Redecorating Archives - The Weekend Country Girl

cedar lumber, Coldspring, Country living, Country Style, DIY, DIY Projects, Lake Livingston, master bedroom, Redecorating, San Jacinto county, Style

Adding a Corrugated Tin Wall

January 5, 2015January 5, 2015 Karen

We got a good start on the want to finish projects before putting our beloved Star Hill on the market over the holiday break.

This is what the wall in our main room has looked like since we moved in.

We recently got a new-ish wood burning stove off Craig’s List for our near the lake house, Star Hill. ($200 for a stove used one season. It is still for sale at Tractor Supply for over $600. That was a score.) It has a glass door and an electric blower, the two things that the old stove in the house did not have. We can now heat the whole house with it when we want and get to see the flames. We are already enjoying it. We knew that we would want a metal wall behind the stove and had planned for it to be put in for the seven years we have owned the place. Stuff always gets in the way of projects. Stuff like rescuing roadside furniture.

A cold, wet, weekend after Christmas was the perfect time to knock this particular project out. Hubby figured out how much tin to buy. It comes to about fifty cents a square foot. You can buy it in up to 12 foot lengths.

How nice of Home Depot to provide gloves.

First we cleared the wall and found the studs. I love projects where we will cover the wall because we get to write directly on the wall.

Next, attach this wooden support stuff to the studs.

The tricky part here was making sure curves lined up vertically. Hubby chopped off the ends to make sure they all started out the same way then made sure they lined up with each other at the start of the wall. Our roofing nailer attached the wood to the wall.

Our wall slopes up so that adds a level of difficulty to the project that we wouldn’t have had to deal with on a plain flat ceiling.

Using the very scary grinder, Hubby (AKA Mr. Math) cut the angles on the tin along with the vent cover and electrical outlet using rise over run math.

If you plan on doing this project you will need these special screws, gloves (or a box of Band Aids- that tin is sharp), something to cut the tin (if a grinder is too scary for you too, they make a metal cutting blade for a jigsaw) a level, a stud finder, tin, and wooden corrugated strips.

Plan on this project taking a whole day. Cutting around vents and outlets slows the process. Full disclosure here; it took us two days and a trip to three hardware stores. If we planned better and didn’t have to drive all over creation looking for supplies we forgot to bring, we could have finished in one day.

We decided to use some of our natural edge cedar for a shelf on the wall. The brackets were garage sale finds that we used for years with a funky swirl on the bottom. The grinder took care of the swirl. I love the industrial, rustic feel that the wall gives the cabin.

The wall looks great. It is exactly what I hoped. We have it set up with our free or almost free furniture, but I also wanted you to see it with more modern furniture and fabric. It would be a great wall for a modern wall. I really like the look.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I hope it inspires you to tackle your own projects.

Apartment living, Behr Paint with Primer, French Provincial, glazing, Painted Furniture, recycled furniture, Redecorating, the guest room, Thrifting, vintage style

Turquoise French Provincial Furniture

November 9, 2014November 9, 2014 Karen

I am getting ready to show you my fabric painted teal chair with lime green legs as soon as I finish one more little item for the chair, but I realized That out of context the chair would look a little Dr. Seuss-ish. You still may think it does when you see it but it will fit in this room.

Just before I started blogging we did this furniture fore the Lovebirds. They were getting ready to set up house and we wanted them to have some fun furniture. We bought the furniture from an estate sale. The furniture had a great story. The children, who were holding the estate sale had all pitched in to buy the furniture for their parent’s 25th anniversary. I don’t understand why they did not want to keep it but for $150.00 we got a great set. I do not have any pictures of the before but we are babysitting the dresser and armoire while the lovebirds are living in far away lands.

Right now the bedroom is a mix of our stuff and theirs. The walls are painted Behr Ice Cube and the dresser is painted Behr Rapids. My son loves wood as much as my daughter in law loves painted furniture. We compromised by painting the dresser base but leaving all horizontal surfaces wood.

The painting says Always Kiss Me Goodnight in case it is bugging you. I painted it for them as part of their wedding gift. In their home they have grey bedding with dark purple accents. Our bedroom is yellow, teal, turquoise, and lime green. Crazy huh?

I love this mirror. It is so pretty and well proportioned.

We painted the furniture and glazed it with a dark glaze.

The hardware on the set is so ornate.

My son’s belongings are in this upright chest.

The horizontal part of the armoire at the middle being left stained breaks up the armoire.

I love the top. The herringbone painting usually lives above the bed, but it looks good here, too.

We learned a lot about painting furniture when we painted this set. I am happy with how it has held up after two years and three moves. Before the kids get back we have a few touch ups, but not many.

The teal chair will sit in front of the giant windows.

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you take a minute to pray for my kids who are far away from home. It has been a long few months already.

Blessings,

Karen

DIY Projects, reclaimed wood, Redecorating, resale finds, Silliness, Style, the office, traveling, vintage style

Suitcase Shelf Wall

August 15, 2014August 30, 2014 Karen

When I took the job as principal in the suburban city we moved to there just was not time to do much to my office, which before I came on board was a storage closet. Yes, I felt pretty special, but in the rapidly growing district I work in, I am thilled to have a space at all.

The “office” was the most awful institutional blue color with very little light. The light situation probably had something to do with the fact it was never designed to have someone working in the space.

I did what I could (not much) last summer then got busy opening a school.

This summer I had a little more time to work on making the space more inviting. The finished office is coming soon.

Today, it is all about my suitcase wall.

I have wanted to do this wall somewhere since I first spotted it on PInterest two years ago. The long blank wall in my office seemed to be he perfect location.

First, I collected suitcases.

I had the blue suitcase in my stash and planned to use it once day to make another chalkboard. I paid two dollars for it at a thrift store.

I found the dark green travel case at Goodwill for $2.99 a while back, the alligator suitcase was in rough shape. I bought it for $5.00 off Craig’s List. I got impatient to get the wall done so when I spotted two suitcases at a local resale shop, I paid too much. I got the last two suitcases ( a hat box and a leather men’s suitcase) for $50.00. I know what you are thinking. Yes, I did pay too much….but I wanted them and the blank wall was staring at me.

All in I have $60.00 invested in suitcases. Not bad for a whole wall of joy.

Hubby chopped each suitcase in half on the table saw. No pictures of that part. I was at work when he got that done.

I then ripped out all the loose lining.

We cut boards to fit inside the suitcases to make a support frame.

Here they are all stacked with the wood inside.

I laid them all out on the floor in the office to decide where I wanted them to go, then got busy taping it out on the wall. Toggle bolts went into each wall board. The top board was screwed to the top of each wall board, and then small side pieces were attached with the air nailer.

We slid each suitcase over the wooden support then used screws to attach it to the wood. (Air nailing would have been easier and less noticeable but I want to take these puppies with me when I retire in a few short years.)

Here it is all finished and dressed up!

I cannot wait to get the office looking the way I see it in my head.

Let me know what you think of my version of a suitcase wall.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

Blessings,

Karen

Chair, Country Style, Redecorating, Repurposed Furniture

When Pinterest Finds My Old Stuff

October 22, 2013October 23, 2013 Karen

This week two of my posts were “found” on Pinterest this week. It was fun to see so many people find something that I loved doing and saving it to pages like this:

Craft Party Ideas

Or; Tryna Do It, or My House

I love the names people give their boards. I am so very boring!

Chair Painting Party

It was such a fun day. I hope that one day you can hold your own party.

Sewing Cabinet Into Drink Station

This one has been pinned over 200 times this month. Wow. Thank you to those of you who are going to attempt our version of a beverage station! I am humbled that anyone wants to do something that I have done. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE send pictures when you actually do this.

Feel free to look at or follow my Pinterest Page.

I use my name on Pinterst: Karen Smithson.

I hope you are having a wonderful day!

moving, new home, Redecorating

Industrial Laundry Room

August 10, 2013August 14, 2013 Karen

When we moved into our new house there were three things I liked about our laundry room.

We had one, and it was a good size
There was a sink in the laundry room! Never had that before.
I liked this graphic on the wall.

Nothing else. It needed love.

The former home owners left all the paint that they had used on the house (thank you so very much- we are thrilled that we have touch up paint and know what colors were used!) We had just used it as a dumping ground and created a mess as we moved in.

I have seen some amazing transformations of laundry rooms on Pinterest. I love them. I like seeing the chandeliers, soft colors, pretty boxes, crystal containers and granite counter tops. The problem I have with those laundry rooms is that they seem to say- in my opinion only- that the laundry room is the woman’s domain. Somehow cleaning clothes is a feminine activity alone.

Not. At. My. House.

We both wear clothes, we both get them dirty, and we both wash clothes.

That being said, I adopted a more industrial look to the laundry room. I wanted to make sure that Hubby felt comfortable in our shared space. I don’t want to give anyone the idea that is MY laundry room! Also, our laundry room currently has open shelves. I will probably get cabinets put in because I like to keep some things in the house that others may keep in the garage. What can I say? I like to have a drill handy.

I found these great galvanized bins for about $10.00 each at Walmart.

The smaller ones had cool rope handles too. I decided to stencil the baskets, sort of like a locker room. I purchased a cheap set of cardboard stencils in the art department at the same Walmart and a bottle of less than a dollar dark gray-black paint ( called pavement by Plaid).

I decided to give the three smaller bins a number. I chose 58, 61, and 82. The years of our birth and the year we were married. I sorted out the stuff to go in the bins according to who uses it most. My bin has floral wire, picture hanging kit, glue gun, staple gun, E6000… you get the drift. Hubby has stuff for the sprinkler project he is working on, electrical wire cutters etc. The shared bin has flashlights, tape measure, levels…

The larger bins will go on the lower shelf. One says FEED and the other says…SOAP. Guess why? Hiding the detergent and pet food in plain sight. Love it.

Here is the project under way. It seriously took me 30 minutes to get everything out, stencil the baskets, put everything up and get the baskets on the shelf.

The addition of a glass wash board that belonged to my grandmother, a key cabinet made for us when we married by a family friend, the chalkboard that Hubby made from a roadside find headboard (it did not make it to the garage) and tadah! I feel like We made some serious progress here. I still want a functioning hanging bar and will be moving in a drying rack from the lake house, but we are almost there with this room. I love having the keys to all our random things in one location.

This olive basket was also at Walmart and is going to serve as my trash can. I love that the handles are going to hold trash sacks.

Blogging, mid-life, Painted Furniture, Redecorating, resale finds

20,000

June 25, 2013June 24, 2013 Karen

20,000. That is the number of times my blog has been read, by anyone, since I moved from Blogger to WordPress. It happened sometime during the night while I was out in the Garagemahal working on some side tables for my buddy the social planner. Here is a link to my very first ever blog post on Blogger. First Blog Post. In the “Blogosphere” I am the equivalent of what a dude making beer in his basement is compared to Budweiser but I felt that 20,000 views was something to celebrate. I have 100 people who get an email every time I blog and about 140 people a day read one of my posts. I picked up an HGTV magazine the other day and it featured a blogger who gets 10,000 view a day just to give perspective on how microscopic my blog is.

I seriously did not know a single thing about blogging when I started. (About as much as I know about Twitter right now!) I was an empty nester who had two great kids that were moving on with their lives and feeling a little lost. I was inspired by the man who has now become my son through marriage to start writing. He is a blogger and I thought it would be fun to put my thoughts into words. If you notice, there are no photos on the first blog. I did not know how to add a picture. I worked and read and even viewed You Tube videos to improve my site. I learned about widgets, buttons, sidebars and linking tools as I made my baby steps. Since I began blogging both my babies married, I have changed jobs and we are in the process of relocating. I still find it funny that my Pinterst page on healthy foods is one of my most popular…(maybe I should actually use those recipes) and the blog post I did on how to clean granite is viewed almost every day…(maybe I should clean more often because anyone who knows me knows that cleaning is not my idea of fun!)

Since that time I have learned a little about blogging. It is hard work, it takes time, and it can be incredibly frustrating when learning something new. I now have a Pinterest account, a Facebook page, where I often share just a sentence or two and where I post great things I find and yes I have dipped my pinkie toe in the Twitterverse. Blogging also nudged me into taking photography lessons. My long-suffering husband has been Mr. Fix it for years and we have totally renovated two homes and the lake house over the years. I have always loved redoing furniture and was surprised to find that other people did too.

Here is one of the projects I did about a year ago that will be coming to the new house. The day this was published 19 people viewed my site. Farm House Table on the Cheap Notice I did not even take a picture of the whole thing finished.

Here The Farmhouse Table is in our city house decorated for Christmas. The table did not turn out too bad for $40.00 and a weekend. I love that the reclaimed wood came off our lake house.

Here it is too.

I blog because I enjoy it. I do not have or want advertisers, I do not sell my work, (unless I am moving and then only to my friends!) I do not make any money from my blogging. If I hate a product I say it- I hate Duck brand packing tape for instance- because it does not stick well. Don’t buy it if you are moving. If I like a product I get to say that too. I love Behr paint with primer in satin. I love furniture roadside rescues. Hubby even picked up three roadside tables the night before we moved! There may or may not be salvaged cabinet doors and drawers in my storage unit waiting for me to do something with.

In the next few months I will be moving into and decorating a new home,

resale shopping for great vintage items, and spending some quality time at our Lake House, Star Hill.

I guess right now I am a full time country girl, not a weekender, but it is too much trouble to change the name now. Thank you all for reading my blog. I appreciate each of you and love hearing from you. I hope I inspire you to put yourself out there warts and all, and that you are challenged to try new things.

Decorating, DIY Art, DIY Monochromatic Art, home decorating, Redecorating, Style, The City House, Truly Madly Deeply

Updating the Master Bedroom on the Cheap

December 27, 2012December 27, 2012 Karen

I made an monochromatic art piece a while back that I did not show in the place where it was going to hang because, well, um… I was a little embarrassed about the state of my master bedroom. Right now I do not have the time or energy for a major overhaul, but a little redo will help it.
Here is the before picture:

There are several things I like about the room. I love that we have new carpet, I like the accent wall where the two windows are. I like the size.

I cannot tell you what I was thinking when I bought brown bedding. It is wrong for many reasons. I never liked the bedding with the wall color, it is dark and we have a light colored cat and while I love the art piece above the bed, a family piece, it was too small above the bed.

For Christmas Hubby bought me a camera. I am learning to use the camera so hopefully you will notice an improvement in the photo quality soon. Today the pictures are all ipad because Hubby is ready to leave for Star Hill.
The camera was a deal and came with a rewards program. There were enough points to get me a suit, my mom a coat, and a bedding set. I am not the bedding set kind of person generally, but I really liked this set and I can finally show you the artwork up in the room. I am by no means finished with the room but I wanted you to see what a big difference changing the bedding makes.

The next projects in the room will be the addition of accessories, I need more storage and I want to add a little more art.
The family piece did get to stay.

Right now the dresser is filled with my shell angel collection for Christmas, but it needs to be beautified. It is normally empty. I need help with what to do here…HELP!

This coming year will be a year of projects. The city house needs a back yard redo, bathroom updating, and the family room will be finished. Star Hill is getting a porch redo and deck work. Oh, and there will be a wedding this summer! The Southern Belle is getting hitched.

Redecorating, Stenciling, The City House, yellow and gray bedroom

Weekend Guest Room Redo on the Cheap

October 1, 2012December 13, 2012 Karen

The weatherman said there would rain this weekend and I am feeling internal pressure to get the guest room redone so, horror of all horrors, we stayed in the city this weekend. About once every two months we just have to stay home, take care of home maintenance or other commitments. I have been itching to get on the guest room wall painting. I was sick most of the weekend so I did not move too fast.
The past two weeks I have scoured the “oops” bins at Lowe’s and Home Depot for paint that would work with no luck so the paint had to be purchased FULL PRICE! I hate that. Because of the paint, I will have to up my budget to $150.00.
So far I am doing well with the purchases:
5.00- Milk Glass Lamp
7.50 fabric for lampshade and headboard
17.00 comforter
20.00 pillows and dust ruffle
15.00 night stand ( other night stand was roadside find)
6.00 trim for armoire
5.00 hardware for armoire
5.00 bookcase legs (upcoming project- the bookcase is a freebie)
2.00 mirror
2.00 frame ( will become a chalkboard)
20.00 for stencil ( online find!)
32.00 for paint ( grrr)
$136.50
I still need to find curtains and some additional fabric for pillows and a project. I may not make my budget, but it will be close.

Here are some sneak peeks into the guest room I did not get everything done because I felt so bad, but I wanted you to see that I did get some work accomplished.