The bedroom Archives - The Weekend Country Girl

Coldspring, home decorating, new home, Ranch House Overhaul, The bedroom, the suburban home

How to Install a Barn Door

August 31, 2015 Karen

I love barn doors. They solve the problem of swing out doors in small spaces, can be made to fit odd sizes, are easier to install than a pocket door and they look cool. I love them so much that soon we will have three. One on the giant bran door that allows us to close off a section of our suburban home when we have guests.

The wood in the barn door above came from my husband’s family barn.

We will soon be putting a barn door over the opening to our mudroom. It will be open most of the time but can be closed off.

And finally, we installed a door on barn door hardware last weekend.

Our master bathroom at Provdence didn’t have a door. That bugged me.

A lot.

The opening was 36 inches wide so o immediately thought of a door we have had for 16 years or so. I bought it for $20.00 at a community garage sale. It was an unfinished, solid wood pine exterior door that I stained and used as my daughter’s headboard. It then became our headboard. I knew it would work as our bathroom door and best of all, it wouldn’t cost us anything.

The reason there wasn’t a door on the bathroom was that there just wasn’t room for a swig out or in 36 inch door. A pocket door should have been installed there 30 years ago when the home was built.

The best solution for the door was a solution I had already used before on an odd opening, a barn door.

I bought the hardware from Tractor Supply.

The rails come in two styles, a rounded bottom rail and a square bottom style.

We like the square style.

The roller kit we buy comes with everything needed to attach the door to the rail.

We are probably going to eventually paint the rail and hardware black, but right now it is about getting a bathroom door. Fast.

This particular door is heavy. Mr. Math had to make sure the door stays securely attached. The bolts go complexly through the door and are tightened down.

I recommend phoning a friend to hang the door. Our frien, Larry saved the day.

I don’t have a picture of the first step. Hang a 1 x 4 into the studs above the opening. This allows for the door to move across the door facing. The next step is to hang the rail. You have to buy the hangers separately. We bought 3 to hold up our 6′ 8″ rail.

The hangers are adjustable by twisting the nuts on the bolts.

I am so happy to have a door.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Blessings,

Karen

new home, Real Life, The bedroom, the guest room, the suburban home

Giving Birth to a Second Home

May 5, 2015 Karen

Right now I am so over the whole selling a house, buying a house, thing. It is exhausting packing to move out of a lake house that we have had for the past eight years. How in the world did we accumulate so much stuff in a 950 square foot house and an 800 square foot garage?

This weekend we cleared out my wood stash. The wood I am keeping is now in storage and the rest is in a fire pit burn pile. Boo! I hated letting go of all those bits and pieces. I know I will be needing something out of the stash as soon as I get the wood shop up and running. Oh well.

Because we are selling a lot of the furniture in our current lake house and moving into a larger home, I have started collecting things that we need. We are also keeping a lot of my son and daughter in law’s stuff while they are out of the country. Right now we have the furniture equivalent of 2.5 homes stashed in our suburban home and a storage unit. The clutter is wearing on me.

Here is a tour of our house. The following pictures may not be appropriate for young children, or my mother.

When you enter our front door there is a dry sink that is going to get a major overhaul and become a small buffet in our lake house dining area. ( Envision losing the curvy top section, chicken wire in the doors and reclaimed lumber top and you have the idea.) The piece was a gift and I am grateful, it just can’t live in my front hallway. On a furniture dolly.

The green bedroom is a total disaster. The room is stuffed with patio cushions, furniture for the new house, things I need to go through from the lake house, and other assorted things I have found and want to use in the new home. I can’t wait to get the room all fixed up for company.

The blue bedroom is right now the holding place for a queen sized bed, the kids’ turquoise furniture, and other bits that belong in various locations around the house but can’t be there because they have been displaced. As soon as we move in to the new house it should return to some semblance of normalcy.

My craft room is a train wreck. I mean a total and complete mess. I have unfinished projects, paperwork, and workout equipment that needs to be sold all jammed into this space. This is my first priority. I am going to have it cleared out by the end of the week. Expect a post by Thursday. I am holding myself accountable.

The garage. What can I say about the garage? As soon as the lake house is officially sold we are staying home and we are cleaning that puppy out. I mean drag it all into the driveway and figure out a better system kind of clean out. If all goes well, that means in three weeks. I didn’t even have the nerve to take a picture for you guys. It is worse than the office.

The family room is holding a few extra chairs, the closets are popping. I am getting cranky.

I know it is only temporary but I am going to have to start the purge very soon.

Wish me luck. I am going in.

Have a great week,

Blessings,

Karen

Apartment living, Building a Home, Chair, crafting, Painted Furniture, recycled furniture, resale finds, The bedroom

Saginaw Furniture Company Expand-O-Matic

April 26, 2015April 26, 2015 Karen

I am always amazed at what I find at garage sales. At the time I was at my latest garage sale, our house was being inspected so I wasn’t sure if the house would pass. I had already told myself we were killing time, not buying. I did pretty well… except for two milk glass mugs and a wooden bowl until I spied something I had never seen before. It looked like a desk, and I could tell it was old, but what clinched it for me was the fact that it expanded to become a six foot long table. What in the world? The leaves were missing but I had to have it for my long hoped for my craft/ Murphy bed room I am planning at our new spot. When the bed is set up the table can collapse to be a bench.

The price on the desk thing was $25.00, and I couldn’t resist.

When I got home I started checking online to see what I had. It took some searching but I finally found it. Saginaw Furniture Company Expand-O-Matic. It was probably from the late 40’s or early 50’s. They changed the name to Expandway later but I love the older name.

They were made for New York apartments and were sold up until the 60’s. The top drawer is lined and divided to hold silverware. Apparently the morning mini home market has made these cool again and these puppies are selling for $600.00 complete.

Mine is going to get stainable leaves. The top and leaves will be dark walnut.. The base is going to be painted teal. I already have the perfect chair for it when it is a desk.

Here are some shots from Etsy. All I could find were sold.

I wish I had those leaves but we should be able to do something that looks nice.

Mine only expands 6 feet.

I also am changing jobs so the suitcase wall will be moving into the craft room along with the sewing cabinet. As soon as the leaves are done and the Murphy bed built, the room will be done. This may be the easiest room to put together at the house.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Blessings,

Karen

Building a Home, cedar lumber, Decorating, Decorating with mirrors, Dining Table, Dresser, home decorating, master bedroom, new home, reclaimed wood, The bedroom, the guest room, the office

Weekend Home Tour Part 2

April 21, 2015 Karen

Here are the rest of the photos from the weekend home tour. The entry way was dramatic.

House 3

I really liked the ceiling in the dining or office area.

A black and white kitchen.

Mirrored side tables.

The house was fun to look at.

House 4

Much more my style.

Cedar timber ceiling.

Copper colored tile entry.

Master bedroom ceiling

I thought this wall/ headboard/ ceiling treatment was interesting. It

I like the rustic touches in this home.

I am such a fan of the herringbone brick ceiling.

I love this wall, clock, and storage.

I hope you enjoyed my visit to the model homes.

I would encourage you to visit homes near you when you get a chance. They really get the creative juices going.

Have a great day!

Blessings,

Karen

Blogging, Building a Home, Decorating, Decorating with mirrors, Dining Table, French Provincial, home decorating, master bedroom, mid-life, Mirror Display, new home, Ornate mirror, The bedroom, The City House, the guest room, the suburban home

Weekend Home Tour

April 20, 2015April 20, 2015 Karen

i love to visit model homes. Near my sister in law’s house they have 7 model homes open for touring. It was a muddy, stormy Sunday afternoon so she and I headed out to walk through the homes. This builder’s homes are well built and are part of a 55+ neighborhood. Today you get to see the first two.

I have never seen this designer/ builder’s work, and I really enjoyed getting to see their ideas. They had the most creative ceilings I have ever seen. My favorite home happened to be the first home we visited.

The very first room was… Navy and coral with a rustic, modern vibe. I can honestly say it was the only room I could see myself in, but I did take away some ideas.

We didn’t plan on going so excuse the iPhone photos.

House One

I loved this house.

The front bedroom was so cool. I really liked the china cabinet and the matching crib springs. The stripes wet navy, burlap, and a cream color. The art was stenciled canvas.

Loved the coral tailored cloth on the night stands.

Here is the rest of the house:

The master was a little too fussy for me. The side tables were way too full and the picture above the bed was too much. The mosaic tile panels are throughout all the homes.

I had to ask myself if that design in the shower would get old?

I loved the zinc topped hammerd table.

I liked the wood squares on the laundry wall.

I loved the wood flooring!

House Two

This house was totally not my style but still fun to look at and even in this house there were elements I really liked. I called this the mirror house.

Imagine dusting all those mirror frames.

A wall of mirrors in a 55+ guest bedroom?

I really liked this piece.

Loved the formal dining table.

I like the light fixture but two breakfast tables?

The backsplash was fun.

Oh my, the master was sensory overload. Tile and beam ceiling, tile insets on the wall, mirror edged headboard…

I did like the slate look ceramic tile.

Country Style, master bedroom, recycled furniture, The bedroom

Drop Cloth Upholstery

April 19, 2015 Karen

Recently one of my favorite stores to walk through, Harbor Freight, had cloth drop cloths on sale with a coupon for $2.99 each. (Right now they are on sale for $6.99 which is still a deal.) If you don’t have a Harbor Freight near you, I am sorry. Just kidding. They have a great online store and any order is $6.99 to ship.

Hubby picked up two for me when he was out and silly me, I planned on using them for drop cloths. When I looked at them, I knew that I would be using them for tons of stuff. The drop cloths are 4 foot wide by 12 foot long and the fabric is heavy weight, hemmed, unbleached cotton. I now have 5 of them stacked up and ready for use. I am seriously thinking they are going to be curtain panels in our new home.

My very first project with my drop cloth fabric was to recover the bench at the foot of the bed.

We made this bench from four table legs I grabbed (with permission) out of the trash at a garage sale. It has been in the room since we moved in.

I got out the drop cloth, the ironing board, and removed the bench top from the bench.

I set up the ironing board and ironed the drop cloth. What does it say about me that I know where the saw horses are, but had to search for the ironing board?

Here is a hint. Get a spray bottle out and Damien the fabric along with the steam feature on the iron. Set the iron on high and put on some tunes. It will take a while.

Once the fabric was ready I set up the saw horses, cut the fabric to fit, got out my staple gun and covered the bench top.

Tah Dah. I could have stopped there but I wanted to tie in the coral color I am adding to the navy bedroom. I wanted the look to sort of mimic a feed sack look so I taped off three stripes.

Here are the stripes finished. My Hubby, Mr. Math wasn’t home so he didn’t cringe when I just “eyeballed” the stripes. I wanted them to look rustic.

Please note the shoes under the bench. Don’t judge me. I live in this house with a very patient husband who really only resufuses to do two things; put shoes in the closet and clean toilets. I choose my battles. The best solution we have agreed on is that they have to go under the bench.

I did get the shoes out so you could see the bench but it totally confused another member of our family.

She was determined to see what was under the bench.

Here it is finished.

I hope you guys have a great day.

I love hearing from you.

Blessings,

Karen

cooking, kitchen storage, master bedroom, new home, The bedroom, the guest room, the office

Interior Photos of the Soon to be New Home

April 9, 2015April 9, 2015 Karen

I walked through the house this past weekend with a camera and also got a floor plan of the house we are buying. It helps to have pictures to refer to now so I can come up with a plan for the house.

The house is a traditional ranch. That is pretty fitting when it is on 15 acres and this is th view over our fence.

The Kitchen

Friends, I swore, promised, pledged…you name it, that I would not have another galley kitchen. I hate that cut off feeling. This one is particularly odd in that it is right off the front door of the home. Well, if the front door weren’t walled up it would be where the front door is. The wall is going to have to move. I plan on having an L shaped kitchen that opens to the dining space rather than the front entry with an island.

See the right side of the china cabinet? That is roughly where the front door is, except it is walled off. The kitchen is to the right.

The Bedrooms

The guest rooms are nice sized, and have a decent, but not awesome closets. I like that they have 36 inch doors. The folks who built this home planned on aging in the home which is good for us. We will be turning one room into my office so it will have a Murphy bed. The other will be a traditional guest room.

The master is too small and has a dinky closet. It will be added on to before we move there permanently.

See those brown bifold doors? That is the whole master closet.

The Bathrooms are fine for now, except he master doesn’t have a door. I already have a barn door going in there.

No door on the master bathroom. Ick.

Wallpaper border, carpet and frilly curtains will go. The counters, cabinets and tile are okay.

The Outdoor Kitchen is high on the list. We will have to have a functioning outdoor kitchen before starting on the indoor kitchen. It is going to be a rustic corrugated tin and cedar space with a stainless sink, a gas grill, a stainless island, and a free wall shelf. Edison lights, our deck furniture, a misting system and a big fan will make this space a destination on the property. Hubby has been given a huge smoker that will be near the decking.

See that deck at the back of the workshop above? I can’t wait to show you my workspace, but tonight it is about the house. That covered deck is a short walk across our back yard. It will make the perfect outdoor kitchen. There is water near that will be easy to set up in the sink and we will be having propane run to the area, too, for the grill.

Powerwashing, paint and installing the counters will make this space great for cooking.

The first thing we have to do is work on the foundation of the house. Another thing I said I would never do again. We are moving where the dirt is clay based and it just moves. It is not major, but needs to be addressed before we work on the floors. The carpet in the kitchen, bathroom, den, dining room must go. Immediately.

Country living, Country Style, Decorating, DIY Furniture, master bedroom, resale finds, The bedroom, The Garagemahal

Treadle Sewing Machines Become Side Tables

January 5, 2014January 5, 2014 Karen

This past summer I found two treadle sewing machines while out looking for a sewing cabinet to make a beverage station. Here is a hint. When you are at garage sales looking for specific items always ask the seller if they have them. When I asked about old sewing machines the man holding the garage sale remembered he had these in the back of his shop. I paid $25.00 for each machine.

They were not identical, and I liked that about them.

The sewing cabinets were not salvageable so they had to come off but the bases. All that time in damp shed caused them to dry rot and the glue in the plywood to break down. The wood was like paper when we tried to touch it. I knew immediately that the metal bases would be night stands in our lake house bedroom. I like the industrial look against the reclaimed wood wall. I originally thought I would reconnect the drawer units until Hubby found these industrial tool cabinet tops that would fit the bases and would be tough for the hard life they get at the lake, but there was no room for the side drawers.

I happen to have a collection of drawers at the Garagemahal that I knew would work as a center drawer in each cabinet. See, that hoarding pays off.

Hubby put his biscuit joiner to work and connected two 1X4 sections to each side of the top so the drawer hardware would work. He also had to cut the drawers down to make them 12 inches deep instead of 18 inches. If you have the chance, get yourself a handy husband. I recommend it highly. This was the first time he broke out this new toy, and it is great.

I painted the 1X4 sides black to blend in with the black metal treadle base.

Baby Boy was at the lake house and volunteered to give the bases a bath.

Why is it that the men in my life don’t smile? Could it be washing down a sewing treadle in 50 degree weather was not his idea of fun?

I polyurethaned the metal bases with a satin finish to give the metal some richness.

We are not finished with these side tables, but I wanted to show you the progress so far. The room is coming along. The drawer is going to be distressed navy blue, and I still need to find hardware but here is one of the tables in place.

We are nearing the end of redoing our lake house master bedroom.

Reclaimed wood wall is finished.
Door headboard is finished.
Side tables are almost done.
Window trim is installed and painted.
Reclaimed wood moulding is installed around the ceiling of the room.
I can’t wait to show you the finished project. I still have curtains, wall paint and furniture to paint but the hard stuff is done and I found the perfect quilt for the space. This room is only 10 feet wide and 12 feet long so not much to paint.

Curbside rescue, home decorating, master bedroom, new home, Painted Furniture, Repurposed Furniture, rescuing damaged furniture, Roadside Finds, The bedroom, Thrifty decorating, upholstery

A Bench for the Foot of the Bed

September 19, 2013September 21, 2013 Karen

This project has been a long time in the works. A year ago, before I even considered moving to the burbs, I literally picked up these legs out of the trash at a garage sale. (I did ask first.) They once were legs for a side table and were solid wood.

I did not have a plan for them but they were too nice to be trashed.

When we moved into our new house I knew I would want a bench at the end of our bed. The room is big and I love having a place to sit and put on shoes in the bedroom. I stalled on completing this project because I am trying to keep the cost down in decorating our room. I am way over budget in the den and guest room. (Like double my $100.00 per room budget in both rooms.) Before starting the bench I had spent about $80.00 on the master bedroom and I still have a few things to do. The holdup was upholstery foam. It is expensive. Crazy expensive. The foam for the mudroom bench tufted cushion was $32.00. A friend of my daughter told me she bought foam on Amazon, but it was still going to be $20.00 with shipping.

A trip to Ikea solved the problem. Have you ever been in the “As is” section of an Ikea? It is a great place to find what you didn’t even know you were looking for. Table legs, cabinet doors, scratch and dent furnishings, hardware…the place is fun to look around in for the unexpected. I found a huge cushion for a couch or chair marked $5.00. Plenty big enough for my bench.

I sliced the thickness of the foam in half using an electric knife then used spray adhesive to attach it to a scrap of plywood pulled from the hoard and cut to fit, added a layer of batting then wrapped an old sheet around the foam and attached it to the plywood with my staple gun. This step keeps the foam in place and smooth while the upholstery is being attached. It has been so long on this project that I could not find a photo of the cushion or the big slice job. I will keep looking.

In order above: sheet on bottom, then a layer of batting, then foam, then plywood

Hubby built a frame for the bench base and attached the legs with thumb screws. The frame and legs got painted a couple coats of Behr Revival Mahogany.

This is a cool tool. It holds the wood at a 90 degree angle so you can attach the parts.

Here it was while we were fitting the bench top on the base. It looks like we did not have it on evenly.

The upholstery brings a little color into the room. it was $15.00 for two yards. Well it looks like I am going to go over on this room also, but not by much. The bench ended up costing $22.00. Not bad.

I love how this looks.

I really want to paint the wall behind our bed a darker color. I believe it is going to be Garden Wall by Behr.

Here she is in all her beauty. Hubby wanted some color in the room. I think this fills the bill.

Coldspring, Country Style, Decorating, DIY, home decorating, Lake Livingston, master bedroom, Star Hill, Texas, The bedroom

Reclaimed Wood Wall

September 2, 2013September 9, 2013 Karen

I have wanted a rustic wall in our master bedroom for a while. This weekend that was the project. I first wrote about the wall in April but we are just getting the garage cleared enough that I didn’t feel guilty starting something new. #Hashtag inspired me to get moving on this long overdue project. I actually started two projects and finished a few other small projects too.

We found this old cedar fencing on the free part of Craig’s
List. Hubby did pay the guy $20.00 to help him load it.

It has been sitting in the wood hoard since April. Here is how the project went up:

7:30 am We set up the table saw, carried 50 pieces of wood to the porch and got busy. We have had Ole Betsy, our table saw for more than 25 years and bought her used all those years ago.

Hubby got busy “Truing up” the boards. That just means he cut the boars all exactly the same width and straight by running both sides through the table saw. He cut about a 1/2 inch off each side.

Yes, I made him use a wood pusher but in this picture he was finished with the cut and I wasn’t able to take the picture and help him catch the wood.

8:30 am Hubby got busy cleaning the sawdust and I carried all the boards down to the fence to clean them. This should have been step one but we don’t do easy at our house. I used the jet spray choice on the sprayer It took off the dirt but an added bonus was that it took a lot of the silvery aging off the boards. I made sure not to leave lines from the sprayer but I really liked the results. The wood looked a lot more like barn wood and less like fencing.

9:30 am Hubby got out the compound miter saw ( chop saw) and, even though the wood was damp, he got busy cutting off the rotted ends and the dog-eared tops of the boards. That left a lot of different lengths of wood. We wanted a random pattern in the joints so we were happy with the wood left.

10:30 am We moved all the furniture to get started, went to borrow a stud finder and level… We left ours in the burbs. We removed the

crown moulding and baseboards,

11:00 am I decided to paint the wall behind the wood. I was concerned that the light wall would show through at knot holes or cracks. In the end, it was probably paint and time wasted, because Hubby did such a good job with the wood there were few gaps and none showed through. As soon as I finished painting Hubby marked a level line and marked the studs with tape ( I will tell you why later.)

12;00 pm At this point we realized we only had a few nails for the 18 gauge air stapler but decided to go ahead and get started. We decided to put the row up below the window first to make sure we had that row where we wanted it and level.

Hubby manned the air nailer and called out measurements. I found the wood and cut it to length. He was able to move the tape as he went along to keep up with where the studs were in the wall.

4:00 pm We ran out of staples. Bummer. At this pint we were hot, tired and grumpy. We cleaned up, moved stuff so we could sleep bathed then headed over our friends’ house for supper.

8:00 am Hubby went in search of nails. I cut the boards to go on either side of the window while he was gone.

10:00 am Nails were found and we could get back to work.

Well, some of us got busy. Others conked out on the floor and made us walk over them.

The wall went up quickly and we were able to get finished quickly.

2:00 pm The wall was finished! Enjoy the finished wall. I love the color.

Did you notice the door headboard? We finished it when I painted the French Provincial furniture, but I wanted you to see it on the wall first. It even has door knob- that it did not have when we bought it thanks to my friend, Tanis.

We are going to have mason jar lights on either side of the door bed and I am planning to make roman shades for the windows. I am trying to figure out what color bedding. Any suggestions?

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What do you think friends? I love to hear from you.