Window Treatment Solution # 1

Problem: Kitchen window needs a blind. Cheap blinds are ugly.
Solution: Cover blind with fabric.
I used this tutorial: http://jacquelynnesteves.com/featured/fabric-covered-window-shade-tutorial/
I got my fabric here: http://www.kitschfabrics.com/kitsch/Home.html

Easy Facelift - for a room

I cannot get over how merely switching out cushion covers can change the feel of a room. We have inherited a really great, green leather sofa, but the covers we inherited with it were very dark, old fashioned and basically not very nice. The whole feel was jarring, as we have really tried to keep the room modern and airy. I finally go around to making a cover after a bit of a sewing machine saga (more on that for another post) and love the results. The burlap looks so good but is a little unstable because of the loose weave, my advice is to give yourself a seam allowance of an inch to stop any unraveling and consider lining it with a similar color of cotton because you can sometimes see the white cushion filler with ours.

I am definitely going to use more burlap in future.

Work Station

After over a year of planning and discussing we are finally living in Asheville. Our apartment is tiny but I love it. We are walkable distance from downtown with great views of the city and enough wildlife to make us feel free.

My plan is to find work - a hard task here - and in the mean time work on starting up my craft business again. However I am quickly tiring of pulling all my stuff out and then putting it away again to keep everything tidy. So here is the idea, to turn one closet into a work alcove or station. This closes looks small but is a good five feet wide and a couple of feet deep, enough for a small card table and chair and space to store stuff, it also has a lino floor which makes cleaning up pesky threads and what not easier, and a couple of power sockets - perfect!

Here are the before pictures, can't wait to show you the after!

To Etsy or Not to Etsy?

'Fresh Fun Home' by L1zW

A modern, homely living space full of light and space.

When I first signed up to Etsy I was so excited to find this wonderful site full of creative people. I was inspired to enough to start my own shop - Phyllis B - but was not too successful. There were a number of reasons for this but my overall summary is that Etsy is good for buying, not really for selling. There is even a blog now devoted to problems with Etsy called Etsy Bitch and while I don't always agree with their posts, I think it is important to highlight some issues with the site. That said, after a hiatus of over a year ( I was in Zambia and online shopping is a bit of a pipedream there) I have come back to discover that there have been vast improvements. The site is slick and finally they have made it easier to create treasuries, (though bizarrely there is no code generator to share them). What I sell there again? I doubt it as I still think they are not seller friendly. But I still think it is great for fabulous design inspiration and original items.

Now a big big thank you to Whaleshark Websites that has an awesome HTML generator for treasuries, making this possible.

MidwestFinds $15.00	ThistleTreeVin... $25.00	appetitehome $16.00	roddyandginger $35.00
IngeIVStudio $24.00	elementclaystu... $45.00	BurlapAndBlue $14.00	dbabcock $45.00
summersville $8.50	LoucheLab $20.00	marybethhale $20.00	BurlapAndBlue $27.00
StellaDeer $4.25	TippyTumble $12.00	lunarloungedes... $1100.00	dbabcock $45.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Retro Applique Curtains

If you have been following the process of us decorating our house, you will know we are inspired by retro designs. These curtains really bring that side of the room out and I am pretty proud of them. I appliquéd the pattern onto the ecru curtains as the fabric itself is quite dark, and anyway the pieces were too short for the windows. I did them by hand and each curtain took a day to make. I played around with design a little bit first so I had my pieces in a pattern that I liked.

I simply drew a circle around each pattern with tailors chalk, cut them out at least a ¼ inch away from the outline, snipped the shape all the way around up to the chalk line, pinned the shape to the curtain, folded under the sections and sewed together with a running stitch in thread that matches the curtain. The curtains were then hung using my safety pin method.

A Room of One's Own

We originally decided to rent a 2 bedroomed flat so that we could have visitors and also use the second bedroom as a study for my fiancee. However, it seems my fiancee prefers not to use the somewhat pokey spareroom we have and it has gradually become a storage area for the various flotsam and jetsam of living.

Well, not any longer. After looking in despair at the mess our living room has got into, with scraps of cotton and thread re-upholstering the lovely cream carpet, I decided to take action.

These photos show my new workspace complete with table (with enough space for the sewing machine and cutting mat), storage area for fabric and a makeshift book shelf on the window sill - I have no idea what I will do when it gets warmer and we need to open the window!

At the moment, my fabric is in a variety of bags and boxes which serve their purpose, but don't look very stylish. I have been looking longingly at Jessice Jones's wonderful storage bins made from her fabulous materials. Perhaps I will spoil myself next month... Check them out at her shop at Etsy

On the window are a couple of my favourite craft books including DIY Bride (I'm getting married in August) and Folk Cross Stitch (great for making last minute gifts).

The folders are form my inspiration scraps, projects I print off the net and other bits and bobs. They are the only concession to aesthetics I have managed so far, as they are a lovely soft pink and duck egg blue colour, and I think they might create the key notes for any other additions I decide add.

The photos also remind how tidy the room looked, I know it won't last long!