Is It For Real?

I am standing here in the kitchen waiting, looking out the window at the siding contractor sitting in his truck in our driveway.  It seems he has COMPLETED THE WINDOW (said with a spontaneously loud voice burst as Regis Philbin sometimes does, don't know what I am talking about?  Then watch the first 15 seconds of this video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcTkABktRYE
I want to go outside and check out the window to see if its complete and take a picture, but feel weird with him sitting there.

He has been sitting there for close to an hour, I assume waiting on the project manager to come and ensure the completion of his work??  Either that or he is looking in the kitchen window back at me wondering what I am starring at.  YOU BUDDY, I AM EYEING YOU.   Maybe he is asleep?

This window has weathered two snow snowstorms and rain before being fully installed.

We're hoping no damage occurred to the structural and exposed bits from the all the moisture during the storms.  Mainly concerned about the exposed wood and sub walls underneath the siding.  What do you all think, a risk?

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So they finally left and I was able to get outside with some sunlight left and get a picture.  It does look complete!!  Before and After-

Pretty, pretty-

The bottom supports are new.  If you look back at the old window it had little brackets underneath but they were not performing any structural function.  They were not even centered on studs, which explains again the sagging.  I like how it looks-

We are somewhat concerned about these little openings.  Nice little entrances for hornets to climb in and build another nest?  Should we be concerned or am I being too picky?

So now we just have to paint her and add trim-

A few quick other updates/progress.  Just before valentines day I gave the heater at our backdoor some needed TLC-

Paint and a little tightening to the wall-

And some other progress in the back entrance.... patching up and painting under the kitchen peninsula.  Still planning on doing some floating shelves here-

Though small.... all updates are big and encouraging to me!

If able I hope to post later about my dinning room curtains again.  Mom T offered me some great help and advice this past weekend, but now I am second guessing going with floor length panels again.  I will explain later.
 >:-0  (this is the best drawing I can do of a sideways frustrated person)

Back to the Dining Room, Help?

My focus has shifted back to the dining room, trying to FULLY complete it (making it the first room in the house to be complete!).

But, I NEED HELP.  I have been combing through resources and pictures and fabric..... and would like further opinion on our dining room curtains.  I have received some super helpful advice and resources from friends (I have appreciated Domino, The Book of Decorating on loan from my friend Esther).

One piece of info that Esther passed along from the Domino book was that since dinning rooms have alot of 'hard' furniture, adding fabric is a good idea to soften the room and add diverse texture.  And regarding advice on hanging curtains, Domino says to hang rods 4" above the window frame and 6"-8" past the frame on each side, making the window look larger.

I initially was leaning towards relaxed Roman Blinds, something like this that I could easily make myself and are kid friendly and quite minimal-

But after visualizing it in our dinning room it didn't quite work. :(  The room still looked barren with too much exposed hard surfaces (needs more fabric to soften it and I am not keen on a rug since cleanup after kids is easier with the wood floors).
So here's where I need help, and I am encouraging input and opinions.  I need help deciding which style curtains and fabric.  Below you will see the three options I am currently leaning towards.
We like farmhouse/cottage/french country style.  So I am learning towards a light fabric with visible weave, like linen or burlap (yes, burlap... like the sack you did races in as a kid) something that looks natural/organic.  Like these-
Burlap with fray (cheap and easy)-

Another burlap curtain (made in 5 minutes from burlap purchased at Joanns)

Photo compliments of : http://theoldpaintedcottage.com/

Linen, looks similar but a bit softer.

Quick pros and cons of each (from my elementary knowledge, please share your knowledge)

• Burlap pros- cheap, durable, good thermal properties
• Burlap cons- shrinks when washed (and I need the ability to wash, will it continually shrink or just the first time?)
• Linen pros- durable, light, loveliness!, lays beautifully
• Linen cons- possibly dry clean only (depending on what type of linen I get), not as easy to sew, more expensive

Now for the messy attempt to visualize these in my dinning room.  You might need to squint your eyes :) 

With just panels-

With panels and a shade underneath, more formal looking-

With only one panel gathered to the side, more country looking-

Also, in regards to color.... just as seen in the pictures above we like white and clean.  So, probably going to stick with a fairly neutral or pastel fabric color.

So I have set up a poll to VOTE (easiest way to gather opinions).  It is at the top right of the blog just under the barn picture and welcome text.  PLEASE VOTE and/or share your thoughts and opinions (comments welcome).

I think this has been harder than picking out paint colors, sheesh....

Our Big February Snow 2013

Picture dump of the 24ish inches of snow that were dumped on us.  Enjoy-

Last night was quite nasty, snow blowing from the north east-

Prepared for the power outage that usually happens, but were spared this time-

I never really liked this tree anyway-

Must. Get. To. Chicken coop.

Hard to tell how many inches since most of it is drifted-

Neighbor's SOUTH facing side of house (winds were mainly from the north east)

 Pool chain link fence, solid snow-

Street is plowed

 Hens not interested in leaving their coop today-

Had to dig out the inside alittle-

Success-

My reward-

He likes the snow, has his daddy's upstate NY hardiness.  Been out multiple times today.  Baby girl not so fond of cold.

Favorite picture-

Good stuff-

 Snow fort daddy dug out-

Love her chunky cheeks, the guy is pretty cute too-

Yes, we are that family.  Maybe we will invest in a snowblower one day. (we just bought a bay window remind you :)  and a generator is much higher on the buy list)

 Now for some pretty pictures-

I used to not like the well cover, but it is growing on me.

In conclusion, we need a mud room... and blinds on our windows :)