The Apple Street Cottage

I'm so glad it's May. April has been a Weather Whirlwind.  Last week we started out with a warm, sunny day followed by a chilly rainy one. At one point it was pouring and 20 minutes later, it was snowing...I mean, R-E-A-L-L-Y snowing!!  It lasted most of the night and we woke up to a Winter Wonderland...in APRIL?????  It was at that point I told my husband we need a new place to live.  It needs to be warmer, have less Winter and more Spring & Summer.  I'd also like to avoid tornadoes, flooding, etc.  Please share your suggestions in the comments.  Really, I'm serious.  I've had it with Winter!   With any luck, May will be kinder to us. But, enough complaining.  We're healthy, staying in, eating well, and taking walks when the weather allows!  How are you? I truly hope you are all healthy and safe. Now, let's talk about curtains.  I made these panels last year for the living room.  S ince it faces north, i t's...

It came to my attention last week that I never posted a moving update.  As you know, the Cottage was sold - read that funny story HERE  and we had to decide what we were going to do next.   About 5 weeks ago we moved into a small apartment in a turn-of-the-century house.  Although much of the original woodwork, etc is gone, it does have new windows, insulation, and hardwood floors.   'Small' is the operative word here - the apartment is about 550 square feet.  I know what you're thinking, and no, we haven't lost our minds.  We really are working on down-sizing, because, let's face it, how much 'stuff' do you really need? Since it's just the two of us and we've already done the 4 bdr, 3 bath house, it was time to try something new.   Since the woman who bought our house also bought most of our furniture, we were starting with a pretty clean slate.  This is not our forever home, so we have a storage unit for those things that just don't h...

One pair of curtains & two windows - that was the dilemma I was facing.  Since the curtains matched my bedspread, I searched the internet to see if I could find another pair.  No luck!  Spending money on a new bedspread and curtains was not in the plan, so, it was time to get creative! What did I do?  I got out the scissors and cut each panel if half!  Each panel was 50" wide and the windows at the cottage are  36".  It was a little nerve-racking to cut those panels, but, I had nothing to lose.  The bedroom had 2 windows!   After cutting the panels the only thing left to do was sew some straight seams.  Pretty easy!  I also had shear panels to finish the look.   I'm sure you're looking at that photo and asking, "What is that valance hiding?"  Well, here's the answer: I hung the sheers and curtains all on one rod and covered the top with the valances that came with the cottage.  The valances got a fresh...