Hello March!

Things have been moving so quickly around here!  We listed our house on the market this week, and boy was that a whirlwind.  I thought it would be fun to share a few of the images from around the house.

Below is the finished music room, remember it was kind of empty in my Dropcloth Curtains post. We refinished the piano and added framed sheets of music to the back wall.  The music sheets are selections that include: the first songs our children learned to play, favorite songs and tough songs with the kids hand written notes on them. 

My own quick snap ;- )

My better half hung the chalkboard that the kids and I made for the Chalkboard Paint! post. We decided it would make a fun "menu" in the dining room. I am still working on the tablescape for the dining table and the "wine corkboard" which you see in the image below:

Finally, as a testament to what a big difference a small investment can make, here are some before and after photos of our bedroom:

Before

AFTER: Photo Courtesy of Keller Williams

The bench and chair were in different rooms of the house, and fit much better in the bedroom.   The pillows were my biggest expense, but make such a huge difference. Let me know what you think!!

All the best,
V

Drop Cloth Curtains!

I always struggle with curtains.  I love how they look in other homes, and yet I can never decide what will work in my home.  I pour over magazines and google images, then I start adding up how much $$$ it costs for those beautiful curtains and I get a little nervous.   Earlier this year, I went with the Pottery Barn Cameron Drape in white for my family room.  At first I thought they looked a little bland, but they have really grown on me.  I love the curtain rod and rings I purchased, I think those make the look.  Here they are:

As I was looking for tips on how to recover a chair (more on that project later) I stumbled upon this idea of canvas drop cloth curtains.  I thought it was BRILLIANT!   Thank you Musings From A French Cottage.

In both of the front rooms we added these "curtains".  I've posted pictures below.  Both of these rooms are still a work in progress....so when they are complete I will post pictures of the whole room and not just the windows. 

Dining room

Dining Room - Working on the tablescape next!

Music Room

I encountered a few stumbling blocks while hanging these curtains:

1. Drop cloths do come in different shades.  The first drop cloth I purchased was more of blue/grey that wouldn't bleach and did not match my wall colors.  I picked it up from Home Depot.  The drop cloths I picked up from Lowe's and WalMart were a "khaki" color, and bleached nicely.
2. I discovered that some drop cloths  have stitching that runs horizontally across the panel vs. vertically. I was using the whole 6x9 panel and a horizontal stitch was not what I wanted.  Unfortunately, I washed two before I realized....so check before you wash!
3. The drop cloths from Lowe's did not wash as nice as those from WalMart.  They had what looked like "pilling" on clothes.  It took time to clean that up.

All in all, I am thrilled to have floor length cutains for $20 a window! My only reservation is that I wish I could have gotten them to be completely white.  Let me know what you think.

All the best - V