And... it's a wrap!

Okay, FINALLY the LAST page about my kitchen.  I must say, this project took longer than I planned, but the results were far better than I expected... so I won't complain!

The last couple of things I did were to make curtains for one window and fix up a shelf.

First the shelf.  I re-purposed an old wood shelf by priming it with a deep rust color spray paint, then lightly coating it with the same blackened bronze colored paint I used on the cabinet hinges. It turned out great.  Dan mounted it on my backsplash and tada!

my fabric for curtains

Secondly, I made curtains for the window.  I found pretty cheap fabric at a quilt shop just over the river.  I wanted something fresh and simple.  I went with a fairly small orange floral pattern on an off white background, and complimented it with a contrasting sage and tan plaid fabric.  I bought a yard of each.


  I spent a lot of time looking at different types of kitchen curtains and settled on a simple tie-up version.   Using the existing hardware, I just needed to hem the orange fabric, fold it in half and sew it together making a huge rectangle.  I left about an inch open at the top in order to slide the curtain rod through.

"Two lines over"
REAL technical sewing terms here.

 Next I made two ties out of the plaid fabric:  I cut the strips 5 inches wide and the entire width of the fabric (44"). With right sides together, I sewed up one of the short ends, and then up the long sides of the tie.  I'm not sure what width my seam was... I just lined it up with the second line on my sewing machine.  I'm thinking it was just a smidge over 1/4 inch. Next, I pressed the seam.   I left the second end open in order to turn the fabric.

To finish, I just folded in the un-sewn edge of the tie and stitched across it twice.  I did the same thing to the other end, just to make them match.

I draped the ties over the curtain rod and gathered the orange fabric up at the bottom.  I tied a knot with the ties and arranged the curtains.

Not bad!  It could use some steaming, but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. :)

So FINALLY, the kitchen is finished.

...to This.

From This....

    

And from there...

...to here.

Before: The table and four chairs fit, but it made
accessing the built in hutch awkward.

We removed two chairs and now have more space to move.

Okay, so how cute is my cat?
Yes, I'm aware she's on the table, but that is HER window.

Now... about the bathroom...