Vintage Barkcloth

I bought these 1950s barkcloth curtains, and I was going to resell them at the shop. But then I brought them home from the shop and pinned them up at the windows. The color of the flowers is the same as my living room curtains, and they look pretty nice. So I'm seeing if I can remake them for the little bay window in the dining room. I'm lucky they were long enough to be apron length curtains.

Right now I'm trying to decide whether to hang them with the rings showing more (as they are in this picture), or with the hooks through the rings, which makes them hang a bit higher and hides the rods. That might be good because, as you can see, the rods are not custom bent for this bay..they are just 3 rods hung at the same height. I really like the looks of the rings showing though, so I'm thinking I will go that way. I'll deal with the rods somehow. These curtains were such a good bargain that I might even look for others, so I can change out the look at the holidays or during the summer...mabye something lighter for summer.

Hanging it up...

Mom came over the other night and we started hanging some of the pictures. Great! They are on the wall, and one more thing off the floor!  I'm always happy to have Mom help me do this...she is the master at hanging artwork.

 This little chain of birds was hanging out in a Kankakee resale shop and it had to come home with me.

 The quilt is by local artist, JoanE Lipinski. It depicts pond life, and as you know I have a thing for anything to do with the water. Joe gave it to me for my birthday years ago, and I love it. The other piece is one we bought while we were in Hawaii. I'll have to take close-ups of both of these, so you can see them better. They are really beautiful. And I was pleased that they didn't clash with the curtains, because we chose the curtains based on the rug, not the artwork.

A couple more found homes on the stairway. The one on the right is below...

I got it an an auction for a couple of dollars and I've always liked it. The embroidered figures are cute and I love the little poem. I had it hanging inside our back door, by basement steps, at the other house for a while, but there wasn't a great place for it....now I have it right inside the front door as you go upstairs.

Splish, Splash...

So, as  much as I loooove a bath, I've been putting off trying this one out. Mostly because I didn't have a two dollar stopper (duh),  but also because I usually soak at night, and I have just not been comfortable enough at night to relax in the tub. So I had a day off and tried it out...niiiice. Now I'm ready to get this room shaped up. I wonder why they ever went to the kind of tubs I grew up with, when these old clawfoot tubs are sooo much more comfortable. I guess at some point, some designer decided that it would be great if bathtubs were super uncomfortable? Crazy!

I found that little stool this summer, at a resale shop in Michigan for a couple of bucks. Works great and folds up and out of the way the rest of the time.

I have this cool slip. It's vintage...it was my mom's. Hehe. Sorry Mom! And then I wore it under some of her 50/60's skirts, retro style, when I was in high school and college. It's still lovely, and I think it's going to become a curtain! Stay tuned....

Bedrooms..sorta before

 Here is my bedroom. If you've ever stayed at our old house, you probably recognize the furniture and bedding as the ones from our old guest room. The bedding is from TJMaxx and I love it...crisp and fresh. The spoon carved bed was my Grandmother's.

 This vintage chair used to be in our living room...I got it an an auction for a dollar! It goes with the bedding very well, and just manages to squeeze into my little room. Please excuse all the stuff laying around...still trying to figure out where to put everything, and what artwork I want in this room.

 Here you can see that the bedrooms are tiny and tucked under the eaves. When you reach the top of the stairs there's a bedroom on either side, and the bathroom straight ahead. I like the gray color Jane picked, but it really isn't the best with my bedding, so I'm going to paint.

 Here's Colleen's room. The iron bed was my childhood bed. Mom bought it at a garage sale for 2.50 back when I was in early grade school. Wish I could find bargains like that today!!  The windows are out in both of these rooms because they were in such bad shape. They are supposed to be replacing the bedroom windows soon...I wish they'd hurry!

Colleen found this bedding at Walmart. It goes well with the vintage chair in her room. I got two of those chairs for 40 dollars a while back. I sold one, which more than paid for both of them...gotta love that! The gray paint in my room would go great with this, and if I was smart I'd just switch rooms. This room is on the east side of the house though, and you know me...I don't want the sun streaming in first thing in the morning. No, I'll take the west side of the house, thank you very much.

Upstairs Bath Before

 Before I show you the bathroom, check out the fall colors...so pretty through the leaded glass!

 The upstairs bath is pretty much a blank slate, and it has some nice features. It gets a lot of light, but it definitely needs a window treatment, because the neighbors could look right in! And it has a claw foot tub. I loove bathing in those old tubs. They are so comfy. And it has a new vinyl floor which should be easy to clean. I wish I could show you some true before pics, because it was just in awful shape. The landlord and his workers put a lot of work into the place to get it to this point.

 They put in a big mirror, that I might want to find some way to frame.

 This little medicine cabinet is in a strange place! Cute though, and it has glass knobs. I've taken them off to try and get the paint off of them.

This is the bathroom doorknob. It's a wee bit grimy, but I think it will sparkle when I get it cleaned up. The former owner smoked so the things that are left to clean are covered in a film of ick. Lots of the doorknobs in this house are this type.

Finished Kitchen Curtains

 These were so easy and fast to do that I'm going to try to find some ready made curtains for the dining room too. All I had to do was cut and hem. I made all the curtains at the old house when we moved there...roman shades and all...talk about a lot of measuring! This was a cinch compared to that.

 Today I finished the curtians over the sink. I think my favorite part of the kitchen is the rug.

Yes, I'm pretty happy about having a bit of privacy...living in a fishbowl is not for me.

Kitchen Curtains

 The light streams into the kitchen in the mornings, which is great, because I need that to wake me up! However, I also need a little privacy.

Mom told me about these curtains in the clearance aisle at Walmart. I think they are going to work great. They are the insulating kind, so maybe they will help keep the house warmer this winter. I also got rods and rings for the dining room and kitchen while I was at Walmart. I love using rings like these. They are so easy to open and close, and you don't have to fuss with arranging gathers everytime you close them.

 Here I've hung them and pinned them up to the length I want. I want these sill length because I plan on having these windows open fairly often. I don't like how apron length ones get pulled into the open window in the breeze and the bottom of the curtain gets dirty.

 All done! Starting with ready made curtains makes it all go so much faster! Just one measurement, and hem!

 Here they are open this morning. They are almost all the way off the glass, which lets in a lot of light.

 Oops. It's a long span over the sink so there's a center support. I tried to put it in the center, but because of the light, I couldn't get the drill in there, and then I hit something so hard the bit broke off. ugh. Finally, I decided close is good enough, and moved it a little left of center and down a bit. Oh well, that's what they make spackle for. Hemming these is one of tonight's projects.

I got this embroidered valance at an auction in a box of vintage linens. I used it at the old house, and it fits fine here too. That screen door has got to go. It's very beat up and grungy, and completely hides the pretty old door underneath.