My Little Red House – Country Design Home

Mar 19, 2013

This Old Whale Table

Last summer Coach and I completed a major outdoor renovation, transforming our deck into a screened-in porch. (Of course, today, on the eve of the official first day of spring here in Boston, the porch still isn’t useable due to yet another ridiculous snow storm!) OK, so once the porch construction was completed, we decided on red, white and blue nautical decor, using primarily vintage castoffs and refurbished finds.

Of the DIY projects that I posted here, the one with the most interest (and great comments!) was The Whale’s Tale.

The old whale-shaped table was scooped up at a yard sale for $5,

then cleaned,

sanded and painted,

glazed and finished the table to give him a new, patriotic glow.

Recently, I submitted the project to This Old House, and it was selected for the This Old House Don’t Buy It, DIY It! Contest. For those of you not familiar with This Old House (hard to imagine…), it was one of the original home improvement TV Shows, beginning in 1979 and starring Bob Vila. Originally airing 13 episodes filmed in the Boston area, the show has grown into a national cultural icon. Presently aired on PBS, and hosted by Kevin O’Connor, This Old House continues to provide valuable information and resources for owners of older homes through the show, their website and magazine.

I am not sure if, at some point, I may need your votes to help me win $100 and a spot in the upcoming July Reader’s Issue of This Old House, but I will keep you posted! In the meantime, if you have a DIY project to share with This Old House, click here and fill in the online forms. (of course, just make sure it’s not as nice as my patriotic pal : ) Have a whale of a Tuesday everyone! Susan

Filed Under: Inspiration, My Little Red House, The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love, Views From My Back Porch · Tagged: Bob Vila, nautical theme porch, PBS, restored whale coffee table, The Whale's Tale, This Old House, This Old House DIY Contest, This Old House Magazine, This Old House Restoration

Feb 28, 2013

A Big Thank You!

By countrydesignhome · 2 Comments

So, I didn’t realize until Word Press (my host server) sent me a little congrats card that this week marked my one year anniversary of this blog-unbelievable!! What started as a simple marketing assignment has blossomed into a full-fledged, time-consuming, educational, inspirational, often-times ridiculous look into the daily lives of myself and Coach and my family and friends. At 150 posts and counting, some of my personal favorites have included guests spots for New England Home Magazine featuring the works of Interior Designer Rachel Hazelton

and photographer Paul Granese,

my work on the Glidden Project,

my posts from some of the amazing weddings we attended this past year

The Whale’s Tale, a refurbishing D.I.M. story

the special tribute birthday cake I created for my sister in Faded Photographs

and of course, my most recent post about our mission trip to the Dominican Republic.

Over the years, I have always looked for new challenges and adventures-whether its traveling, cooking or creating art or design- and my motto is “I can do that”. Or, at the very least, I can try that (see Kayaking…The Launch)

This blog has given me a voice, otherwise unheard, to share my successes and my abysmal failures (of which there are soooo many). Looking back over this past year, it is clear by your responses that you have enjoyed many of my posts about interior design, whether country pretty- yay Buffalo Plaid!

or chic and glamorous.

Also big on the hit lists were my ventures to the SOWA Vintage Market

and the Vintage Bazaar @ Pettengill Farm (can’t wait for that one again!)

and the Brimfield Antiques Show.

And, then, of course, there is that whole “are you freaking kidding me, I dropped the whole can of paint?!?!” posts,

where I have been sharing our crazy lives, living in, decorating and preserving our 1850’s farmhouse and barn- featured in Rejected and Dejected

and so many other posts. Those of you who know us personally have been hearing and witnessing those stories first hand for many years. For those of you in “blog land”, it has been great fun sharing those follies and receiving responses letting me know that you have been there too! For the coming year, I am hoping to expand my horizons and find new places, new spaces and new ideas to share both here and on my Pinterest pages. Endless adventures await, and I never go anywhere now without my camera and iPhone in my pocket. I love comments- so please feel free to weigh in on any subject and “like” a post (the button is at the bottom of the page) so I know you are reading! And if there is something you would like me to feature, check out or write about, drop me an email @ countrydesignhome@gmail.com. Thanks for following my blog everyone! Susan

Filed Under: Inspiration, My Little Red House, The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love, Views From My Back Porch · Tagged: Brimfield Antiques Show, Glidden paint, Kayaking, New England Home Magazine, Paul Granese Photography, Rachel Hazelton, SOWA Market, Thank You Chalkboard, Vintage Bazaar

Feb 10, 2013

Same Old Story…

By countrydesignhome · 1 Comment

…same old song and dams!! After a day of shoveling and clearing off snow-covered paths and cars, Coach and I were resting our weary bones next to a roaring fire last night, having nachos and beer and watching reruns of Pawn Stars (I know, but how many on demand movies can you watch in a day when you are trapped inside!?!) When all of a sudden, I hear it: drip, drip, drip. Like Edgar Allen Poe’s Telltale Heart, the sounds grow louder, pounding into my consciousness with each drop until the deafening waves can no longer be ignored! (well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea…) Looking up, I notice the tiny drops along the ceiling moldings that are slowly spiraling their way down my freshly-painted walls!

Ice Dams!!!! For those of you blissfully unaware of this natural phenomenon, according to Wikipedia: “An ice dam (or ice jam) occurs when water builds up behind a blockage of ice. Ice dams can occur in various ways which include a glacier blocking an unfrozen river and a thawing river being blocked by a still-frozen section further on. This is a pic I took in Alaska from a ship- beautiful, right?!

On a small scale the term can be used for ice blockages of gutters and spouts on buildings.” Not so pretty.

In above diagram you can see how the ice dam forms on a building: inadequate insulation, incorrect pitch in the roof, no ridge or soffit vents, multiple roof lines causing areas of built up icicles- all of those conditions are present in our old house. What you don’t see is Coach up on the lower roof with a hammer and a roof rake removing the glacier of snow that piled there during the storm on Friday night.

These pics are taken from my upstairs bath window. I think Coach takes some kind of pleasure taking a hammer to our old house.

Yes, much like the House of Seven Gables of Nathaniel Hawthorne fame, we have many roofs-or is that rooves-hmm…

Our original 1850’s home was a small cape with a deeply pitched roof. Add a few rooms and a porch, and you have a recipe for ice dam disaster. This is Coach on the roof, shoveling off the six foot snow dune sitting over my family room!!! Now you may wonder where I was during all of this roof-climbing and snow raking…I was inside taking care of the dog. She is scared by the sound of pounding on the roof! Right.

The confluence of roof lines causes large icicles to form on the upper roofs, which then drip down onto the lower roofs, resulting in multiple areas of built up ice dams that then leak back into the house and leads to the drips down the inside walls.

Damn!! We have tried caulking, adding a rubber ice shield roof, heating cables, but nothing has prevented the return of the ice dam after a big snow storm. Now, looking at the front of the house with the gigantic icicles dangling ( just waiting for some unsuspecting mailman), you would think that would be the problem area.

Not so, because those just melt and fall harmlessly to the ground. Which in the spring leads to another problem, the leaky fieldstone foundation. But that’s a story for another blog. Of course, in the overall scheme of things, a bit of a drip is not a big deal, while in other places folks are being evacuated as their homes along the coastline are being swept out to sea. And we have had a reprieve of sorts, with the weather being so mild the past few winters. So, it’s time to venture back downstairs to see if there was more dripping overnight. And do a bit more digging out.

And wait for spring, which is just a few short weeks away!! Have a (hopefully) sunny and safe Sunday everyone!! Susan

Filed Under: My Little Red House, Outdoor Adventures, Views From My Back Porch · Tagged: ice dams, leaking roof, old house ice problems, removing ice dams

Jan 6, 2013

Living in a Vacuum…

By countrydesignhome · 6 Comments

..less home. Over the years, I have purchased more than a dozen vacuum cleaners of various shapes and sizes, spending hundreds of $$$$.

I do all my research, check the consumer surveys, read all the real consumer online reviews. So when I purchase said vacuums, I am hoping they will work as advertised. Pretty simple, actually. Suck up dirt, get rid of the dog fur, deep clean the few area rugs we have in our home as well as the stairs. Alas, I have yet to find a vacuum that can do it all. And some can’t do much of anything! These are our (I use that term with some amusement, as Coach does not have enough of a vacuum use track record to weigh in on this particular subject. Awhile ago, I sent him to the vacuum repair shop to retrieve the Bissell that had malfunctioned almost immediately after I had purchased it. The voicemail he left? “Hi, I am at the vacuum store and they are trying to give me a maroon vacuum cleaner. Is our vacuum maroon? I thought it was blue.” Just saying…) current units we have at Casa Mathison. Presently we have FOUR vacuums stuffed in our closets, two hand-helds, two uprights. (not counting the shop vac in the basement- which is fine- at the moment).

Number 1: A Black and Decker Cyclonic Dustbuster.

Apparently cyclonic means that there is a bit of a tornado going on inside, so as the bits are retrieved off the floor, they swirl around away from the filter so it doesn’t get clogged or slow down. Makes sense. Great for picking up small bits in the kitchen, like when the dog knocks all the unwanted food out of her bowl, or when I drop oatmeal on the floor while making cookies. But not flour. It won’t pick up flour. And clearly not for vacuuming an entire house, especially carpeting!

Number 2: Shark hand held vacuum with the beater bar.

This one is for the stairs, where the dog fur collects in the corners and risers. The main part works fine for a short time, but the hose attachment gets clogged up with the fur while I am trying to do the corners, and there is no way to detach it to clear it out, except to use a knitting needle-yikes! Once it’s clogged, it’s done.

Number 3: Eureka! I found it! Or at least I thought I had found a great little machine for doing the floors with this Eureka stick vacuum.

I am not sure what the “four-in-one” is, as it pretty much just stands up and picks up small bits on the floors. No beater bar. Not enough suction to clean a carpet. Can’t do stairs, whether you keep the handle long or short. And then there is this bad boy, Number 4: the Bissell PRO-LITE with 12 amps of power! (This is where Tim Allen is supposed to make that “more power, ar, ar ar nosie”)

Did my research, purchased it for the best price, assembled it. Best vacuum I ever had. Not too noisy, lots of suction. Then the switch broke and needed repair. And then pieces started falling off of it! It seemed like every time I took it out of the closet, more parts fell off the bottom- the entire base is now being held on with one bolt. Then the suction lessened, so it doesn’t really clean the rugs deeply any more. Tough with the dog, and the winter sand and salt presently making its way into the house.So here I am, once again searching again for the one vacuum that will do it all-floors, stairs, area rugs, dog fur. This time I would like a cannister vac-but one with some serious power to get the rugs clean and do the stairs! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I just don’t want to purchase yet another unit that will quickly kick the bucket and join the growing heap of parts in the vacuum graveyard. Here’s hoping your Sunday doesn’t suck-or maybe hoping it does-literally!! Susan

Filed Under: My Little Red House · Tagged: Bissell, Black and Decker Dustbuster, canister vacuum, Eureka, Shark, upright vacuum, vacuum cleaner reviews

Dec 20, 2012

The Glidden Project-Complete!

By countrydesignhome · Leave a Comment

Part two of the Glidden Project. A budget remodel using Glidden paints.

The Glidden Project-Complete!.

Filed Under: My Little Red House · Tagged: Antique Beige, bookcases, Glidden, Glidden paint, remodeling on a budget, repainting, Steel Blue

Dec 20, 2012

The Glidden Project-Complete!

By countrydesignhome · 5 Comments

Soooo, how did I do?!? If you remember the before pics, dark and dreary, not much light, kind of drab. But now… bright and cheerful, lighter and fresher-just in time for the holidays!! A few things I did for this makeover:

1. Repainted all the walls, including the tired blue fireplace wall, which immediately brightened up the entire room.

2. Transformed the bookcases/media wall. Fresh paint on back wall, repainted all the shelving from dark, stained brown to creamy white. I also painted the niche with the Steel Blue for a focal point- where the hand-carved whale now sits. Backlighting it with some LED lights gives an aquarium-like transformation-kind of cool, right?

3. Edited the shelves by removing most of Coach’s old books and keeping the ones that have some meaning (or the colors looked pretty : )

4. Had this old chair and ottoman re-upholstered in a light blue linen with creamy white trim.

Here is the brighter, fresher, newly transformed chair and ottoman! I have a great company in Lynn, just in case anyone needs a remodel…

4. We kept the rugs the same, but change out some lampshades, added some colorful throw pillows, some soft fluffy blankets for those chilly winter evenings and re-arranged the pictures and mirrors. This is Daisy’s chair. She would be really upset if we got rid of her chair, even if she really isn’t able to get up there to curl into a ball : )

5. I also used the Steel Blue to re-paint the arched mirror so it would stand out against the Antique Beige background.

And then I decorated for the holidays, of course!

I would like to again thank the folks at Glidden for their paint, and their patience in allowing me the time to make this happen and write about it in my own words. I hope this story inspires you to try something new, break away from the known and do a little experimenting of your own! Susan

Filed Under: Color Class, Inspiration, My Little Red House, I've Been Featured On... · Tagged: country design home, Glidden paint, Glidden, repainting a room, country decorating, country style

Dec 18, 2012

The Glidden Project

By countrydesignhome · Leave a Comment

Back in October, I spied this insert from Glidden Paints inside the Halloween issue of Country Living Magazine The brilliant autumn-inspired colors in the ad caught my eye, as did their interactive website, so I blogged about it. Well, the good people at Glidden saw my blog (yay!) and asked if I would be interested in doing a room makeover using their paint brand. They would send me the paints of my choice, I would paint it myself and then write about the experience. Now, those of you who read my blog know that I am a one-paint kind of decorista. Over the years I have tried just about every paint brand, only to keep returning to my personal favorite. But, since I had been contemplating a facelift for our family room anyway, it seemed like the perfect time to sieze an amazing opportunity to try something new and write a blog for the whole world to see (well, maybe not the whole world, but at least my blogging world).

Here’s the story: The last time we re-painted the family room, I had decided to add an accent color to the fireplace wall.

At the time, it worked to enhance the fireplace and mantel that were viewable from the kitchen, which was the same color. However, last fall we converted our adjacent deck to a screened-in porch, which we LOVE, but any natural light we had streaming into the picture window was

greatly diminished, making the room darker and less appealing. Along with that, I had changed the sofa slipcover from this light toile print

to a brick red solid, creating a cavernous feel.

Of course, that was not my intent. The original blue slipcover that came with the sofa we bought back in 2005 was too flowery for this more “countrified” space, and the red slipcover I purchased online looked a lot brighter on my computer screen than in person. Bright, cheerful color is my thing…dark and gloomy, not so much. And several of the decorating elements in the room- like this hand-carved whale-also creamy white, just faded into the walls, which were the same color as the trim.

Time for a change. The new colors I chose were Antique Beige

for the walls, because I needed a color just a shade or two darker than the trim but still bright and light, and this one has just a hint of pink, and Steel Blue for the accents to match the rugs and curtains that I was planning to keep.

I kept the trim, fireplace and bookcases the same creamy white semi-gloss. But before I could paint the wall, I had to do a wee bit of patching since I had made some pretty big screw holes while hanging a mirror awhile back.

A hole this big cannot just be filled with putty, you actually need to use some of this mesh tape to bridge it, and give it something to grab onto.

Once the putty was dry and sanded, I used this Glidden Primer called Gripper . (I had given this a High Five For Friday awhile ago-see Primed for Success...)

It has a school-glue consistency, covers everything and seals in stains and dark colors, yet it is water-based for easy cleanup.

I was able to paint all of these shelves that were stained and polyurethaned over 25 years ago-without even sanding them!

Amazing stuff. Next up was two coats of the eggshell finish Antique Beige Glidden. Having stated above that I have been using the same paint brand for years, I have to tell you that I was very happily surprised by how great this paint is! I typically judge my paint by the several factors listed below; in each case, the Glidden paint passed with flying colors!

1.Drippiness: Minimal dripping and splattering, both from the brush and the rollers (foam and low nap), even from up high on the ladder.

2.Sagging: No sagging at all (that’s when you roll or brush the paint on, then look back a minute or two later and find that the paint is literally sagging from the wall, which you then have to go and redo before it sets).

3.Ease of Use: The paint rolled and brushed on smoothly and quickly, covered beautifully, cleaned up easily with soap and water.

4.Overall Depth of Color. The color is deep and even and the eggshell finish has just enough glow so the light from the window is refracted- exactly what I needed to brighten up the room!

Coach walked in after I was done (yup, the interior painting is my thing, he sticks to the outdoors), and said “wow, this looks really amazing!”, which, if you know coach, is a lot for him to say… Sooo, this is the before:

But you will have to come back tomorrow for the after : ) Happy last minute shopping everyone!!! Susan

Filed Under: Color Class, I've Been Featured On..., My Little Red House · Tagged: country design, Glidden Gripper, Glidden paint, repainting, repainting a family room

Dec 14, 2012

High Five for Easy Holiday Decorating!

By countrydesignhome · 1 Comment

Loving Christmas carols this time of year. One of my favs is “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas“…but I’m not really. Although I love a bit of white on the ground, the rest of it (shoveling, boots, cleaning off the car, dodging giant icicles hanging from the roof, etc) is not my cup of tea.

But, we live in New England, so we take what we get! So far, no snow to be seen-yay! So I wanted to make some decorations with a little fake snow to give the illusion of winter, without the hassle. So, this week’s High Five For Friday goes to Santa Snow in a can!! Makes everything merry and bright and cheerful and white : ) My latest D.I.M. project: needing a new holiday front door wreath, I found an old autumn wreath in the barn.

It was a little beat up, and quite a few of the berries had little bites taken out of them. Hmmm…

I think one of our barn critters thought they were having themselves a feast! So I pulled out all of the autumn leaves, and sprayed an undercoat of white enamel paint. I always keep a few of these around- at 99 cents a can, you can’t go wrong!

Then I hit it with my new favorite decorating tool- fake Santa Snow in a can!! This week’s High Five For Friday! LOVE. And some sprinkle glitter- it’s bling in a bottle. LOVE. So then the berries looked like this (well, it looks prettier in person- this kind of looks like a magnified science experiment…) Added a cheery bow (thanks to my new bowmaking skills I learned on Pinterest : ) And we have a pretty new Christmas wreath!!

Total investment: $2.99 for the Santa Snow, $4.99 for the glitter (but I had a 40% coupon, so do the math on that) $.99 for the paint. But I only used a fraction of those supplies, so I have plenty left over to decorate more stuff! Ribbon: $1.50 for a 5 yard roll. The wreath was a free reclaimed castoff! Total investment: $3.00 tops! (Disclaimer: just be warned that it is very possible that you are having soooo much fun spraying snow and tying bows that you forget to go to work on time. Just saying…)

My other High Five goes to this amazing Krinner Christmas Tree Standsation.

Nicknamed the “marriage-saver” for a reason, this is the absolutely world’s best fresh tree stand!

For many years, Coach and I have done the annual tree dance of anger using one of those old screw-in type stands. There was always lots of hammering and sawing and rope-tieing and occasional yelling and frustrated sighs…

It would typically take a couple of hours for us to get the tree up in the stand, straightened and tightened, and then tethered to the wall. This year, putting the tree up took…1 minute!!! Straight and secure, no worries about toppling over. Simply amazing. To watch a YouTube how-to video, click here (Note- this is NOT me and Coach!!!) We purchased ours last year at Orvis.com, but this year every major retailer has them, including Amazon.com. Best investment you will ever make, guaranteed!!! Now we just need to decorate it…anyone have an easy way to string lights?!10 Days til Christmas- make every minute count. Susan

Filed Under: My Little Red House, The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love · Tagged: Amazon.com, Decorating a holiday wreath, Krinner Tree Stand, Krinner's Christmas Tree Stand, Orivs.com, Santa Snow in a Can

Dec 11, 2012

Chalking It Up

By countrydesignhome · 1 Comment

I am still playing catch-up from our tropical weekend, and slowly but surely I am making the final push to get the house decorated for the holidays! For quite some time, I have been wanting a chalk board for the kitchen, not so much for notes and memos, but to add a bit of my own brand of humor to our environs. Not wanting to go out and purchase a chalkboard, and knowing that we have dozens of bins of holiday stuff that I could upcycle, I found this old tavern sign hanging around the basement. Cute, huh? Time for some simple D.I.M! (Do It Myself, because if I don’t, who else will!? ) I really didn’t want to ruin the cute pic on the front, in the event that I would want to use it again. So I flipped it over to the back side, where there was a nice, clean, even surface to work with. You can pretty much transform anything into a chalkboard! Here’s how:

1. Clean, then sand the surface lightly to remove any dust or surface imperfections. Then, wipe it down with a tack cloth (you can pick these up at your local hardware store). The tack cloth is a little sticky, so it picks up all of the extra fine dust that your rag may not.

2. For the first coat, I used Martha Stewart Magnetic Paint, so the surface becomes a magnet board as well. If you don’t want that, then proceed to the next step.

3. In between coats, lightly sand and wipe down with the tack cloth again. See what you missed with that damp rag!?

4. Paint on the chalkboard paint with a sponge brush to avoid lines.

Make sure you don’t leave any streaks or blobs of paint. Wait an hour, apply a second coat. Allow to dry for 24 hours.

5. Take a piece of chalk on its side and rub it all over the board- this “cures” the surface and allows you to write easily on your new board. Now write some funny, witty holiday greeting for all to see and enjoy!

6. Hang it up. Decorate around it. Add a few candles. Done. So my niche in the kitchen went from this fall vignette:

To this holiday greeting!

Time to tackle the mantel! Susan

Filed Under: My Little Red House · Tagged: decorating for Christmas, making a chalkboard, Martha Stewart Magnetic Paint, Plaid Online Chalkboard Paint

Dec 9, 2012

Fruits Of My Labor

By countrydesignhome · 3 Comments

Have you ever found yourself perched on the top of a step-ladder on your front stairs, attempting to hang a decorative Apple Fan Board

Fruits of Labor Apple Fan

to enter a Holiday Front Door Decorating Contest in your town? And once you were at the very top, having the centerpiece pineapple fall off the fan board, hitting you in the head and nearly knocking you out, then having to chase it as it rolled down the sidewalk and into the street? No? So that’s just me. A little back story…

The first time Coach took me to Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia for the Christmas holidays, I immediately fell in love with all of the natural decorating elements that were used to adorn homes Fruits of Labor Apple Wreath

front doors

Citrus Wreath from Colonial Willamsburg Decorates for Christmas

dining tables Fruits of Labor Table Setting

and front gates.

No giant blow-up snowglobe lawn ornaments here! Fruits of Labor Snow Globe

Just fresh fruit, greens, pinecones, nuts and berries were used to create beautiful centerpieces and fresh garland door decorations. Since we live in an old colonial home that is perfect for this style of decor,

288

my thoughts turned to natural decor when our town announced its annual Holiday Front Door Decorating Contest a few years ago. This book, “Colonial Willamsburg Decorates for Christmas“, has instructions on how to create your own fruit-laden garlands, wreaths and mantels. Perfect!

~~Coach~~ I got out my jigsaw and cut out the half-moon shaped piece of plywood, hammering in the nails in rows where the fruit would be attached. (See illustration below)

Colonial Williamsburg Decorates for Chrismas Apple Fan Board

Once that is done, simply staple some magnolia leaves (yeah, I know, we have plenty of those in the Northeast in winter!) to create a fan border. Impale the apples on to the nails in rows. Now here is the part I skipped…”Drive 3 tenpenny nails (that’s the size in colonial jargon- they are big) into the center of the frame in a triangle. Drive the fourpenny nail into the frame above the triangle. Twist a piece of #22 gauge floral wire around the nail. IT WILL BE USED TO SECURE THE PINEAPPLE TOP.” No need for wire, I thought! That pineapple will stay on those nails just fine. Finished with my masterpiece and anxious to hang it for all to see and admire, I dragged out the ladder and hoisted the board over head. Now I am not certain as to the weight of this piece of art, but figuring a large plywood board with dozens of apples and a large pineapple, you’re talking 20lbs., easy. The rest, shall we say, is history.

I retrieved the rolling pineapple, stuck it back on the board after I had secured the board to the house. Perfect! Now I know you are wondering if I won the Holiday Front Door Decorating Contest, right? I think I came in second, but you really can’t hold me to that, since I had a bit of a head injury. Hope you enjoy the fruits of your decorating labor! Susan