The Garagemahal | The Weekend Country Girl

Star Hill Send Off

May 11, 2015

Karen Country living, family, Fun with friends, Lake Livingston, San Jacinto county, Star Hill, The City House, The Garagemahal Star Hill send off Leave a comment

This past Saturday we gave Star Hill a proper send off. There won’t be tons of pictures because I was pretty busy with our guests but we had a crowd. There was corn hole to play, horse shoes to throw, catfish to fry, stories to tell, and time to remember.

It just seemed natural that we should throw one last party for friends to enjoy this place we have loved and where have welcomed family, friends and adventure.

The weather was too windy to get the boat out, but the rain held off. We had friends that visited for the first time, those who have visited many times, old friends, new friends, and even the soon to be owner. Yep. The guy who is buying our home showed up, hung out, brought his dog, daughter, and girlfriend. True story. He is going to love the place and has plans for what Star Hill is going to look like when he is through with her.

We are blessed. The sale of our lake house has been quick, if not eventful, up to this point. We had someone drive up today who wanted to make an offer on the home if you can believe it. He insisted we take his number in case the sale falls through.

It is our prayer that our new, unnamed place is a destination for family, friends, and others who need a place to rest, relax, laugh, and unplug. We are getting excited about the opportunity to share our home and are purposefully trying to figure out a way for more company to stay overnight. There is a guest house, potentially we are going to have two bunk rooms, and my dream is to convert the barn into a gathering place.

Today we got busy packing. Four truck loads of stuff was taken to storage.

By the way, the secret to Mr. Math’s amazing catfish… Yellow mustard in the batter.

I hope your weekend was restful. Come see us if you are in the area.

Blessings,

Karen

Welcome to Our Little Corner of the World

February 13, 2015

Karen Blogging, mid-life, Painted Furniture, reclaimed wood, Repurposed Furniture, The Garagemahal blogging 7 Comments

If you are new to The Weekend Country Girl, Welcome! If you are one of my long-time friends, please indulge me as I introduce myself to the newcomers. My blog has literally doubled in readership over the last month.

My name is Karen and I am not a professional blogger or furniture repurposer. This blog and my projects are my hobby. I am a professional educator in a suburb of Houston. I am a high school principal who loves her job, works crazy hours, and has a lot of stress in her daily life. On the weekends, and any other chance I get, I head to the small town of Coldspring, where I wear sweat pants, go thrift store shopping, and work out in the Garagemahal. I am a happy chick when I am covered in paint or sawdust on the weekend. Come visit if you ever in the area. For real.

I am happily married to the love of my life, Mr. Math, who is a small town farm boy from Troy, Texas. We have been married for 33 years and have two great kids. I am lucky enough that both of my parents are still with us and active.

Both kids are married to wonderful spouses and live a long way from us. We miss all four of them terribly.

We also have a rescue dog named Lumi. She keeps me humble and reminds me that I am not in charge of the world.

If this photo looks like a school yearbook photo, that is because it is! Does it take you back to high school?

Here we are in the first ever selfie I took of us. It was on our Christmas cruise this year.

If you are new to my site it is probably because of my recent post about a corrugated tin wall on Remodleaholic, or the Facebook post on their site about our super simple buffet table for the deck, or because of my mudroom bench. That bench has been my most popular post, ever. Whatever the reason, I am thrilled to have you here.

I started blogging as a way to show my friends and family what we were up to at our little cabin in the piney woods near Lake Livingston. We are both ~~cheapskates~~ frugalistas who would rather figure out how to do something ourselves than pay someone a crazy amount of money to do the work for us. Buying a second home eight years ago was a stretch for us financially so we really had to figure out how to furnish a home on the cheap. I never envisioned that my blog would be read by anyone who did not know me personally, in fact, I remember when I had my first post with 50 page views. Man, I thought I was something else.

Along the way I have learned a few things about blogging (okay, not so much here), design, and how to re-imagine furniture but who I am has not changed. This site is still just a hobby and way to show my friends what we are up to and to get input. ( I really do want your input when I ask for opinions. )

drink station sailboat blue

Beverage station from sewing cabinet.

finished red headboard bench

Bench from headboard and footboard.

green sofa table

Buffet table from dining table legs and re-claimed wood.

I make mistakes, I am a terrible photographer who can’t take a good shot indoors to this day, I have a hot temper that gets me in trouble more than I like and I get my feelings hurt when people are mean.

I love a variety of styles, I like mixing painted wood with stain. I think every room should have one piece of furniture or accent that makes folks smile when they walk in the room.

We are hoping and praying right now that we can sell our beloved Star Hill so that we can buy 15 acres in Coldspring with several buildings that will be our retirement home. I hope you follow along on our journey into mid-life and beyond.

Thanks for finding this blog and welcome to our little corner of the world.

Blessings,

Karen

Making a Standing Chalkboard

February 4, 2015

Karen Chalkboard DIY, Coldspring, Country Style, Curbside rescue, reclaimed wood, recycled furniture, The Garagemahal trash to treasure 6 Comments

We are clearing out the Garagemahal as we prepare to put our beloved Star Hill on the market. I am getting pressure from Mr. Math to get rid of the hoard. My collection of odd bits and parts, Doo dads, rusty metal, and miscellaneous hardware needs a new home. Mr. Math would be fine with the new home being the trash.

Not this girl.

Saturday morning I stood in the hoard and started looking at what I had to work with. I decided to make a standing chalkboard/ message board. (They need a better name and I am open for suggestions.) In fact while I was at it, I figured I may as well make six of them for the ladies at craft night.

I pulled out a set ls spindles from a table the social planner and I got off the road one day. It was a wreck when we got it but the spindles were solid wood so I saved them.

I pulled out my stash of hardware. I have quite a collection of odd handles, knobs and bits. Some of them I buy for pennies at thrift stores, garage sales, or ReStore but most come off pieces I redo and change the look.

I had a can of spray chalkboard paint in the cabinet. I have to admit that the spray chalkboard paint is not my favorite, but it works.

I grabbed two sections of 1X12 pine board that were shelves an a section of 1X1 moulding and a 2X6 board for the project.

My sweet husband cut all the spindles down to the same size and then used the drill press to put a hole in the center of each top for a screw to go in.

I played with the parts until I came up with a plan.

I cut the pine board, the 1X1 moulding, and the 2X6 into 6 inch segments each.

connecting board

pine boards

The assembly process took both Mr. Math and me working. The steps were to connect the spindle to the 2X6 with wood glue and a screw, then connect the 1X1 to the other end of the spindle with a screw in the center.

Two screws at each end of the 1×1 went into the 1 inch width of the 6 inch section of the 1X12,

A little wood glue, wood filler, and a quick spray of primer unified the four sections.

The whole thing got primed, painted with sea salt, then heavily distressed and glazed.

I then taped off a chalkboard rectangle on each board then spayed them.

While the chalkboards were drying, my friend the social planner helped me pick out some of the hardware and knobs to attach to the pieces.

Do you remember the roadside end table? The handle from that piece made it onto a piece here.

So did some hardware from my windfall.

Once the chalkboard was dry we attached the hardware to each piece and the social planner attached a clip with E6000 in case someone wanted to use it for invitations or photos.

Here they are ready for the party.

The cost of this entire project was what I spent in screws, wood glue and paint. I am estimating I spent $10.00 total in supplies I will have to replenish.

These would be great table numbers at a wedding or on a buffet table Here they are lined up for craft night.

It was nice to see the craft group enjoying their surprise.

When the ladies came in they got to put a tag on their chalkboard. It was fun to see the different ones each chose.

Well, what do you think?

I love hearing from you,

Blessings,

Karen

Wishing, Hoping, Praying and Dreaming

January 5, 2015

Karen Blogging, Coldspring, mid-life, moving, new home, Real Life, San Jacinto county, The Garagemahal making plans, New Home, retirement 3 Comments

This year I become eligible for retirement. Wow! How in the world did that happen? Time has flown by. I will not be retiring this year, but the realization that I could retire is causing my husband and me to give some serious thought to our future. We are both healthy, active, and still full of dreams and plans. There are places we want to visit, things we want to learn, and goals we want to accomplish.

Our biggest decision for the past few years is where to live. We decided two years ago to move to a new school district and community. We know for sure that was a great decision, but at the same time we don’t plan on living in that community after retirement.

My husband and I met in college, and we weren’t from the same part of Texas. Neither of us feels a strong pull to our home towns. We both have friends where we grew up, I have family still in the city I grew up in, but it feels like I am visiting when we go back.

A lot of prayer and self reflection on our parts has helped us to know that our adopted weekend community is home for us.

I am positive that our sweet “near the lake” house, Star Hill, is not our forever home. A week or two is about as long as I can be confined here in the winter. I need a studio and workshop. My creative side cries out for a space to have projects out, to experiment, to think. I also would like to sell more furniture in my retirement. Hubby wants a tractor, a garden, woods to walk in, a pond and outdoor projects.

A Busy Weekend at Star Hill

Star Hill

Cutting Down Trees at Star Hill

The Garagemahal

We believe we may have found just the place. 15 acres, with a workshop, a creek, a barn, wooded trails, very near our friends, a garden plot, a greenhouse, a small pond, and several other outbuildings that I would really enjoy doing some neat things with. I am not crazy about the house, but it is solid. well cared for and has a ton of potential. It will take work and money but it can become the house I see in my mind’s eye.

pond and barn

The barn and the pond.

1-IMG_9665

1-IMG_9672

The side yard. The garden plot is in the back of this cleared plot of land. Water is run to the garden area.

My favorite area. The shop is the small building and the outbuildings here will make a perfect paint and furniture area. both have wood burning stoves in them.

The house. The greenhouse is visible behind the house.

The outbuildings. There are some very interesting buildings that I could really have fun with.

The property will come on the market this spring. In order to purchase this property we will have to sell Star Hill. That means we will have to focus on getting all of those “one day” projects done. We will be making sure that this place we love is ready for her close up. We are already praying that a family will buy the place who can love this place as much as we do and will create new memories in this home.

Look for lots of projects that are focused on the house and the property in the next few months. We have things to learn like concrete work and more of Hubby’s favorite: plumbing. (Ha!)

We plan on keeping our home in the burbs for several more years until we both retire so even this new spot will be our weekend home for a while.

I have a few projects in the Garagemahal I have already either sold or promised to someone. Other than that we will be keeping furniture projects to a minimum as we focus on clearing out, fixing up, and moving forward.

We ask you to pray with us that if this property is meant to be ours, everything will work out. If not, that we will have peace and direction in our journey.

Thank you all for continuing with us on another chapter of our journey.

I hope you have a wonderful new year. I would love to hear from you.

Blessings,

Karen

The Finished Funky Dresser

December 14, 2014

Karen Country Style, Painted Furniture, Repurposed Furniture, resale finds, Style, The Garagemahal, the suburban home, Thrifty decorating, vintage style eclectic dresser, every drawer painted a different color, funky dresser, repurposing an old dresser, using what we have 19 Comments

Painting furniture in the Garagemahal during a southeast Texas winter is tough. It is either too cold or too humid to dream of painting. I usually take on smallish projects that I can finis in the house during winter. This fall I found a dresser that I wanted to turn into an unusual entertainment center. It was $20.00 at Huntsville Goodwill. It is a 1950’s wooden dresser that probably went in a boy’s room.

I had been looking for something to turn into a funky dresser after finding this dresser a year ago at the Mainstreet America Christmas home tour. It was over a thousand dollars but it was so cool.

The dresser was originally destined for my brother in law and sister in law’s new house near us. It took me so long to surprise them with the piece done that they already bought a beautiful entertainment center out of whiskey barrel oak.

I wasn’t sure what I would do with it at this point, until I sanded the top corner. There it was: “I love e b”. My hubby’s first and middle name begins with e and b. ( In his family he goes by Eddie Ben.) I knew it would have to be something that would end up with us.

I struggled with what to do with each drawer and redid three of the drawers at least twice, one of them three times.

I determined that I did not want to spend much on this project. I have a large collection of hardware, a pile of paint and everything needed to give the wood a weathered finish like the inspiration piece. A bonus is that the colors on the piece will be colors I already like and have in my home.

What you see above is just a small sample of the hardware I have. Notice how many of the pieces I photographed I actually used in the final shot.

Saturday afternoon the skies cleared, the humidity dropped and I had about two hours to work.

The dresser went from looking like this Saturday …

To this by mid-day, Sunday.

I glazed the turquoise because it was a little too bright for the rest of the piece after this photo and I added a license plate and some letters. I am not sure it is finished but it is coming along.

Soon, I will tell you where I hope it gets to go.

Here are a few close up shots I took after adding the license plate from 1969 that we found in the dirt at my husband’s family farm. The numbers are the year of his birth and the S is our last name initial.

Did you notice I used a different license plate than what I pulled originally? I decided that I wanted to use the one with browns and yellows. It is great that I have options. I collected quite a few plates from my husband’s farm.

1-IMG_9479

I love it. I am proud that I did this almost all by myself. I cut trim, drilled holes, selected colors, and rethought it when I wasn’t happy. I did have a meltdown on the white bottom corner “drawer” (it is actually one long drawer made to look like two) and had to get help on that one. I could not get the trim to line up. Thanks, Hubby.

All in all I have less than $10.00 in supplies in the dresser along with the $20.00 investment for the dresser I think it turned out well.

I have a random bunch of french provincial hardware that I would love to do a little girl’s dresser with one day. The possibilities are exciting.

Thanks for reading my blog.

I would love to hear what you think about my funky dresser.

Blessings,

Karen

Keeping it Real Series- What a DIYer’s Workspace Looks Like

June 13, 2014

Karen Blogging, Real Life, The Garagemahal work space 3 Comments

I hear ALL the time from people that they would love to redo furniture or do other projects if only they had the space. I think that there is a perception that without the magical amount of space or equipment to take on projects. I say that is a bunch of hooey. Yes, hooey. We started doing projects in a home we did not own, without a garage, and borrowed tools.

Our work space is pretty great (but often very overcrowded) now, but that is a very recent change. Welcome to the Garagemahal.

(In case you are wondering it looks this cleaned up about once a year- when I get frustrated and drag everything out to reorganize. Right after that- it goes back to us stepping over projects that are in progress, furniture I have drug in, scrap wood that I cannot get rid of…)

This is how it looks a lot of the time. Sometimes it is even worse!

I would say that most of the bloggers I read started out with nothing more than their garage, the kitchen table, a porch, or some other small space. Their passion for their particular craft drove them to find the space to do what they love to do, not the other way around.

This is NOT how most craft rooms look. (Although if you want to build on for me like this, I won’t cry.) I do not have a dedicated craft space at my house. I have one closet jam packed with stuff.
Dream Craft Rooms

Here are a few of my friend’s craft spaces:

The dining room table is a popular spot. My friend owns the space above. She has three kids, two dogs, and a shift working husband. She cleaned up this space to take a picture. I am calling a foul here, but she paints some really fun pieces, and furniture, and sews, all from this space.

She painted my awesome chicken at that table.

My friend Kelly uses what space she can. For this project it was the top of a plastic tub.

Kelly has a baby and works on projects when she gets her to sleep. I haven’t
seen how this one turned out. She is a real deal artist and art teacher who is hanging out with her little one right now.

This is NOT how most workshops or woodworking shops look. (Once again, feel free to build one at my house, and drop off all those fancy tools we do not own while you are at it.)
Dream Workshops

Dee, at Deeconstructed uses her garage and basement.

Wood storage is the hardest thing for me to manage. I am jealous of how neat hers is. Right now I have a ton of cedar on the floor of the Garagemahal drying.

Dee painted the wall in her basement when she started her business.

She makes some pretty amazing things in this space. This is one of her winter projects.

Porch Bench

My recently retired friend, Margaret, turned old kitchen cabinets into this workshop island. (Yes, I am a little jealous of her set up.)

I found this post from Gail at My Repurposed Life about creating a backdrop, but the last part tells you about her work space. She is the person who I have used as inspiration for my mudroom bench and the headboard benches. She works outside and is shutting down her outside projects for winter in this post.

My Repurposed Life

I loved this picture from My Repurposed Life’s post because, just like the Garagemahal, there is always a riding lawn mower in the background! You can click on the photo to see the cool night stands she made from this piece.

Finally,
I hope I have hammered home the fact that you don’t need a space to be creative, but I promised you some solutions.

First, use vertical space. Second, make it portable. Here are two options that I will be making… once the list thins down a wee bit.

I want to build something like this rolling bad boy for the garage. It needs to be heavy weight enough to hold the chop saw, the router, and the sanders. I want industrial wheels on the bottom so that it can make the slope. We are always dragging them out to the porch and it would be great to have a rolling closet that uses vertical space, not horizontal for the tools.

http://www.familyhomeplans.com/miscpro_details.cfm?ProductNumber=DP-00560

Dee, at Deeconstructed, shared Redoux Interior’s idea with me and I will be making myself a rolling work bench. Soon. What a great idea.

http://www.redouxinteriors.com/2013/10/dining-table-to-rolling-work-table/

My third and final tip is not to let your work space or lack there of, convince you not to do creative things.

I would love to see where you work and your projects.

I am going to have a few projects coming up to share then I am going to add to this real life series talking about staging for photographs. (Spoiler alert… don’t believe everything you see in pictures.)

I hope you have a wonderful day.

Blessings,

Karen

The Things I Do Not Throw Away

April 2, 2014

Karen Behr Paint with Primer, collecting, Repurposed Furniture, rescuing damaged furniture, Roadside Rescue, The Garagemahal hardware, Reclaimed wood, reduce reuse recycle, saving 2 Comments

This weekend we cut up some double bed foot boards and turned them into arms for benches. That meant that parts of the foot boards had to be removed.

Some people would have thrown the cut off parts away.

Let’s face it, some people would have thrown the double beds away. Since I was able to pick up all five of these beds for a total of $77.00, they are not very valuable these days, but I digress.

Back to the stuff I don’t throw away. I keep all the solid wood pieces cut off and try to reuse them. Here is a sample of the things I had laying around the Garagemahal this weekend:

I never, ever, throw away a chair or table leg.

I have even been known to rescue legs out of trash cans. At garage sales.

But look what they become: Building a bench from table legs.

I don’t throw away solid wood boards. I keep it and it always seems to find a purpose. These old fence boards became my reclaimed wood wall. This was cedar wood taken down and headed for the landfill.

It turned into this: Reclaimed wood wall

I don’t throw away drawers or even drawer fronts if the drawer is shot because I have used them for a lot of projects. Here is my sweet daughter in law’s Christmas gift to her buddies last year:

I do not throw away hardware. Hinges, knobs, handles, and even screws get saved. It may not work on the current project, but it has been my experience that I will need something as soon as I get rid of it. I even buy odd hardware at garage sales and thrift stores.

I also don’t throw away cut off sections of anything that was solid wood. This section of a door we cut off to make a headboard became a coat rack in my office.

I am not sure what I will be doing with the sections of headboard I saved… Do you have any suggestions?

I also save wood. Because we save every usable scrap, even scrap from building sites and out at heavy trash pick up, we don’t have to buy as much new wood. I love reclaimed wood and will keep every scrap until it is too small to save.

Paint gets used down to the last drop. I love buying oops paint when I can, but I am pretty picky about my paint (Behr paint with primer), so I do buy a lot full price and it is expensive. It gets treated like it is, too. I make sure the lids are sealed and try not to waste. When I am trying out a color, I always buy the sample first to make sure I love it.

I am not alone in the saving. When I visited Jeff at Facelift Furniture, he had this whole storage unit full of bits and parts. I have a feeling that most furniture repurposes are savers of spare parts.

I guess I am a hoarder. My husband accused me of being one this weekend when I was digging the spindles we removed from the trash can. I prefer to think I am doing my part to save the environment. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Building Benches from Beds is Sort of Like a Strategy Game

March 30, 2014

Karen DIY, DIY Furniture, DIY Projects, Painted Furniture, Repurposed Furniture, resale finds, The Garagemahal making double beds functional again, mass repurposing, turning a headboard into a bench, unusual benches 2 Comments

We had a beautiful Saturday to work on turning headboards and footboards into benches. It was my plan to get all five of the benches made as far as possible. We were up and at em’ early so that meant it was a chilly start. We heated the garage and laid out all four beds. You would have laughed as we carefully checked each bed to come up with an attack plan. It sort of felt like we were strategizing for a big game.

All the headboards lined up in the Garagemahal.

I call this one the curvy bench. Each section of the headboard curves slightly. It is a very comfortable bench.

The headboard is really plain but the footboard has a sort of ornate bottom. I am guessing this set was from the 50’s or 60’s. I snagged it for four dollars recently and decided this set would be for my front porch.

We have had this monster for over a year, hanging out in the Garagemahal. We found it for $25.00 online. It is big, tall, heavy and is going to make a beautiful bench.

The footboard is just as heavy as the headboard. The posts are four inches square.

This one is for a friend, Shahana.

It looked like the hardest of all of them was going to be the curvy vintage bed so of course that was where we started. Why? Well … we don’t do easy at our house. The bed headboard curves at the back and has a center support that does not extend to the floor and there was an ornate bottom panel on the footboard only. We knew it would be a problem piece but we dove in.

We decided to make the seat fit around the legs. I knew I wanted the front to look something like the ornate bottom of the footboard that are now the sides of the bench. In my hoard I had a French provincial footboard that I bought for $ 2.00 at a thrift store. After cutting off the legs and cutting it down to size it got attached to the front. It does not match exactly but I think it works.

Here it is with the plywood seat.

The next one we attacked was one I am making for a friend, at her request. I can already see this one finished in my head. Dark red with a slatted seat that is stained. I want it distressed and glazed. I ran out of 1 X 4 slats or this one would be done. It did not fight with us.

Everything lined up pretty easily.

The slats are going to be evenly spaced once we get them all cut. This is an old solid maple frame. It is heavy and has beautifully turned wood posts.

This is all we have left. boo.

After watching HGTV Saturday morning I totally knew what I wanted this beauty to be. It is going to be a storage bench seat painted my sea salt paint with dark gray glaze and a pretty heavy distressing. We got the headboard cut down 6 inches in height and the footboard cut into arms. I need to get plywood, make a raised panel, and piano hinge.

The final bench we got underway is for Shahana. It is going to be turquoise. I will bet it ends up with a red seat and leopard pillows because that is how she rolls.

We got this far on Shahana’s bench. Next weekend we will get the plywood on the top.

The twin bed you saw in the first photo did not get started. Hubby and I could not figure out how to fix the problems it had so we are thinking on this one.

One bench ready for sanding, wood filler, primer and paint. Two benches ready for seats then sanding, wood filler, primer and paint. One bench will take construction of a box with a hinged top then sanding, wood filler, primer and paint.

All in all it was not a bad weekend’s work.
Have a wonderful week.
Karen

Superwoman Is Not My Name

February 18, 2014

Karen Blogging, Coldspring, Confessions of a Mediocre Cook, DIY Painting and Glazing Furniture, mid-life, painting, The Garagemahal, Thrifting how I get things done, organizing my time, Using every minute 8 Comments

At least once a week a comment is made to me about my hobby of restoring, re-purposing, and repainting furniture that makes me think people have a few misconceptions about me. People have asked me how I have time to do this, usually followed by a comment that they would love to do something like this if they had the time. Well, last night after I got the question about my time again, I decided that I wanted to dig into my vault of deep dark secrets. Here is how I magically manufacture more time than the 24 hours a day others have. 🙂

Source: http://www.raisingmiro.com

1. I don’t watch a lot of television. Please don’t hate me but I cannot talk with you about Downton Abbey, The Bachelor, House of Cards, or American Idol. ( I did watch one episode of American Idol this season, but got bored.). I do watch The Voice, Biggest Loser, and The Blacklist (My really guilty pleasure). Oh, and HGTV is on as background noise on the weekend. A lot of the shows are recorded and I can watch them when I choose and skip through the commercials. Ain’t no body got time to watch denture cream commercials. While watching television I usually am writing a blog or reading one of the 10 or so blogs that I read regularly- but not daily.

2. I get up early and I am one of those people who usually wakes up “awake” I clear my email , pray, usually do something homey like start laundry, pick up the stuff in the den, play with the dog and clear the counters before I leave for work in the mornings. Okay, I clean only if I am not running late!

3. I eat lunch alone. By choice. I am really an introvert and need quiet time. I use that 30 minutes to decompress, to think, read or take care of personal business. It is my quiet time of the day.

4. I have a housekeeper. Yep. Two times a month a wonderful lady comes to my house and changes the sheets, mops, dusts, cleans bathrooms and vacuums the house top to bottom. This saint also cleans out my fridge and surprises me when she has time with things like organizing the pantry, the back porch, or cleaning up the linen closet. Having a housekeeper is a luxury that I am willing to give up a lot to keep because the house being clean brings peace to my soul and someone else doing that two times a month means that I have time to do what I love. She is able to get done in five hours what would take me all day because I would get distracted and she is just a speed demon. The house does not stay spotless between the cleanings, but I know that under the clutter is a relatively clean home.

5. My children are grown and I am not a grandmother. (One day… I hope) My weekends do not revolve around sporting events, birthday parties, and sleepovers any longer. I miss those days more than you will ever know, but it means that my free time really is mine. People who have known me a long time often say that they had no idea that I had an artistic side. The reason is simple; when I had kids at home I was a mom first and foremost.

6. I do not enjoy cooking. If I cook, it is something quick, simple and easy. Often out of a box. There is no spending the day in the kitchen for me. That would be torture. Thankfully, my husband is fine with that (most of the time) and pitches in or fends for himself if there is not a plan for supper. He also goes to the grocery store for us about half the time.

7. I usually have at least three projects going on at once when I am set up and working. I try to group projects together that are going to be painted the same color- like my glazed cream color that is so popular. While paint is drying, I can be collecting wood from the hoard for the next project and spray painting hardware. By the time I get the second coat of paint on I am ready to move on with the other projects too. As long as everything that makes dust is done first I can really move. I make sure that sanding, and cutting are done at the same time and that there is no wet paint when sawdust in flying around. I have about an 85% success rate with the keeping sawdust out of wet paint.

8. My husband is a HUGE help. He is a talented carpenter and can fix or build just about anything that I think up. He supports my crazy ideas and helps them happen. He also provides me with the voice of calm and reason when needed. Together we get more done, and faster than either of us could do alone.

9. We have the right tools. Things go a lot easier and quicker if you have the tool to do the job. Our arsenal is pretty impressive. We are adding a drill press this week and I am excited. We have a table saw, two drills, biscuit joiner, three different sanders. a compound miter saw, jig saw, circular saw, grinder air nailers, two air compressors and a paint sprayer just to name a few. I am not bragging. I remember when we did not have all the tools we have now, or money to buy those things, and it was much harder to get work done. It has taken us years to collect as Christmas presents, shopping estate sales, and saving up money to buy what we wanted in order to get what we have now.

10. At least two days a week I leave the office at 3:30 pm. I force myself to do that because I have learned that I am a much better employee and boss if I take time for me. It means that I work really late at least one day a week, but it is worth it to me to go home when the sun is still shining.

I am no superwoman. I get tired, I get really grumpy, I am perpetually frustrated that I cannot finish a project as quickly as I want. I am terrible at sending letters and cards, I sometimes forget to call people back and I get so focused on what I am doing sometimes that I neglect my family. I am glad that they still love me and accept me warts and all. I am also pretty lonely right now. My girlfriends are a distance away and I am learning that I am not very good at making friends in a new environment. I am working on that.

If you are able to successfully manage a family, job, your social life, and your creative side then my hat is off to you. I would love to hear how you do it and I know that others would, too.

I thought you might enjoy seeing me at the end of the day, hair frizzed, with dollar store readers on!

Thank you for taking the time out of your very busy day to read my post.

Blessings,

Karen

Treadle Sewing Machines Become Side Tables

January 5, 2014

Karen Country living, Country Style, Decorating, DIY Furniture, master bedroom, resale finds, The bedroom, The Garagemahal installing a drawer in a night stand, repurposing a treadle sewing cabinet into a side table 4 Comments

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.

The Weekend Country Girl

Star Hill Send Off

Welcome to Our Little Corner of the World

Making a Standing Chalkboard

Wishing, Hoping, Praying and Dreaming

The Finished Funky Dresser

Keeping it Real Series- What a DIYer’s Workspace Looks Like

The Things I Do Not Throw Away

Building Benches from Beds is Sort of Like a Strategy Game

Superwoman Is Not My Name

Treadle Sewing Machines Become Side Tables

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