Some Glamour Shots

 Before we leave this side of the house, can I just say that in modern middle-class neighborhood  construction there is a shocking lack of exterior trim?

We were not going to let that happen to this house. Our inspiration was the bungalows of early last century. The wider the trim, the better. And as you can tell, I never get tired of looking at it!

May I also point out how beeaauuttiiffuully blue the sky is in early Autumn when there is no smoke? I was tempted to paint the front door just that blue.

(Alas! the glamour effect kinda went away when the camera backed up...)

The Box with a View

 

We designed the house ourselves, and although we are big fans of variety and interest in houses, we made it a big box on purpose. Partly to save money, partly because we are not experienced in construction, but partly to see what we could do with a box. Stay tuned!

Pardon the Dust...

 

This Site is Under Construction

"It just needs new curtains!"

The title for this post is a quote from Betty, who said that about some old run down house in Australia. I happened to see the need for a curtain in a run-down old room in my house, and truly it does make a difference! 

The photo below is a portion of the laundry room. It is awaiting its "Cinderella" moment and so little has been done in the decorating department, excepting for a few shelves put up, and a couple of paintings done by a neighbor placed to brighten laundry chores. The window is sadly lacking in a lot of ways-- it unfortunately looks out on a tyvek covered wall, the sacrifice for having another room built beyond it. I'm sure that there was  a covering intended for the window, perhaps waiting for that day when the laundry room gets its overhaul. I thought it was time to make a temporary covering for it; and as we all know that anything temporary tends to stay in houses for the next ten years, I thought I should have fun and make it decorative. 

Before

After!

This is a lot more "playful" of a look than I am used to making, but since the paintings (done by a folk artist next door) are so bright, I thought the curtain should reflect that brightness. I had a lot of scraps of pretty prints that went perfectly. 

Banner Curtain Tutorial

Here's how I made the curtains:

Some of the prints were cut into 4" squares and made into prairie points. I know that isn't the most efficient way to make triangles, but prairie points are such a delightful waste of fabric! 

Fold the square in half on the diagonal, 

and in half again. Voila, a prairie point. 

For the scallops, trace half a teacup on cardboard, to make a template. Trace around the template on two layers of fabric. sew around the curved part and leave the straight edge open for turning. I simply folded some of the scraps in half, or used other scraps to back the scallops. Trim after sewing. I started out snipping around the curve to make a nice flat scallop, but after a few times of doing that, I started trimming them within 1/8 of the stitching line. Turn and press. 

Here are all the points and scallops right sides out and pressed. 

The finished size of each was close to 3" across. 

Pin them to the curtain upside down, and slightly overlapping each other. 

I used eyelet for the curtain, which gave me a sort of "grid" to lay these out on. Otherwise, I would have ironed a crease or marked my fabric with the lines needed for placement.

Sew across the bottoms of the scallops and points, with a 1/4 seam allowance. 

Carefully iron the scallops and points over, to show the right sides. 

Stitch along the top of the line of scallops and points. I used a decorative stitch for the fun of it. 

Stand back and squeal at what a cute project this is turning out to be! Ooh, wouldn't it make a cute table cloth for a playhouse or birthday party? Or a playful tea cozy? What else could I do with these?

Using bigger scraps, I sewed a casing across the top of the curtain after hemming the sides. 

Someday when the laundry room is renovated, the exposed water-pipes covered nicely, and paint slapped on everything in sight, there may be new curtains. I think, though, that this curtain is so utterly cute it will be a "keeper!"

Moving Walls

Here's a great idea for small spaces-- movable walls!



Just think of the possibilities! Even if you have an actual house instead of a little apartment, a moving wall could make a room so much more useful! I am imagining:

~A craft room with movable walls-- move a wall to put away the sewing and pull one out to start paper crafting. All storage is built in, with pull down desks and fold-out inspiration boards, little drawers for little thing and large shelves for large things. and even built-in lights where they are needed.

~A toy wall in a child's bedroom. A Lego wall, a dollhouse wall, an art wall, etc. When it is time for clean up you can say "Alright, children, put your walls away."

~Two library walls, facing each other. If you want a book, pull them apart, and there you have a little library room all neat and tidy, and the books won't get dusty. Maybe there is a fold-down bench with cushions built in, too.

~What about an extra baking center wall in the kitchen? What looks like a breakfast nook could actually be extra kitchen work spaces in disguise. What about a wall to permanently  house all the counter-hogging appliances?