My castle by the sea, and my castle's kitchen

With Christmas coming....I decided to start something decidedly UN-Christmasy.  LOL

Marie Barber, sandcastle design from a back issue of Just Cross Stitch
stitched on 28-ct. cameo jobelan

I picked up this little design back when I was working on the Neighborhood Round Robin, and needed something "beachy" for Kathy's neighborhood.  This was too big and just not quite right, but I still love it and am glad to be able to do it for myself!  It is so neat to watch it grow, with all the shading.  I never would have thought that blends with purple would make a nice sandcastle, but it really does!

I also thought I'd share my new kitchen.  Here is a "before" pic, of what I referred to as the Holly Hobbie wallpaper....  And for the record, this was taken before we moved in, so all the decor - including the freaky owls, they were EVERYWHERE! - belonged to the previous owner.

And after.  Complete with the new valance I made.  (I really don't think the walls are quite that PINK.  It is an antique white with warm undertones.)  The contractor told me he and his partner stripped 3 layers of wallpaper off, and found phone-book yellow paint under that.  Yikes.  I'm glad DH and I didn't decide to undertake this project on our own.

Yes, we still have the 1960s cabinetry and the gold-flecked countertops, and the carpet.  But we could afford this (mostly), and it makes me so much happier.  For now. 
Here is my "accent wall" - it is the wall not visible in the before picture, against which our table sits.  I originally wanted a brick red shade, but my interior designer friends convinced me not to try that with the oak cabinetry.  So I picked a pale silver-blue, which is probably better since we didn't get rid of the blue carpet yet, anyway.

I really like the 3-D flowers, and the "Family Rules" canvas.  It feels so big and open and clean...  Hey, anything is better than blue striped wallpaper with pink flowers!!