At Last

Sorry for the late post. I am so knackered after working on this project today but wanted to share what we did before I forget. 😂 I tell ya, the Old Gray Mare just ain’t what she used to be. Little things like this wear me down to a frazzle, but once I get the bit in my mouth, I gotta finish it.

We did get distracted (again) yesterday and cleaned up two more closets. Everything looks great. This is when I’m so grateful our home is small. If it was any larger we’d probably both in traction by now. The back of one of our pickup trucks is loaded with old clothes, obsolete electronics and the like. We’ll be taking these down to Salvation Army next week. They’re not worth much and maybe they can bless someone else. ✨👍

Ok, onward and upward.

This was the Master Bedroom project I’ve been teasin’ everyone with for the past couple of weeks. I’ll be brief since I am so tired.

BEFORE:
The ’90s brass colored lamp with the accordion style shade;
the entire window area with Venetian Blinds.

Very blah, right? I thought so too. Gotta fix that. 😉

First thing to do was throw away the blah accordion lamp shade and recover the plastic undercover with the farmhouse style linen napkins I bought on sale at our local Christi’s Downsouth Living. I only spent a total of $7. I cut each napkin in half making sure that the writing was readable. (“Grateful, Thankful, Blessed”.) Then folded small folds at the top so it would be even all around and hot glued it gently on each shade. Steve took the metal part of the lamps apart and repainted them the darker brass color (almost black) leaving it looking patina. Voila! Easy peasy lemon squeezy. 🤗 The metal and wood bird decoration in the middle I bought at Hobby Lobby. It wasn’t very much either as it was on sale. That’s hanging by jute string that we added.

Now the expensive part. We went to Lowe’s and bought, I think it was, 27 feet of 1×6 furniture grade clear pine for $50. 💰 Ouch! 💰 Steve measured carefully, then cut it to size. He stained the side facing the room light brown, then painted the side facing outside bright white. I reused an old curtain rod (unseen) I found in the attic and also a pair of linen curtains that were too long. I know, I didn’t hem them very well. I will fix that later. Make it pretty. I was too tired to do it right this afternoon. Thankfully, we live in the country and absolutely no one will see it, but I will address it later.

Oh, and also while at Christi’s Downsouth Living I asked if she had any artificial cotton decorations. We live in an area that grows a lot of cotton and I wanted to honor that in our home. We’re also known for Blueberries. Anyway, she had these in the back. Christi just gave them to me for free! Wasn’t that sweet? She sure is kind. So, I had Steve staple these on the sides of “frame” around the window. [click on photo to enlarge]

Here’s a pic of it now that night has fallen. Nice, huh?! I LOVE it! And I can’t see the messed up hem on the curtain. 😁

Ok, that’s it. I’m winding down. This Old Gray Mare 🐎 is gonna go chew on some hay then bed down for the evening.

It is super freezing cold tonight and it’s probably like that all over America. I hope everyone has a safe stable with lots of oats to chew on and a warm bed to be in tonight. Thanks for visiting. I always cherish your comments.

💖 Ride Safe 💖

A Bathroom Redo

It’s taken about a week, give or take, from start to finish, to complete our second bathroom’s redo. It was mostly a cosmetic and space problem in this full bath. Nothing major. The lighting was so 90’s, some of the fixtures had quit lighting up, and space was at a premium. Chrome fixtures and Farmhouse / Outhouse decorations are the themes I’ve been sticking with. Thankfully chrome is a relatively inexpensive purchase.

First task to tackle, I needed more shelving in this room. There’s no linen closet here thus I had placed a woven basket full of extra towels in the corner. It didn’t hold much plus it collected dust making it hard to clean every week. For this project, Steve used a few lengths of the left over construction grade wood from other projects, then painted it bright white. Easy peesy. Note too, it’s up off the floor now making that corner super easy to clean.

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  BEFORE

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  AFTER

Next, I changed the dated gold tone cabinet handles for chrome tone. The new handles were only $3.50 a piece from Farmer & Builders (Ace Hardware). I couldn’t believe my good fortune there! The old handles will also be recycled out in the workshop or some other project I might dream up.

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  BEFORE

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  DURING

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  AFTER
  

A better photo of the finished look.

On to the lighting. ✨ Steve removed the old fixtures (before photo), fixed whatever the electrical problem was, and was able to use the lights in his workshop. When the old lights were removed, I realized what a mess the wall was underneath! It was ages ago since I had repainted the room the beige wall color and, of course, had used up all the paint. I thought for sure I was going to have to spend yet another $40 or more for a gallon of interior latex to fix all the blemished areas. But Steve had another brilliant idea. He suggested making a wooden “frame” to go around the mirror to not only add to the rustic look but also to cover up all the blemishes. 💡 Excellent idea! 💡 I washed the wall and cleaned up as much as possible. Meanwhile, he bought a few feet of furniture grade 1X6 clear pine to make the frame. I also suggested not mitering the edges and to use the similar color stain as the cabinets to make it look like it belonged and was more old fashioned. The new light fixtures (after photo) are also from our local Farmers & Builders. I had looked for some time on the internet for fixtures I liked, fit the motif and wouldn’t break the bank. Most of the Farmhouse style lights are well over $100 each. 💸 Ouch! ✨ The fixtures I bought at F&B were only $24.99 a piece. Good deal!

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The only thing that remains to be done is to wait for the new Outhouse soap dispenser and toothbrush holder to arrive in the mail. I bought these from Lakeside Collections on E-bay. They cost a bit more than I had expected (or they’re probably actually worth) but since it’s a one off purchase and because we had saved so much on all the other items, I decided to splurge a bit for a complete look.

It was fun to “remodel” a room, I feel so blessed, ❤️ but I’m glad that’s over. It’s nice to have our second bath back.

That said, though, that Master Bath is looking a mite dated too … 😜 *giggle* 💛

No-Sew Fleece Pillow Cases

🐕 Maggie just had to help! 😍 (Not!) 😉

Riding has been completely out of the question since it’s been raining cats and dogs 🐈🐕 in our little ‘hood. This seemed like a good time to work on some new pillow cases for the living room. The pillows were original with the furniture (2003) and had gotten threat-bare from use. Our Pastor’s wife, such a dear lady and so very talented, makes no-sew throws from fleece material. She was going to teach me the technique but was too busy with family matters. No problem. I went on YouTube and learned how to cut the fabric, then tie the knots to keep the pillow ticking inside. It’s so simple! And Hobby Lobby to the rescue for the inexpensive material. There were many, many patterns and colors to chose from. Hobby Lobby is definitely one of my happy places. 😘

All done! ❤ 👍

With this change I’ve added a little more color to the room using a green tartan pattern for one side (which happens to also be very similar my Scottish Keith Clan tartan), and a solid green on the other. The knots of super easy. With that success concluded, I thought I’d try my hand at making a long narrow pillow of solid green for bracing my head on the sofa during those achy times.

The fleece material is super soft. Very comfy. Hopefully, I can keep Maggie from chewing on them! Little stinker. 😁

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  Cutting out the pattern.

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  Finished!

By the way, it took less pillow ticking than I thought would be necessary. I had pulled too much out of the original bag thinking I would need it. Then stuffing the remainder back into the bag was like trying to put toothpaste in the tube! 😂 Good grief. I’m sure it was very amusing to watch.

It’s raining again. Time for a break. I guess I’ll get more coffee.

I hope y’all have a really nice week. Ride With Christ.

Repainted The Pantry

Me and my Big Mouth have been at it again. I decided some time ago to repaint the old laundry room com pantry and dog washing area. It’s also the route that we, and most of our guests, choose to enter the house. Thus the badly needed update. Steve quite rightly tried to talk me out of this quest but the poor man was pushed into it by my constant (albeit sweetly applied) coercion. After a great deal of eye rolling, he did give in. He’s such a pip. I really don’t deserve him.

Color spectrum decided, we proceeded to our favorite hardware store Farmers & Builders (aka Ace Hardware) in Blackshear. You should have seen Mr. Ian’s face when I said, oh so vaguely, “We need a gallon of light green paint.” 😂 He laughed … and laughed … and laughed. 😂 And when he finally caught his breath, he showed us all the green color choices. My goodness! I don’t blame him a bit for disappearing afterwards, especially after a nice young lady piped up and said, “I want to paint my walls gray …” He must hear that a lot ’cause I thought he was going to faint.

Mr. Ian, aka Mad Scientist

After some deliberation, and mild disagreements, we both chose the Clark+Kensington “Bon Voyage” (29D-1u). One can see from the following photos how much brighter and cleaner 👍 looking this color is than the Forest Green. And, yes, it took two coats. That’s OK. I was expecting that. Here’s the before’s and after’s:

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  After

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  Before

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  After

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  Before

As an added touch, we also ordered new brushed chrome outlet covers to match the handles on the cabinets. Those should arrive sometime next week.

I’m very pleased with the outcome. It was well worth the shoulder pain and temporary inconvenience.

I also promised, under penalty of 30 lashes with a wet noodle if I re-nig, 😇 that I will not even think about any further projects on this scale without also considering the cost of hiring someone with a younger body to do it for us. Neither of us can take doing this kind of work anymore.

Growing old isn’t for sissies y’all. 😁😍