burlap | The Weekend Country Girl

Master Bedroom Pinning

January 24, 2015

Karen burlap, Decorating, Decorating with mirrors, Dresser, home decorating, master bedroom, the suburban home getting the house the way we want it., master bedroom makeover, Pinterest, restful room Leave a comment

Well, I had time on my hands in my day this week while out on school visits. Not enough time to go back to the office but too much time to be idle.

Two thoughts kept running through my brain.
1. I want to change the look of our master bedroom.

2. If we get the land we are looking at buying, the exterior of the house must change.

If you follow me on Pinterest (kasmithson) then you can probably see what I am thinking about working on because I start pinning like crazy when I am collecting ideas. This week I started a new board for the master bedroom and one for the front of the plain Jane ranch house with an undersized front porch that we are hoping to buy. (Crazy, I know but we love the land, the location, and the outbuildings. The house will be a project for years to come.)

Since we don’t have our lake house sold or the other place purchased yet, I decided to focus on the master bedroom at our Burb house.

I am totally blaming this upcoming redo on Joanna Gaines and HGTV. I love the look the homes she decorates. The rooms are restful, stylish, and have a sense of history. Our home is a newish, tract home that is long on space but short on character.

Here are a few shots of our master bedroom today.

It isn’t awful, but we really need to have a king sized bed, and the room is lacking in character. When our son and daughter in law come back from overseas and collect their furniture, the master bedroom furniture will move into our guest room.

Here is my wish list for our bedroom update:

A “Shiplap” wall.

( I did not know I loved this so much until HGTV’s Fixer Upper)

The House of Smith has a great tutorial for getting it up here.Planked Wall

A reclaimed wood headboard.

I want the bed to look just like this one from The Accent Piece

Faux built in cabinetry.

I like something like this for This Old House only I want the window seats under our two windows and drawers instead of cabinet doors in the center section.

I want a tripod lamp.

I already have the parts for one like this: Dwelling Cents Tripod Lamp

What stays:

The triple mirror and the crystal lamps will be a part of the design. The lamps will be going on the side tables and the triple mirror on the side wall.

The coolest chair ever. It was rescued by my mom and dad. When it was delivered to me it was in pieces. I love this 1940’s low-slung chair . It is so comfortable.

The side tables. They are a pair that I made over a while back. They used to be part of an entertainment center.

The bench. It will get recovered.

The curtains, although they will need to be raised to the ceiling so that they are raised enough that they fit with the benches that will go under each window. I really like those lined burlap curtains.

That means the headboard- which I love- goes, and the oak furniture will head to storage until the kids come home to get their furniture then move to the guest room.

The biggest project will be figuring out the built in wall unit. I want it to look like a built in wall unit but really be a piece that will come apart and move with us. It will need to go from one side of the room to the other with a drawers, closed storage and drawers. I am looking at ReStores and at Hotel furniture sellers for base cabinets.

I have a feeling we will get on this as soon as the lake house is on the market.

Thanks for reading my blog. I love hearing from all of you.

Blessings,

Karen

Weekend Finds at Canton

March 2, 2014

Karen burlap, Thrifting, traveling Canton First Mondays, Shopping for bargains, Trade Days 2 Comments

Saturday could not have been a better day to go to one of the oldest and largest Trade Days in Texas. The sun was shining and it was 62degrees when we pulled up. We pulled up to the site with about 100,000 others.

We are parked across the street from that line of cars. Somewhere in that mass. I couldn’t pass up showing you that our trees are budding out here. Spring really is coming.

Can you imagine living in a sleepy little town about 26 days a month, only to be overrun four days just prior to the first Monday of each month? I am pretty sure we are a mixed blessing to the residents. These Trade Days are run by the city of Canton and have been since 1850. They have a web page, a Facebook page, and you can even get an App for your phone to help you while you are there. The visitors provide jobs, allow the town to have amenities that would not be available otherwise and we pay sales taxes. We also clog the roads, fill the restaurants to overflowing, walk on the grass, and in general shut down town. Sorry, Canton.

The official Trade Days site is huge, but there are several other Trade Days sites in Canton too. We like The Village, too but did not make it this weekend.

Trade Days are generally pet friendly. You see dogs everywhere in Trade Days.

The front of the Trade Days site is mostly, but not all, new items and commercial items. The booths are under cover and are a fun place for me to get ideas. There was the coolest place with porch swings made out of a twin bed mattress and rope but they would not give me permission to photograph and I don’t take pictures without permission. Here are a few of the sites that either had signs saying it was okay to photograph or with permission.

The middle section has a big variety of food booths, garage sale like items, and the unexpected.

I bought four of these chairs. They are going to be beautiful.

There are row upon winding row of booths. It would take a whole day to just go through this area.

I look for specific things in this area. I found a window in the site above. I struck out this year on looking for window that is solid glass for a project, but oh well.

The very back of Trade Days is my favorite. Here is a hint. If you like to look for table legs, furniture, industrial lights, and a variety of things “in the raw”… not shined up, cleaned up, or organized, this is your place. The vendors are crusty, the sites are a maze.

Burlap sacks are $1.00 each in this area.

To go directly to this part of the site enter at the West Gate.

We found this headboard on the last row of the whole place. It is going to be a bench for a friend. I just missed the buffet it is leaning against. It would have been my bathroom vanity. Someone got this for a steal. I am jealous.

We bought a mirror for the vanity, two door knob units and some architectural pieces, too while we were out. You will see them soon.

There are a ton of bed and breakfasts nearby but we decided to go at the last minute and they were full. We stayed at Best Western.
My favorite time of the year to go to Canton is October, November, March, and April. It is BOILING hot in summer and could be rainy or cold in winter. We were lucky because the weather Saturday was beautiful. We got up Sunday to temperatures 30 degrees cooler.
If you ever get the chance to go, wear comfortable shoes, pace yourself and enjoy yourself. Let me know if you get to go. I would love to hear your adventures.
Blessings,
Karen

Open House at the Rockin’ F Ranchito

December 5, 2013

Karen burlap, Christmas, Coldspring, Country living, Country Style, Decorating, family, Lake Livingston, Tablescape, Texas, The Rockin' F, wreath Decorating a country house for Christmas, rustic elegance, Texas Christmas, The Rockin' F 1 Comment

My buddy, The Social Planner, went all out for Christmas. She has an amazingly talented niece who made all the decorations. Follow along as I take you on a tour of her beautiful home. This past weekend this was the first stop on our home tour. I am crazy about her beautiful home this holiday season, an am so proud of her for all the hard work creating her forever home.

The Front Porch-
Out on the Rockin’ F the front porch looks out on horses, a red dirt-dead end road, and the most beautiful scenery you can imagine. I love that the porch looks as good as the scenery around it. What a welcoming front porch. The photos below are of the social planner and her sweet niece in law who created the decorations. I caught Claudia putting the wreath up she brought with her Sunday. In the future I am going to interview her. She has been creating Christmas décor for 10 years and decorated 30 + homes this season. She still has a few homes to touch up for holiday parties but is really almost finished. She has a lot to teach me.

Yes, that view is for real off the social planner’s front porch. I love looking at the pond and the horses. The tree line is beautiful.

The Family Room-
Wow! An amazing tree, decorated with Texas themed items. There are stars, boots, rope, and burlap on this tree.

The mantle is beautiful.

There is a Santa collection. The cowboy Santa was added this year.

The buffet is so sweet.

I really like the dining table and decorated chandelier. The dishes have pine cones on them.

My buddy has the best kitchen on the planet.

The Back Porch
This is without a doubt my favorite place on The Rockin F. The back porch is beautiful, peaceful and is a great place to get away from the world. For Christmas, the social planner purchased a stocking for all the grown ups in the family and had them embroidered locally. They are a thick tweed plaid and have a burlap top. The outdoor fireplace looks so beautiful with the mantle decorated.

If you are ever in Coldspring stop by the social planner’s house. She loves company.

http://wp.me/p3Su5W-3dv

Fall Front Yard

October 4, 2013

Karen burlap, Fall decorating, home decorating, moving, Rubbish Rescue decorating with reclaimed wood, fall pumpkins Leave a comment

Have I told you how much I love fall? I love the color, the cooler weather, and spending more time outside. We got busy cleaning up the yard and putting up a little fall decor. Life on the cul de sac is great and the neighbors are known for their Halloween parties so we had to make our house look presentable. The large pumpkins were cut out from left over fencing when we put in the reclaimed wood wall.

DIY HERE for Reclaimed wood pumpkin.
The flower bed is cleaned up, some mums are planted, and the pumpkins are out.

I really did take the stickers off the pumpkins. Not sure why this is the only photo from this angle I saved.

The reclaimed pumpkins add a rustic charm to the front yard of our Austin stone and red brick home.

Here is a close up of the bow.

I really do like the asymmetrical shapes.

Welcome fall!

I left the zinnas that are still blooming so they got to stay. The others are now in the compost.

Semi- Homemade Pumpkin

September 19, 2013

Karen burlap, Country Style, Decorating, DIY, Fall decorating, Thrifting, Thrifty Art fall decorating, Kirklands, never pay retail Leave a comment

I learned something years a ago from my dad. Everything in retail is potentially up for negotiation. May dad will go tool shopping at Sears, and he will ask…”Is this your best price?” When the answer is yes, that is our best price, he asks about floor models, then he asks to speak to the manager. Rarely does he pay the listed price. On anything. I am not as brave as he is, but occasionally I do ask.
Recently I was in Kirklands. It was a 5 day sale and they had some really cute things on sale. I spotted a big wall pumpkin. Regular price was $24.99 but it was on sale for $16.00. I loved the size and the shape but I wasn’t so crazy about the bow.
Here it is online:

When I saw one that had the bow torn loose I worked up my courage and took fit to the register. I asked the nice lady at the register if I could take the torn one at a reduced price. Guess what? Instead of $16.00, she sold it to me for $10.00.

I brought home the pumpkin then got busy.

A new burlap bow, and a cheap fall floral pick later I ended up with a super cute wall decoration. Doesn’t it look cute? I had Hubby hang the window under our covered front walk because it is going to serve as a seasonal backdrop for decorating.

This is a great semi-homemade quick project. I guess Dad knew what he was doing!

Reclaimed Wood Pumpkin

September 9, 2013

Karen burlap, crafting, DIY, Fall decorating, Thrifty Art Girls with power tools, reclaimed fencing, rustic fall decorating 5 Comments

Sometimes a girl just wants a pumpkin. Sometimes a guy is tired and doesn’t want to cooperate. What is a girl to do? Make that pumpkin herself!

Hubby declared this weekend a no work weekend. I tried to cooperate. I promise. But, the armoire needed glazing, the bench needed building, the yard needed mowing and there was scrap wood lying around from the wood wall just crying out to be used.

It was not a “no-work” weekend.

Here are the very simple steps to making the pumpkin.

Collect the reclaimed wood and lay them out side by side on a table top.
Connect the wood together with screws and a drill. I used strips we cut from cutting the sides of each board on the table saw but any wood will work even a whole fence board would have done the job. I drilled a pilot hole then screwed in the screws so that I did not crack the small strips of wood.

Take a marker and draw out a pumpkin shape. I plan on making some bigger ones for the yard next weekend. I like them to look irregular.

Use a jigsaw to follow the shape. I used clamps to hold it in place while I cut. Don’t be scared. I had to make some funny cuts because of the curves.

Here she is naked:

And with a bow:

Tie a burlap bow and silk leaves on the finished product. Ta Dah!

Here is a sneak peek at the armoire. Revival Mahogany, Powdered Snow, and glaze, I am so happy with the results.

Mr. and Mrs. Pillows

August 23, 2013

Karen burlap, Decorating, DIY, DIY Projects, family, new home, painting, Style fabric paint, Mr. and Mrs. Pillows, painting on burlap 5 Comments

The Southern Belle came to visit! YAY! Yippee! Woo Hoo! Is it possible to tell that we were excited to have our girl here for a visit? The only problem was that our son in law, Big Cat, stayed home. More on him later, but he was missed. My newly wed daughter really missed her husband.

Before TSB came home she sent a photo of Mr. and Mrs. pillows asking if we could work on a set of those for her. Heck yeah. Of course. While at Hancock’s Fabric I picked up a $5.99 burlap fabric with a fairly tight weave. I got enough fabric for about 12 pillows, but only got 9 pillows sewn while Shahana was over visiting. I sewed all of the pillows by myself except two because the time ran out. Shahana whipped up the last two in a matter of minutes. Hubby and I were beyond thrilled that Baby Boy and Sweet Amanda came to spend the weekend too. My quiver was full. I love my kids. I made an & sign pillow because I thought I had enough burlap in my bedroom and wanted to make one for the guest room.

The kids came, my parents came, my friends came, and my sister in law and twin nephews came over. Love it.

Even with all the family, we did manage to get the pillows knocked out. Well all but one set. We got 3 sets of Mr. and Mrs. pillows done along with one & sign pillow for me because I already have enough wordy pillows.

Here is how we painted the pillows:

Materials

Fabric paint- dark brown- get the soft variety not textured or slick

Paint brushes

chalk

Burlap pillows- 16 inch square finished

overhead projector

stuffing ( we bought loose stuffing in large bags it took a little less than 3 bags for 4 pillows)

thread and needle to finish the pillows

My friend and I used a borrowed overhead projector to trace out a set of Mr. and Mrs. letters onto the pillows with chalk. The chalk will brush off after the paint dries and will not show up.

The girls painted the chalked letters with artist brushes. We custom mixed the paint by mixing the light brown with black to get the dark brown color we wanted. We put plastic bags inside the pillow to keep the paint from bleeding through. Just stuff then into the hole and spread them out.

The chalk lines just dust off once the pillows are finished.

I painted the & sign a little roughly. I was trying for the well worn look. Not sure I achieved my goal.

Once they were finished painting, I stuffed the pillows and stitched up the edge. This was a super easy project and the pillows look amazing. Great idea, Belle. We now have something to remember our weekend.

Here is the set done by The Southern Belle

Here is the set done by Sweet Amanda. I need to go over and photograph all her projects soon!

While TSB was here visiting, her sweet husband was home working on a surprise. The week before she left my closet junker daughter spotted a buffet, probably from the 20’s, sitting by the side of the road. It was rough and missing a drawer, but she ( and I) liked the curvy lines and legs. Her husband, Big Cat picked it up off the roadside and took it home. During her weekend visit he worked on the piece. He removed the top and repaired it, sanded it down, replaced the hardware with brushed nickel and gave it a nice coat of black spray paint. The piece is going to be an entertainment center in their study/TV room. The missing drawer spot will work great for the components. I got a sneak peek before she left for the airport from her husband via email. Good job!

The finished product! Great job.

1970’s Fabulous China Cabinet

July 7, 2013

Karen burlap, Decorating, glazing, Thrifty decorating, vintage style Craigs's List, distressing, glazining, painted furniture 13 Comments

I am going to continue looking back at some of my 1970’s repurpose projects. I hope that when you find 1970’s furniture at resale and thrift shops, you take a chance on it, or better yet, bring it to me. I will gladly accept your gift and make it fun.

A while back I bought a china cabinet for $40.00. The owner even threw in an awesome barley twist standing mirror that will be redone for my new house soon. Frankly I would have paid that amount just for the china cabinet, but the couple was ready to clear out their grandmother’s home so that they could move in. I cannot imagine that they didn’t want the things but… my gain. When we arrived at the house the owner said that if we had not shown up he was going to cut the top part off the cabinet and move it to the storage shed to use as a work cabinet. When the china cabinet gave me problems, and it did, I reminded it that it was just lucky it didn’t end up whacked in half and holding tools. Am I the only one who talks to my furniture when working on it? To my surprise the cabinet ended up being solid wood. I really expected questionable products based on the price.

This is the barley twist mirror that came with my $40.00 china cabinet. It is so going in my bedroom… as soon as I figure out what color to paint it! (Update, it went to a bride to be for her wedding.)

The first try at spray painting ended with a mess. We tried using the sprayer on the cabinet with thinned, cheap paint. It ran, it dripped, it made me cry. I tried to make it work by glazing the ugly paint but I could not get the paint to accept the glaze. It looked awful. Hubby sanded it all down and we repainted it all with a brush. I chose Behr powdered snow to paint it because Mandie at Altard recommends this color in her ebook. It is her best selling color. It was not fun to brush over the sanded down nasty paint because the first coat of paint seemed to soak in the second coat immediately. Eventually we did get it painted.

Here it is painted and distressed before the glazing

The close up of the cabinet door.

I then heavily distress the piece before glazing it with my favorite Behr faux glaze mixed with a little Behr revival mahogany. Hubby removed the back board on the top for me then I put natural burlap on the back to cover a small hole and to add a little pizazz to the piece. I am happy with how it turned out. This was the piece I distressed the most of all my projects. I am more thrilled with what Sweet Amanda said. She said that this was probably her favorite piece that I have done. She loves rustic work and I am thrilled she thinks it turned out well. It will be going into my office to hold my Dick and Jane books. The 1950’s books will look great in this redone 1970’s fabulous cabinet.

Enjoy the finished project.

Here it is resting comfortably in my office with my books inside!

Hooray for Chair Painting Day

April 14, 2013

Karen Apartment living, burlap, Chair, Coldspring, crafting, Decorating, Painted Furniture, painting, Repurposed Furniture, rescuing damaged furniture, Star Hill, The Garagemahal friends, painted furniture 7 Comments

I am still learning to use a hotspot, so I missed uploading a few photos. I will upload them as soon as I reach civilization. Enjoy.

The long anticipated chair painting day has come and gone. It was so much fun and I can’t wait to show off the before and after photos. Sweet Amanda and Baby Boy have an amazing group of friends who are united in their love of The Lord, the lost, and college ministry. It is tough for them to connect as often as they would like because they are working on college campuses around the state, The United States and the world. The girls who came to this event I believe all lived in “The Tree House” with Sweet Amanda while in college or were members of her small group. Lauren has been her buddy since birth. I have another blog post in the works about these girls, but today it is all about the chairs.

As the girls arrived there was lots of hugging, squealing and general mayhem.
All the girls signed in on a chalkboard and this determined the chair that they would be painting then taking home. Beth was not going to be able to make the event so we signed her in and The Social Planner, Tanis, worked on a chair for her with help picking color and fabric from the ladies who know her well.

Here are the lovely chairs before we got busy. I did not pay more than $5.00 a chair from Goodwill, Craigslist and resale shops. Every chair, except one had some structural issue. They had missing rungs, needed regluing, had need badly repaired… the list goes on and on. Hubby spent several days getting them all up to Baby Boy’s wiggle standard. He literally sat on them and wiggled around to see if they were sturdy. Remember that these chairs are going to live in homes that will have college students visiting often.

I numbered each chair with a post-it note so that the girls would know when they got up the hill what they would be working on.

Look at how nice and clean the ladies all looked in this photo! This was after inspecting chairs, but before the paint clothes went on and the work began. They really are stunning young ladies.

Each of the girls inspected their chair, looked at the paint choices, chose something, then got busy. Some of the girls checked out their fabric options before jumping in, but not everyone!

It was fun to watch the girls working, side by side, each on a different project, laughing, catching up, teasing and commenting on each other’s work.

Tanis brought her yard chairs for an update too.
As they finished the painting, the upholstery began on the chairs that had padded seats. A big thank you to my friend, Kandy for donating all this amazing fabric.

Here are the finished chairs-before and after.

Sweet Amanda
Behr Sailboat Blue with yellow chevron fabric. This chair originally had caning in the seat so hubby built a new top to go on it that is padded. It can be removed and re-caned if they ever choose to do so.

Tara
Behr Rapids blue with burlap fabric. She is going to monogram the back panel. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Yliana

Behr Coral. Oops. I forgot the Mod Podge for this project chair. The seat is going to have a map of Colorado- where she will be moving in July to join her new husband in his ministry to University of Colorado. She roughed out the edges and took the map with her, so I cannot wait to see how it looks complete. Sorry Yliana.

Lauren
Behr Cinnamon Cake and flowered fabric. This is my favorite off white, brown toned paint. She really classed up this 1970’s charmer. I love the distressing.

Molly
Valspar Elephant Hide with some fun, funky fabric. This chair gave Hubby fits and I think he was ready to throw in the towel, but at the end of the day it turned out so cute. The piping was in the fabric we got, already done and was plenty big for this little padded poof. It is going with Molly’s craft table that is painted the bright teal you see in the fabric. Yay for having a craft table.

Beth
Coral that Molly brought so not sure the color. Fabric was teal upholstery fabric. I used the darker coral on the chair back to create an ombré effect. Darkest at top then diluted the color the paint with the cinnamon cake as I went down. I like the effect. Beth surprised us by making it at the end of the day, and we surprised her with a chair!

Here are the lovely ladies with their finished projects all together at Star Hill.

Decorating the Mantle for Christmas Without Breaking the Bank

December 22, 2012

Karen burlap, Christmas, crafting, DIY Art, home decorating, Rubbish Rescue, Thrifty Art, Thrifty decorating teal silver and cream, Thrifty Decorating, using old books Leave a comment

I decided that this year I would use what I have on hand to decorate the mantle. Over the year I had purchased a dictionary at a resale shop for 50 cents, I picked up a rough bulletin board when my neighbor moved out, I purchased a torn up hymnal at a garage sale for 25 cents, and I had a couple of ginger jar vases left from my son’s wedding.
I picked up two yards of drapery fabric at Hancock’s Fabric on super clearance for $2.35.
The first step was to draw off a large S on cardboard. The S was covered with pages from the hymnal. I used regular old school glue thinned down to a watery mixture. I did the same with dictionary pages wrapped on the ginger jars.

Buy old dictionaries when you find them. They are one of my favorite decorating items.

The paper flowers were made by layering some concentric circles of dictionary pages in top of each other then stitching through the stack with jute twine. I made slits in the layers then wrinkled each layer.

I covered the old bulletin board with fabric. Super easy. I used a staple gun.

The large S was attached to the fabric with hot glue.
The flowers were attached to some salvaged glass jars I painted teal.
I took pages of the hymnal to create a JOY banner.
The jars were filled with spray painted branches from the yard and two packages of Dollar Tree ornaments. Everything else came from the house,
All in all I am proud of my mantle. Less than $10.00 spent and totally unique.

The Weekend Country Girl

Master Bedroom Pinning

Weekend Finds at Canton

Open House at the Rockin’ F Ranchito

Fall Front Yard

Semi- Homemade Pumpkin

Reclaimed Wood Pumpkin

Mr. and Mrs. Pillows

1970’s Fabulous China Cabinet

Hooray for Chair Painting Day

Decorating the Mantle for Christmas Without Breaking the Bank

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