If the Walls Of This Old House Could Tell a Story…The Kitchen in the 108 Year Old House.

Over the past month or so, I have been sharing the biggest project I have ever done.  I have been working on a 108 year old house in a tiny little village called Minburn Alberta.   This house is owned by my Cowboy.  It is the house he and his 7 siblings called home since he was born, and it holds a lot of memories for him.
 
We spent some time discussing what this house used to look like…and what he would like to see it as, after we fixed it all up.   He did not want it to be restored…as he wanted it to reflect his personality today.   So…the plan was made…to renovate and fix up this old house to be a rustic retreat, filled with his rodeo/cowboy memories, hunting trophies and comfortable soothing colors, textures and style.   My Cowboy is one of the most gentle, patient, calm people I have ever met.  His personality is not one of an extravagant man…but one of a hard working simple country boy…with a love of family, nature and a heart of gold.
While I have been diligent in  working on the upper level of the house, fixing and fine tuning two of the four bedrooms, Cowboy has been changing the light fixtures, and repairing/ upgrading the electrical, and upgrading the plumbing to the kitchen and bathroom…he has been doing all the parts of this project that I do not know how to do myself, and/or refuse to learn or attempt to do! 
When my Cowboy finally had enough of “his work” done in the old kitchen, I was able to do some of MINE!  Today I am going to share the kitchen.
Lets get started.
I need to say that my photos are lacking in this room…I was excited to get this done, and simply forgot to take as many shots as I should have.   Bare with me…

This is the kitchen…it is NOT pretty.   In this photo, we have got all sorts of tools and supplies laying around…there is a lot of space in this room.  It has great potential.

The fridge and stove still work, but not reliably. They need to go.  The upper cupboards are not overly functional anymore…and are not going to stay either.

There is the start of a nice big window on this wall.  It will stay, and we will have a window made to fit the space.  That porch, if you remember me mentioning it before, is going to be removed in the spring…so that window will look out onto a deck and into the back yard.  It will be wonderful!

I am sure that the Cowboy won’t miss the pink paint or wall paper in this room…lol

This table has seen a lot of family meals, and has been repaired several times…but will not make the cut.   It will be taken out when we get started on the floors.

The floors…I think this photo pretty much says all that needs saying.  There are nails, lifts, tears and damage all through out the kitchen lino.   It will be removed for sure!

The ceiling is just as bad as the floors…so it will need to be changed.
As you can see…this room will offer a challenge.   It needs a lot of work.
We got started…

OUT goes the old damaged linoleum…revealing…

…and equally ugly tile floor.  
This tile floor would not be removed.   It would serve as a base for something much nicer…and more comfortable.

There!   That’s much better!  It is just simple peel and stick tiles from the hardware store.  They were inexpensive and will do what we need them to do!  They will also look great with the wall treatment we decided on.

The walls…are being covered with an overlay of 1x6 spruce boards!   They are treated with the same “brew” of rust, vinegar, baking soda and black tea, that I used on the dresser that I re-dressed to fit into this house.     I brushed the mixture onto each board one at a time, and let them dry.   Once they were dried enough, they were cut and pieced onto the walls to create a wonderful rustic look!
We originally wanted them to look like old barn board…but this is what we got.   We both love this look and decided that it would be a nice treatment for the ceiling too….
So…I got busy and did more walls, and the Cowboy did the ceiling and the remaining walls.  We are very happy with the look.

Now…the cupboards…

We ripped the top cupboards out…removed the old appliances…and finished the wall with the wood treatment.

Where the old appliances and upper kitchen cupboards used to be, I put up plank shelving.  These will be on the walls on either side of the kitchen window, and will hold all kinds of wonderful things. 

My Cowboy installed a couple of new light fixtures, and we are almost ready for furniture!   All that remains, is to put some finishing touches to the wood walls…and clean up the mess that construction seems to create in spite of how careful we try to be!  lol
That’s all I am going to share for today…I can’t hardly wait to share the finished room…it is SO perfect!  I also have lots of great photos!  lol 
Stay tuned…the next chapter of this project is about to get VERY cozy!

Until Next Time…Happy Junkin’/ Renovating/ Decorating!

*)*)*)… True Love...is giving and asking for nothing in return.

 Today I am linking into Manic Monday with the Mermaid!
What's it Wednesday at Ivy and Elephants We Call It Olde at  We Call It Junkin 

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.
www.tootsietime.com

 
Did you miss a post or two in the 108 year old house series?
Article #1  If The Walls Of This Old House Could Tell A Story…The Saddest Chapter Is About To End.
Article #2   If Walls Could Tell A Story…The 108 Year Old House…On The Inside

Article #3If The Walls Of This Old House Could Tell a Story…The Small Bedroom In The 108 Year Old House

Article #4 If the Walls Of This Old House Could Tell a Story…The Master Bedroom

This post has been proudly sponsored by 

19 8ighty 9ine Clothing House 

and

HCG Warrior Diet  

(it actually works great!   We tried it!)

If The Walls Of This Old House Could Tell A Story…The Master Bedroom

Four weeks ago, I began sharing the most wonderful junkin’ project of my life thus far.   The renovation/ transformation of a 108 year old house that my Cowboy grew up in, and now owns. 

The house was in a nasty state of disrepair inside and out, and in desperate need of some attention.   I spent a little time chatting up my Cowboy, talking him into Tootsifying the old place a little bit…okay…who am I trying to kid here…Tootsifying the place a LOT.  He finally agreed…and we got started.
   
The Cowboy is an avid hunter, and always wanted to have a place to crash during hunting season.  He tends to hunt in Minburn county,  (where the old house is located) and having an option to stay would be wonderful, as we live in another town about an hour away.

The old lady is getting a renovation, cleaning and total make over.  She is going from a ruin…to a cowboy/hunting/rustic hideaway. 

The transformation has been fun - fun - fun!!!

Since I shared the small bedroom last week, I am going to share the master bedroom today.
 
Lets get started! 

THIS nasty mess is the master bedroom!   The wallpaper is faded and falling off…the plaster is crumbling and it needs a LOT of work.   The kind of work that we do NOT have the time to do right this minute as hunting season is almost here.   I need to come up with a way to make this room suitable to sleep in…and I need to do it fast!   My Cowboy is certainly lucky that his Tootsie has a very good imagination…and a pile of energy.

I contemplated this room while I cleaned out the clutter and garbage on the floors….

I had a lot to do in this room, so I brought in the “troops” to help!   My two oldest kids were happy to help me clean out the room and pull off some of the hanging wallpaper.   In all honesty, they were absolutely delighted to pull OFF the wallpaper…They are normally not supposed to be touching the walls of any house…so demolition type activity is a real treat for them!  lol

Since we are planning to do some serious work on these two walls…but not this month, due to time restrictions, I decided to seal in some of the ICK with a nice thick coat of paint.  I was happy to use up the last of the old red paint that I had kicking around, so that part of the project was free…!  YAY!    I then painted the baseboards, and the other two walls with the plateau gray that I painted the walls of the small bedroom with.
  
Once the walls were dry…

I grabbed some of these…

….and attached them to the walls like this.

I put up several across the top and the bottom of the red walls.

I then cut some copper pipe.

I just know you are wondering what the heck I am doing…so I will just get to the point.

I had several sets of sheer curtains left over from my old house.  They are in a taupe color and right now I am hnot using them.  They are taking up valuable storage space in my house, and I just knew I could make them work in this room.
 
Lucky for me, the Cowboy had replaced all the plumbing in the house the week before, while I was working on the small bedroom,  and he had a nice pile of copper pipe sitting in the back yard on the scrap pile.  I needed some nice strong curtain rods, in a nice long length…and that copper pipe was just screaming my name!

I headed out to the pile…and brought a bunch of those lengths of copper pipe into the house.   I cut it, and pieced it together with pipe collars that we picked up at the hardware store, and made myself a custom curtain rod!
  
I threaded the sheer curtains tightly onto the copper pipe that I cut, both top and bottom.

I then set the top rod of the curtain on TOP of the L brackets that I set up earlier.   The nut and bolt are there to hold the rod from rolling off the bracket.  I then put the bottom rod UNDER the bracket…the nut and bolt are pointing downward to hold the rod in.

The bottom will look like this!

This is what the two walls that we will not have time to repair completely look like now!

The curtains cover the red paint that seals the walls…and it softens the room nicely!

I then added some nice cream colored bed sheet curtains the same way that I did in the small bedroom…and was good to go!
 
Walls, ceiling and trims are all done in Plateau Gray…and the floor got the rosy color that we like to call a happy accident…as we ended up with a custom color…and the room is ready for furniture!
  
My Cowboy was away at work for two weeks, while I was playing in this room among other things.

When he got home, I took him on a little tour of his old home…

He was certainly surprised to see the changes I made to this room…he loves the curtained walls!   He even commented that maybe we should just leave them up for good!

So?   How did I do?   Do YOU think this quick fix will make this room comfortable enough until we get some time to get in there and fix those nasty walls???

This is where I am going to leave you for today.  Stay tuned for a sneak peek at the custom furniture I am making to put in this old house…I will be posting a tutorial in the next day or two!

Until Next Time…Happy Junkin’/ Renovating/ Decorating!
 
*)*)*)… never mistake kindness for weakness.. Because one gives freely does not mean that you have to take always.

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.
www.tootsietime.com
Did you miss a post or two in this series?
Article #1  If The Walls Of This Old House Could Tell A Story…The Saddest Chapter Is About To End.

Article #2   If Walls Could Tell A Story…The 108 Year Old House…On The Inside

Article #3 If The Walls Of This Old House Could Tell a Story…The Small Bedroom In The 108 Year Old House

This post has been proudly sponsored by 

19 8ighty 9ine Clothing House 

and

HCG Warrior Diet  

(it actually works great!   We tried it!)