Raising hay and
cattle, riding horses, and battling rattlesnakes, award-winning author Paty
Jager not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it. She has published
twenty novels, three anthologies, and seven novellas, all with Western or
Native American elements. Learn more about Paty and her
books at her website and blog. Today she stops by to show us how she converted
a buffet into a vanity for the house she and her husband built.
Buffet to Vanity
Last year my husband and I sold our semi-rural property (8
miles from town) and moved to our rural property (40 miles from town.) We were both excited to start this new
semi-retired adventure. Only moving to the rural property we had to live in a
200 sq. ft. cabin while we built our next home. We lived in the cabin from July
2014 until February 2015. Yes, we built a 2026 sq. ft. home in seven months! We
busted our fannies to get it up because we were getting tired of living in the
small cabin. We had some friends put up the walls and do the sheetrock, but we
did the rest of the house ourselves. Getting up in the morning and working
until dark every day.
The fun part about building the house was deciding what I
wanted in each room and how I wanted it to feel. Yes, I like a room with
ambiance.
One day we drove past a second hand store and a piece of
furniture that was in the window caught my eye. I asked my husband to turn
around so I could check it out. He said we didn’t have time today. The next
time we went to town I had looking at that furniture on the list of
to-dos. I went in, looked the old
buffet over, and decided it would be the vanity in the master bathroom. But I
had to convince my husband of it.
After explaining to hubby what I planned to do with the
buffet and how I planned to do it, he said I could get it as long as I got the
man to drop the price. I only managed to get him to drop the price $25 but that
was dropping, so hubby couldn’t say otherwise. ;) I brought it home, contacted a
school friend who restores old furniture and asked her the best method to
remove the ugly brown coat on the buffet.
She gave me some advice, and I went to work scrubbing the brown off and
finding a lovely oak underneath.
Once I had the idea of the vanity in my mind, I started
scouring the home improvement stores for tiles to put on the top of the vanity
and finding articles on how to convert a piece of furniture into a vanity (the
plumbing had to be dealt with.) And while at a plumbing store getting our
toilets and such, I found the perfect sink. It was a demo and they had to take
it out of the display, but they were willing to sell it to me.
Our oldest daughter came over one weekend to help me tile
the master shower and we also tiled the buffet/vanity. We used 12” x 12” tiles
for the main part of the counter and added 1/2” accent tiles to the edge of the
top. The hard part was getting them to lay well around the rounded front.
[insert finished photo]
This was a project that started with an idea and slowly was
pulled together, much like writing a story. I come up with a germ of an idea,
and over time I gather the pieces that enhance the story, and before long I
have a finished manuscript.
My writing project at the moment is a series about Shandra
Higheagle, a Native American potter who becomes tangled in murder and is led to
clues by her deceased grandmother who comes to her in dreams.
Double Duplicity
Book one of the Shandra Higheagle Native American Mystery
Series
Dreams…Visions…Murder
On the eve of the biggest art event at Huckleberry Mountain
Resort, potter Shandra Higheagle finds herself in the middle of a murder
investigation. She’s ruled out as a suspect, but now it’s up to her to prove
the friend she witnessed fleeing the scene was just as innocent. With help from
her recently deceased Nez Perce grandmother, Shandra becomes more confused than
ever but just as determined to discover the truth.
Detective Ryan Greer prides himself on solving crimes and
refuses to ignore a single clue, including Shandra Higheagle’s visions. While
Shandra is hesitant to trust her dreams, Ryan believes in them and believes in
her.
Can
the pair uncover enough clues for Ryan to make an
arrest before one of them becomes the next victim?
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6 comments:
Awesome, Paty!
Awesome, Paty!
Thanks Angela! It was a fun project. But so many steps I was impatient to see the outcome. ;)
Thanks for having me back at Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers!!
Awesome project. .looking forward to the new book.
Hi Dawn, Thanks! I'm having a blast working on the next mystery. But it's taking lots of research since part of it is on the reservation.
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