Kitchen: Up next:

I have had this fabric for a number of weeks: I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it in the store.


Here it's hanging on my curtain rod in the family room, where I thought I wanted it.  But as much as I love it, it just hasn't worked for me enough to go buy the fabric and make the curtains here.  And it's not a cheap fabric, so I was moving slowly until I was sure.  And I just have never been sure.  As I've said before, I'm not a decorator. I know what I like, but putting it together just takes luck and going with my gut; my gut wasn't there yet.

Then comes the stripes in the kitchen. Love them!  But....I still don't have color there.  I have these subtle valances I made: beautiful, and it includes colors I love, but in a very subtle way.  I needed a punch.

Oh!  It matches my ugly green counters!  And makes them even almost livable! And adds my punch of color I love!  It would look so much better here without the errant string hanging down, but you get the idea.  New valances for the kitchen are in my near future. 

Better yet: I also had a clear vision at the same time of what to do with the leftover valance pieces (re-purpose: I love that word) and what to use to make the new curtains in the family room.   I love it when ideas come together.

The only downside here is that this requires a lot of sewing.  Boring sewing of squares.  I used to sew a lot, but do it now only out of the ability to make what I want with the fabric I want; I'd still much rather be hammering, but I also have an idea to include hammering and curtains in the same project!  Here's a preview of that idea from Pinterest: Easy to make Valance

I can't wait to get started. It's going to be a busy week!