Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo - Page 103 of 661 - Living a simple, creative life in small town USA. Bryson City. A Lifestyle Blog.

Barnwood Shelf System

January 16, 2016 by Ashley Hackshaw

Bryson City Outdoors closed down for a few days for renovations this last week. Brett, Ben and friend Jaime built this amazing “barnwood” shelf system to add storage. Boo helped restock it yesterday after school…in the cool “X” center for the Bryson City Outdoors water bottles:

This is what the wall looked like before hand, it’s so tall that without tall shelving there was a lot of wasted space:

Here are the shelves finished. They are made from locally sourced hemlock. I love how thick the pieces are:

A few months back they found this huge lot of old crates. They look great on the top shelves to help hold extra stock.

They also leveled the floor where it sloped in a few places and installed new wood flooring. I think they did such a good job. If you are in Bryson City stop by the store soon to see the new space!

How to Make Old Signs: Vintage Inspired Circus Sign

January 15, 2016 by Ashley Hackshaw

Have you ever wanted to know how to make old signs for home decor? It adds so much to a blank wall with very little effort. I’ve always wanted an antique circus sign but every sign I’ve ever come across was way out of my price range. So I decided this one:

Instead of using a plain piece of wood I repurposed two old drawer fronts. They made the perfect wood panel. I just used wood filler to plug up where the drawer pulls had been:

They are just attached at the back:

For the lettering I made a template using circus-inspired font:

You can use my template if you like (just print the letters one at a time if needed so they fit onto smaller paper and then tape together):

Chalk transfer paper makes the lettering easy to trace!

The words “ticket office” were added underneath:

I love painting with liquid gilding…this is the gold color from Martha Stewarts line, found at Michaels:

I love how smoothly it goes on :

For the red paint I used Golden Liquid Acrylics:

I brushed the outer edges with some liquid gilding as well to give it an aged look:

I love that the drawers gave it an instant framed look:

The finished sign:

I love the touch of the liquid gilding:

Here’s what it looks like in our kitchen! The old phone was from my childhood home:

If you want to make your own lettering Font Space has some great free fonts available! (click here for circus category)

More vintage inspired signs I’ve made with tutorials:

DIY Rustic Palette Sign:

Vintage-inspired Round Railroad Signs:

And an oldie but goodie…

How to Antique and Age Wood:

If you don’t have wood and want to use canvas I have a tutorial for that too!

And you can find all my other home decor tutorials here!

This Feels Like More than a Year

January 14, 2016 by Ashley Hackshaw

It’s been one year since we decided to put down roots in Bryson City. It feels like we’ve been here for more than a year, I recounted just to be sure. Yep, just a year. This small little town in Western NC has welcomed us right in. Just a little recap:

1. Last January we moved into what we like to call the House on Hospital Hill:

We’ve spent the last twelve months turning it into this:

2. After finding this eyesore for sale in downtown Bryson City:

Brett spent the coldest part of the winter renovating it to be a outfitters retail space with his new partner Ben. They used almost all reclaimed windows, reclaimed barn wood, and locally sourced hemlock in the process. They started a new blog called Life Outside to encourage people to get outdoors.

You can read about the entire renovation here: OUTSIDE and INSIDE

3. I started painting again.

4. I moved (with help) an old train depot 50 miles after finding it on Craigslist and started the Old Depot Project:

5. Max joined our family. The decision taught me a lot about being a parent, mostly getting out of my daughter’s way.

6. In March, Brett and Ben held the grand opening for Bryson City Outdoors, an outdoor outfitter complete with kayak/paddleboard rentals.

7. Boo learned to play the piano and had her first recital. She wore a dress!

8. I joined Crossfit. I was so against even trying it at first. I love it. It’s changed my life. I’ve found the most supportive community of new friends too.

9. Boo started Crossfit with a lot of boys. Growing up strong!

10. Boo learned to kayak and paddle board.

11. We buried our precious Diesel.

12. We started to renovate the old depot:

And we built a picket fence and a raised bed garden to go with it:

13. This was my 4th year working with Michaels and I made a lot of things!

14. Brett grew a beard. Yes, this is newsworthy in our family.

15. I read a lot of books:

16. We went on a lot of adventures and saw a lot of cool things:

I don’t know how we ended up here but I’m glad we did. I don’t have any resolutions for this next year except to continue writing. Last night I just finished a 316 page memoir draft that still needs a lot of work but I’m excited to have finally put the pen to paper. And I might be the only one who had no interest in winning the lottery this week. I like my simple, quiet life…even all the uncertainty that comes with it.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for the encouragement. Thank you for sharing your own stories. Thank you for taking your own leaps.

Love,

Ashley