and white.  Think light, bright and airy.  


I have collected some fun mid century furniture and a mint condition chrome UFO light.  The light was still in the original box, unopened.  I am smitten.  When it is on the pin holes look like UFO lights- yay for mid century atomic.  That bulb thing on the light is a pulley to adjust the height of the light.  There is a frosted glass light diffuser that attaches to the bottom of the light. 

I picked the light and two mid century walnut framed low slung chairs up at a garage sale for $2.00 each. No lie.  $6.00 dollars total.   ( Here is the post about the finds at the garage sale.)


At that same garage sale I got a porcelain cast iron sink to use in the kitchen.  ($5.00). The sink is stained and there are a few worn places but overall it is in great shape.  It is getting a coat or three of epoxy.


 I also have picked up a vintage kitchen upper cabinet set that are getting painted white. 


Before I can get started we need to replace the shop board along the back wall that is all full of holes for tools and paint the walls then install a drop ceiling. 


 This is what we are planning to use.


After the dropped ceiling is in, I am going to use the same stuff we used on our garage apartment to restore the floor without making it look brand new.

I have a double modified to be a queen sized iron bed going in along with the funky dresser and a chrome 1950’s table and chairs that are currently kicking my hiney.  Mr. Math did a much better job than me, but the back of them still isn’t done. Soon I will share what we learned from this process.  There were lessons learned!


I am so excited about this fun, funky, kitschy, bright space we plan on working on this summer.   It is going to make me happy to just walk in.  As soon as it is all finished I think we are thinking putting it on air bnb when we don’t need it for guests.  With the huge Houston area Boy Scouts camp going in down the road I think there will be a need for parents who want to stay nearby. 

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