Sunday, December 04, 2011

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!!

3 comments:

Kathy A. said...

What a cool design that would have been! It is looking great.
Love your freshened up and happier kitchen.

cucki said...

it is very sweet design..lovely stitching..
your kitchen is looking so lovely xx

Karen said...

Looks wonderful! I have 1960s cabinets in my kitchen, too. They match my 1960s bathrooms. ;)

Craft Sale!

So my mother and I set up our little table at the craft fair this past weekend.  And we didn't do terribly!  I sold $125 worth of needle...