Taking care of business

I was really excited about getting my fabric and sewing up my new curtains. When the ginormous, 26 lb package showed up on my front step last week, I was pretty psyched. I pulled the two rolls with 12 yards each out of the plastic and thought, "Huh. What am I going to do with this?" I mean, 24 yards of 5 foot wide fabric is a lot to deal with! The first thing I wanted to do was make sure that I actually liked the fabric. Since I'm using those clippy ring things to hang the curtains anyway, I just laid the roll at the bottom of the window and pulled the fabric up until I could clip it onto the rod. I l-o-v-e-d the pattern I picked out for the living room, but the dining room? Not so much. Sigh. And I got a swatch and everything! It just goes to show that a little 6" square of fabric is not really a good representation of how the pattern will look on 12 yards. I tried to like it, I really did, but in the end it was just a little too 70s for my taste. Luckily, fabric.com has a fabulous return policy, so I just called them up and they had UPS email me a free return label. I just have to go drop off the giant package tomorrow. I think for now I'll hold off on the dining room curtains until I get a little more going decor-wise in there.

So I did finally sew up my living room curtains and they look fantastic - except for the fact that they are all different lengths, but at this point I don't really care because they all end behind furniture. Maybe one day when I finally get the furniture I actually want in there I'll fix them, but for now we'll call it good. That much fabric is such a pain to deal with, I just wanted them done. I really had to make myself sit down and finish them, too. I've come to realize that while I love homemade curtains in theory - cheaper, higher quality, and unlikely to find in a friend's house - I really don't actually like to sew them. Well, I probably only have to make 6 more panels for the house. Bleh.

Besides the curtains, I did get some other house related stuff done. The stairs have really been bugging me since we moved in, and while they are still not the wooden stairs of my dreams, I think I spiffed 'em up a bit.

I finally got the stair trim painted white and decided I wanted the balusters to be white as well. The whole thing was actually very pretty stain and it hurt my heart a little to paint over it, but I really like the way it looks now against the gray wall. I sweet-talked hubby into painting the hall up the stairs this past weekend, which was no small feat and required a sort of self-made catwalk to reach the top of the wall. There's that pesky roll of unwanted fabric in the picture there. Just to remind me of my error in judgement. And you may notice the door - remember the dark brown monstrosity of a front door? Several coats later - much brighter! I'm not sure why its practically neon in this picture, but in real life it is a nice mellow bright blue. Is there such a thing? Here are a couple of (possibly blurry) befores:

Not bad, I think! It's coming along and inching closer to what I envision in my head.

I did finish my little baby gift project, but of course in my rush to get it out the door I forgot to take pictures. It was cute, too. I am working on another project that I promise to get pictures of, but since it's a gift, not yet! I am really trying to get some stuff finished so I can start my Washi dress for me!