Sunday, October 19, 2008

Drapes in the living room...

Why do house projects ALWAYS take much longer than you think? Sadly, I've had these drapes for about 8 months and have been waiting for over a month for the curtain rods to ship. Because that's taken so long, I should have known that it would take me 4 hours to put the pleat pins in the curtains. These curtains came with openings so you could just slide the opening over the rod. I knew the burlap curtains were already very casual, so to give them a more finished look, Mom and Grandmother sewed curtain pleating to the back of the drapes. Yesterday while watching the Dawgs and then again this afternoon, I inserted the pins to make the pleats. My fingers are now numb! It was a project! Brooke hung the bamboo rods that we bought off of Ebay and we finally got the drapes hung. Like I said, after sitting in my closet for 8 months, it was about time!

This picture is out of order, but these are the pleats after the pins have been inserted.
Here's what it looks like to insert a pleat pin. I think using these with cotton or silk drapes would be much easier. Burlap is thick!
And, the bamboo rod is up!
Drapes hung on either side of the french doors.

And, here's a view from the kichen. Strangely enough, Brooke and I feel it makes the room not only look larger, but the ceiling appear taller, too. I've read that putting the curtain rod as far up the wall as possible always heightens the ceiling. A nice trick!

Monday, October 6, 2008

A new outlook and fishy, fishy...

I realized that I hadn't posted on my blog in nearly a month! Ops! We haven't had too much going on around the house, except for the usual weekend cleaning. We'll start painting the downstairs hallway very soon, and I'll post pictures of that next project. I have had a lot going on personally in the last few weeks---I have a new job! YEA! It's truly an answer to prayer, so I'm rejoicing! I was able to spend some time in the last week with friends and family and it absolutely "re-charged my batteries!" There's nothing better than getting to catch up with people that are closest to your heart. A few lunches out, a little shopping, and a couple of naps over the past few days has made me a new person!

My fish vases from Sophie's and Isabel's. I don't know that this will be their final resting spot, but I've got them here for now. They look so cute with a piece of fern or a single flower coming out of the top.
Looking down...