Dining Room Blinds Version 4.OhMyHead

One kid ago I set out to make dining room curtains.  I was motivated to make them myself instead of buy them because:

• I could choose whatever fabric I wanted
• I could choose the style curtain/blind I wanted
• I thought it might save some money (fabric coupons go a long way)
• I don't remember the other thoughts because when I started it was awhile ago

Initial post beginning this ridiculous and unnecessary curtain journey:  Ladies and Gentlemen A Curtain

Here are the curtain versions if interested in:

1.0

Lesson learned- this tie up curtain was cute but wanted something I could raise and lower in seconds.  It was lowered every evening to keep sun out of eyes while at the dinner table.  Plus the fabric needed some help not looking bunched and messy when quickly tied up (probably my somewhat heavy fabric choice to blame).  Would maybe be better in a room where it did not need to be raised and lowered so much.  I also decided I wanted cleaner looking lines.

2.0

Lesson learned- you can't just put loops and strings on the back of any fabric square and it will look good when raised and lowered.  This design when raised would just bunch up into a mess at the top.  I had to create the folds by hand to make it look somewhat normal when in the raised position.  Again, not what I wanted in a curtain I was raising and lowering daily.

3.0

Don't have a picture because it was ugly.

4.0

The current shade (roman shade).  Still not perfect when quickly raised.  Fabric still will  fold backwards when raised (instead of forward creating the nice over lap folds in the front).  I am happy enough.... for now.  

Just for reference this is what the back looks like.  Tube tape, dowels to keep things from bunching and string threaded through.  If it worked great I would share more tips, but I am still in need of some tips myself.  Like I said, for now it is good enough.

Overall lessons learned- lots learned.... so I consider the overall process a gain for the brain, but was not the way I preferred to spend my 'free' time.

Saturday progress on the basement, ceiling is up.  Thankful for friends help.

This weekend hubby and I plan to put up some walls.  Don't worry, not figuratively speaking.

More details in another post on the over all construction/progress of this basement that used to flood every rain storm.

Fixin' Some Stuff

Seems like everything is in need of fixing around here.  That's home ownership I hear.  I recently learned that the Golden Gate Bridge is constantly being painted.  As soon as they finish they just start again.  Maintenance, maintenance....

Speaking of which, our back stairs have been in need of maintenance for some time.  The steps were all rotten and on the verge of breaking.  A few months ago one step finally fell off.  Looks awesome right, combined with all the surrounding overgrowth-

With the recent long weekend Jonathan was able to get to the job (yay! not being sarcastic, he has been busy elsewhere).  Of course, all jobs that daddy does draws some attention.

Cute with his little tools and attentive look.  These pictures are the main reason I felt this repair was worth sharing. :)

Unfortunately he is not a silent helper, always asking questions and "Can I do something?".

He finally resorts to his own imagination-

He did get to help some here, helping read the number on the tape measure (not with the miter saw)-

Progress using the newish 'birthday bench'.  The stair carriage (or stringer, is this the same thing?)-

And done, exciting stuff right-

The rest of the deck is in poor shape as well, but it is not a top priority at the moment.  Someday...

Jonathan also updated his homemade feeding trough from last year-

To a gravity feeder (the existing trough became the bottom part, just added the 'hopper' on top to hold the feed).  It has been working great-

Thinking of adding a motivational message to it?  Like-

-OR-

Did you know that pigs eat less feed when it is constantly available to them?  Proven stuff people, farmers do their research (not referring to us here, we are wanna-be's).  Anyway, I will share more on the pigs later.  They have almost reached their halfway point until.... well, you know.

Making Homemade Pickles, Is It Worth It?

Sound the match bell.  Homemade pickles vs. store bought pickles are going to battle.... sort of.
Though this is an unfair matchup in regards to flavor I still wanted to give it a looksie.

VS

So like the other homemade vs. store bought battles, the criteria only looks at cost.  Does it save money?  Is it a good way to preserve some homegrown vegetables throughout the winter?

One disadvantage might be that my particular recipe uses more ingredients than some other homemade pickling recipes.  We personally love this one though so this is the one I use.  Recipe was given to me by Mr. Wood in upstate, NY.

Here is the breakdown of cost to make Mr. Wood's Garlicky Dill Pickle recipe (yes, I troubled myself with this math for curiosity sake):

Homegrown Pickling Cucumbers (estimate per cost of cuc from packet of seeds that cost $1.59)- $0.003 

Cider Vinegar- $0.177

Sugar- $0.23
Sea Salt- $0.23
Pickling Spice- $0.03
Fresh Dill- $0.56 (or easily grow your own) 
Garlic- $0.25 (or easily grow your own)
Seeded Rye Bread (yes this gets put in there)- $0.08

TOTAL- $1.56 / homemade quart of Garlicky Dills

compared to

TOTAL- $2.00 / pint (or $4.00 / quart) of standard store bought dill pickles

So $2.44 savings per jar of pickles!

From a quick search, here are the ingredients in one of the most common store brand dill pickles-

• Cucumbers, Water, Distilled Vinegar, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Sodium Benzoate, Polysorbate 80, Natural Flavors, and Yellow #5.

Time should also be a consideration.  NOT counting cooling time of the brine, it takes me less than 30 minutes to make multiple batch of pickles.  They are easy, it basically just stuffing the jar with ingredients and pouring the brine over top.  Granted I don't technically can/seal the pickles, but with all the natural preservatives (such as salt and vinegar) I don't worry with refrigerating them constantly or worry about bacterial getting in my gasket lid mason jars.

So are homemade pickles worth it?  You can decide for yourself.  As for us, YES.   Pickles make for an easy snack we ALL enjoy and quick finger food for entertaining guests.

Beside, in our house cucumbers are more safe inside jars.... otherwise baby girl will find them and bite their heads off-

So consider me doing you a favor cucumbers-

A lovely story about pickles here- Tale of the Traveling Pickles

Window Again Delayed, Two Small Updates

Its still there, hanging out on the side of our house.... the old sagging window, along with his vinyl-ey curtain friends-

Our contractor said it was not assembled when he went to pick it up (it unexpectedly ended up being a custom built job by Andersen Windows, and they did raise the price on us some but not too much since we had already agreed on the quote).  He said the plan is now Friday but rain is in the forecast so we will see.  The kids have been upset about the matter-

Or its possible it was about another matter.... its hard to tell.

In the meantime, Jonathan recently made progress on some 'small' jobs.  The first is not small to me, since I now have a rod and shelf in a closet of my own.  For awhile we were sharing one closet-

Now there are two!

He also insulated under the kitchen floor, keeping the floor a bit warmer... so I can cook barefoot all year round (isn't that why Barefoot Contessa's cooking is so good?)-

He choose to put the paper side up because we have a moisture problem in our basement.  If the fiber glass fill was instead against the wood and the paper was on the bottom moisture could get trapped between the fiber glass and the paper.  Which would be trapping moisture up against the base floor/hardwoods just above, and could result in mold also.  The paper being against the wood should 'help' in keeping the direct moisture away.  It has made a difference in warming up the floor... along with him filling all the little holes and openings around where the pipes and such exit the basement wall into the cold outside.  Knocking another item off the list suggested to us by a home efficiency specialist.

Maybe the cold floor is why the kids were upset?  I wish it were that easy....

Dining Room Completion Plans

I have to confess.  Sometimes when I come home from staying in a house that is 'completed' (not under construction) I get a little discouraged at our house.  There are so many little details left to work on that make me begin to wonder if we can do it.  Cleaning the house sometimes seems pointless because, though it is clean, it looks sloppy still from the exposed drywall and lack of trim, painting, etc.
So what do I do when I get like this..... I remember how you go about conquering big jobs...  piece by piece.  Piece by piece with our heads down we will keep working, trying not to look at how much is left to do but what we've finished.
Sooooo, the goal is to finish the dining completely.  Getting one room finished we think will be a morale booster.... then onto the next room... then the next.... and the next... until they are ALL done. :)

For MY motivation sake I want to share AGAIN a picture of the dining room when we bought the house-

So glad that light fixture is gone, I still have dreams about it.
Now-

Yay, just doing this boosted my morale.
OK, now I want to share our to do list and my silly mood boards to show you the plans.  I like sharing lists because its an easy way to share our progress as we complete items (since some updates will be small and not so picture worthy).  Here we go with the list:

• Fill and sand holes in trim
• Paint window trim white
• Paint window frames black- all completed in dining room, just wanted to share that!
• Put up baseboard trim
• Fill, sand and paint baseboard trim
• Sand off stain on walkthrough boards (or are we replacing?)
• Put up trim around walkthrough
• Fill, sand and paint walkthrough trim
• Make and install stair banister
• Paint and install heater end plate
• Make burlap roman blinds

Some pictures of these to do's-

Need baseboard trim and heater end plate.

Sand and paint existing boards in walkthrough, put up trim around walkthrough and baseboard trim-

Make and install stair banister, put up baseboard trim. (Need banister since baby girl is attempting stair climbing)

Here is a silly 'mode board' I put together.  This is what all the design blogs seem to do.  I can understand why as it help you visualize different materials, patterns, colors, etc. in your room.  Here's just have a few decor ideas and burlap roman blinds (any decor ideas and feedback would be appreciated during this process)-

I need help placing something on the back wall to balance out the china cabinet... nothing too bulky that will bury the wall.  Maybe hanging the old hay fork there instead of on top of the china cabinet?  Also need more color somewhere.  I don't want a rug in here yet with all the food that gets thrown on the floor with the kids, sweeping is just so easy right not.  Know that would be a nice addition though.

More pictures of burlap blinds if you are wondering what I am talking about-

Photo compliments of http://brookegiannetti.typepad.com/velvet_and_linen/childrens-study/

This one is cute, but think it might be hard to come by printed burlap for all the windows.

Photo compliments of http://allaboutvignettes.blogspot.com/2011/02/burlap-sacks.html

That's the plan for now.  Hopefully we will have some things to mark off the list and share with you soon.
If I am up to it I might share photos of baby girl's 1st birthday later in the week!!  Here's a peek (pretty much sums up the cake eating part, mouth constantly stuffed)-

Memories... sigh-

Kind Of A Big Deal

I don't expect everyone to get as excited about this as me but......  one room's windows (our dinning room) have all been framed in!!  That means no exposed drywall around any windows in one room.  This is the first room in the house to achieve this status.

They still need to be painted like the one on the right.  Jonathan also made the stool and apron (the two most bottom pieces) different on the newer frames.  It's only slightly different so it is hard to see in the picture.

It has been a busy month at work for Jonathan but he has made time each evening to work on it-

Finishing these two windows has taken some time just due to normal daily business (mostly summer travels, yard work and starting a farm.... wait do we have kids?).  Here is Matthew helping last February with some progress (guess Jonathan prefers his gray sweat pants when working on trim)-

He likes his brad nailer.... makes the job soooo easy-

Did you notice we finally have something else hung on the wall (between the two newly framed windows)?  This was hung in celebration of hanging something else (I am serious).  This was our first piece of art purchased from a local pastel artist Kelly Milukas called Blue Barn-

It was hung in celebration of finally getting our second art piece and hanging it.  We bought this giclee of hers last weekend during the South Coast Artist Tour called Lavender Fields.

I like that you can see it from down the hall-

It helps balance out the dominant shelves-

I want to end with a honesty moment.  Before I straightened up the living room for the picture, this is the damage that my 11 month old had unleased on the room.

Tidiness is not her thing, but she does like a clean window-