Shopping and Building on a budget - Chapter 15

Howdy y’all!!! Welcome back! I had plenty of questions about the Cowboy Tile in my Cowboy room, (Man Cave) 🤠🤣   

Again, When we first bought this house years ago, this room was actually a play room for the boys. Since they were all still very young, it was a perfect room for all the toys to stay out of the way. The tile in this room was like a mauve, white blend tile. After the boys grew out of the room, it was time for me to move in.🤠 This room also has a full restroom with a big hot tub in it. 🤠 

Perfect for watching my Cowboys and drinking some cold beer. 🤣 

Why am I such a Dallas Cowboy Fan? Well I will tell y’all. Back in the 60’s I used to run down the side of the gravel road to where my Aunt and Uncle's house was. They were the only house in the barrio that had a TV.  I was not allowed IN the house like all other kids were not allowed inside.Through a screen window,  I watched the black and white TV, in a big wooden console, in the living room, through my Uncle's legs and in between bodies. It was hard to see, but it was loud enough. I could watch and hear the Cowboys play. Our quarterback then was Don Meredith. It wasn’t until 1969 when Roger Staubach came into the picture. I could never stop loving the Dallas Cowboys! The Cowboys are truly America's Team. 🤠

I came to find out that most haters of the Cowboys are losers of the game at some time or they just hate Jerry Jones. To me,  Jerry is a 17.7 Billion dollar Business man. Unless you have more money than him and have more business savvy than him, there is NO reason to hate. Think about it. 🤔

Sometimes I look around my Dallas Cowboy / Man Cave and think, it looks like a Dallas Cowboy Retail Shop. 🤠 It’s just that nothing is for sale. The Jersey’s, gloves, helmets, jackets, t-shirts, caps, signs, framed pictures, autographed framed pictures, banners, autographed footballs, cards, cups, glasses, bowls, books, charcoal bag, charcoal lighter fluid, ornaments, my Cowboy Golf bag with Cowboy head covers, Cowboy golf towels, Cowboy golf balls, Cowboy tees, stars upon thars and so much more, wall to wall. 🤠🤣🙌   

Everyone needs a little rest and relaxation in the comfort of their own home. 

Maria Elena was always involved with the Chambers no matter what City we landed in. 👆

One day she invited me to go with her for the Grand opening of this cute boutique across from H.E.B.. They had a floor that was plastered with cutie magazines and then covered with some clear coat. Hmmm. 🤔So I asked one of the owners. “How did you do that?” He said he had to glue the magazines down to the floor and then used a clear polyurethane to cover the magazines. “Looks great!” I said. That's where my idea was born.🤠 I knew I wanted Cowboy Tile, but where do I get enough pictures and or emblems to cover the floor? I asked one of my friends who is a Vendor for Miller Lite Beer. I noticed the banners at the Store. They were Cowboy helmets and beer emblems strung all together, going across their display. Of course I asked….

“Can I have those banners once y’all are done with them?” He said yes and he also said he had extra at the warehouse. “Cool, I’ll take everything you got.” 🤠

The banners were perfect for my idea. The flags were all exactly 12 inches by 12 inches. Exactly the size of the tiles on the floor. When I gathered all the banners, I counted and had just enough to cover HALF the room. Hmmmm. 🤔 I’m thinking again…a dangerous pastime, I know. 🤣

I gathered my tools and supplies from Home Depot. What can we help you find today? glue and sandpaper,  brushes, etc.  you can also purchase these items at my other retailers, 

like  Lowes. What can we help you find?  ( where I actually bought the polyurethane) and or Amazon  Amazon painting and construction supplies.  

Look closely, the picture above has different art work and the tile is not as flat and crisp as the other tiles. 😞a year later…there was water damage. I wrote about the full restroom in the rear. Well that bathroom/restroom has its own water heater. 😮 Yep, the water heater gave out and leaked onto some of my Cowboy tile. Sadly my tiles on that side of the room bubbled up.😞 I had to replace those emblems. Without replacing the tiles, though, I did have to re-glue some of the tiles down to the concrete. The painted tiles were fine, it was just the emblems. It took a little effort to scrape off the damaged emblems. My friend hooked me up with banners that very next year, but of course the art work changed in a year. You can tell, if y’all look back at the pictures before and compare the artwork. It's ok, I made it work. 

Back to the first application. First I had to sand the tile floor. Since I didn’t have enough art work, I decided to paint every other tile silver and the other blue. Then I glued the emblems to all the tiles that were not painted. It looked like a giant checker board. It was great until the hot water heater issue.😞 Since it was just that one small part of the room, it is not very noticeable. Of course the application of the polyurethane had to be done twice also. 

This is the first year application before the water heater issue. 🤠 SMOOTH.

This is the original emblem art work before the water heater issue.

This is the second emblem art work, after the water heater issue. It all came out o.k., just a little rough around the edges.

This also is the second year, art work. 

Check out the picture below. I thought I would share it with another story. 🤠

Y’all may ask, why do you keep that old tube TV shown in the picture. Well for now it’s filler. I have to cut some more shelves. If I can’t find the color match, I will have to do some more sanding, staining and glossing. Another project, I know. 🤣 Also, the boys tell me to keep it. When all the new high tech TV’s blow up, I can hook up an old antenna to this TV and it will work for local channels. 🤔 Hmmm, I thought they were going to tell me about the copper and real silver inside of it. I’m not sure about antennas, copper or silver. If they want it, they can have it. 🤣🤠

The picture above is on the north wall where the TV sits, surrounded by tons of Dallas Cowboys souvenirs. The whole room is a Dallas Cowboy shrine, with a little bit of Texas Tech. 🤠 “GUN’S UP!!!  WRECK’EM TECH!!!”

There are three HEB 18 wheelers on the top shelf, guarded by bulldogs dressed in Cowboy jackets. 

There’s another story about those three trucks up there. I’ll have to share that with y’all at a later date.  

So, join me next time for the rest of the story. Don’t forget to click on my LINKS to save time and money. Tap the LIKE button👍, send feedback, ask questions and definitely SUBSCRIBE by placing your email on the home page, to receive a notice of NEW Chapters at the DURON RANCH. Until then, stay safe, make good choices and we'll see y’all soon!!! 🤠