Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo - Page 30 of 661 - Living a simple, creative life in small town USA. Bryson City. A Lifestyle Blog.

Putting the Farmhouse Back Together – Finishing the Inside

April 10, 2018 by Ashley Hackshaw

When you take something completely apart it’s inevitable that you are going to have to put it back together again. My last post was about how we updated the floor plan of the farmhouse. This post is all about putting the farmhouse back together – finishing the inside. Once all the framing was completed plumbing and electrical started to go in:

There was no insulation in the old farmhouse so we had eco-foam sprayed into every possible nook and cranny. I’m pretty sure that it’s holding together the house now. Here’s the foam in the new dining room…and the awesome new floor supports:

Once the insulation was completed the guys started putting up ceilings and walls using reclaimed wood we had been collecting. This is the dining room ceiling:

This old shiplap was also reclaimed, from an old house. Cleaning, sanding and priming all the shiplap took at least a full week!

Brett and Jaime made all the window frames in Jaime’s shop:

Before the window trim:

After the window trim:

The ceilings are white pine that the guys made from local milled wood…it’s light weight and looks great:

All of the old beadboard that was removed during demolition and was used in several places, including this small bedroom:

Beadboard on the ceiling of the porch:

Remember when we found the labeled pieces of beadboard from the 1920’s?

At some point I stained the new front door:

Once all the shiplap walls and wood ceilings were put up it was time to drywall! The downstairs looking from the living room towards the kitchen and dining room:

From the master bedroom looking into the master bathroom:

The upstairs landing:

Me vacuuming drywall dust:

We had our first snow at the farmhouse earlier this year!

I made this chart a while back to visually show our progress…so this gets us up to end of January (click for larger version)! Catching up!

You can read more posts about the Sixty-One Park Farmhouse here and follow more progress on Instagram here (@sixtyonepark) and here (@lilblueboo).

Thanks so much for reading! Sixty-One Park will be a historic Airbnb starting this summer for those visiting Bryson City and the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I hope to have a calendar up soon!

Festival Inspired Leather Jewelry – Wood Burned Cuffs and Bracelets

April 2, 2018 by Ashley Hackshaw

I love the boho jewelry style that comes with festival season! This month as a Michaels Maker I decided to come up with some easy DIY bracelets that can be layered together for a unique festival style:

There are so many ways to add unique details to plain leather cuffs and bracelets and I love layering for a bohemian look:

These blank leather cuffs and bracelets come in packs at Michaels and are ready for customization:

First I usually darken them up with a wash of acrylic paint:

Then I use a stencil and a light coat of spray paint to add a pattern. You can use stencils or doilies or anything with a pattern!

On some of the bracelets I used a wood burning tool to add detail and embossing:

There’s also the option of just leaving the paint as is and adding a few strategically placed beads:

I use a scrapbook paper punch to make the small hole and waxed jewelry thread is my preference for tying them into place:

The finished beads are on the bracelet shown below:

Here I’m adding a chevron pattern with spray paint and a stencil:

Adding some pyrography detail once the paint is dry:

A few of my favorite bracelets are these simple leather wraps:

Here I sewed some metal rings along the length:

You can even use scrapbooking stamps to create a design on bracelets. Here I used a script stamp with white ink. Once it was dry I sprayed with a light coat of Krylon Matte Finish to keep it from smearing:

After I was finished with the leather bracelets I added leather conditioner to make sure they were protected and supple. I use the same kind I use on leather shoes and boots (Kiwi brand). I love the variety among the jewelry made here! Supplies for every piece you see below were found at Michaels:

Now that festival season is upon us make sure to check out all the beads and jewelry-making supplies at Michaels. So many different findings to choose from to make your festival-look totally unique!

Travel Embroidery Art – New England Inspired Stitch Work

March 20, 2018 by Ashley Hackshaw

Travel Embroidery Art – New England Inspired Stitch Work

I know I’ve been gone a while but it’s for a good reason! We recently went on an extended road trip to New England. We covered 0ver 2,400 miles in our little Prius and made it all the way from North Carolina to Maine. I’ll share all our stops in another post but I wanted to show you how I kept busy in the car for such a long trip…embroidery:

I packed a small ziplock bag with a rainbow of thread colors, a few needles, a small pair of scissors and one hoop. I used a disappearing ink marking pen to sketch things out starting with the waves, then the ship, and finally the underwater sea life. Here’s the finished hoop:

I finished most of it on the road but the last thing I added when I got home was the ship “rigging” because I had to use some thinner thread:

Closer detail of some of the sea life:

I used a few French knots for the octopus to bring out her tentacles:

Someone shared a link on my Facebook page to a poem written by Corrie Ten Boom with the words:

My life is but a weaving
Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He weaveth steadily.

Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.

I almost love the underside of my embroidery pieces more than the finished side. I’m not very efficient with thread and often zig and zag across the back as my mind thinks through the composition:

the back of the embroidery hoop - Corrie Ten Boom

While I worked in the car on my embroidery, Sienna used the same thread to make friendship bracelets. She ties the end to her water bottle to work. Brett is always driving…he prefers to have control of the car. We also love to listen to audio books! This trip we listened to the entire book Home by Bill Bryson. We learned so much about how our currently way of living came to be. It’s really amazing how our idea of comfort has really only been around for 150 years. We skipped over the chapter about bedrooms because Sienna was in the car and there were some not suitable parts for young children…it’s not explicit…but just mature content. It’s definitely a must read though…and mentioned a lot of places that were on our trip:

Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson

“The beloved Bill Bryson gives us a fascinating history of the modern home, taking us on a room-by-room tour through his own house and using each room to explore the vast history of the domestic artifacts we take for granted. As he takes us through the history of our modern comforts, Bryson demonstrates that whatever happens in the world eventually ends up in our home, in the paint, the pipes, the pillows, and every item of furniture. Bryson has one of the liveliest, most inquisitive minds on the planet, and his sheer prose fluency makes At Home one of the most entertaining books ever written about private life.”

Now that Sienna is older I want Sienna to pay attention as we travel. I watched an Annie Leibovitz documentary once where she talked about how her love of photography came from the frame of a car window as her family drove in their car on trips. Every since then I try to limit the screen time somewhat and we’ve switched to audio books. What do you like to do in the car to pass the time on long trips? How do you keep the kids entertained?