A New Project for the Mountain Cottage Attic Bedroom

Hello Friends!

Our Mountain Cottage attic bedroom was one of our first projects at our mountain cottage. I'll put a link to the before and after at the bottom of the post.

 If you remember, we had country blue wallpaper on every wall that had to be removed. We painted the walls a soft grey. Mr. DIY built the platform bed for much needed storage and we brought up my grandmother's chair and found a great mid century dresser at a local shop. Wall decor was the last  to be added. 

We may soon be doing a long awaited building project in the attic bedroom at our mountain cottage may.  
For as long as I can remember, Mr. DIY and I have wanted to build a shiplap wall behind the bed since the knee wall is so low. By the time we add pillows to the back so we can sit up without bonking our head on the ceiling, our feet are at the end of the bed. (and we aren't tall people).

This pic shows how low the knee wall is. 

As  with all our projects, Mr. DIY and I have gone back and forth about design and how it will be built. 
Should it be a plank wall or shiplap ...
stained or painted? 
Should the shiplap be horizontal or vertical...etc. etc. etc. 

Since we have the room, the faux wall will most likely come out 8 to 10 inches, and raise the height of the knee wall above the pillows. I think it will look much better. And, of course, behind the faux wall will give us more much needed storage. 

As promised, HERE is the link to the first before and after for the Mountain Cottage Attic bedroom. 

Go to THIS LINK if you'd like to see lots of projects that we've done at our mountain cottage. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Pam

Cottage Guest Room

Hello Friends!

We had some very special guests come to stay at our house a few weeks ago.
Our sweet little 3 month old granddaughter came for a visit (with her parents) and helped me celebrate my birthday. It was so nice to have a full house. 
  
Our Cottage Guest Room used to be our youngest daughter's bedroom and was the first room painted in our house.  Actually, it was painted the very day we closed on the house and before our furniture arrived. 
The bedroom has evolved over the last year or so, adding curtains, a headboard, new bedding and a few accessories, some new and some pulled from other rooms in the house. 

I found this scripture sign at Hobby Lobby.com .

The sign brings back sweet memories of when our girls were little and we would sing Galations 22-23 on our walks to the park a few blocks away. 

The blush comforter is so cozy and cuddly, without being too heavy and warm. 

Last year, Mr. DIY built this Queen size, Curvy Plank Headboard. It was one of the easiest and most inexpensive building project we've ever done! You can find it HERE if you'd like to see how it was built and how little it cost!

The twig wreath was a craft project from our last house. We had a birch tree in our front yard that would drop lots of thin branches after we had a really breezy day. One day, as I was collecting them, I had the idea to make something with them. You can see that post HERE. 

The Cottage Guest Room is a little larger than our other guest bedroom, which I've had plans to make into a room for when our grandkid(s) sleep over. 

It's only been 2 1/2 weeks since our guests left and we're ready to have them back and stay in the Cottage Guest Room

Thanks for stopping by!

Pam

Building Projects of 2018

Happy New Year everyone!
I don’t know about you, but for me, 2018 was a really tough year and I’m glad to be past it! 
If you’d like to know why, click on my other blog in the sidebar and I'll put a link at the end of this post (just did an update).
I am definitely looking forward to feeling well in 2019!
I’m also looking forward to this year because we have a new grandbaby and we have a wedding to look forward to. Being called a grandma is going to take some getting used to.
I’m really looking forward to being able to work on some projects – even if they’re small ones.


WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE BUILDING PROJECTS WE DID LAST YEAR

We actually did a few great ones!
The first and probably my favorite was the Gustavian Headboard.




I love, love loved this project! It was super simple and very inexpensive.
The cost for the entire headboard was $75!!


You can find out how to build one HERE if you missed it.



Our next building project was not so pretty, but oh, so functional.
Mr. DIY did a fabulous job building it, but really, who would refer to an outdoor trash screen as pretty?
Our town added a large recycle container and our flimsy, purchased lattice screen only hid the trash container,
so Mr. DY built  a double trash screen so they could both be stored outside. (our 2 car garage is too small to hold them)



Mr. DIY painted it to match the trim on the house, but I don’t think I ever took a photo of it!
It’s kind of strange, but every time I pull up to our house I admire it – because Mr. DIY did, indeed, make our trash screen pretty! You can find that post HERE.


The next  building project we Mr. DIY accomplished in 2018 was the Custom Range Hood for our Mountain Cottage.


Getting the Custom Range Hood finished for the kitchen at the Mountain Cottage was really exciting.
After the range hood was installed meant that I could get to the fun part of any project – accessorizing!
The kitchen is 99.9999% accessorized – I have the final and perfect accessory for below the hood and I can’t wait to put it up!
You can see how Mr. DIY built the Custom Range Hood (I finished it) HERE.


Our next building project in 2018 was the Custom Doors for the Workshop at our Mountain Cottage


The crooked bench and rotted plank deck has since been replaced by some BEE U TEE FULL concrete. We hired that project out, but it is purdy.
You can see the Before and After post HERE.

Those are the building projects we finished in 2018. I was still able to do some sewing projects (even with brain fog) and some other craft projects last year.
Mr. DIY also has 2 other BIG building/reno projects he started last year, but will finish this year.
Those two projects are:
The View Porch Deck and Steps





and the downstairs bathroom…

We think this bathroom will eventually be a laundry room, but we’re doing a mini makeover out of necessity,
because the floor was rotted away underneath the toilet.

There you have it…

Our building and reno projects for 2018.

Hoping that you have many successful projects in 2019! 

Pam

If you'd like to see an update on how I'm doing and see some pics of our recent trip to Southern California, click HERE

Christmas in the Breakfast Room 2018

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Gifts are wrapped and packages are shipped and the house is (minimally) decorated!
The breakfast area is decorated for Christmas, even though we won’t be using it on Christmas morning.
I’m taking inspiration from Christmas 2015, with lots of red and some plaid.

The Merry Christmas Pillow Cover was the only decoration purchased this year. Of course, I found it on Amazon!






I found the salad plates at Restoration Hardware many years ago and were a gift to my late mother in law.

The cellophane wrapped package is some handmade soap Mr. DIY makes every year. We send them out to family and friends. We used to send out baked goods, but handmade soap seems to be so much easier and can be made in the Fall. 


I think the Christmas Peppermint turned out so pretty!



The ceiling looks so tall when viewed in a photo. The tall ceiling is the reason why a tall chandelier was chosen. I felt that a smaller or shorter chandelier would have gotten lost.



The chandelier was dressed in my favorite golden bows and teardrop snowflake ornaments and a beaded garland. If I had more time and energy, I would have gone to our backyard and cut some pine boughs.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pam

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Mountain Cottage Dining Area Before & After

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Hello friends!

This little corner dining area at our Mountain Cottage has come a long, long way.

It may be pretty now, all dressed in cottage and farmhouse accessories, but it didn’t always look so nice.

When we first started the kitchen reno at our mountain cottage the walls were covered in 1980’s cream and cornflower blue wallpaper.
That was a joy to remove…NOT!





Lovely, wasn’t it?



So after wallpaper removal, paint, new barn lights installed, plank ceiling put up, banquette (with storage) built,  seat cushions nd pillows made, curtains hung and accessories arranged...
...here’s the finished dining corner.

I made 4 more white pillow covers and Mr. DIY hung all the  tchotchkes on the barn light wall.















We're making do with the table we purchased when we were first married 30+ years ago until Mr. DIY can squeeze in a few weekends to build a custom table. 
This table has been with us through thick and thin. 
It was our first dining table in a house we rented, then it was used in our first house until we bought a formal dining room table. 


At that point, we brought it out for parties  and many family gatherings. We brought it with us when we moved from California to North Carolina where it was stored in our basement and used as a serving table for parties.
When we bought our mountain cottage, we again needed a dining table, so we thought of the table in our basement. It was the perfects size for the kitchen dining area. 



We'll use this great little expandable table until Mr. DIY has time to build us a new one. 


We still have a few minor items on the punch list in the kitchen and when that’s finished, I’ll show you the whole kitchen reno from start to finish.

For this corner, you can see how we built the banquette HERE.
For information on the accessories that I told you about last time, you can go HERE.

 Thanks so much for stopping by!

Pam

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