milk glass Archives - The Weekend Country Girl

Behr Paint with Primer, Country Style, milk glass, Thrifting

Buffet Hutch

October 2, 2014October 24, 2014 Karen

I absolutely love this buffet table.

Beside the fact that it is really pretty and functional, the top is a piece of reclaimed wood that my dad held on to for years. He rescued it from the trash at his job. ( I come from a long line of dumpster divers.) The base was a solid wood dining table I scored for $20.00 one blistering summer day. You can read all about how we turned it into a buffet table HERE

Even though I love it as it is, I have been looking for a hutch for the top of the buffet in order to display my milk glass collection.

This is the inspiration piece I found on Pinterest. I like the wood back and the painted hutch.

While out and about in Huntsville, Texas I spotted a dresser top mirror thingy that had barley twist sides, a mirror in the center, shelves on the sides of the mirror and drawers at the bottom. It was in the back of a thirft store jammed against the wall. I love those type of items because you know that they are not something the store knows what to do with. That means they will deal with you. I got this one for $20.00. Not bad for a solid oak piece of furniture.

The style was nothing like the base table I was planning to use, but the size was good and it was solid, and I kind of like that put together look. The twists were a tone that would work with the wood top of the buffet so I knew it would work.

I apologize in advance but as soon as we got home and before I could go fetch the camera, Mr. Math was ripping out the mirror and shelves. Who am I to stop progress? I snapped a few shots with my phone before it was totally destroyed. The photo above shows it laying on the side but you can see the curved shelves, the spindles, and where the mirror was if you use your imagination.

By the time I got the camera out this is what I got a picture of:

The electrical cord you see is for a light located in the top of the hutch. I decided to keep it for now because I think this winter I will get out my village pieces and I think it will look pretty with a light.

I did not have my camera all weekend so I apologize in advance for the phone shots, but this is what I have to show. The first thing I did after Hubby finished gutting the mirror, moldings and shelves was to use a lot of wood filler to fill in the holes left behind. I painted the frame Behr Jungle Trail and did my best to match the stain of the spindles with the attached beadboard. Here is a hint with matching stain. You can mix stains to get a color you want but always stick with the same brand of stain when mixing. I personally buy Minwax stains. Not because I think they are superior but because they are readily available if I run out. ( I do run out in the middle of a project. A. Lot.)

You can see in these shots that I did not have the interior board stained. It is done now.

The hutch came with only three knobs but I ~~keep~~ hoard hardware and had four brass knobs. A quick spray with flat espresso spray paint gave me the look I wanted. I honestly wanted the beadboard to run vertically but I just could not justify two sheets of beadboard to get what I wanted. I think the horizontal look is growing on me already.

After moving furniture around at my house I was able to get the piece where I wanted it. It makes me happy to see some of my milk glass out on display.

Here is the piece in place. Let me tell you now that I will be re-taking the photos. The crooked candle on the table is driving me crazy. ( Try to ignore it now that I pointed it out.) It was 5:30 am when I took the shots so the overhead light was on and created a glare. The windows will be hung beside the hutch and the lighting will be better but I did want you all to see that I made a tiny bit of progress this week.

I really like how the dark wood and the white glass contrast.

I have the light on the picture above. I think it is going to work well as a display.

A new space to change out seasonally.

I hope everyone had a a wonderful week and that you are getting to enjoy some fall weather.

Thank you for reading my blog. I appreciate each of you.

Blessings,

Karen

cedar lumber, Curbside rescue, DIY Furniture, milk glass, reclaimed wood, Rubbish Rescue, Style, the suburban home

Bathroom Shelf DIY

May 11, 2014May 11, 2014 Karen

When I started thinking about redoing the master bath I found this awesome picture.

I wish I had saved the location I found this. I have checked my Pinterest boards and done an image search with no luck. If you find where it came from, please let me know and I will gladly credit it to the source.

Annnnywayyy… I loved the rustic look and knew it would be great in our very builder basic bathroom.

This is a photo of our home when we were looking at it to purchase. The great piece of furniture did not stay with the house. It is just a very boring sage green space.

As luck would have it, my ~~junker~~ collector mom picked up a small section of fencing for me. It was the perfect size! I wanted thicker shelves on mine so I modified the design above to make it more what I wanted.

I decided I could take this on all on my own. I am trying to do more work on my own so that my Hubby has time to do what he loves. I did not end up having the skills I needed.

He did have to help me connect the air nailer (I tried, but that bugger wouldn’t go in), he put in the screws for the 2X4’s, he ripped the front boards on the table saw because it scares me, and he volunteered to move chop saw for me.

Thanks, Hubby.

The steps are simple.

Cut three 2X4’s about a half inch narrower than the width of the section of fencing.

Figure out where you want the shelves to go, then screw the 2X4 in from the back side of the fencing section so that the wide part of the 2X4 sticks out from the fencing.

Cut 5 sections of fencing planks to length.
3- the length of the 2X4 plus the additional length to go to the edge of the siding

2- small sections to cover the ends

Hubby ripped one board length in half with the table saw to make the shelf more narrow.

I air nailed them together pretty quickly.

Here it was when finished.

See the tops of the fence pickets? I liked them, but our rescue dog, Lumi, did not. She chewed one of the pickets off while we weren’t watching. It had to be chopped off even. I like the result even better, but don’t tell Lumi. She was in big trouble.

Here it is, hanging in the bathroom.
I love the results.

I hope I can learn to to more on my own.

Let me know what you think,

Have a great day.

Blessings,

Karen

cedar lumber, milk glass, reclaimed wood, Texas

Cedar Windfall

January 21, 2014January 21, 2014 Karen

Guess what I got this weekend? I got a load of gorgeous cedar lumber! I am so excited about doing some projects.

My dad had cedar trees on his timber property that a guy wanted to buy from him. Dad went in halves with the guy. That means that the guy did all the work on the cedar in exchange for half the wood. My sweet dad had him cut some of the wood for me to use from a few of the trees and surprised me this weekend. It is so pretty. I hate that it is outside right now, but will soon be safe inside the Garagemahal.

Project # 1 is going to be a bench for my mom and dad’s covered porch at their property. The top is going to be a 2″ thick slab with rustic legs that I am going to attempt to build all on my own. I will have my hubby acting as tutor, but I really am wanting to do more actual construction on my own. I am learning that I can do more than I think I can. Here is the inspiration piece:

source: Follow Your Heart

You think I am up for it? I sure hope so. If not, it will still make a great story for you guys to read.

Project #2 is beefing up our mantle in our suburban home. The fireplace is beautiful but the mantle is so shallow that I cannot decorate up there and it it is way too fussy a fireplace for me. I have to “line everything up in a row” if I am going to put anything on the mantel right now. I am going to add a wide cedar top board and frame out the fire-box with cedar something sort of like what you see below. I may add cedar to the hollowed out area too… not sure. I am going to use the wormy cedar on the sides. It looks so cool.

I want it to be reversible when we sell the house and I think that we should be able to remove this.

Source: The Wood Whisperer

Project # 3 is going to be my personal favorite. I have a huge natural edge slab that is going to become a bench for our suburban home and a shelf for the lake house behind the wood burning stove once we get the rusted tin up. Man I cannot wait until we get the fascia boards done and the porch painted so we can get started on the inside of the house! I am so very ready but I know we have to do some outside maintenance work first. Boo.

Source: Art Fire

Source

Project #4 is going to be using the bark part of the tree (peeled) to make some shelves for our lake house master bedroom. I want four or five of the thin shelves on the wall for my milk glass collection. I think I can beat $72.00 for two of them.

Source: Etsy

After that all bets are off but I will bet that a table will be made from the milled lumber for sure. The wood I have at the house is just a sample of the wood coming my way. woo hoo!

What would you do if you were given a load of beautiful cedar boards? I am open to suggestions.

Dresser, gray, milk glass, Painted Furniture, painting, Star Hill

What is on Tap for our Weekend

April 27, 2013April 27, 2013 Karen

This weekend we have a ton to jam into a short amount of time.
Tonight Hubby is helping our City House neighbors grout the tile backsplash. Tomorrow morning he referee’s the Early College High School’s Powderpuff Football Game. As soon as he is done( thank you sweetheart.) we are headed to Star Hill. My goal is to finish my awesome western dresser, paint my night stands, glaze and poly them and the sewing cabinet.
Oh..
We need to unload the truck too. Hubby found wood for my back wall in the bedroom.

We have work to do on this wood before it goes up but it is going to be awesome!!

We will be going to work pooped Monday!

milk glass, the Southern Belle

The Trials of Crossing Louisiana at Spring Break

March 10, 2013March 12, 2013 Karen

We loaded up the truck Saturday morning headed for North Carolina.

For those of you who watch Duck Dynasty or Swamp People, I have inserted a photograph of the Atchafalaya swamp. I got such great pictures because we were at a DEAD STOP on this 24 mile long bridge for hours Saturday.

Plenty of time to enjoy the scenery…Grrr. My family is from Louisiana, my parents still own land that was part of a land grant that has been in my family 6 generations so I feel that I can talk about this state without feeling too guilty. Louisiana truly is one of the most spectacularly beautiful, charming, quaint, incredibly frustrating places I have ever experienced. It is such a crazy quilt of old and new, rich and poor, traditional and modern, fixed and broken. The state infrastructure definitely falls in the last category; mostly broken and certainly overwhelmed at this time of the year when spring breakers are headed for Florida.. There are times when Louisiana roadways more closely resemble Texas’ southwest border neighbor more than that of the roads in a state that is part of the United States. On the other hand, the people at the rest stops and visitor’s stations are always gracious, with a smile, clean restrooms and a cup of coffee to offer. I had the opportunity to visit 4 of them in my day long crawl across the state. I never thought I would be happy to see Mississippi but man, it was great to finally turn north toward Alabama. We are spending the night in Mobile instead of our goal of Birmingham, but tomorrow we get to see The Southern Belle, Big Cat, and little Maeby! Yippee.

collecting, milk glass, Star Hill

The Things I Collect

January 11, 2013 Karen

I joke a lot about my hoard, but really I try to keep my stuff down to a minimum. I donate a ton of stuff to a twice yearly garage sale that is a fundraiser for an organization near and dear to my heart. I really do only collect what makes me happy and I get rid of what I do not love. At Star Hill I collect milk glass. It is cheap and easy to find, along with being very versatile. Here is my whole collection.

I cleaned it all over the holiday and snapped some pictures before it all got put up. The milk glass is about to need a bigger shelf unit. I have one planned but it is not at the top of the list. I also collect old wooden bowls.

They are rustic and remind me of my great grandmother. I have her wooden bread bowl at Star Hill.

She made sour dough bread in this bowl almost every day. I add old bowls as one “speaks” to me. I have collected 10 of them and keep them on top of the cabinets in my tiny kitchen.

I also collect cream or white colored creamers.

Come on, cream creamers… just typing that makes me smile. They are small enough to be in kept on top of my cabinets in front of the wooden bowls. It is harder to find my creamers than you would think. I don’t want a set, just the itty bitty pitcher and I want interesting shapes. Oh, and my spending limit is less than a dollar. No wonder I only have 8 9 of them. ( The social planner just bought me one tonight.) At the city house I collect McCoy pottery and shell angels and crystal globes. The stuff at the city house definitely is a bigger investment. Do you collect things or am I the only one out there?

DIY Projects, fabric covered lamp shade tutorial, milk glass, repurposed lighting, The bedroom

Milk Glass Lamp

September 14, 2012December 13, 2012 Karen

As I have been assembling the supplies for my bedroom make the city house, I ran across a milk glass lamp. I paid $5.00 for the lamp, shade and all. It wasn’t in great shape but It will provide me with an opportunity to bring in my milk glass.

I just wasn’t crazy about the finish on the wood and the faux metal parts were super scratched and tarnished. The bedroom is going to be gray, yellow, white and black. I know that the bedside lamp is going to be yellow, so I decided to paint the wood gray and the “metal” (plastic) black.

Sanded and ready for paint.

Lamps are not complicated. They are all made from a metal rod with electrical wire running through them connected to a socket. Any lamp can be taken apart and put back together. My advice is to take pictures as you go so you can reassemble. Above you an see all the parts from this lamp.

I really like the gray color. It came from the Garagemahal. I

I wanted to make the lampshade colorful. I purchased 1 yard of fabric for $6.00 at Hancock’s Fabric. I took the pleated part of the shade that came with the lamp off. There was a smooth plastic shade under the pleating.

I looked up how to cover a lampshade with fabric. There were several sites.

Here is one of the easiest to follow videos.

I followed the directions exactly as stated. I drew out the pattern on some gift wrap then cut that out and put the pattern on the fabric. after I cut out the fabric I sprayed everything with spray adhesive. Hubby helped hold the lampshade while I smoothed out the fabric. I touched everything up with hot glue.

I was proud of how it turned out! I also bought the fabric for the headboard. $5.00 a yard for 2 1/2 yards of fabric. $7.50 for a new headboard is not too bad. I look forward to getting it together.