Vintage Boat Oar Curtain "Rods"

We had no idea what we were going to do with a pair of chippy blue vintage boat oars when we bought them, but they just seemed like they belonged at the Cottage.  We bought them as part of a lot of various odds and ends including boat bumpers, a life ring, vintage plastic Christmas ornaments and a table.  We sold the table for about as much as the whole lot cost so we basically got them for free.

Eventually we decided they would make neat curtain rods.  Too bad they were too short for the place we wanted to use them!  The ingenious mind of Mr Eclectic went to work, and they are now hung in front of the actual curtain rods!

Here's what one looks like, please excuse the lack of trim, we are still in the process of locating the last of the paneling we need to complete the room:

An up close look at the oar itself.  You can see the great color and how worn it looks.  We THINK these came from a rowboat named the "SS Turtle".  The life ring we got from the same sale has that name on it, and the nephew and niece of the man who owned them confirmed there was a rowboat by that name formerly in the pond on the property.

This was taken from below looking up-you can see the gap between the actual curtain rod (just a cheap "brass" colored extendable one from the local hardware store) and the oar.

And this is the secret way the oars are hung!  We have two of these bracket set ups, one near each end.  The rod fits between them so the curtain slides back and forth without catching.

New light fixture!

Just won this on an auction.  Needs to be rewired, but it's so very cool.  Nautical all the way, vintage boat light.  Probably actually an old porch light but we'll see once we get it.

A few random things

I did some more power washing today.  I had to stop part of the way though for about half an hour when an unexpected visitor decided the wet grass where the overspray was hitting was a good place to stop for a drink.

I am now about half way through the stack.  Then we will brush a vinegar and water mixture onto the boards (all sides) to help kill any "ookies" (like mold spores) that might have survived the power washing.

I also took a better look at my three for $1 chairs.  Here's the two that matched:

Unfortunately, I found both were broken in a way.  Here's the problems on each chair:

So I did what any cottager would do!  I took them apart (four screws on the front and two on the back):

And took the seat off of the one and put it on the legs/back with the broken rungs.  Voila, garden chair

This one is all fixed up now.  It may or may not replace one of the dining room chairs.  We'll see.  I'll do a before and after this time!

I also thought I'd share one of the little nooks we have here, this is the "fishing corner".  The old wood net needs serious repair, we just haven't gotten to it yet.  At least I'd like to use a little wood glue and stick the handle back together!

This is in the living room, next to the curb find cabinet.  We just picked this sign up about a week ago at a moving sale.  It's just paper laminated onto pressboard that was left outside apparently.  Nothing vintage or antique-but it sure looks like it!  I used some Mod Podge to seal the edges to keep the paper from peeling more.

Working on the bedroom floor

As always, plans can change.  We decided to try painting the floors rather than the BLO/Turp then poly recipe.  MUCH easier, quicker and cheaper.  Of course, in keeping with our style, they won't be your average painted floors.  We're not going for the "freshly painted and shiny new" look, rather the rustic and timeworn look that fits so well here at the Cottage.

Here are some recently power washed planks set out to dry.

Here's a close up of the insect holes-we figure powder post beetles.

This is the painted sample board I did using what can best be referred to as "dry brushing".  Basically, get as little paint on the bristles as possible and work from there.

A further away shot.  This is sitting on the hearth pad in the living room.

We still have a LOT of power washing to do before we actually get to this stage, but we wanted to see what it would look like on a test board at least.

Uh oh, the Kitchenaid has competition!

Well, not exactly, but I might just have to keep this one too.  We went to a garage sale down the street from us to see if they had any "cottagey" or nautical goodies for sale.  They didn't.  I picked up three more dining room chairs, although I am not sure why since we have all four.  But hey, it was $1-for all three.  I might look at replacing one of the ones we have at least.  Who knows.

Anyway, this was sitting there and I just couldn't leave it behind.  I think I have a new addiction!

It's a Sunbeam Mixmaster 7B.

Look at this deco styling!!  OMG.

AND, AND...they make a milkshake attachment!!  AND a blender attachment.  Kitchenaid doesn't have THOSE...

Of course, about a week ago, THIS followed us home

It's a 3B Kitchenaid.  A friend of ours is buying it from us though, she wants something that can handle a pasta attachment.  Something the Sunbeam apparently cannot-or I'd keep the 3B as backup for the 4C and sell her the Sunbeam.  We bought the 3B because it had a meat grinder attachment with it, something we wanted anyway.

This isn't the best lighting, but we wanted to try it out.  We need to rewire the kitchen so we have an overhead light!!  The 4C running the grinder:

Aaanndd...here's the new bedroom flooring!

We've only de-nailed it.  It will go through the same process as the garage sheathing, but for now it's chilling out in our storage shed.  

Power wash

Brush on a vinegar/water mix

Dry

Brush on a Boiled Linseed Oil/Turpintine mix

Dry

Brush on polyurethane

Dry

Cut to lengths

Nail down with hand cut nails

We still have to rip out the old bedroom carpet and see what we have to work with, we'll do that after the new flooring is prepped and ready.

This is old barn flooring, we believe it's Heart Pine.  There's about 100 or so sq ft here and we paid $80 for it, nails and all.

We'll be cutting this end off-but how's this for authentic?  Mouse gnawing and all.

Painting the Ugly Thing in the Kitchen

This "ugly thing" was here when we bought the Cottage.  I nearly put it to the curb the day we closed.  It's press board covered in faux wood grain laminate (like cabinet liner, not "nice" laminate).  But we were busy and it did serve a purpose.  So it stayed.  And stayed.  And despite plans to replace it with ANYTHING made of solid wood, it was still here.  So I tried playing with some crates and other options but nothing really looked very good.  So, I decided to paint it.  It worked for my dining room chairs (sorry, no before pics of those).

Here is the ugly before

And the painted after

So much better.  All it took as a little paint.  This THING has been hanging in the kitchen too long unpainted.  Since the kitchen cabinets are all wood, the fakeness of it was really icky.

Next up, we bought some barn wood for the flooring in the bedroom!!  YAY!

Defrosting the Norge

So, one of the trade offs to having a super cool vintage fridge is needing to defrost the freezer.  I've never done this before, so I put it off a little longer than I should have.  Now that I've done it, I won't be putting it off to this extent again.  It took MAYBE an hour and wasn't really messy or difficult.

This is what I started with.  We need new seals.

This is the bad corner, where the seal leaks the most:

I know, I know.  I promise it won't get this bad again!

First, I unplugged the fridge.

I started by filling my "custom ice maker" with hot tap water.  I really don't understand why it's called an "ice maker", but it came with it and it's pretty cool looking.  I put a few towels on the top of the fridge door to soak up any water that ran out.

I put it in the freezer to use to radiate heat into the freezer area.  I've heard people suggest boiling water but that seems a little extreme to me.

Next I used a wooden spoon to lightly scrape the loose ice into the "ice maker".  DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT use ANY sharp or metal objects for this.  DO NOT scrape hard.  You don't want to a damage the inside of your freezer.

I also used a sponge to wipe up water, and dipped it in the hot water to wipe off thin ice on the sides and bottom.

I gathered the loose ice and just dumped it into the sink.

After about 15 minutes, this is what was left

Next, I refilled the "ice maker" with more hot tap water and put it in the freezer.  This time I simply closed the door and waited.  About 10 minutes later, I opened the door and removed loose ice, then repeated.  After 10 more minutes, I did the same.  That took care of the ice.  I used a towel to "mop up" the remaining water, and I was done.

During this period of time, all our frozen food was chilling out in our equally vintage cooler.  It was still frozen solid when I was done.

Reloaded the freezer, plugged it back in, tossed the towels in the wash and cleaned the little bit of water out of the cooler.  Done.  Easy-Peasy Lemon Squeezy.