This past weekend I made my version of a quilt ladder so that I could hang my grandmother and great grandmother’s quilts out for display. I am lucky enough to have a collection of quilts from these amazing women.
I used several sites to get an idea what to do but in the end, I did my own thing.
The tricky part for me was figuring out how to cut an angle so that the board leaned against the wall and still was flat on the bottom. I over-thought the whole process. Mr. Math just took the board and leaned it so that it stuck out against the wall 18 inches. He then took a straight edge and drew a line where it touched in both places. No pictures because he was done before I got there it was so fast.
I cut the ladder rungs out of 1X4 board. They were 20 inches long.
I am crazy about the laser light on our saw.
Once the boards were cut I clamped them all together and trimmed the edge to make sure they were exactly equal.
I hate wood that is printed on. It just adds to the sanding. The bottom angle of the boards are showing here.
I stained everything before assembly. It was the smartest thing I have done in a while. I was able to get an even coat on everything that way.
Mr.Math measured and predrilled the holes for the rungs on one board. He then clamped the two long boards together and drove the screws in so that they put a hole on the other board.
He is a genius! That made sure the rings were level.
We started the top rung 3 inches down from the top then down every 12 inches.
I really didn’t expect to get it finished so quickly so I did not have all of my quilts for the rack. It is going to be awesome to have those memories around me.
Thanks for following on our journey to turn our 1980’s home into our forever home.
My kids love coffee, hot chocolate, and hot tea. I like it all too, but I really love the idea of having everything that our guests need set up away from the kitchen when breakfast/ evening meal prep is underway.
We have just the spot in our home for a coffee bar and we have just the materials to make a rustic coffee bar based on inspiration from The Summery Umbrella. I purchased windows last winter at an epic garage sale for $2.00 each. I brought our stash of reclaimed cedar planks and the storage buildings contain more random wood.
We used the windows as the basis for the front of the cabinet. When we laid out the windows it was obvious that they would have to go into the cabinet horizontal instead of vertical like My Summery Umbrella was able to do. The vintage windows are large and heavy and with them hung horizontally, the cabinet will still be slightly taller than counter height. The length of the bar is 90 inches. It is 12 inches wide and made from cedar we took off our old lake house, Star Hill that we have stored and moved. We really do like our reclaimed wood.
The next step was building the skeleton. We had enough reclaimed wood but a mistake meant we needed two new 2×4’s.
We got a new toy recently…a planer. Oh my goodness, Mr. Math got a good deal on Craig’s List but I was skeptical. I did not know how much I would love it. It makes all my mismatched thicknesses of reclaimed wood play nice with each other and knocks the sanding down to just finish sanding in minutes. We planed two 12 inch wide planks for the top and sides.
Any time you work with reclaimed wood and supplies it means you have to do a lot of trial and error. It feels sort of like we are playing a game of Tetris.
We used outdoor gate hinges and black iron handles for a couple of reasons; the windows are stinkin’ heavy and I liked how the black looked against the white and reclaimed cedar.
The display area will be filled with my pitchers, milk glass, and vintage cookware. I didn’t have everything up at the house but I put what I had in for you to get an idea.
We already used it as a serving counter on New Year’s Eve.
The coffee bar is going to serve a lot of purposes when we have a crowd. Having 90 inches of serving space away from the kitchen counters will be great.
Let’s face it, most of the time it is going to be a drink station.
Left overs from New Year’s Eve.
An all sorts of drinks station. (You have no idea how hard I had to look to scrounge up the drinks above!)
Mainly it will be a coffee/ tea bar, because that is who we are.
Here it is in our daily life. It will be a cluttered mess so my kitchen doesn’t have to be full of stuff. I am going to love this piece. It is narrow and provides room for the front door to open, it provides me 7 and a half feet of additional counter surface, and it looks like it belongs in our house. Be still my heart.
The house is coming along. I am proud of the progress we are making as we make Providence Acres our forever home.
Mr. Math and I are both thrilled to share our journey with you as we go. Thank you for the kind words you share.
Over the holidays we got a little done on the craft/ guest room. We aren’t finished with the room, but I am excited with how it is turning out. I love that this room really will have two functions.
The Guest Room
It is a guest room when the Murphy Bed is down and the Expando-Matic is closed.
See my zinc mirror? It found a great home after I changed offices and lost space at work.
I am planning an accent wall inside the Murphy Bed.
The quilt 0n top was made by my great grandmother. I just picked up the turquoise suitcase for fifty cents at a resale shop. I had to show it off.
The shelves that hold my globes collected over the years are made from left over plywood from the Murphy Bed build and brackets from Lowe’s. The yellow clock has a story. My dad was getting rid of the clock frame so I snagged it. The shutter was out of my stash. It got a coat of paint and will be my idea board.
The Craft Room
When the Murphy Bed is up and the Expando-Matic is pulled out I have six glorious feet of craft space. The most unfinished function of the room is the craft part. I need the leaves for the epansion built, some things installed, and the closet redesigned.
It is going to be awesome.
I am a lucky girl.
Here are some closer shots of the walls. The Texas map was rescued from the trash. Someone used permanent marker on it, the frame was broken and the bottom was messed up. It was perfect for me. I got the market off with hairspray in case you didn’t know that trick.
The room is coming together.
Thanks for following our journey to make our ranch into our forever home.
Sunday afternoon was one of those days that should be bottled and sold. The weather was glorious in the Texas Piney Woods. Sunny, low humidity, and temperatures in the high 60’s. I look forward to the San Jacinto home tour every year and this year my buddy the Social Planer made it an event.
We started at her beautiful home with soup and desserts to fortify us on our adventure then off to our first stop on Happy Trails Ln.
The home was beautiful especially considering the owner had just moved back in a month ago.
I especially liked the 12 days of Christmas stitched pictures on the curtains and the mismatched chairs. The bedroom is so large there is a dining table in the room. It was too crowded for photos.
The second home was literally right up the road and belonged to the daughter of the first owner. The home was beautiful but I especially loved the stained glass windows that the master was designed around.
There was a sweet little girl room.
Our next stop was Thee Evergreen Church.
This little country chapel was built with lumber from the site a hundred years ago.
Ship lap, beautiful stained glass, pews that were made on site when the chapel was constructed. Swoon.
Our next stop, wow. A beautiful 10,000 square foot log home that is a site to behold.
The exterior was so large I literally had to take the pictures in sections.
Oiled rocking chairs on the front porch.
The owner is a master quilter and her work greets you at the front door. Oh, and yes, that is a taxidermied cougar hanging out in the rafters.
The tree has to be 12 foot tall. It is covered with a large Father Christmas topper. It was stunning.
The kitchen was a dream. There was a copper sink that I loved.
My buddy, Carol, was the docent in the master bedroom.
The shoe section of the closet. It was a site to behold. Imagine deciding which shoes to wear.
Oh my goodness! That back yard.
Outdoor bar.
Separate kitchen.
Outdoor man room.
Horse shoes in the pool surround.
A slide in the waterfall.
We grudgingly left this beautiful home for a sweet little church in the woods.
Those beautiful green windows cast a beautiful glow.
Lights are original to when the building was electrified.
A church member commissioned the painting in the 1950’s.
Original wavy glass.
The tour was fun. Another chance to see how beautiful our community is.
Well, the guest bath is now 85% complete so I thought I better show you guys something we have almost ready to check off the list.
We have a huge guest bathroom. It was designed with a wheelchair in mind. It is perfect for a house that will have lots of guests over the years.
So far we replaced both lights, installed a place to hang clothes, towels, and extra supplies, we changed out the floor and replaced all the hardware. There is a new towel bar, toilet paper holder and even a new toilet. The walls got a coat of light bluish green Behr Pacific Mist. We replaced all the towels and shower curtain with white linens.
Not yet completed is that all the trim and cabinets needs to be painted white, floating shelves need to be built and painted white for in front of the wood wall and I need to make a curtain for the window.
It will have to wait for now because we are a few weeks from Christmas and need a Murphy bed built.
And a hall painted.
And 2″ blinds installed.
And a tree put up.
And Christmas lights.
The kids will all be at least coming by over the holiday and we need to be ready. Fingers crossed.
I do believe we have discovered the perfect flooring for our hard-working, very active house. It is durable, water-resistant, doesn’t take any special equipment, and it floats over the slab so it allows for movement.
We purchased Tranquility brand Rustic Reclaimed Oak click and lock vinyl planks from Lumber Liquidators and I am so happy that we did. The cost for vinyl plank flooring was less than $2.00 a square foot.
This picture was taken in the sunshine so you could get an idea how realistic the pattern is.
We have purchased the quarter round shoe molding but it was a very busy weekend and it did not get installed. Bummer.
I just couldn’t wait to show you the floor. My buddy, The Social Planner, also clued me in to this amazing microfiber mop/ duster thing from O’Cedar. It is a must have for this type flooring.
Make sure to get an extra cover. They go right in the washing machine and come out spotless every time.
This was our fireplace at Providence Acres when we bought the place. The photo is from our first walk-through of the house so the furnishings are not mine. I found I did not have another picture… probably because I did not like the look of the fireplace very much.
I have one word to describe the fireplace. Dated. Dark stained trim around the fireplace, reddish brick, and brass blower vents.
I decided that while Mr. Math was busy getting the flooring down, I should get busy whitewashing the fireplace.
Inspiration for whitewashing the fireplace came from a friend of my daughter who updated her fireplace and totally changed the look of her room. I knew it would be the fix for the hulking giant in our family room.
I went to the source of all things home related for instructions- Pinterest- and found a ton of sites that explained how to get it done.
I believe that there are two reasons that whitewashing a fireplace is so common on Pinterest:
There is not a lot of skill that goes into whitewashing.
The change in the look of the fireplace is quick and dramatic.
The process is very labor intensive, but there is not much skill required.
To quote The Yellow Cape Cod “I apologize if you were waiting for a long, drawn out, step by step tutorial. This project is too simple and easy for me to complicate. If you are a fan of intimidating, stressful, complicated, multi-step, time-consuming, DIY projects that require a ton of special supplies and mad skills, this isn’t the project for you.”
Remove what you can before you start then cover everything with drop cloths and or blue tape that you don’t want painted.
Collect a bunch of cotton rags, a paint brush you do not love, and disposable gloves then get busy.
Mix one part water to one part latex paint. Paint the watered down paint on in small sections then use a damp cotton cloth to blot the excess paint from the bricks until you get the desired effect.
One blogger said she did this in three hours. I am not saying she didn’t, I am just saying that I worked as hard and fast as I could and it took me a little over 6 total hours and an Epsom salt soak for soreness to get mine done. An additional hour to paint the trim and vent covers.
It is scary to start. The contrast made me think I had lost my mind.
Once I got going, I really liked the look.
The top is whitewashed the bottom is not. The drips were a pain to clean up. Drop cloths would have helped as I worked down the fireplace. FYI. I painted the vent covers with Rustoleum White Heat Resistant Spray Paint. No worries about the fireplace ruining the paint.
I love the look.
The screws are now painted, but I lost the light before taking another shot. We need lighting in that room!
The mantle decor for fall is not something I am crazy about but I am working with what I have this year.
Oh my goodness! I love our vinyl plank flooring. I never, ever, ever thought I would want a vinyl floor. Growing up, this is what a vinyl floor looked like:
It came on a roll, was glued down, and tore pretty easily.
The luxury vinyl plank flooring we purchased from Lumber Liquidators, is a click and lock flooring, that is thick and floats on top of the subfloor. We bought a variety called Rustic Reclaimed Oak. The flooring was $1.56 per square foot. The link is HERE
The photo below is from super close on the floor.. It looks so realistic that Mr. Math and I both thought that there were tears in the the planks. It was just the wood look. It fooled us from right on top of it. The planks are textured also so they really feel more like wood than you would expect.
We started with a concrete slab. Yep. We have been living with this floor for 6 weeks.
Here are the tools that we used, plus a measuring tape.
Those black things are knee pads. They are a MUST! The rubber mallet helped convince some of the difficult pieces to go into place.
The flooring comes in pretty small boxes but wow are they heavy. Like 40 lbs each heavy times 30 boxes.
Keeping it real for you, there was a definite learning curve. There are some tricks that I will share with you at the end that hopefully you will not have to figure out like we did.
The first step is to measure the floor and figure out how many whole rows you will have. We were lucky. Our floor did not need the first or last row trimmed down to make it work.
The next step is to lay out the first row so you can get started.
Then click and lock. The hard part of clicking and locking is the corner where the two connect.
on the last plank you have to cut it to fit. Cutting is a breeze. Razor knife and straight edge are all that it takes to cut.
As soon as you score the plank, snap and it comes apart.
It is tough to get the first three rows in. The best way to connect the planks is while on the planks and pulling toward the wall. That is impossible on the first three rows. These three rows took 30 minutes of work to get clicked together.
Learning to cut around the little wall and the fireplace took us some time but Mr. Math did a great job. It looks perfect. This is as far as we got on day one. I was a little discouraged. I thought we were going to be working on the floor for weeks.
Day two was a much improved day for the floor. Less yelling, more flooring down.
That was my feet walking on the planks so they did not come loose when Mr. Math was bending and twisting. That is the trick. One person has to stand on the seam where the planks connect end to end while the other person is clicking the long side. Mr. Math was shocked when he found out I video taped him while standing on the flooring. 1 minute, 27 seconds to get 12 linear feet totally finished.
We were cooking with hot grease. Even with a 12:00 football game, we got the flooring in the main room of the house almost finished. We stopped because we are going to have to think about the hallway. The wall is not straight so we need to figure out how we are going to solve the problem. Honestly, I predict that it is going to take us several weekends to finish the whole house. We have to move appliances in the kitchen and laundry room before installing. We will have to remove the toilet to finish the bathrooms, and we have the hallway to contend with.
Putting in the flooring wasn’t as easy as I hoped but it wasn’t as hard as I feared. Here is what we learned from our experience.
The first three rows are hardest. Don’t give up. When you can get on the floor and pull rather than push it gets easier.
Getting the corner in is tricky. Mr. Math says make sure the whole thing is on top of the tongue.
This is a two person job. One to click and lock. One to stand on the board as it locks to keep it in place.
Make sure the floor is level. We used a dry leveler mix and poured it on low spots.
Have extra razors for the razor cutter.
We have very little wasted flooring. We are going to end up with enough extra flooring to put it in my craft room. Woo Hoo.
I love the look.
We have already had several folks come look and they are all impressed. I think I won a couple of folks over.
Knowing company is coming can motivate a person to get busy on their home. Knowing several of those guests are active elementary and junior high students really motivates me to get the house de cluttered and ready for the crowd.
Here is the weekend progress:
1. The Guest Room is now presentable. There are still areas that need touch ups.
The walls got painted.
A set of donated shuttered got painted and hung on the wall.
At
Art, a mirror, and a window got hung.
New curtain rod.
2. This awesome light now hangs where the light I lovingly called the pool table light was over the bar.
Before
The awesome after.
3. A section of the bathroom now is under way. The mirror will be framed with rustic wood and the bathroom cabinets will be painted white. The rest of the bathroom needs to be painted still. The color is a pale bluish green. Never judge a color until the old paint is out of the way. Look at them together… yuck.
Before
During… did you notice the name of the bathroom hardware? I did not until I edited the picture.
You have to wait to see the bathroom. Sorry. I want you to see the full effect once it is done.
We also did some really boring but necessary things like mow, organize closets, and unpack boxes.
Then… the fun started.
5 kids and their parents showed up. They played, they explored, they fished, they ate s’mores, they went tubing, jet skiing, they threw the frisbee for the dog, they played nines, the ate… A Lot. Those kids can flat eat.
We were sad to see them go.
This week I am going to give you our tricks for feeding a crowd and a few hints for Christmas presents if you have outdoor space.
Happy belated Labor Day to all of us who get up every day and go to work.
Well hello there! We did it, folks. We f-i-n-a-l-l-y closed on our new weekend home. We are so proud and humbled that we have the opportunity to own this beautiful property and believe we will get the house where we want it one day. We know that the place was worth the wait.
Moving in this weekend was brutal. I am so very grateful to our friends who showed up, stayed until they were about to drop, and never complained. I also am so happy that two of our nephews were willing to come and lift, haul, tote, carry, and sweat. It was 103 Sunday… in the shade. No lie. I have no idea how hot is was Friday and Saturday because we couldn’t find our outdoor thermometer until Sunday.
We are sore and I have a few bruises but we got a lot moved in over the weekend.
We did not get the carpet out as we hoped but we decided that while we had the help we better get the heavy stuff moved in. We can scoot things around to get the carpet up. We also didn’t paint. The skin colored walls will be in all the pictures but remember that they will be changing when you see the pictures and that there is nothing on the walls until after the painting.
We did get one of the tasks done, the front door was liberated. The previous owner had sheet rocked over the front door so that a china cabinet would fit.
There are no pictures from move in. It was all hands on deck, no playing around with a camera during this time but here is what we got accomplished this weekend.
The master is almost done. We are having a curtain dilemma but more on that another day. The walls are not an attractive color and there is no door to the bathroom…ick.
The front guest room is set up except for the shutter headboard. I am waiting for wall paint to get them up. We also need another lamp.
The craft room only has the Expand-O-Matic in place. I am also having curtain issues. 84 inch curtains seem too short but 95 are too long. I think there will be some alterations with both to make them work.
The main room is sort of set up. We now have a table and chairs but need to work on the bench. I decided to go with the ranch thing. there is faux leather, faux cow hide, and even faux ostrich. Bessie, my Hobby Lobby cow graces the mantle and will look great when I really get to decorate.
The den area needs work but I like the funky dresser.
The table looks great. The bench is not finished.
I like the color combinations. I think I will like this spot to hang out one day.
The kitchen window is a home for my white pitchers.
We have a long way to go and a lot of work ahead but I am proud of how much we got done in three days.
I am crazy about the laser light on our saw. 
