Blissed out

New Curtains

I have a confession.  I've hated my living room curtains for over 4 years now.  They were the cheapest of cheap IKEA plain, unlined, cream, cotton.  For the first 2 years I lived in this house they weren't even hemmed - I'd just cut the off at the bottom!

Then when I was painting the room about 18 months ago (after I'd finally got round to hemming the curtains!) I got impatient and decided to do a bit of touching up of the paintwork when they were still up and dripped cream emulsion on one of them.  And still they stayed up for almost another 2 years.

Everytime I looked at them, I hated them.  But I never could decide what to do instead of them.  Whenever I saw a pair of beautiful curtains that I thought would go just perfectly in the room, I balked at the price (why are made to measure curtains so expensive?) and as the windows in my living room are so big (the price to pay for lovely high ceilings) it was almost impossible to find ready made ones - hence the IKEA basic ones (they're obviously used to high ceilings in Sweden!)

But recently I decided I would change things - I would make some.  I've never really made curtains before, but I knew the sewing bit at least would be fairly simple.  But what i didn't count on was just how awkward they are to pin, press and get to line up straight.  They took forever - not to mention the space needed.  But after lots of redo's - and not to mention more than a few bad words, I finally got them done.  And I love them!

Every time I go into my living room they make me smile. 

What makes me smile even more is that I found the fabric on sale at half price in John Lewis - so they were a bargain to boot!
Have a lovely Easter eveyone
Jo x

A funny story - no really, we're laughing now!

The loft - now painted and carpeted

I told you I was a nightmare right?  Even you gathered that my tether didn't have much distance left in it, right?  Why then did my husband not quite get it? 

My office was due to have it's carpet down last Saturday.  I've painted it a really nice couple of shades of green that look nice and vintage (not by design, halfway through putting the stronger green on I was convinced it was a huge mistake that wouldn't work but thankfully once it was on I loved it.) That was the only thing John was supposed to be doing.  He's been working really hard so I knew he really needed a rest and a break.  BUT...we have a nice, old fashioned fire surround (painted white) with a boarded grate in that room and when he lifted the old carpet we discovered the most gorgeous tiles underneath.  I was so blown away by them that if probably lulled me into a bit of a false sense of security.

So when John said to me Friday night: "I think that fire surround is cast iron you know."
"NO" I said.
"What?" he says.
"No, you're not stripping it down."
"But it'll look really good."
"I'm sure it will, but it's not exactly a priority right now - I need to stop living in chaos. we need carpet and painting.  We need to get the house straight...don't we?...please?"
"Ok, ok"
"Hmm" Thinks I!

So when the tiles were uncovered and cleaned up I knew he was doubly dying to get in there and find out what was underneath the paint and behind the boarding. 

So in a moment of weakness I said he could look behind the board and see what was there.  Hmmm!

What was there was the biggest pile of brick dust and soot you've ever seen - I mean it was tumbling out along with broken bricks and the odd piece of broken fireplace.  Needless to say there wasn't a beautiful cast iron grate behind there  (there were bits of what used to be one) but there was an almighty mess. 

And then John spent the rest of the weekend cleaning the mess and stripping it down.  He didn't really stop - just worked and worked.  Which doubly makes me sound like some harpy.  BUT...it had looked fine as it was and it meant we were still was no nearer to getting the house sorted.  We've spent all our free time painting, building, cleaning and we still seem to be in the midst of constant mess.  I don't think I'd realised just how badly I need my home to be a sanctuary and it's not been anything approaching that for months now.  We're both tired, ratty and fed up and really needed to be kind and gentle with one another.  But what did we do?  had a huge row which resulted in John stomping off and starting to fit the carpet at 11.30 that night which I'm sure the neighbors were thrilled about!  It was silly, childish argument and we both said things we probably wish we hadn't.  it was completely the result of tiredness and simply not getting a break recently.  We should have been pulling together (and for the most part throughout this we have been) but on this occasion we didn't - we sooooo didn't!

And we're friends again now.  AND the fireplace does look fab. Cole and I are going to do some more painting today and see if we can get the hall, stairs and landing done and probably another trip to the tip will make the place look clearer.  Then I've got to get on with some UNI work because I'm really, really behind on it and THEN maybe there'll be time for a rest - hopefully before Christmas comes along!

Oh and the fireplace does look fantastic - and will look even better once we find another grate to go inside it!

Enjoy your weekend

Jo x