new curtains (and i made them)

trying to get hubby motivated to let me spruce up the house a bit. i'm not quite a "pro" decorator, so i thought i'd practice on the ugly little laundry/utility room. i intend to get this sanded and painted soon, but i had to wait to get paint. i also intend to put up some utility shelves to help me to organize better.

meanwhile, i already had fabric that had been given to me some years ago stashed in the closet, just waiting to become some useful creation.

my laundry room is functional but ugly. i don't mind, but when i have company, i like to close it off. after getting a new back door, we needed to remove the laundry room door because there wasn't room to keep the two doors open at the same time. we just decided to take it off the hinges. so, first, i decided to make a curtain for the doorway. after digging through, my material, i found i had enough to do this and make a matching curtain for the ugly window.



the ugly room...

notice the lack of floor space (basement door on the floor)

above and behind the washer and dryer

wall opposite the washer and dryer and there's a fridge to the right of the bench

new door curtain--the hall in front is too small to get a good wide angle shot

top in detail

this is significant because this room is unlevel. it's off by 1.6 inches from one side of the door to the other. i measured the curtain to make this unnoticeable.

inside top hem

inside bottom hem

camera hog

view with new door curtain (notice the fridge? the bench is right behind it.)

ugly window

new window curtain

new curtain tied back

view from outside of both curtains

tune in next time to see...a valance for the dining room...

cabinet catastrophe

having some problems with my cabinets. they are old and as you can see from some of the pics, the drawer is beyond help. i am also a bit lazy sometimes trying to stack, unstack and restack things to make the best of the available space. just thought i would share "fixing" my pots and pans cabinet with you.

BEFORE

ALL THE STUFF THAT BELONGS IN THERE

AFTER

power tools and me

today, i used a circular saw...and a jigsaw...and a power drill (okay i've used this one before), but the point is i used power tools and my husband wasn't even home.   this is pretty incredible for me.  really!!

 been dying to better organize this storage area in our breezeway and i did it all by myself...ok i had elves (children) picking up screws as i dropped them the dozen or so times each it takes to actually get them drilled into the shelves, but mostly by myself.

this area is the "tween" station on the way to everything else. on the way to the garage or the freezer room where other things belong and people (everyone but me) think that if there's a clean spot on these shelves that they don't have to actually take it all the way back to where it belongs. this would take another 45 seconds of their precious time and possibly another 50 steps or so. i know...it's a lot to ask.

this photo was taken after everyone has been piling their junk on it all winter (actually i think i've cleaned it once since winter).




these were taken after i got the shelf installed. i chose not to clean or move anything until i was finished.







and tah dah....these were taken after i cleaned and place things on the new shelf that i built. oh did i mention...i BUILT A SHELF!!!





now, you might notice my stones over on the left two pictures back. i just thought i'd share what those are actually setting in. the photos below are of how i constructed a stone holder out of ordinary ANTIQUE items laying about the house.



those are canning jar rings attached with zip ties to keep the one side elevated to prevent the round stones from rolling onto the floor.