The Apple Street Cottage

Hello!  I'm revisiting the kitchen in this Charming New Cottage  with a couple of simple, inexpensive updates. Come along and have a peek at what I've done. This post may contain affiliate links. Let's start with the curtains. It all began when I remembered this piece of fabric I'd been given several years ago.  Since I still can't decide if I want to paint the kitchen cabinets blue or yellow and  it has both colors in it,  I thought this fabric was a good choice.   As you may have guessed, the focus of this project was the kitchen window.  The one with the 'lovely' blind on it. It was old.  It was stained.  It was c hipped.  Aaaand......it didn't work.   Oh, it was also black.   Not that I'm not a fan of black.  I am.  Just not for window treatments. I did a lot of thinking about this space.    A shelf above the window?  It's only four and a half inches. Shelves on either side?  Aga...

I've always wanted built-in bookshelves - not just for books, but as a place to display the many treasures I've collected over the years.   In all the houses we've owned, it never happened.   Until this one. Welcome back to the next installment of Creating a Charming Cottage.  We've been very busy with all sorts of projects around here and I thought it was time to share a major improvement we made to the living room.  First, let me show you what we now have: And now, let's talk about how it came to be. It all began with this little wall: Remember that green paint? You are looking at it from the front door.  Now let's look at it straight on: The molding on the right is the coat closet.  Please ignore the 'extras' on the floor.  This picture was taken soon after we moved in and this is how things looked...you know I like to keep things real, but let's move on. In my mind, I could see cabinets across the bottom with shelves above, so I started m...