Pinterest Archives - The Weekend Country Girl

burlap, Decorating, Decorating with mirrors, Dresser, home decorating, master bedroom, the suburban home

Master Bedroom Pinning

January 24, 2015January 25, 2015 Karen

Well, I had time on my hands in my day this week while out on school visits. Not enough time to go back to the office but too much time to be idle.

Two thoughts kept running through my brain.
1. I want to change the look of our master bedroom.

2. If we get the land we are looking at buying, the exterior of the house must change.

If you follow me on Pinterest (kasmithson) then you can probably see what I am thinking about working on because I start pinning like crazy when I am collecting ideas. This week I started a new board for the master bedroom and one for the front of the plain Jane ranch house with an undersized front porch that we are hoping to buy. (Crazy, I know but we love the land, the location, and the outbuildings. The house will be a project for years to come.)

Since we don’t have our lake house sold or the other place purchased yet, I decided to focus on the master bedroom at our Burb house.

I am totally blaming this upcoming redo on Joanna Gaines and HGTV. I love the look the homes she decorates. The rooms are restful, stylish, and have a sense of history. Our home is a newish, tract home that is long on space but short on character.

Here are a few shots of our master bedroom today.

It isn’t awful, but we really need to have a king sized bed, and the room is lacking in character. When our son and daughter in law come back from overseas and collect their furniture, the master bedroom furniture will move into our guest room.

Here is my wish list for our bedroom update:

A “Shiplap” wall.

( I did not know I loved this so much until HGTV’s Fixer Upper)

The House of Smith has a great tutorial for getting it up here.Planked Wall

A reclaimed wood headboard.

I want the bed to look just like this one from The Accent Piece

Faux built in cabinetry.

I like something like this for This Old House only I want the window seats under our two windows and drawers instead of cabinet doors in the center section.

I want a tripod lamp.

I already have the parts for one like this: Dwelling Cents Tripod Lamp

What stays:

The triple mirror and the crystal lamps will be a part of the design. The lamps will be going on the side tables and the triple mirror on the side wall.

The coolest chair ever. It was rescued by my mom and dad. When it was delivered to me it was in pieces. I love this 1940’s low-slung chair . It is so comfortable.

The side tables. They are a pair that I made over a while back. They used to be part of an entertainment center.

The bench. It will get recovered.

The curtains, although they will need to be raised to the ceiling so that they are raised enough that they fit with the benches that will go under each window. I really like those lined burlap curtains.

That means the headboard- which I love- goes, and the oak furniture will head to storage until the kids come home to get their furniture then move to the guest room.

The biggest project will be figuring out the built in wall unit. I want it to look like a built in wall unit but really be a piece that will come apart and move with us. It will need to go from one side of the room to the other with a drawers, closed storage and drawers. I am looking at ReStores and at Hotel furniture sellers for base cabinets.

I have a feeling we will get on this as soon as the lake house is on the market.

Thanks for reading my blog. I love hearing from all of you.

Blessings,

Karen

DIY, Dresser, new home, Painted Furniture, reclaimed wood, recycled furniture, repurposed lighting, vintage style

Pulling from Pinterest to Personalize a Bathroom

August 7, 2014 Karen

I am sure that you are tired of hearing about my bathroom, and probably wondering why in the world it is taking so long. Well, my husband has been great about getting his part of the bathroom remodel done, but he has had to wait on me to get my parts done. I really want my bathroom to be more of a reflection of my rustic, vintage, eclectic, style and not something that could come straight off a showroom floor. Crazy, right? Almost everything we are adding has been customized. What can I say? I live in a beautiful suburban tract home. There are at least 80 homes in this master planned neighborhood that are a version of our floor plan. We were lucky that the original owners did spring for upgrades that some homes may not have, but they are all still options that other homes, some on my same street, may have. I really needed one room to look like me and not “upgrade 34 in plan 27”. As usual, I turned to Pinterest for inspiration and decided that I would:

Refinish an oak dresser for my sink vanity so that it resembled a Restoration Hardware finish. ( It took over a month to find the dresser I wanted. Then several weeks to perfect the finish- which I absolutely love.) (Click here to see the Pinterest dresser inspiration)
- So far:
  - The dresser is refinished. It looks amazing.
  - The sinks have arrived and the holes are cut in the top of the dresser. I love the square sinks we chose.
  - The wall has been painted, the board and batten has been installed, primed and painted.
  - The new vanity will have feet so Hubby has installed tile in the open spot where there was no tile installed before.
  - The outlets were moved to accommodate the board and batten.

Here it is being fit into the space. It literally fits like custom furniture. Hubby had to sand the edges because it was too tight after the bead oar was added.

Build shelving. ( I really wanted to do it all by myself. Hubby could have whipped it out in a couple of hours but it took me almost a whole day to get it done.) I really like the look. ( Click here to see the Pinterest shelf inspiration)

Before the Board and Batten After

Add a chandelier. Believe it or not, I bought the chandelier on clearance in March and it hung out in my seldom used garden tub for a while waiting for inspiration. I liked the shape and scale for the space but it had purple and green beads with a silver metal frame. I actually found the EXACT chandelier on Pinterest redone to look like wood and was thrilled. It took me several days to get it painted, stained and reassembled before could get the electrician to come and squeeze into our attic to run the wires. It is soooo very worth it. (You can see the Pinterest inspiration here.)

Add board and batten walls to the bathroom. Right now Hubby is 95% done with this project. He is down to the finish work that will happen after the vanity is installed. Thankfully the mirrors are done and waiting. (You can see the Pinterest inspiration here.)

Add some sort of fun towel holders. I settled on making this part of a door into a faux zinc hat rack that will hold towels for Hubby and for me.

In my crazy mind, I thought that I could get more done this summer. I did not figure in the toll that 10 hour work days takes on me or how much the heat and travel would slow everything down. I get home from work and turn into mush. It is frustrating to know you have projects waiting when you literally have no energy to get them done.

Still to do:

I want to add some sort of rustic art work in the bathroom or black and white photos. Still thinking on that one. ( Pinterest inspiration here.)

and possibly…maybe…if I can get the energy, I want to add reclaimed wood to the toilet closet in the form of an accent wall. (Pinterest Inspiration here.)

Chair, Country Style, Redecorating, Repurposed Furniture

When Pinterest Finds My Old Stuff

October 22, 2013October 23, 2013 Karen

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

Craft Party Ideas

Or; Tryna Do It, or My House

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

Chair Painting Party

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

Sewing Cabinet Into Drink Station

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

Feel free to look at or follow my Pinterest Page.

I use my name on Pinterst: Karen Smithson.

I hope you are having a wonderful day!

DIY

Getting on the Succulent Bandwagon

August 21, 2013 Karen

English: Crassula ovata, Jade plant. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have loved succulents for years. I just didn’t know they were called succulents. My mom has raised a plant she calls hen with chickens for years. According to EHow the real name is Sempervivum, derived from the Latin “semper” meaning “always” and “vivo” meaning “to live,” the presence of a large mother plant surrounded by smaller offshoots characterize the hens and chick plant.

My father in law raised aloe vera for years at his shop. Even when he was ill he would drive over to the shop to water the plant occasionally just to keep it alive.

My husband was able to keep a jade plant alive for his college years in his apartment, in spite of the mistreatment it got.

All of these plants are succulents. Who knew? I just thought they were super hardy plants that could survive being ignored, dry soil, and heat or cold.

I decided after being shamed into it on Pinterest to make my own succulent planter. I already knew how easy it would be. I had seen others abuse them for years.

I purchased an inexpensive bowl at Walmart, some cactus potting soil, and several succulents at Ikea. I purchased sentimental succulents; a hen with chicks, a jade plant, and an aloe vera. Here are the “easy peasy” results. I added rocks on top of the soil that I already had on hand to complete the project. They look great on the back porch. I hope I don’t manage to kill them. My family would be so disappointed.

Charlotte NC, family, wedding, wedding preparation, Weddings

Two Nephews and a Wedding

June 3, 2013June 4, 2013 Karen

The Southern Belle is now Mrs. Big Cat! A beautiful wedding in Charlotte, North Carolina with Chamber of Commerce weather was held on June 1. The hydrangea were in full bloom, the birds were singing, we got to spend time outdoors with both sides of the family. It was awesome.

Because Mr. and Mrs. BC have 2 sweet nephews and zero nieces they wanted to include them in the big event. What to do with two boys and one wedding? Give them both a job. The Southern Belle turned to Pinterest for inspiration and discovered this:

(Source unknown)
A quick trip to the Etsy Shop told her that she was not the only bride who would have a “herald” in the wedding along with a ring bearer.

The only problem with the signs on Etsy was the price. Customized signs were a little more than TSB wanted to spend. A friend has a machine that cuts vinyl letters and she agreed to make a vinyl sticker to go on a board. It comes as a big ole sticker. Hubby cut the board to fit, I painted it white and applied the sticker then peeled off the covering carefully.

This was the scary part! I only had one sticker and it could have gone bad. I am so glad it worked.

Sweet Maeby had to help her Gramps.

Hubby put handles on the back so that his nephew could hold it.

I do not have any photos of the nephew coming down the isle. I was too busy trying not to blubber.

Here is a picture of the sign with the family. One day next week I will tell you about the ring bearer box.

Charlotte NC, Decorating, Fun with friends, North Carolina, the Southern Belle, Thrifty Art

Pinterest Party With The Southern Belle

March 13, 2013March 13, 2013 Karen

The Southern Belle had a Pinterest party Tuesday night. It was a great way to have friends over, work on projects, and learn new things. I loved most of all the opportunity to meet some of her friends in North Carolina. The projects going on were: a spring wreath, jute/burlap wrapped wine bottles for an upcoming wedding reception (with the coolest hand crocheted roses!), faux milk glass and mercury glass, making rainbow and pot of gold treat bags for coworkers, and a welcome sign for a front entry. I have never been to a Pinterest Party before but I loved it. Every person brings the stuff for their own Pinterest craft idea then works on it. I am SO SAD that I messed up my camera so the only shots I have are from The Southern Belle’s iPhone. There are times when I am really not too smart. I hope that the others took pictures so that I can update this post. Several of them promised to send me pictures of their finished projects and I am holding them to it.

The food was great! Thank you sweet girl for planning this for us.