Curtains and Copper in the Kitchen

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.

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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 chipped. 

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?  Again, four and a half inches.

A valance was the obvious choice.  At least until I come up with another idea!

So, I grabbed some paper, made a pattern, folded it (and the fabric) in half and pinned it together.

Cut it out and there was my valance.  Well, almost.

It needed to be lined.  I went back to my fabric stash, found some muslin, pinned and cut again, and had the lining.

With right sides together, I pinned and sewed the top seam.  

Then smoothing and matching the fabric, I pinned and sewed the bottom seam, leaving the sides open for turning.  Sorry, I did not get pictures of this!

The curves were all snipped.

The valance was turned right side out and pressed.

Now, I still had raw edges on either end.  Since I wasn't sure I would be happy with using a tension rod, I left 3 extra inches on each side, tucked them in, and pressed.  

After top-stitching the top edge, I measured down one inch and sewed a seam to create the rod pocket.

Starting at the bottom of the rod pocket, the valance was top-stitched.

The only thing left was to adjust the tension rod to the correct width and add the valance.

It may not be perfect, but you must admit it's much better than that blind!

Speaking of that blind.  I still really needed something to keep that strong morning sun out and to be honest, I hate traditional blinds.  They need constant dusting/cleaning and I just am not a fan of the look.

What's a girl to do?  Get a No-Drill Cordless Cellular Shade.

I mean absolutely NO drilling at all.  All you do is put the shade in the window frame, tighten the mechanism, and slide the cover over it.  

It was so easy and it looks great!

When the sun moves around the house, just push the shade up and let the light in.

Do you see my bottle lamp?  It adds a lovely, soft glow to the window every evening.  One of my favorites!

One window 'done and dusted'; although, I also added some inexpensive curtains to the slider for some privacy in the evenings.

Yes, they are blue.  Remember?  I'm still deciding between blue and yellow?  Here's my favorite part:

During the day, I tie them back with some Battenburg Lace I found at an estate sale.

By the way....Yes, that is a piece of junk mail sitting on the ice cream parlor stool in the kitchen.  Go ahead, scroll back and look.

What can I say?  That's real life!

Moving on to Copper...

There was an estate sale a few months ago that lasted 4 weekends. The house was packed with treasures and I spied some beautiful copper molds.

OK, maybe not so beautiful.  

They needed a good polishing and the prices didn't thrill me. 

If you can't see the tags, they were $20 each and the large one was $30. 

 

If you know me, you know I wasn't going to pay those prices!

I saw them each week...still sitting on the shelf.  

The last weekend was the 50% off weekend and, you guessed it, those molds were still there.  

One of the ladies working the sale came up to me and said that 'deals could be made'.  I told her I was looking at the copper molds but didn't want to pay $10 each. 

She reminded me that everything was half off and I told her that was the half off price.  

She responded with, "What?  Who priced those?  Show me!"

We walked over to the molds and she said, "How is $20 for all 4?"

I wanted to see if I could do better, so I hesitated.  

Immediately, she offered $15 and I hesitated again.

Without missing a beat she said, "$10 all four."

I said, "Sold!"

How's that for a deal?

With my fabulous metal polish, an old toothbrush, and some elbow grease, I got to work.

They started to shine up beautifully!

Once they were displayed, you could really see the difference.

That beautiful shine was hiding under all that tarnish.

 

Granted, these copper molds took quite a bit of elbow grease to get them to shine. No surprise since it had probably been years since they were last polished.  Now all they'll need is a light polish every few months to keep them looking pretty!

That's about all that will be done in the kitchen until I decide on a paint color for the cabinets.  In spite of the bright sun first thing in the morning, it tends to be one of the darkest rooms in the house.  Since that sunshine is short-lived, I really want to brighten the room with the cabinets. 

 

Any thoughts?  I'm always open to suggestions.