Thursday, February 19, 2015

What a mess!

Been thinking of redoing our bedroom for quite some time now but it has finally arrived.
The main reason is we needed to remove ALL the furniture to do the walls.
Well…you know how one thing leads to another?  Yep…that’s what happened here.

We had our grandson and one of his buddies come last week and help move out the furniture and the next day Doug and I started the process of removing the 2 layers of wallpaper.
Do you remember way back when, when I showed a picture of the original wallpaper I was trying to rescue?  Didn’t happen – the outer layer took some chunks out of it and so I gave up on that idea fast.

Here’s the original
Bedroom 1 
 
Bedroom 2
I’m going to miss the peg board all around the room but I’m going to stencil and I think it should not be put back up.

Yucky old 80’s wallpaper
old wall paper

So we proceeded to remove the paper – took all of 2 days (shorter time than I thought it would be).  We used a scoring tool and very hot water and it worked quite well.
Karen 2

So on to the pulling up of carpet – see what I mean….never intended to get new flooring but Doug saw some wonderful wide plank pine laminate and brought a sample home…I loved it so in it goes Saturday.
But anyway, pulled the carpet and pad, and all trim…nope, didn’t intend to do that either.  See what I mean by one thing leads to another.
So in the end the room is a total redo from floor, trim paint and ceiling painted as well. Oh, new light switches and outlets as well.
The flooring is 11.42 inches wide.
Wood flooring
wood flooring 2

The paint was my huge problem. I wanted a light tan.
I brought home 2 samples I thought would work – looked light enough in the store.
Put them on and they turned dark – I knew they would but didn’t think it would be that drastic…looked nothing like the paint in the can.
So…back to the store, got another one.  Nope…so took the lightest one with us and went to see if they had anything else, found one – put it on…nope.  SOOOOO. I had them lighten that one up by 25% – didn’t work…had them lighten it up by 50%….WORKED.  Well, it worked as far as this gal was going.
I like it – it’s a tad darker than I wanted but still good and will work well with my stencils.
Oh yes, more work to do in there.
I bought several acrylic paints like 2 different shades of each color to test out before I start on the walls.  I have a few large boards I’m going to practice on today so please wish me luck that I can pull this off.

The bottom one is what we ended up with at 50% of the top color.
DSC06401

And the walls finished
And now we can’t even use that room or our dining room as it is holding all our furniture!
Dining room 1

Here’s what we ended up with as of yesterday – walls are painted – trim is painted – doors painted…just need to paint the closet doors but not sure where that’s going to happen because the floor is going in Saturday and then the furniture will go in on  either Sunday or Monday – the wood needs a day to settle before putting heavy furniture on it.painted walls

I will start to stencil today after testing – and I will have to finish with all the furniture back in – but being the floor is wood I will be able to slide the furniture out from the walls easier than with the carpet.  That reminds me we need to buy some felt pad glides today!!!

Here’s what I chose for the stencils.
top design will go around the top of the walls by the ceiling
Left design will be the dividers going down the walls
Two right designs will be the main designs between the dividers going all the way down…..I’m using all DARK colors…red, gold, tan, green.
stencils
And Baby has found a new spot to sleep.  We started this job a week ago Monday – she immediately vacated her bed in the hall and found a spot on some drop cloths that were on the floor in the closet – along with junky things from the mess we made.
So I got her old bed and put it there and she has left it only to eat and potty – even with all our work and banging and such she has slept through it all – doesn’t hurt that she’s stone deaf!  If not she’d be hiding somewhere with all the racket we had been making.
DSC06413 
Look at that horrible 50’s padding!  It’s hard as a rock and has a mesh over top – it has sealed itself to the wood floor so the floor installer said just to leave it and it would be okay….it’s so flat it won’t hurt any of the install.

Before we started this project I started making a couple items to take to Finder’s Keeper’s in Rochester, WI where I consign.
One is a cute doll from a pattern from Piney Creek Primitives.  I got it from the Summer 2009 Mercantile Gatherings magazine.
But I’m adding legs to mine – the pattern has her on a bobbin.
I tried the dress on her to see how long to make it with legs on her – and then I need to age the entire doll and clothes.
doll 2

The next thing is a Primitive bunny.  I’m  not a bunny person but thought this pattern was cute for Spring.
It is also from Mercantile Gathering, Spring 2011. Pattern by Sweetpeas Primitives.
Still need to grunge him and all the extra things…sew ears, tail and legs.
bunny 1
I posted that I have started a GATHERING here at my home starting March 3rd.
There are still a couple spaces open for anyone wanting to join…it’s free and fun!

GATHERING / WORKSHOP
Rug Hooking - Punch Needle - Wool Appliqué - Penny Rugs
First and Third Tuesday of each month
10 am - 2 pm
Starting date March 3rd
(and you don’t need to attend every session if you can’t)

Thanks for the visit my friends…hope you are all staying warm…it’s a horrible 10 below here right now.

Karen

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

COME JOIN MY GATHERING / WORKSHOP

Do You Do....
Rug Hooking - Punch Needle
Wool Applique - Penny Rugs ?


I started a
GATHERING / WORKSHOP
First and Third Tuesday of each month
10 am - 2 pm
Starting March 3rd

Bring whatever you enjoy working on
and supplies needed for those projects.

Now and then I will have a
'Make-And-Take' project

Room for 12 - 14 and filling up fast

Contact me for further detail
if you are interested

Karen Martinsen / KM Primitives
kmprimitives@gmail.com

Sunday, February 1, 2015

A SIMPLE QUIET

A Simple Quiet….That’s what this time of year is for me –the Christmas decorations have been put away for 4 weeks now and that’s always a good thing.
Decorating seems to be more fun than the dismantling for some reason :)

( It doesn’t it seem like Christmas was just 5 weeks ago does it )

I love how the house feels right now – it’s an in between state…no fuss or frills with ‘theme’ decorations.  Just our every day things that are plain and simple.  We have been decorating with ‘stuff’, less and less each year after Christmas and I love that.  I am happy to have less to clean around.

I was looking around this morning and thought ‘there is very little in the ‘crafty’ type things sitting out and on things’  just things that are ‘real’ if you know what I’m trying to get at…not sure how to put that into words.
I can name a few of those things.
1. Our Pewter collection
2. Old Yellow Ware bowls and some other type
3. Saltglaze crocks and jugs – oh how I love these!
4. Baskets…you can never have too many of these
These are the things that make us smile and enjoy looking at.

I took a few pictures of the rooms – all except the den…it’s kind of ‘my space’ for sewing right now and I have a few things here and there so …no picture of that room.

One thing I noticed – my house never changes…I probably could put on pictures from 2 years ago and they would look the same.  I must be either stuck in this same groove or I really like what we have….which is it?

 Family room Feb 1 2015
Needing a different oriental rug in the center – something with blacks and gold and less red.

Fireplace Feb 2 2015

FR table Feb 2 2015

FR table 1  Feb 2 2015

Den table Feb 2 2015

Dining Room 3 Feb 2015

Dining Room 2 Feb 2015

Dining room 1 Feb 2015

Low cupboard dr Feb 2015

Blue Pie Safe Feb 2015

Pie safe Feb 2015

Hallway Feb 1 2015

cutters on counter Feb 1 2015

Bedroom Feb 2 2015

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Finally finished a couple of punch needle projects – now to decide what to make with them.
The first one is large enough it can be put on the front of a pillow and the other one – maybe on a hornbook.
Wool Sheep punch

Sheep half moon punch

And still plugging along with my hooked rug piece.
I haven’t worked on it in a couple weeks and am anxious to get back to it…but the punch needle was calling me!
Mitten rug 1 

I am loving the background colors – a mixture of 3 different colors and designs
A reversible stripe, check and a plaid
rug close up 1 
Been looking for a cupboard to store my wool in – but nothing seems to be large enough.
I want this part of the closet back!

all the wool

Question to all you rug hookers -
What dye color would I put with a Forrest Green to get Black?

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I have a pattern sale going on over at my selling blog
http://kmprimitives.blogspot.com/

Also there are still a few items on sale on the ‘Prim Needs’ page

Go check it all out

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That’s it my friends
SNOWING AND BLOWING…blizzard like conditions out there
– stay safe and warm if you have to be out
and if you are going out for Super Bowl-
Cement Snowman 

Karen