Looking like Christmas!

A few years ago I bought a small artificial tree. I like it fine, but I miss the charm of a real tree. We always had a real tree while the kids were growing up. Next year if it fits in the budget, I will have a real tree. There are lots of lights on this little tree!

 Looking into the dining room. There is only one electrical outlet in the dining room..and that is it by the window. So I've been putting garland up with lights, otherwise it's kind of dark.

My tree has no theme other than "ornaments collected through the years." I especially love the ones made by my kids.

 The pictures on the mantle are of the kids and of my grandparents on the beach when they were young.

The mantle is a mix of lots of things. The little elf on the right is always decorating something every year...sometimes the mantle, sometimes the bathroom mirror, sometimes the tree...

The nativity set is usually the first thing set up, and almost always on this buffet...so from year to year it doesn't look much different, but I still like it. Yes, found a way to run an extension cord around the corner for some lights on this too.

Here is the outside. I got that little Christmas tree at a friend's garage sale. It's rusty iron..I love it, and just threw a bunch of lights on it. I'm not crazy about the those blueish icicle lights...I like the warm white lights better. Next year I hope to figure out how to put the big colored lights along the roofline. I have all the lights on timers. I was so glad that this house has some outdoor outlets!

Studio/Office

I just finished the curtains for this room tonight. I like the fabric very much. It's a home dec fabric, so a nice weight for curtians...I got the last they had at Walmart. Too bad, because this room is right off the dining room, and I wouldn't mind having some matching curtains in the dining room. I'm loving this little room now that I'm getting it into usable shape. It's very cozy!

 This room was used as a bedroom by the last owner of the house. It has a closet and a bathroom. Right through that door is the downstairs bathroom....great for cleaning out paint brushes! I use this room as a dressing room and a studio/office. Behind where I stood to take this picture is a couple of big bookshelves full of art supplies and office supplies...and books! Maybe I'll get a pic of that tomorrow.

Window Film for Privacy

 This is the bathroom window.  It's a bit of a problem...I've just had a blanket hanging there for privacy. During that time I realized that I didn't want to lose all the light with curtains hanging here all the time.

 When you walk out of the bathroom you are looking toward the stairs and this is what you see, so you'd better be sure you are dressed! This house has so many windows, and even the interior hall upstairs is flooded with light. I love that and didn't want to lose it!

Here's the bedroom. I like the view of the tree. It's like being in a treehouse, especially when it's all green and leafy. I decided to block out the view of the roof (and from some angles, the neighbor's garage).

 I'd been looking for a window film at the home improvement stores, but didn't find a design I liked, so I went online and looked around.  I found this window film by Emma Jeffs at PureModern.

These are the tools you need, plus a spray bottle of water. The window film is renter friendly because you can remove it without any residue or damage to the windows. It takes a bit of patience, but is not really too hard to put up. I did all these windows on Christmas morning.

First you roll the film out flat the night before and let it rest. Then cut the film slightly bigger than the window pane, peel the backing off, and mist the back side of the film with plain water. Then you apply the film to your clean window, using a credit card and a soft cloth to squeegee the bubbles and extra water out. At this stage you can still slide the film around a bit to get it just the way you want it. Finally, trim the edges with a sharp blade.

 Here's the bedroom now. No more rooftop, or view of the neighbor's garage, and I can lay down for a nap and have a bit of privacy. Of course, I still pull the curtains at night for total privacy and to keep the room warmer.

 

 It's great for the bathroom. It obscures the view and provides privacy without sacrificing light.

When you come out of the bathroom, this is what you see now, and no one can see you either!

 

 Here's the view from the entry downstairs as we were nearing evening. I was worried when I bought this product, because it's rather pricy, and if it turned out to be hard to apply, I'd be out the money. I'm glad I tried it though!

Here are some sites with pretty designs in window film:

PureModern

Studio Haikje

2jane

Trove

Strossel Design

Scandinavian Design Center

Brume

O Christmas Tree...

 I have been enjoying the tree for the last week. It's not a theme tree...it's all the ornaments collected over the years. Today Dad hung the light over the dining table. It's the one we had growing up...straight from the 1970s. I love it.

I like a tree with tons of lights, but the lights these days are so much brighter, so I put a dimmer on it. Dad showed me this trick last year. I don't know why I never thought of it....if the room is very dim, you can have it nice and soft. If it's day light, turn the lights up brighter. Love it!

Dining Table

Mom did some scouting around town and found a table that was just right. It's only 42 inches across, which is perfect because the dining room is small. It has a lot of leaves, so I can stretch it out for holidays. It's oak and looks good with the buffet. I'm going to get black chairs (the one in the pic is from my desk in the next room).

This table is from Brad's Antiques on Howard Street. Like so much older furniture, it's solid and was cheaper than a new table...even the inexpensive ones. Gotta love that!

Dad and I hung the old school map tonight. I love maps...such beautiful colors. Got another palm too, and potted it up in the same container I used at the old house. It will probably live in here in the winter and on the porch in the summer.

Racks, Hooks and Shelves and the like....

Because this old house does not have much for closets, I'm trying to add storage wherever I can.

 So today, I put this little railroad car coat rack behind the bedroom door. Every little bit counts!

Aren't the hooks on this sweet? Such a nice shape.

 This window is getting a paint job on the frame to match the white woodwork in this house. I think I'm going to hang it in the bay window in the dining room to cut some of the glare off the house next door.

Refashioned 1950s Curtains

 I took the two huge barkcloth panels and made 4 smaller panels from them, and hung them from rings like I've been doing in the rest of the house. When I hung them this way, it made them apron length without rehemming, and that suits me!

 I like them. I'm still seeing a bit too much of that house next door, but I have a plan that I hope will cure that problem. The colors in this picture are much more accurate than that night time photo at the top. I sent them off to the cleaners to get washed and pressed...so if the fabric holds up, I'll have one more room of windows done!

This naughty little bird was not in the Christmas box, but in some other box I unpacked yesterday. So I stuck him up there, and he looks like he likes it better than being stuck in a box until Christmas!

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.

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.

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.

It's Curtains for the Living Room

In the living room, I'm using our old living room sofa and rug. I bought new curtains and pillows at Pier One since our old curtains were sold with the house. It's kind of fun to be able to try a different look. Jennifer went with me and we pulled the red and the blue-green from the rug. Notice that the walls are kind of chocolate milk color..yum. And the pillows a chocolate candy bar...yummy. Those pillows are so sooooft too. You just want to pet them.

 I have a cute little floor lamp upstairs in the bedroom that I think would be perfect to replace this lamp in the corner. Then I could move this one to the end of the sofa...it's not as cute, but it gives great light to knit or sew by.

Just to keep it real, if you turn around and look into the dining room, this ridiculous mess is what you see. I know it's hard to tell from this picture, but we really are throwing a lot of stuff away. It is amazing how much stuff you accumulate when you live somewhere with an attic and basement for 23 years.

I bought this plate with a bathing beauty on it at an antique shop several years ago. This is the first time I've had it up. It's hanging in the bathroom. Imagine going swimming in that swimsuit and leggings!

This is a vintage mirror I bought in a Streator junk shop many years ago. I've always loved it, and I really like how it looks in here. Tomorrow we are putting a little glass shelf under the mirror because, as you can see, that is a tiny sink with no real good place to set your soap. This bathroom is downstairs. They just added it to the house. It used to be a closet.

Tonight Dad and I hung towel rods and such.