Lovely Things Indeed

One of the items I included on my Year of Lovely Things was already a year in the making. I had purchased some beautiful fabric in February of last year with the intention of making curtains for the craft room. I bought it because there was an incredible sale and I so loved the fabric. I just had to get it lest it disappeared. When I brought it home, I thought it would only be a few weeks until I had new curtains for the room...

Flash forward more than a year...

...to Saturday night. I had finished assembling the companion cabinet for the craft room and was reorganizing and moving about the remaining craft items when I looked at the bolt of fabric propped up against the wall. Suddenly I had the urge to sew. With the new cabinets and the new light fixture, the beautiful fabric transformed into curtains would finish the room.

(I should also mention that part of the motivation came from having played our new Wii console for many hours. I think I needed to balance the high tech, virtual activity with some low tech, tangible product activity.)

It was quite an undertaking as I pulled out the six foot folding table, iron, sewing machine, and sewing box and proceeded to take over a large area of the living room. Sean was ever patient with my sudden and random need on a Saturday night to sew curtains from fabric that had sat untouched for a year. :)

(Another item worth mentioning - instead of making a big mess by starting this project on Saturday evening, I should have been cleaning the house in preparation for my sister-in-law's visit on Sunday. There was no guarantee that I would finish in time and while she may miss seeing the curtains completed, she would probably appreciate a clean bathroom to use.)

I unfurled the fabric, measured (sorta) and cut, ironed and pinned, and then sewed. Saturday night, I finished one panel, but was too tired to try the second. I thought it would be much better to get some rest and see if I could finish in the morning.

With determination and a very strong cup of coffee, the second panel was completed Sunday morning. Next I installed the curtain rod (miraculously, it's level!) and then hung the curtains. They are just two simple panels but the curtains add so much to the feel and look of the room.

I cannot tell you how pleased I am with the final look. But before I show you that photo, let's first take a look at what the room looked like when I moved in:



After unpacking these boxes, we first used it as a formal dining room (and when we sell, we'll bill it as such) but it didn't take long for me to move in a cabinet or two and start keeping my yarn there. Here's the room when it officially became my craft room:



You see the old light fixture and cabinet are there. Some small things were moved and changed but not until the purchase of the new cabinet did it start to really take shape.



And now - here is the finished room:



I am in deep smit with my redecorated craft room. In fact, I had a very hard time convincing myself to go to work this morning instead of staying home and sitting in the papazan to knit and crochet all day.

You can see in the photo that I moved my sheep painting entitled "Happiness" to above the papazan - because when I sit there, in this beautiful room, that is exactly what I feel.

Happiness. :)