Karla's Cottage

A cold snap, a very, very cold snap

The weather has been bitterly cold and the storm cast a damper over our Good Juju weekend  I was surprised by how many people still came by to visit us, right up til the time we closed early on Saturday.

At first, it wasn’t so bad, being snowed in by a cozy fire with a houseful of happy dogs ready to relax with us while we read.  

Having a couple of days “trapped” in my studio to do projects and sip tea wasn’t bad either.  I was content to stay in and not face the drifts outside.  But Rich braved the frigid temps to plow our drive and others’ too.  First, he had to move three loads of lumber stored in the garage that were blocking the plow blade. He helped people jump start cars, did lots of snow removal, and was almost lost in a white out right in front of our house it became so treacherous at one point.  

Our experiences with the storm were a lot different from each others.  My main problem was drying off dogs and mopping the melting puddles up.  Then trying to explain to those dogs that they really did not need to go right back out and do it again.

Mostly, I was kicked back crafting, reading, or making yummy pots of soup.  

Doesn’t sound fair, does it?  I’m afraid that I wasn’t much help at all.  But my asthma doesn’t do well in the windy ice and snow.  So the poor guy was on his own.

But then it got worse, our neighbor’s barn roof collapsed from the weight, with a horse inside.   Rich flew down the road to go help free old Annie, and they were able to get her out.  The next day, he spent more time out in the deep field of snow helping with her and thought she was going to be fine.  We checked on her before dark to sadly find out that she got worse from the trauma and cold.  She was a very sweet horse and will be missed.

The cold and snow are still with us, it will be a while before the temps get above freezing and we get to see all the pretty, but deadly, white fluff turn into swampy mud.  For now, our driveway is passable and roads are clear.  Luckily we didn’t lose power, had a warm house filled with plenty of groceries.  These storms are very serious, I hope you stayed warm and safe. 

A Christmas Collection Over the Years

Yummy, huh?

Guncle Randy had a boxful of these vintage beauties and sold them to me for a sweet deal.  

My plan, and it was a good one, was to keep a couple faves and sell the rest.  

Oops!

Somehow they all landed on my own tree!  Who could pick a favorite from them?  Too pretty and full of vintagey goodness.

My home is filled with good intentions.  This is a bench I paid my son to build for me, I painted it and planned to sell it.  20 years later, here it sits, still in the cottage.  That banner was made to sell too, I kept it because I love the word, MERRY.

When I was first in the junking biz, there was a revolving door of inventory that I’d decorated with then sell and replace.  Over time, I appear to have gathered bits and pieces that never leave.  These mirrors, each with a rose theme, have found a home here and seem to be permanent.

There are some things that just seem to fit where placed and deserve to stay there.  This cabinet is the perfect size for this wall.

As is the hutch that sits near it.  But what about the holiday decor?  As I was arranging Christmas decorations this year, I was pondering that.


What makes something “a keeper”? Often, it’s a gift, or from the past.

Other times it’s something I made at a friends’ gathering.

Or a project I made that no one bought.  Same with inventory I bought to resell, and it just got overlooked and is still here.

Sometimes, there are special, family items, like these snowflakes my great aunt made.

There are even pieces I found in trash along the road, like this broken buggy.  


All I know is that, whatever the origin, heirloom, trash, hand crafted, unsold inventory, gifts, all of it- when they come together to fill my home- it feels like Christmas.

 

 

Confessions from a Christmas Tree-aholic

I like Christmas trees.

 Lots and lots of them.  

Very many lots and lots of them.

After collecting and crafting ornaments for a lifetime, I have plenty of Foof to throw on the trees too.  

So different areas of the home get divided up in to themes.  This is my woodland corner.  It seemed suitable to have by my husband’s fireplace. This trio is all from Walmart, they have affordable and attractive ones there.  And I like mixing mine up, with this spot holding three narrow ones in various heights.

My dear lil deer belong by the silver forest.


At a garage sale this past summer, I scored this ombré pink tree for five bucks. It’s on the dog kennel and while it would’ve been clever to cover it in pet themed ornies, nope- it is filled with shiny Brites and putz houses.

Here is another metallic one from Walmart.  It is champagne toned instead of silver.

The theme on top of this cabinet is silver and gold with cherubs.

My embellished violins are out all year, but I think they add a nice touch at the holidays too, so leave them displayed.

In the living room there are multiple mini trees on top of the wardrobe that holds the tv.  And a nice, fat, white, tabletop one filled with hand made pieces by the sofa.

Here’s more minis on the mantel.

This is the baby pink tree that used to be Sugarwings’ as a child (theirs is now a silver one decked out in Nightmare Before Christmas and kept by their bed.)  That kid has moved on from pink, but I haven’t, so now it holds a few of hand painted balls from over the decades.

Hmm, somehow I missed getting photos of my main, big tree (and I have to admit, a few other small ones).  

But here is my newest fave- a simple white tree with a single strand of teensy lights to enjoy while I soak in the tub of my newly repaired and revamped bathroom.  There might be wine involved while gazing at this tree.  

A Cottage Christmas Open House

Angie, Beth, and I cohosted a holiday get together at my house last week.


We had planned for plenty of food, and generous guests brought delectable goodies too.



It became a true feast!

And a feast for the soul too.

I loved having a houseful of festive friends filling up my space and my heart too.

Dorothy got plenty of attention and spent her days choosing which laps she wanted to visit.  The hooligans, I mean, big dogs, were banished up to Ryan’s apartment.

Because they’d have loved to be climbing onto laps too.  It’s not as cute when a 60 pounder does it as it is when a 6 pound dog wants attention.

Two nights earlier, I’d made dinner for my book club buddies, then Rich was out of town, Sugarwings was at mama’s house, so the cottage was already for party number two.  I just shifted the extra tables around and brought in chairs from the studio.

Since I was on my own for a couple of days, well except for said hooligans, the house stayed cleaned up.  I did need to re-mop, but with 2 doodles and a golden retriever that is the story of my life.  I’m a full time mopper.

The outdoor tables with lights strung underneath worked well for the dinner party on Tuesday and just as well for Thursday afternoon’s gathering.  They are my new favorite hosting trick and I’ll be wrapping lights under them all the time in the future. It will be a nice bit of sparkle for a summer night’s garden party too.

The cocoa station got beefed up for the day too, and we set out some tasty liquors plus whipped cream to mix in with the chocolate.

I might’ve gone overboard on the cocoa packets.  But as much as Sugarwings and I enjoy our parties by the tree, plus with family coming, it might not be too over the top.



I feel quite blessed to have had these fun ladies all come to our party.  Most were from Kansas City, so had to make a drive to get here.  I appreciate them making the time to come and celebrate with us.

 

 

 

 

 

The after of the bathroom I forgot to show

I realized I’d been talking about my bathroom, the foundation issues and all that went with it for a month, but didn’t post the results.



It’s no fun to get befores without afters!

A guest left behind a couple of plants while staying in Ryan’s apartment, and their pots match my new color scheme, so I added them in with the plant in my mosaic pot.  I didn’t have the heart to toss them out, so I’d babied them back to health and gave them a home.  

 For now at least, that person might be picking the plants up later on.

I also have the one my Sissy gave to me.  It was from Bobbie’s funeral, we divided the plants into two pots and shared them.

Previously, I had all of these in the living room, but after fixing up this space, I thought they’d all look great gathered together by the tub. 


Especially with the outdoorsy, natural pebble floor.  


Because of the dramatic wall color along with some foofy elements, I wanted to make sure the room was grounded with nature, stone and wood. 


This stain glass was a gift from a talented friend and is a major focal point. The curtains are French net, that I trimmed to fit.  

No sew!

I did have to sew these vintage, bark cloth panels, but it wasn’t too hard.  Basically, I was trimming them down to fit and adding a rod pocket.  

Everything in this cabinet got taken out, washed down and rearranged.  I got rid of some things, then added a few splashes of my new favorite, blue.

I’m finding that shade is a fun accent color that goes well with my roses and birdies.

It’s not just the new color that makes me so happy.  I love it all!  And loved working on it with my boy.  Thanks, Adam!

Before and during the big make over

This is how our bathroom was before we ripped it apart to get to the crawlspace.  The supports under the house needed replacing, there was no ventilation, insulation, or entry to get in.  Major work needed done, and we needed access.


While we probably could’ve gotten away with cutting through the plywood floor in the closet instead, it might have been hard to get long boards through the turn into that room.  Plus, the tile had cracks and the drywall was damaged. That space could use a good make over.

There was also a second door in the bath that led directly to the closet.  Not only was it never used, it took up wall space in the closet that could’ve been utilized for storage.  And now is, after closing off that entry.

We had been gifted these rough cut boards, that sparked my idea of turning the door way wall into barn wood instead. 

I painted them and my carpenter son put them up.

Didn’t he do a great pattern?

To compliment the wood, we went for an all natural rock floor.  But oops! As it went down, we started freaking out about the lines between the mesh squares.  Before grout, it looked like a grid pattern.  

Freaking out was putting my reaction very mildly.

A few adjustments were made with adding rocks into bigger gaps, but over all, we decided to trust the process and start grouting.  I like the overly grouted look, with it covering up some stone.

After it was done, all of those scary grid marks were gone! My only regret is in not placing a few more crystals here and there.  I’m thrilled with the floor, though.

While the room was torn up, I decided to repaint.  Everything. Ceiling, trim, door, cabinet, tub surround, vent covers.  I even sewed new curtains from vintage fabrics I’d been hoarding.

With the shower curtain down, I could see how much hard water buildup there was on the walls.  So I made a paste of baking soda, vinegar, and peroxide to leave on for a couple days, then remove with a steam cleaner.  It didn’t work as well as I’d hoped, so I scraped the buildup off with a razor blade.

I was committed to a whole new, fresh room, all details mattered!

Including washing light fixtures and replacing the bulbs with brighter ones.

I even got out a tiny brush and cleaned up all messy grout lines along the trim too.  As hard as we worked on this, I didn’t want wonky lines distracting from the room!  My son did such a wonderful job, I love the room and every tiny corner of it!

 

A Kansas Sunflower stone mosaic entryway

When is the best time to take on a project?  Why, when the rest of the house is torn up with an even bigger project, of course!


Actually, that was true for me.  When the guys first started on the under the house project, I couldn’t be of much help.  We had plans to do the entire bathroom floor in little stones, so I wanted to try them out on the repaired (but not finished) entryway.  I also wanted to see the grout color after it dried.  I’m glad I did, because it was too dark, I switched to a lighter shade for the master bath.

I’d also hoped to use some of these marvelous, labradorite stones in the bathroom.  Sadly, we decided they were too dark for that area.  And the vendor I’d previously gotten these from at the gem show I attended did not bring any of their sliced stones this time.  So I didn’t have any more options.  I’d hoped for a warm moonstone, but it wasn’t available without special ordering, and time was short.

See what I mean? The bathroom colors were too golden for the labradorite stones.  But we did manage to sneak in a few crystals.

Even with the golden flashes these had in the right light, they matched better by the door.  So I used all of them up there.  And love it!  Labradorites and moonstones are both from the quartz family and tough enough to hold up in foot traffic.   I guess I’ll just have to find another area to pave with moonstones slices, huh? 

I did sneak a pretty, stone heart into the entryway.  It’s a little thicker than the other rocks, so sits higher.  I placed it back in the corner where that won’t matter.  The grout I used in this spot is Cocoa, with Light Buff in the other space.  There wasn’t a huge difference, but enough to matter overall.

It’s very good to have both areas done.  And was hard to live through, but worth it.  At some points, I was laying out flat on the floor to stretch my back out as I grouted and there might’ve been some Advil involved too.  

Big jobs!  But a big blast of design once it was done.   I love them both!

 

 

 

 

Creating an old barn wood look with paint

It’s all hands on deck here with the remodel/ repair job.  Sugarwings has been quite helpful with pulling up nails, hauling supplies, carrying out trash, etc.

I have been painting wood to use on one wall where the drywall was especially bad. 

This design element accidentally developed.  


My son is a carpenter, he can do dry wall work, but doesn’t like it.  We were gifted a truckload of these rough hewn boards.  Rich and I were tired of the wasted space taken up by an extra door that was rarely used.  That doorway  wall also had drywall that needed replaced, while the other walls just needed patching.

 
All of those elements pulled together to make a decision to panel over that door with our free wood.

So, I painted away the lodge/cedary-orange look.  First the wood needed major sanding.  When I said ROUGH hewn, I meant it.  Splintery rough!

 I used mostly watered down white paint, but I added some gray and brown here and there.  I’m pretty excited about how the finished project will look. And am looking forward to seeing my boy in action, working with the planks to create the siding. 

 

 

 

 

A collapsing cottage?

Aren’t these labradorite slices beautiful?  When the light hits them, they flash luminescent blues and golds. 


My plan is to use them randomly in these pebble 1’ x 1’ squares we are laying in our master bath. The stones are glued to the mesh backing.  I’ll peel up a few existing stones in the right sizes and replace them with my gems.

A few years ago I found a stack of this old barkcloth at a flea market and am using one set of curtain panels in my studio.  I’d like to take the rest to make curtains for the bathroom.  At first I thought maybe I shouldn’t use the same fabric in two different rooms.  But when it’s material I love as much as I do this,  it would be silly not to, right?

I’ll make French net sheers for the window with the rose fabric over it, opened in the middle, but not tied back.

The shower will get a similar treatment, with a narrow panel of cabbage rose bark cloth on each side over this ivory curtain.

There is already a rose theme going on with this tile around the tub.

While we are in demolition mode, we are covering up an unused door that leads from the bathroom to the closet.  We decided the original entryway is plenty, we don’t need a second door.  Having two entries into our walk in closet, just causes less useful space available inside.  Right now, we have to leave clearance for a door to swing open.  Without that, I can have a small cabinet in the walk-in.  

So, the wall that is losing a door, will be covered in white barn wood.  I’ll like the rustic wood, and pebble tile floor as a contrast to the mini chandelier, luxe window treatment, and roses.  I’m still debating on wall color for now.

Why are we redoing our bathroom, which pretty nice to start with? Well for at least ten years, our house has been settling.

Although in the last couple, it started to feel more unsettled than just normal settling.  Walls were cracking, tiles breaking, and we were developing a slope.

When we realized the crawlspace needed checked out, we also realized that the contractor who added this addition did not leave access to get to it.

Why?

The tile was cracking anyway, so the guys chipped it away to make a hole in the floor to get under the house.  When they squeezed through, another discovery showed there was also no ventilation which caused dry rot and structural damage.

After consulting a friend who owns a foundation company, and various other skilled tradesmen, Adam and Rich decided they could fix it, if they hired a crew of skilled workers.  

The adventure begins.  

Another layer of spooky

After our October’s First Friday weekend, Halloween needed to be taken down at Juju. I take clear plastic tubs with me to be packed up properly and brought home to store.  No use tossing it into a box, then putting it away later, right? 

My process is to use as many clear tubs as I can, and to label solid ones.  They are all sorted into either season or color and stacked along the walls of my garage ready for the next time Ineed them.

Because no matter how good the weekend goes, there is always inventory left.  And I like to shake up the look of my space so, I switch up what I have there.

Not everything got stored this time.  I pulled some of the stuff to add to my displays at home.  This year, I have seriously enjoyed my haunted cocoa station and turn the lights on every morning when I get up.  Just like I do with my Christmas lights.

 A little extra twinkle around the cottage makes me smile.

There were a few floral umbrellas spray painted black hanging from the ceiling at the mail.  I brought two of them into the kitchen to add to the existing decor.

And kept one of my brooms inside too.

I have plenty of orange stuff and dollar store decorations that Sugarwings and I have used for parties in the past.  If if set them out, it’s usually for a short time use or in the kiddo’s area.  But this black and white?  It hasn’t gotten old for me, even though my kitchen has been rockin this look since the end of August.  

Funny, I debated adding to what I’d set out earlier, telling myself it was kinda late to be doing that just to pack it up again after the 31st.  Then I reminded myself it’s only mid October, and I have a couple weeks left to enjoy it.  

After that, it took some willpower to stop myself from unpacking all the stuff I’d brought back from the antique mall.  But I managed.  This is plenty to keep me entertained, and I did such a good job of packing up the rest in my clear tubs… but they are calling to me, like a ghostly moan. “Oooohhaaahhoh, savaaave us from this box, let us cooome innn!”