Remember me?

Yes, I have not been very good at posting lately, I know. Lots and lots of stresses and distractions I’m afraid. And I am quite recovered from my stair incident. I finally gave in and got myself an Ace bandage and kept it on for 3 days, even when I had to go to work, and my ankle is finally better. Paranoia though keeps the bandage on at the first twinge but at least the pain of walking has subsided. Thanks so much to all my well wishers!

I have been keeping busy despite my lethargy and mild depression. Thank God for my husband! He keeps me going and feeling better. He knows I can’t stand not getting things done and seeing undone kitchen cabinets off the hinges laying on the family room floor waiting for paint makes me get going, so he keeps taking them down as soon as the last set is finished, so I am half way through the cabinets now! Yay! Just to remind you, here is a ‘before’ picture of what’s done so far…

And here’s what they look like now!

Wow huh? It really does make the kitchen look so much bigger! Even our kid said it opened the whole room up and like most 20 yr olds, he doesn’t really care about or notice that stuff! Oh, and notice we have handles for the doors now! We had priced them at Lowe’s but to our surprise they are expensive! The cheapest ones we could find that didn’t look like they were cheap were $3 each! And when you need 25 of them, well that’s just too much of an investment and we were going to leave them as is. But one day as we were flying through Walmart for paint, we just happened to walk by a rack that had only 2 styles of handles and one of them was just perfect! An antique brass with a little bit of detail you can’t see in the pictures. Anyway, they were 10 for $10! Hey, sometimes you just gotta love Walmart! LOL!

And here are the pictures I promised of my fabrics. In case you have forgotten, let me brag…uh, I mean remind you again  that I got 23 yards of material for only $120!! And a slipcover on sale for $45 which hubby was sweet enough to help me put on the couch quickly for a picture. If anyone is wondering what a slipcover can do for a couch, take a look!

Before:

and after:

I just wanted to get an idea of what it would look like so I didn’t iron it or take too much time fixing it, but I can tell already I love it! So here’s what I figured out for this room. It is a long room running the entire length of the house. Behind this sofa is the dining room and the sofa is in the formal living room with no break so to define the rooms, I have stuck this sofa here and it works pretty well.  Now for the problem of curtains for the windows at opposite ends of the room. Here’s what I came up with:

Notice how they match but don’t? Oh quit rolling your eyes! I got enough of that from my husband! LOL! I wanted something luxurious for the dining room so I chose the jewel tone fabric which I love so much that I actually paid $7.50 a yard for it. (I’m kinda cheap and really really poor so that’s saying alot! lol) It’s a silky fabric and though you can’t tell from the picture, it has the same design as the slipcover. Jacquard I think it’s called. Then for the living room half, I wanted something less formal and lighter so I went with this other material. It’s not jacquard, but rather a cottony kind of weave. I also found a paint color that complements both materials and the stone fireplace…it’s called Champagne Gold:)  and we’ll paint the whole room that color. Perfect if you ask me:) I love it all and am tickled pink that I was able to get it all at Walmart!! Yay for me! So, what do you think? Does this all work?

I also have material for the family room. Remember the sea green that I painted it trying to get a ‘cottage-y’ feel to the place? Well, I had a hell of a time finding something in keeping with that theme until I was looking at this dinky little $5 picture I got just to have something to fill in a wall by the bathroom once upon a time. I was really stunned when hubby showed me how well it matched the green even though there was very little green in it. So I was inspired one day when I looked at it again and when I told my hubby I was going to look for BLUE fabric for my GREEN family room, he said "Yick!" Really, he actually said "Yick!" LOL! But I was determined and I sure was surprised when I found what I thought was the perfect shade of fabric for only $2 a yard. But I have agonized over whether it was the right shade or not and have dubbed them my ‘souffle’ curtains. I call them that because it’s either going to make the whole room or ruin the whole room. Like souffles, there’s no in between! lol!

Here’s a picture of the material tacked up over the slider where they will be going along with the picture that inspired the color on the wall next to it.

Oh yes, this is hubby reacting as all husbands do when asked their opinions of curtains! *sigh* He’s a brat, but he’s cute, lucky for him! LOL!

Here is a closer shot showing the colors:

And if that’s not enough, I even found material for the kitchen which is open to this room for only $1 a yard! I wanted a floral print, and it has the same blue as the curtains and yellow for the kitchen walls and something I didn’t notice until I gotit home is that it also has the same green as the family room walls!! Wow, I am better than I thought!

So here it is. I am only going to make a valance for the top of the kitchen window to make the kitchen look bigger. Right now I have curtains on the bottom to hide a huge starburst crack in the middle window which the kids decided we needed when we were stupid enough to leave them home alone together when they were teenagers! Stupid us huh? lol. Anyway, here’s the kitchen material:

And a closer look showing the colors…

I’m really happy with all the material and am trying to get the cabinets finished so I can get sewing on them. Other than that, I am just working and trying to keep focused on the future!

I did see something amusing when I was taking pictures this morning. I took a picture of the ‘nest’ I made for our cat to save our sofa and as I was standing there, I looked up and saw my husband’s work area which is located in what should be and will be the dining room. See if you notice any similarities?

The cat’s "nest"

and my husband’s ‘nest’? LOL!

Hubby didn’t think it was funny, but I sure did!

And this is just a picture of the little lighthouse that Stephanie got us for Christmas. I put it out on the patio table and thought it made it look like it actually was a little island surrounded by choppy seas! Cute huh? lol.

So that is the state of my life since I have written last. Just working and painting and trying not to lose my mind until we get out of here. Hugs all around!!!