Monday, November 24, 2014

Chalkboard Barn Door at Bad Monkey House


A few weeks back, I spotted this great old chalkboard scoreboard at one of my favorite vintage shops, The Furniture Girl. 

The store is only a couple blocks from the house and right next to Mike's Drive-In. Mike's is a great little local chain with an occasional corndog happy hour. Really. 

We were out for a walk, with Mike's corndogs on our mind, but stopping at Jill's, the one and only Furniture Girl is also a priority, because I've found such wonderful things there. 

The chalkboard came out of a bar in Montana and now has found a new home and use.  

The open space is about the same width as two doors -which we first thought about using- but after getting the chalkboard there was no question what to use. (I have two vintage doors with windows in them to play with now, too.)
First, I looked up barndoor hardware and saw the $$$ prices. 
Ack! Really? 
So, Mr. BMH figured out a way to make his own with a couple trips to local home supply stores. He also painted two fence boards black and screwed them onto each side of the chalkboard to help with stability and get the width right. 

The rolly thing is a pulley that was taken apart. It rests on a metal 'L' shaped steel stock. The black metal piece is a fence bracket. 

This is garage door hardware from
Home Depot. We put the same handle on the other side. All the hardware was only about $50-$60. Much, much less than the $300 and up prices I found for sliding barn doors on line. 
It works and looks so cool! I'm super happy how it turned out.  

What do you think?

The wall isn't really that weird color, that's what happens with artificial light, sometimes. This is in our basement, which is currently set up as a two bedroom apartment. Behind the new door is acess to another open space (that I desperately need to empty out), the laundry and the bathroom. 

We are thinking of using this space for Airbnb in the near future and this is one more step getting us ready to give that a try. They have set up offices in nearby Portland and it's been going well. 
Have you ever used Airbnb? 
Would you again? 

xoxo
gretchen 

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

New Jewelry by Gretchen Nation


Freshwater Pearl with tiny antique steel cut French beads that were used to repair beaded bags and some wire wrapped silver iris glass beads. 

Nice 'chunk of real Turquoise with a chain tassel. 

Vintage Yellowstone Fob with African sand cast tribal beads that are from the 1800's, plus bone and shell beads. 

Some fun neck chains with Indian Head nickels, wings and stones. 


Silver plate heart and small real turquoise stone on a silver plated necklace. 

Vintage advertising knife with tribal beads on a chain long enough to slip over your head. 
Amazing detail on this hand carved Ox bone skull. It's with vintage black crystal rosary beads with silver connectors and a Victorian steel cut button. It's long enough to over your head. 
xoxo
gretchen