The Cabin Reveal!

Hi, Friends,

How are you? I am so excited to reveal our epic cabin project.

The property we bought in East Texas had a "guest house." 

It was a shed with a country garage attached but it consisted of a living room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom and a small bathroom. It didn't look that bad when it was furnished. Emptiness told a different story. We wouldn't have put a guest in it. The sum total of my plan consisted of paint and flooring. Paint fixes a multitude of problems in a lot of cases but Bill felt from the get go that we needed to gut the thing and start over. 

The dwelling consisted of one of those country metal garage coverings and a small metal building. 

The small metal building was in okay shape. That is what they used as a living area. The garage section which housed the kitchen, dining, bedroom and bath was the problem.

I was busy revamping the house and Bill began using it as storage. He began to uncover the extent of the problems and became more convinced that he needed to be gutted. There was a leak in the roof and mold was growing. 

Demo began in April of 2021 and once that was complete, it was time to put it all back together. 

Here is a list of the projects for both the shop and the cabin. 

He built an exterior end wall and doors for the shop because the old wall was sided with indoor paneling.

He tried to fix the leaks but determined that he needed to run the roof of the garage in the other direction. He and his brother reroofed it and that did the trick. They installed windows in the shop and worked on the electrical in the shop and on the north end of the cabin. Bill insulated the ceiling of the shop and covered it with vapor barrier. He built a new wall in between the shop and the cabin. 

It was time to finish out the cabin. 

He ran plumbing, ran pipe to the septic, framed out a new bathroom, built a column to hold up the beam, installed a kitchenette. He hung a door between the cabin and shop. He shiplapped the bathroom walls, sheetrocked the north wall of the cabin, repaired a section of the ceiling with sheetrock and then covered it with beadboard. He hung the toilet, (One of the hardest jobs with this whole deal.) hooked up other plumbing and trimmed out the whole space. We stripped an old wood door and he hung it on a slider. 

Bill was designing the space as these other projects were in progress. 

It was time to paint and decorate. We were at the stage where I could help. 

The walls are Tempe Star by Sherwin Williams.

The other blues we tried were too nautical looking. 

The trim and doors are Shoji by Sherwin Williams. 

 

Our daughter painted the fish. 

The bench is from Cabellas' points. 

The adobe house paintings were also done by our daughter. She did them in two different mediums but gave Bill both because she couldn't decide which she liked better. We couldn't decide either. 

They are perfect in this space. 

We got the lamp with Cabellas' points as well.

The credenza came from the house. 

 

The rug is from Home Depot. 

There was a lot of debate whether to paint the trim. We left it as is. 

Staining the column to match the cedar beam was a process. 

I got as close as I could since it is pine instead of cedar. 

The bathroom door was a pain in the neck. It required a lot of stripping and sanding in 100° heat. 

We will never do that again but it might be my favorite thing. 

Bill designed the light fixtures. 

We found his chair at a consignment shop. 

My wingback is Ikea. It was gray so we used one of their slipcovers otherwise it just blended in with the walls.  

The cocktail ottoman is from our game room. 

The headboard is a cupboard door from the original bedroom. 

We thrifted all the other art. 

It has a very updated Southwest feel.

I love the deer painting. 

Bill's sister took the woodland photo. 

These were our original colors the year we got married which is really fun. 

 He loves this room for morning coffee. It's great to have a cozy glass of wine in here too. 

We closed on the house three years ago. Bill felt bad that it took this long. He only has the weekends to work on it and considering all that he did, he's done really well. The details are impeccable. I'm so proud of him.  I've suggested that he go into tiny house building. 

Here's the full story in these posts: 

The Cabin and Quonset Hut

Demolition Day 

The Quonset Hut Update

I have a whole page of posts about the East Texas house in case you are interested. 

We have some new blinds to hang thanks to our friends at Budget Blinds. We also want a little shelf next to fridge. I'll let you know when those are complete. 

 That is all for now.

See you soon. 

Katie  

The Holiday-Seasonal Cupboard

Hi, Friends, How are you?

I hope you are fabulous. 

My friend, Debra, from Common Ground calls one of her cupboards the Holiday Cupboard. 

I adopted that for our old Dish dresser before it was relegated to the garage. It's been all over the house. It's most recent local was the garden room but it was a little too tall. I found an 80's cupboard at the thrift store earlier this year. It is so cute. After come cleaning up, it is perfect to hold gardening books and supplies. Additionally, it holds seasonal or holiday trinkets.

I initially styled it with garden-y for spring/summer and switched it out for fall a few weeks ago.  I love squirrels and have thrifted them for about 15 years. I adore this darling little jar. I keep thinking that I can part with it but I never can. 

The squirrels in my yard are very well behaved but I'm sure if you have naughty squirrels, you wouldn't want to immortalize them. 

I love that my cutesier stuff can be behind glass. There isn't a ton of space with only two shelves but there is enough. I love that there is counter for the little lamp and my precious brass bird cage. 

I found the chipmunk at the Christmas store. He's a darling. 

I bought the Audubon's Wildlife: The Quadrupeds Of North America of off eBay so that I could tear out and use the prints. Mine came from an East Texas college library which I thought was fun. A librarian told me that they sold it, not because he'd been canceled but because it was too big of a book and nobody was checking it out. We passed Oakely Plantation when we went to visit my cousin. I wished we could have stopped but we thought it wasn't open anymore. 

 

I've used several pages out of this book. It's more than paid for itself. 

How do you feel about mushroom decor? 

Hobby Lobby has some with their Christmas decor. 

My husband made me one of these. 

The little book table got a few little bits too. 

That is all for now. 

I'm trying to decide how I'll style this for Christmas - elves maybe?  Styling a new piece is always fun.

See you soon. 

Katie  

Fall Decor Around The House

Hi, Friends,

How are you? I hope you are doing well. Are you enjoying the season?

It is flying by so I thought I should show you some of our fall vignettes. I'll also point out a few of the things that were passed down to me from my aunt. 

Let's get to it. 

I've had a concrete squirrel for several years. This year he decided he didn't want to be out in the heat so I created a sweet spot for him on the little French commode. 

One of our treasured sm Wollman Designs pumpkins sits nearby. Since this has been her last season, I'm thrilled that I have two of them. 

The other takes a place of honor on the Starsky, The Hutch. 

In a genius move, my cousin created a little vignette in her cutlery caddy. We have only kept remotes in ours. As soon as I got home, I created a little vignette in mine. I'm on the look out for more feathers. 

My collected feathers are at the other house. These were purchased. A few are faux. The rest came out of an arrangement of some kind. My cousin keeps her collected feathers in a vase. She senses the presence of the Lord when she finds a feather out in the wild. She and I are so much alike and we have many of the same decorative objects. Hers was a bluebird but I noticed she had the same little bird.  

A sweet primitive portrait was an Etsy find. The seller is Earlythings1776 in case you are inclined to hunt for some cute prints. They are distressed somehow so that they look old. 

A few brown transferware pieces are snugged in with the white ironstone. 

Raz Imports finally had another sample sale this summer. It was their first one in years and I missed them.  Even though the prices were much higher, I picked up this wall bird cage at a good price. Inside sits one of my favorite metal birds with one of my favorite faux pumpkins. The faux bittersweet came from Craft Direct. I usually order some real but time got away from me this year. Our hot September probably didn't help. I wasn't feeling in the mood for fall. 

The centerpiece on the dining room table is by far my favorite display. 

The sweet sculptures were given to me by my cousin. They belonged to my aunt and my grandmother before her. They are marked but I can't really decipher the name. I just love them. I almost didn't take them and had to sleep on it. I'm so glad that I brought them home. They sit on a silver tray surrounded by real oak branches, a faux pumpkin and a few faux stems.  

The barley twist candlesticks came from Caboose Antiques in Shreveport. 

When I got the little music stand, I moved a little cabinet to the dining room. I've struggled knowing what to put in this spot. I think this is the best so far. It also holds the precious silver service that belonged to my parents. In an ode to cuteness, my favorite little scarecrow sits in the corner holding a little pumpkin head. 

He is a cutie. 

A selection of acorns rests in a glass dish. This moser glass dish is the type that my aunt collected. My mom would find it for her. I imagine the two of them out antiquing. I doubt that happens in heaven but it's bittersweet to imagine it. 

Turquoise and aqua pop in the corner cupboard. 

The two turquoise pieces belonged to my aunt. My cousin has an identical aqua pitcher. Bill said it was uncanny being in her house and seeing a lot the same stuff we own.  My cousin and I we have only shopped together a few times but we did a lot of Barbie house decorating back in our day. It's weird but sweet. 

We are loving our new light fixture. 

The mantel in the living room got a squirrel nutcracker and my favorite autumnal toned painting. 

A sweet shepherd from my aunt sits on the hearth. My cousin has one identical to this. 

Another squirrel hangs out on the music cabinet. 

My aunt's favorite vase got some dried hydrangeas. It also belonged to my grandmother. I love how it makes me think of my aunt. I never knew my grandmother on that side of the family. She died a year before I was born. 

Finally, a new pillow from the Raz warehouse sale is nestled on the couch. 

That's about it. I'll have more of my recent acquisitions to show you soon. 

In my poking around for Christmas inspiration, a noticed a few more long time bloggers have called it quits. I don't plan on doing that because I still prefer this medium over all others. 

See you soon. 

Katie