Boulder Dam Cottage: July 2013

Hi! and welcome to Boulder Dam Cottage! I reside in a quaint little town by the Hoover Dam called, Boulder City, in Nevada, USA!

And this is Where this Blogger Creates! I call this "my fashion wearhouse" for the lack of a better name. Better known as the "former" woman garage, I made a conscious decision to park the car on the side of the house and move some of my fabrics and sewing notions out here!

The above picture is a newly painted set of old kitchen cabinets that the previous owner decided to put up when they re-did the kitchen. They were a lovely creamy green teal colour and while I loved it, I decided that RED, which is one of my fave colours, would be my inspiration colour and would perk up the place! It sure did, and thank you Joann's for the Eiffel Tower knobs that I found to girlie them up!

While my creative place is no where near completion, due to our Summer heat, triple digits and a few days of 117 degrees, my friends that were helping, well we just had to quit work for a little while until it cools off a bit! I am so thankful for them and their help and time, I couldn't have done it without them! So many neat ideas we bounced off of each other, the gift of time and materials, I can never thank them enough, Mrs K is an organizer and believe me I have learned so very much, sometimes I can't even sleep thinking what I am going to tackle next!

Mr. D, can make, create, work with anything and wa la there it is! Custom made for me! Thank you Mr D and Mrs K!!!!! You guys are awesome!

I did, do an insulation installation of the garage door, which was a learning experience, did that all my myself in the middle of the night! Did I mention I don't sleep much! lol!! I accomplished that in the Spring, and it really does cut a little of the heat out. I have windows on my garage so I did a dark window film on them first and then the insulation boards. What a difference!

Anyway here are some pictures of the garage in the before, during, and "still under construction" with comments!

I hope you enjoy my eclectic vision, which might make some people run screaming into the night, but for me, I still have my vision of covering up the clutter with beautiful fabrics, finishing the one wall with insulation and a fabulous bunch of boards from an old You Haul rental trailer, I so love character and recycled stuff; and I have many various shelving boards that will be hung on the wall as well.

I share my creative space with the "Chinese" laundry area, my new addition to the family! the CYCLONE! a must have swamper that rolls around in this heat, and my zones that include, a "storage" area, cabinets for fabric and pillows, overhead storage units, and zones that that house household articles, cleaning supplies, paint and my extra portable old antique working Singer sewing machines.

So I'm really ready to go, it's just Mother Nature has another thought!

Thanks to my friends that sweat along with me, movin and shakin with ideas and that supplied me with their old closet doors, a set of 4 mind you, that I truly love that sit atop my 6 x 6.5 foot square working table. I don't like perfect! I like character and the industrial look!
I nailed vintage and new yard sticks all around for easy measurements!

The table was made from Big Lots bookcases, a couple of 4 x 4's, some yard sticks and the Dollar Store plastic shoe boxes were used for my storage, a whopping 36 of them on one side and the other side houses my collection of sewing baskets, sewing magazines, vintage and new sewing patterns!

The table top is smooth, but not perfect and with tons of character, of course I had to get a nice big piece of teal felt to put on top which can be removed at any time! It just makes me happy!

I just love my place, when I can go out there, but when it cools down, oh Lord, when it cools down! lol

So here we go on a pictorial tour of my new "fashion wearhouse" where this blogger creates!

Thank you for stopping by and I would love any comments or additional ideas you might wish to share, as I am not quite finished yet and my mind changes daily!

Have a great week! and enjoy all of these Bloggers that have joined in! I cannot wait to see all of them, and believe me, there are a ton! I'm so excited and I won't be getting any sleep again, go figure!

the link to My Desert Cottage is up on my sidebar! Please visit and take in all the eye candy won't you?

hugs kat =^.^=

Here we go,

under cabinet storage of paints and my two footer! in teal of course!

As you can see my table sits to the right inside the garage, handy to the wall cabinets. The roll around houses my irons, storage and some sewing supplies, I was gifted my own little shop vac (thank you Mr D!!!!) and this way cool metal vintage roll around!

(Actually my sticky fingers grabbed it out of someones truck! lol Thank you thank you thank you! I just love it! )

There is a another storage "zone" under the large work table, the brown vintage roll around chest fits perfectly underneath.

here is one side of the table 18 cubbies of storage! oh my! Our plan was to utilize every inch of space, which is still a work in progress. Now that the bigger pieces are in, it is easier to "fit" things in where they belong.

I attached some of my vintage yardsticks to the top this little charmer, then I stained it and polished up the chest, she is real wood and just lovely! My five dollar find last year.

another "zone," 4 inches of space to lay patterns and large papers to stay flat. This table is a good height for my back!

vintage pant hangers hold tons of ribbons

inside the red cupboards are plastic totes from Kmart, they fit perfectly! In teal!

display inventory

stack able tool drawers just fit under the cabinets for needles snaps and pins, button and bows!

I found a clock with scissors as hands, a whole dollar, and a large thimble hanger for the cabinet doors. Also a small organizer with pockets a white board and bulletin board for notes and inspirational pictures!

The beginning.

overhead units and roll around shelving

in the middle of the garage is the "storage" zone, flanked by two 5-shelf roll around units to square this space up.

the table being constructed.

under the table, yet another storage zone; we decided to leave the "backs" of the bookcases off for air circulation and to see the totes

oh dear, pardon the mess! This is a working industrial area and hard hats are suggested! LOL

love the other side of the table, all these shoe boxes for lace and things. I'm able to organize as I go along and some of these are still empty!

I'm now in the process of draping the "zones" and the hanging overhead storage units.

It was so hot, I just had to stop!

This is one of my vintage sewing machines

She will be living out there! I cleaned her up and applied a good wood conditioner, she looks like new now! Such character, the patina of this oak wood and the lines are so charming.

Beautiful vintage details. They don't make cabinets like this anymore do they.

Well, that is it for now, hoping by next year I will be finished with the "wearhouse!" I have some painting to do when it cools down, more organizing and one wall to insulate and install the vintage wood planks on!

I've learned so much, it is so nice to know where everything is! I'm killing two birds with one stone so to speak. I'm organizing as I go along, a slow go process but so worth it!

Wish me luck! and thank you for stopping by to see where this blogger creates! :)

=^.^=

Please be sure to hit the below link to see all the wonderful creative bloggers that have joined in this year!

And a big thank you to our host, Karen, at My Desert Cottage, for all her time and effort that goes into this event for the past FIVE years!

Happy Fourth of July! Independence Day!

this picture is only one of many i love, others hang in my studio office, and someday i will share them with you. they mean a lot to me, as i worked with the military for almost three decades.

understanding our freedoms have gone sour with some i think, and that makes me sad. things in this short life of ours, taken for granted......if only, we all had the time to remember, reminisce, talk with our children and grands about liberties we all have here in our country and they may not bat an eye thinking it is the same everywhere else or even wondering if it is. our history is important, because it is very different now and changing everyday. God Bless America

maybe i don't give enough credit to the population out there, but what i've seen and read, is upsetting.

so while i wish you a great day off, time with family, resting or just reading a book, i hope you think of how we got to this place, save haven, protected by loyal military and their families.

please remember that they, our military men and women, may not be home celebrating the 4th with their families, they are out there protecting us and our freedoms, our independence, us. Home of the Brave!

recent tragedy's in Arizona are just heartbreaking. my thoughts and prayers go to those brave men and their families this day. God bless them!

and God Bless America!

wishing you and yours a safe and happy fourth!

God Bless America

Lyrics by Irving Berlin

God bless America, Land that I love, Stand beside her and guide her Thru the night with a light from above; From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans white with foam, God bless America, My home, sweet home. God bless America, My home, sweet home.

Star Spangled Banner

by Francis Scott Key 1914

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

with love, and God's Blessings for our nation
kat