The Apple Street Cottage

  I've recently discovered that oven skirts are a thing.    Have you seen them? If not, let me enlighten you.  They are basically a fabric apron or skirt that covers your plain oven door.  Attached to the handle with bows and finished at the bottom with a ruffle, they are the latest way to add a charming touch to your oven.   I just thought they were really sweet and decided to make one for my kitchen.   Let me show you how I did it: I pulled out some fabric (that's been sitting around for years) and Battenburg lace (found at an estate sale). I cut a piece of fabric large enough to cover the front of my oven - plus a little for a hem on all sides.   I'm not sharing dimensions since all ranges/ovens are a little different and I decided to make mine go all the way to the floor.  After hemming my skirt, I cut 6 pieces for the ties - 3 inches by 15 inches. They were folded - right sides together - in half lengthwise, pressed and st...

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...

  No matter where you live, whether you rent or own, living spaces create challenges.  If you've lived in your home for a long time, you've probably overcome all, or most of them.  At least I hope you have. Moving into a new home means new challenges and our new home has a few, to say the least.  If you remember the first kitchen post, one of the those challenges was the dishwasher.   Its size and location were problems so we removed it and this is what we did: Adding the drawer cabinet gave us great space, but a standard cabinet wasn't quite wide enough and we were left with about a 3" space on the end.  Yes, we could have ordered a custom cabinet, but I wasn't willing to spend that kind of money.  No worries, I had a plan!  Here's how it looks from the front now: Before we move on, yes, I know there is also a space on the right side of the cabinet, next to the stove.  That's a countertop issue and a challenge for another day! I knew it...

The holiday hoopla is about to begin (if it hasn't already) and I thought I'd sneak in one more post about creating our Charming New Cottage.  If you missed the first post here are the important points I made: There will be LOTS of posts about making this little house our new home.  Please keep in mind, the updates will not be fast and furious since we're retired aaaaaand....I believe bad knees were already mentioned.  Wink-wink! It was a rental property.  In other words, we are (and will be) dealing with lots of 'landlord specials'...affectionately nick-named by our daughter. We have  down-sized  and   I don't mean it's a 3 bed, 2 bath, 1800 square foot house.  No, this is just a little over 900 sq. ft.....Did I mention 'dowwwwn-sizing'? I want to create a home that is cozy, relaxed, and welcoming while incorporating practical elements. The focus is on  comfort, not grandeur. I've always promised to "Keep it Real" and share the good, t...