Texas Archives - The Weekend Country Girl

Christmas, Coldspring, Country living, Country Style, Decorating, Dining Table, painting, Texas

Using Dollar Tree Peel and Stick Tiles to Make Christmas Trees

December 10, 2022 Karen

I saw on Pinterest lots of examples of making trees out of wood and Dollar Tree faux tin tiles and thought I would give it a try.

I plan on my trees going on our deck table so they are sturdier than a lot I saw. The need to hold up with wind and rain. The triangles are cut out of leftover pieces of wood from our stash. I made sure they would fit the tile.

After the wood was cut, I traced the shapes off on the tiles and cut them out with scissors. Several sites talked about using hot glue but my things get stored in a super hot space. Hot glue doesn’t hold up so contact cement was the best choice.

Everything got a coat of Kilz Gripper Primer. It is made to stick to slick surfaces.

I used the same paint I used on my mural to paint the trees then dry brushed the high spots with black and white paint. Literally you dip just the tips into the paint then take off most of the paint before lightly dragging it across the surface.

I cut some small blocks for the tree trunks and Mr. Math cut the bases. He then screwed them on. If you are doing something like this for indoor E6000 glue would work fine. We always overdo.

I really like how they turned out.

It is really warm here now and we are spending a lot of time outside so we get to enjoy the trees.

I hope your weekend is great.

Blessings,

Karen

Coldspring, Country living, painting, Texas

A Giant Mural on the Cheap

August 20, 2022August 20, 2022 Karen

Operation Courtyard Part 2

Since we converted an existing building into a guest house we didn’t have a choice about the location. The former greenhouse was never expected to be front and center. It was designed for utility, not beauty.

Once we turned her into a super cute cottage with a sweet little front porch complete with swing, I could see we needed to improve the view.

First I addressed to blank wall that anyone sitting on the swing is looking at with a barn quilt. You can read about the quilt here.

And that helped but the biggest issues were the two metal buildings that set the boundaries for what I think of as the front yard for Sand Creek Cottage.

They weren’t giving me the cozy cottage vibe. They were eyesores that needed to be addressed. So I pulled out the secret weapon, paint.

First thing Mr. Math power washed them both to get the surfaces ready for paint. Both buildings had been painted before and I was fairly sure the smaller building we use as a tool shed had been spray painted, so it got primed first then painted with leftover trim paint we used on the cottage and our house. It is Behr Dove.

Mr. Math cut out a circle from a leftover Hardie panel scrap for me and I turned it into a sign using the main color of the cottage (Behr True Taupewood), barn quilt paint (they were mistint samples) and some black exterior paint I bout for $9.00 at Home Depot. You can read about Operation Courtyard Part 1 here.

The little building looked so much better and I could see the potential for the bigger wall but I didn’t want a solid color, I wanted something that would help us forget that the shop was blocking the view. I immediately thought of a mural. I fell in love with giant wall art in Laurel Mississippi. But they are everywhere now.

I knew I wanted something nature inspired, with no words so I started looking online for ideas.

I found this peel and stick mural that I used for inspiration.

I liked the trees, and the way the colors went from dark at the bottom to light at the top. I wanted my “forest” to look more like our pine trees and I always have enjoyed watching the way the planted trees grow back after timber is cut from a property. The first few years the property looks terrible then all of a sudden the trees start shooting up and you can see that the forest of trees as you drive by. It seems so hopeful.

I picked up the paint for the wall at Lowe’s and Home Depot in their oops section and a gallon of Forest Green from our local ReStore for $16.00. All together I used one gallon of the upper lighter color, one quart of an olive-ish color, and the black paint. The total for the paint came to $47.00. I used the lighter color straight from the can to paint the upper half of the wall with a paint sprayer- Mr. Math had to teach me how to spray large areas.

Lightest color One gallon of exterior paint from Lowe’s.

The bottom are just shades of the forest green. One gallon was plenty.

The top level of trees was one part olive paint and three parts the light color. The next level of trees was one part forest green and two parts of the light color. The third level of trees and the bottom third of the wall was straight forest green. Finally the darkest color is three parts forest green and on part black.

I considered drawing the picture off then projecting it on the wall but honestly that just isn’t me. Trees are imperfect and I decided to just roll with it. I just took off with a paint brush and just hoped for the best. It is only paint. If I hated it, I could always paint over it. I did have to keep telling myself that a lot. Our unofficial motto is “We don’t do easy at our house” and this project was no exception it was over 100 degrees every day I worked on it so it was 6:00 in the morning until 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. until it was too dark to see.

Mr. Math suggested I add in some lighter spots to look like light coming through the trees. It was a great suggestion.

I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Thank you for following along with our journey.

Blessings,

Karen

Behr Paint with Primer, Coldspring, curb appeal, Texas

Operation Courtyard (Part 1)

August 20, 2022August 20, 2022 Karen

Our cottage is so stinkin’ cute.

She is a beauty. I am happy with everything about the house except one area. The area is in front of the house and…well…that space is another story. When I sit in the rocker and face south this is what I see:

It is a beautiful view even in this dry season.

When I sit on the swing which faces north, this is my view.

It was way worse until we got it cleaned up. I think of that space as a courtyard for the cottage but it was a catch-all space for years.

In case you are wondering yes those are train cars that are pulled behind a lawnmower. Mr. Math has the whole outfit to go along with it.

We live on a property that has been lived on for a long time by people who reuse everything and spend money as a last resort. They are my people!

I wonder how long ago this wheel was attached to the tree to hold water hoses? We are still using it and unless the tree dies it will still be there when we move on years from now.

The tool shed that is front and center in the space is a perfect example of the ingenuity of those who made our property so great. The shed is made from recycled heavy corrugated metal sheets tack welded together. It has some rusted panels and was painted silver at one point. It is not something that we can just replace parts on because it is basically all one piece. It holds things like chemicals and fuel we wouldn’t want in our shops so we need it. It would be a pain to move it so our options are limited.

The wall of the garages isn’t much better. It was owner built, added on to, windows were removed, there is mold along the bottom, and electrical was changed along the way. It isn’t something you want to look at all the time.

Because I think everything looks better painted, the first thing I knocked out was a cleaning and paint job on the garden shed. Primer first of course.

Even the primer coat looks better than the rusty metal.

I painted the shed the same color as the trim of the cottage, Behr Dove. as soon as it was painted I tackled a sign for the building. Mr. Math who is a wizard with concrete board cut out a circle from left over concrete backer board. I started looking at forest/country/tree quotes. When I found this one it fit perfectly. My whole life I lived literally a fourth of a mile from I-10 in a city where I could walk to a shopping center. I never thought I would enjoy much less find the peace I have found here in the trees.

I decided to hand letter and paint the sign because I wanted a folksy look. You can’t take a painting hung on a tool shed too seriously.

Mr. Math also added an old window to the back side that was sitting in my shop after giving it two coats of polyurethane.

It looks so much better painted. Total cost for the shed was a few dollars in bolts to connect the sign and window. Everything else was left over from building the cottage or other projects.

I still have a lot to do but I am excited about my plans.

I am going to have to look for some plants and nice planters. This was so I could see how it could look.

Thank you for following along on our journey.

We love to hear from you,

Karen

Coldspring, family, Texas, the guest room, vintage style

Beds in the Cottage

June 20, 2022June 23, 2022 Karen

When we decided to make the cottage a place to sleep in overnight we thought about bed sizes and I perused a lot of Air BnB suggestions on Pinterest. (They are a great resource for how to make a guest home work for guests.) We are a really tall family so that factored into the plans. We considered a Murphy bed but the largest they come in is queen and we thought a king would be our best choice. By the way, if you want a room to have lots of functions and a queen, double or twin work for you, Murphy beds are awesome. We installed one in our back bedroom it was a lot of work but we love that we have a comfortable bed or a work/craft space.

Also, I want to be able to use the cottage for more than just a place to sleep. Just this Saturday there was an impromptu dance recital performance by two of my granddaughters that required things to be moved against the wall so the room would be more open. (They were magnificent by the way!). I can see using the space for baby/wedding showers, birthdays, game nights etc. so I didn’t want a quarter of the space to be taken up all the time.

I discovered searching online that there are bed frames that can be bolted and unbolted together and there is a strap and filler made just for the purpose of making two twins a king. That sealed the deal for us. Two twin xl beds were going to be in our future.

I shopped marketplace and found two mattresses and box springs used to stage a home. The guy that bought them thought they could be returned once the house sold but they got a little scuffed on one end moving them in. They were brand new expensive mattresses. I bet he wished he had hired a stager instead of trying to work the system but his loss, our gain. The still wrapped in plastic box springs were donated to Restore. A friend gave us a king sized bed topper that will make it even better.

We now can configure the room several ways.

Daybeds in the corner (this is how it looks most of the time).

Side by side twin beds

King bed

The night stands were once a vanity table that had been left in a garage for years. I love how cutting it in two, removing the peeling veneer, and painting the body made the furniture useful again.

We are ready for company. Flushing potty, hot water, beds, and most importantly air conditioning!

We love hearing from you.

Blessings,

Karen

bathroom, Building a Home, Coldspring, DIY, guest house, Real Life, Texas, vintage style

The Inside of the Guest House is Finished

June 14, 2022June 14, 2022 Karen

Finally, finally, finally we have finished inside of the guest house. It was a project that we will enjoy for years to come and will increase the property value but man it was hard. I don’t recommend 60 years olds to take on this type project in the middle of a pandemic with supply chain issues and a shortage of contractors. Seriously.

We still have the porch ceiling to finish, erosion control, septic for the toilet (but it is happening this week!) and landscaping. It no longer stresses me to walk into the building knowing what we still have to do. Now I just get to enjoy being there.

I am going to link all the projects we have done here, mainly for myself, but if you haven’t followed along it might be something you want to check out. I apologize in advance for all the links!

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/04/01/progress-sort-of/

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/04/09/weekly-update-on-the-guest-house/

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/04/16/week-2-update/

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/05/02/the-struggle-is-real-remodeling-a-home-is-hard-right-now/

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/07/26/finally-an-update-on-the-guest-cottage/

*** If you are only going to look at one, this one has a good overview https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/07/30/learning-to-love-the-imperfections/

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/08/02/why-we-hired-a-pro-for-the-tub/

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2021/08/04/installing-a-vintage-kitchen-cabinet/

https://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2022/02/12/a-bathroom-vanity-from-scraps/

We now have a functioning 464 square foot house that has the ability to sleep 4. We have on demand hot water, air conditioning, a six foot antique claw foot tub, a 1935 kitchen sink, hardwood floors and a peaceful front porch.

We added these canvas prints of the gust house to remind us how far we have come.

The twin xl beds can be bolted together to create a king and a very cushy topper makes it more comfy than our bed.

We found the perfectly sized table and chairs on Facebook marketplace and the love seat is a double bed sleeper. The kitchenette is my second favorite area in the house. I love that sink and those vintage upper cabinets.

My favorite space is this beautiful bathroom.

Our final project was the closet. we finally have a place for all the stuff that we need but don’t want to see every day.

Thanks for following along on this year+ long journey.

We love hearing from you.

Blessings,

Karen

Country living, kitchen storage, Redneck Retreat, Texas

Open Live Edge Shelving

March 5, 2020March 5, 2020 Karen

The absolute ugliest bank of cabinets at the Redneck Retreat were to the left of the sink. They sagged, one of them had the Formica peeled off, and they were huge.

I couldn’t live with them in the kitchen. They were nasty. Since this was the week we were already going to be replacing the vent hood to nowhere and adding three new cabinets, it was time for them to go too.

Out in our shop we had some cedar that I knew would be perfect for live edge shelving.

If it didn’t rain all week while we were at the Redneck Retreat this would have been a snap to get done. The only problems we had with this project was getting polyurethane to dry and not getting matching paint for the wall after the cabinets came down. The paint situation meant that the whole kitchen got a new coat and soon the rest of the cabin will get the same treatment.

The cedar planks were all about a foot wide and ended up getting cut to about 60 inches in length. I had to drag them into to house to get the polyurethaning done.

They are so pretty. Mr. Math ran them through the planer and a simple sanding made the wood grain really stand out.

I am excited to get the rest of the kitchen done. We have more uppers to add, counter tops to install, bottom cabinets to do something with, and a broom closet but this is progress.

This whole project, including paint, poly, and shelf brackets was just over $50.00. I think it makes a good look for the rustic look of the cabin.

Another find in storage was the glass pendant light. Several years ago I paid $10.00 for it on clearance at Home Depot.

The kitchen is coming along.

Thanks for following our journey.

Blessings,

Karen

Country Style, Decorating, family, Fun with friends, ship lap, Style, Texas, traveling

A Trip to Waco Part 1

December 11, 2017December 11, 2017 Karen

Y’all, I had the best weekend last week. I got to spend the weekend in the season 1, episode 1 Fixer Upper home. While that was an awesome experience, sleeping for two nights with all of my kids and my sweet granddaughter under one roof along with our dear friends was the BEST part of the weekend.

I hope you don’t mind, but I am going to share my weekend with you along with a few tips in case you head to Waco yourselves.

First of all,

This my friends is the house we stayed in.

It is a beautiful home.

Come on in, I will show you around.

The three stories of stairs are so pretty. They were quite a challenge for our 18 month old granddaughter to navigate. She could not get enough of them.

The first shiplap room on HGTV. Joanna made her mark convincing Charmaine to leave the walls open to reveal the shiplap that traditionally was covered with a “finished” wall in this one small room.

There are the requisite French doors. I just loved this little space.

The kitchen is my favorite room in the home.

I loved the beams, the tile, the vent hood, the lighting, and he countertops. That island, made by Clint Harp from reclaimed shiplap made me swoon.

Something I wasn’t prepared for was the industrial elements. The paper towel dispensers, the exit lights, the pump hand sanitizers on the wall. Charmaine said that at one point she planned a child care center here.

Oh, and Joanna would never approve of the shelves that are in the corners.

The family room was very comfortable.

The front porch was amazing.

You just have to be comfortable sharing it with all the Fixer Upper fans who drive by, stop by, jump out of their cars for pictures, even coming up on the porch, and even the one extremely brave man who asked if he could come in… in case you are wondering the answer was no. I enjoyed it and waved like a fool at all of them until they drove off… except that one.

Also, the neighborhood is rough. It is definitely the best house in the worst neighborhood now.

The house sleeps more than 12, has four full and one half baths. It is close to Magnolia Market, and the homeowner is the same person who was on the show. She checked in on us, brought a Keureg when he one there didn’t work, and was a pleasure to work with.

The home can be rented HERE, if you are interested.

The quality of the construction was apparent, the home was beautiful, and it was a great weekend for us.

This week I am going to show you you our visit to Magnolia Market.

Thanks for following along on our journey,

Blessings,

Karen

Camp house, Country Style, fireplace, Fun with friends, Texas

Plans for the Cabin

March 27, 2017March 29, 2017 Karen

This weekend The Social Planner ( TSP), her hubby Larry, Mr. Math, and I spent the better part of a day cleaning up and making plans for the cabin we are getting.

There were so many more happy surprises on the first “walk through” of this project after the tenants moved out than we did on our Huntsville rental property. The electrical was done properly. There is an ingenious system for water in the house even though there is no well or city water. The house is well insulated. The appliances work. They did a good job of moving out without destroying. Winner, winner chicken dinner.

(We have a lot of stuff to move along.)

The problems with the interior of the cabin are mainly unfinished projects or space planning issues.

The kitchen cabinets are unfinished at the bottom.
I would like some that look like this:

Cabinets

But I wan them washed in barn red.

The top cabinets are warped, laminate-over-particle board office cabinets. I hate them, but for now we need to make them work. I will keep an eagle eye out for someone who is getting rid of real kitchen cabinets and will haunt the ReStore for upper cabinets that will work. I can be patient.

The wood burning stove sticks out too far from the wall, the cement backer board behind the stove is unfinished, and the stove needs to be painted with high heat black paint.
The dudes are going to move the stove back about six inches and fix the stove-pipe. We ( The Social Planner and me) are going to paint the stove and I am going to attempt to install plank tile that looks like whitewashed wood vertically over the backer board. Mr. Math will be my backup in case of disaster.

(The picture above is of the place with the tenants. It is cleaned out now, but I did not get a picture that shows the space between the wall and the stove.

Tile

The cabin is not too far from the Alabama Coushatta Reservation, and the area has a strong western cowboy history. We are going to try our best to honor the area through our decor but with more of a deer camp feel. We both have quite a bit of western stuff that will be coming in. Our bedding for the six beds will be a mix of plaids, solids, and even couple of native inspired. The inspiration from the cabin colors will come from these pictures.

I actually found some bedding really cheap on Amazon.

A lot of what is going into the house is coming right out of my old lake house “bunk room” and The Social Planner’s stash. These vintage canisters came from the stash.

The flowered couch is getting a chocolate-colored slipcover that will make it work for us. The bonus is that it is washable. The love seat is going and a vintage vinyl western couch is coming in to join the brown couch.

I plan on doing a piece for the wall sort of like this one.

I found this letschipit.com color scheme based on a female cardinal. It is exactly the colors I see us using.

It is going to be fun making this small space functional and FUN.

The journey continues,

Blessings,

Karen

Coldspring, moving, new home, Texas, the suburban home

Selling a Home

March 24, 2016 Karen

I am not an expert in a lot of areas. Never ask me to knit, crochet, sew, or bake a soufflé. I can’t grow anything that is is the least bit tricky (this month alone I have killed an orchid and it appears one of my succulents are dying), and car repair of any sort is not my thing.

What I have learned a little about in 34 years of marriage is how to sell a house. As of now we have sold 4 homes, each one sold in less than a month, most in about a week. House number 5 is currently under contract after being on the market for less than 5 days. You can see the home here.

I am pretty proud of our track record selling homes, but my guess is that my kids wished we did things a little differently when they were growing up. My daughter commented once that we never finished any projects until we were putting the house on the market. Guilty as charged.

Here is what we do, when we are selling a home:

” IZE “ your home. You know what I am going to say here already:
- Neutralize– Appeal to the masses. Nothing that would be too taste specific. Not the time for a purple wall or leopard print carpet.
- Depersonalize-You must detach from the home. You are breaking up with this house anyway, so start moving on in your head. Family photos, ribbons, medals, and shopping lists on the fridge must go.
- Minimize- Go ahead and get a start on moving out. Have a garage sale, donate to Goodwill, and store anything that is not essential, in pristine condition, or that is too overpowering. My green hutch and all of the milkglass got moved out. This is not the best shot of my beloved hutch, but it was all I could find. I will have an awesome picture of it when it moves in to my craft room. Promise.
- Sanitize- I am not saying you are dirty people, really I am not. What I am saying is it needs to be cleaner than the way we, at our house, live on a daily basis. We washed the windows inside and out, had the carpet professionally cleaned, weeded the flower beds, and scrubbed the grout in the bathrooms, organized the linen closets, and power washed the sidewalk, porches, and driveway. The bathroom counters got emptied and cleaned. I am sad to say that a lot of that only happens when we have a house on the market.
Upgrade your home. It takes money, and/or elbow grease to make money. In our case a little of both. Mostly on the back of Mr. Math.
- Lighting– This is honestly one of the areas that I do not understand why more people don’t take care of before putting their house on the market. If your house is more than 5 years old, or is a builder basic, you probably have at least one light fixture that needs updating. If you shop around, you can find some great lights for not a lot of money. Mr. Math replaced the very builder basic light on the front porch and in the entry way. I stood on the ground and begged him not to die. Not all lighting is this challenging to change out.
- Flooring– Go with what is selling in your area. I checked out the two recent sales in our neighborhood. See what they both had?
- - Both had hardwood flooring in the family room. We had carpet so we knew we were going to have to up our game. We shopped for the best deal on neutral engineered hardwood flooring and had it installed. We spent some serious money on the flooring, but we knew that it would not get any traffic if we weren’t on par with the other homes on the market. It is really nice, but I probably would have gone a lot more rustic if I was purchasing for me and not the masses.
Make your home memorable. I know I said neutralize, so why would I also say to make it memorable? What I mean is make your home stand out from the rest in the minds of buyers- in a good way. Keep the walls neutral but try to have at least three rooms with something in them that will be remembered by the buyers.
- We added this barn door and buyers can see it as soon as they walk in.
- Our neighbor had this awesome turquoise buffet in the entry way.
- I love my teal dresser that we use as an entertainment center.
- Oh that bathroom. I am going to miss that beauty. The dresser, the antique vanity, the fence board shelving unit and the light are all neutral but very memorable.
- The faux shiplap wall is getting a lot of traffic right now on Pinterest. It is easy, and makes quite a statement.
Hire the realtor in your area that is actually selling homes and then listen to the realtor. The person who is selling homes quickly in your area probably has potential clients already lined up. The realtor we used sold the home next door quickly and for above listing a month before ours went on the market. She had a list of people who are currently looking to move into our neighborhood from her last sale. She also set the price for the house which was higher than I thought we should go. She was right. If she had told us our house was not worth what we believed, we would have had an opportunity to fix the problems before moving on or not list, but I would never list higher than the realtor believes it will sell for. I would either need a different realtor or realistic expectations. Our realtor walked through the house prior to listing to make sure we had everything done that would help the house sell. She was honest and helped us see things that we had not considered with furniture placement.

It made me proud of our hard work that we had more than one family want the home, and that the new buyers wanted to buy some of the furnishings as well.

We love hearing from you. Thank you for following along on our journey as we move into our forever home.

Blessings,

Karen

Building a Home, Coldspring, Country living, Country Style, Texas

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

October 31, 2014October 31, 2014 Karen

Thursday night I had the opportunity to visit SJ River Ranch just outside Coldspring. I will tell you all that when I say I am a weekend country girl, that is a stretch. I am really a “weekend go to the country girl”. We have a deer feeder so that I can see the deer come up early in the mornings when the beasts leave them alone. I feed humming birds, finches and have a general bird feeder. That is about the extent of my interaction with wildlife.

Mary and Bill are real live ranchers who have a beautiful ranch where they raise cattle. Here is a link to their website that includes beautiful pictures. I love the fact that Mary is the ranch manager. She is also an artist and they have lived all over the world. The stories they tell about their adventures are book-worthy.

We arrived at their home just before sunset so some of the later pictures are grainy. I had to really adjust the light.

The ranch is over 300 acres and is a mix of pine trees and pastures. It is beautiful.

The Austin stone on the home is so pretty. I love the back porch that runs the length of the home. There are windows that line the porch wall so that you can see outside into the beautiful back yard from every room.

This gazebo is amazing. It is huge. There is a fire pit in the center and an opening in the roof for the smoke to get out. I think I would live in the gazebo if I could.

Sunset views.

Mary took us on a ride around the property. The containers you see in the distance are her raised garden pots. She also has a greenhouse.

They have a guest house. We didn’t get to check it out because there were guests. One day I want to check out how it is organized.

They have a workshop that we got to check out. With awesome metal cabinets.

They have a chicken coop. Mary has eggs of all colors. Do you see Henrietta the spotted chicken? Bill also fixed it so that they can get the eggs out without going in the coop. That green box on the outside has a lid that lifts up to get to the eggs.

There are two ponds on the property.

The ride out to see the cattle was beautiful. The views are spectacular. It is easy to forget you are just over an hour away from downtown Houston.

The true lack of my country experienc came out when we met Shooter. You know how on cartoons they show bulls flaring their nostrils, pawing the ground and charging at you?

Source

I can now tell you that they do this in real life. Shooter, a high dollar registered bull, did not love us being near his girls. My heart did race, the Social Planner and I may have squealed enough to scare Bill into riding out to see if we were okay. The Social Planner and I thought for a minute we were in trouble.

I did get brave enough to get some shots of Shooter but not brave enough to get any closer. That wire was all that stood between me and sudden death. Yep. I am standing across the road from him thinking of an escape route if necessary. I think that bull makes my bottom look big. 🙂

See these bad babies? They slipped under the fence and were in the hay barn when we drove up. Look at how innocent they look… those little stinkers.

These calves were out in the pasture. All of the calves we saw were born in September or October.

Lacey loves food. She is on a diet so she now sneaking out to get the calf food. Poor Lacey.

This boy is head of ranch security and he is no joke.

We had a lot of fun and love learning about the place we call home two days a week. A big thank you to Bill and Mary for the wonderful gumbo, the tour of the ranch and letting us sit by your fire. We loved it.

Here is a shot of The Social Planner and me on the back of the Kabota ready for our tour.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I love hearing from you.

Blessings,

Karen