When I’m sitting on the couch in the living room, I have a clear view into Brandon’s office. There was a sad little light that hung down in the center of the room, and I hated it. It was ugly, and the bulb stuck out from the bottom. We bought a new light from IKEA ($15), and just switched it out the glass part.
Much better.
I ordered some fabric from reprodepot with the intention of making my own curtains.
Great idea, in theory! The problem is… I don’t know how to sew.
I’m a very crafty lady, and I can do a lot of home improvement projects (I used to be a handyman, er handywoman), but I never learned how to use a sewing machine. I own one, and I’ve never used it!
Is it difficult to learn? I should probably practice on some scrap fabric, I suppose. I think I need to take lessons.
I’m still trying to figure out what to do for the lighting in the kitchen. There will be two halogen bulbs in the range hood over the stove, and we’ll have a light over the sink. There are also two windows and a door, so we get lots of natural light during the day, but at night it’s a little dark. Right now, there is one fixture, smack-dab in the middle of the ceiling, and it has three compact flourescent bulbs in it.
I love the Clemson pendant from Restoration Hardware (left), and I also like the Jefferson schoolhouse fixture from Rejuvenation (right), but in polished nickel.
I’m also quite fond of the Milk-glass spotlight track lighting from Pottery Barn. Normally, I’m not a track lighting fan, but it could be a great solution for our kitchen because we have a somewhat awkward layout and we’d be able shine the light towards different areas.
I wonder if those little spotlights will be bright enough though. They don’t take regular bulbs, but instead bulbs that are “40-watt maximum, type G-9, 120 volts”. Will that be bright enough to light the kitchen?
*update*
OK. I think the Clemson pendant will hang down too far in our kitchen – we need a flush mount or semi-flush mount. The Jefferson light only has 1 socket, and I want at least two light bulbs in the fixture. The PB track light? I don’t know if the lighting will be adequate. Help?!
I wrote a little haiku for today.
Beautiful fabric,
why are you so hard to find?
I just want curtains.
The above fabrics are both by Marimekko, and they’re both available (I think) on this Japanese website: http://www.icenter.co.jp/satula.htm. At least I know the names, numbers, and corresponding colorways for each of the fabrics (Tansu: 19926-21 and Satula: 19927-24).
I wonder if they can be ordered directly from Marimekko…
How do you paint a wall with picture rail? Do you paint the same wall color above and below? Or do you paint the wall color up to the picture rail and then paint the area above the same color as the ceiling?
And what about wallpaper? Only up to the picture rail?
I know… the Photoshopped wallpaper looks ridiculous (also – that’s NOT our dragon on the buffet). Which version looks better though?
