Making changes

I've been making changes. 

I got a lot done this May.  I've been busy crafting and I've also been busy on the home front too.  At the very top of my Hit List of things to get done this year, was the much maligned (by me) red wall in the dining room.  

Well, I finally got off my lazy rear end and did something about it.  I managed to win Mr G round to the idea of some delicious Cath Kidston wallpaper that I'd been coveting for a while, so it was time to get to work.  

I won't bore you with the details of the actual wallpapering event but radiators had to be removed (my least favourite thing) and it all got a bit hair raising in places.  I'm the one at the business end of decorating in this house and every single time I do any wallpapering I always swear it will be absolutely the last time.  I hate doing it, I always feel it's gone horribly wrong and while it's going on all I can see are my mistakes everywhere I look.

But then, a hour or two later, when it's all done and dry I walk back in the room and I love it.



What do you think of it?  I can't tell you how much of a relief it is now it's done.  It changes the whole room and everywhere feels lighter and brighter.

I also managed to change the curtains too.  The old curtains were just 'dummy' curtains that didn't actually draw.  Partly because I didn't have enough material at the time and partly because I think I wasn't really confident enough of my sewing skills at the time.


In a quite amazing stroke of luck I stumbled across a remnant of this same material at the end of last year so I snapped it up and set about converting my fake curtains into real curtains.

So now I have curtains with tabs, that I can actually close at night.  Much better.


The newly re-vamped curtains deserved some curtain ties.  Another little something I hadn't actually ever got round to making for the Fakes.



When I took the Fake Curtains apart, I salvaged a nice big lot of deep red material that I'd previously used as backing fabric.  I decided to re-purpose some of this to make the new curtain ties.  I already had the lace and ribbon but I couldn't resist this lovely pom-pom trim when I saw it in the shop.


I think it's a cute little touch.  Just the right thing to stop them looking to formal and old fashioned?



Carried away with this new 'can do' attitude that seems to have come over me in May, I even decided (on a complete whim) to give the kitchen a fresh coat of pain too.

It used to be a yummy avacado green colour which it tooks me ages to hunt down.  I think I had to get it mixed in the end.  Which I do still like, but it's starting to look a little grubby in places.  I'll go with something fairly similar I thought to myself.  Slightly paler maybe, a slightly more grayish green maybe, something like sage.


 So what did I come back from the shop with?  A very grey, slightly duck egg blue colour  called Mizzle.  Umm quite.  (Actually on my computer monitor it does look like a grey-ish green, but in the flesh, it's not at all.)

Ignoring all the advise ever written about choosing paint colours, I didn't get a tester pot, I didn't try it out.  I (very unwisely, given the price of F&B paint!) just brought a tin and started plastering it all over the walls.  It was a gamble.  It could have gone horribly wrong.


Luckily, it didn't and I love it.  I love it so, so much.  I probably never ever would have picked it if I had got a tester pot either, I would have been too scared to go so grey.  But  this time, the gamble paid off!

My home isn't the only place I've been ringing the changes.

If you're here, on the blog itself, you'll be able to see for yourself that I've been making a few cosmetic changes in my virtual home too.  The layout is all pretty much the same so you shouldn't have any problems finding your way around. I just felt the need to freshen things up a little.

The only thing I did add is a link on the right hand side there in the 'Follow Me' section which includes a link to my profile on My Sewing Circle, which is sort of 'Ravelry for sewing people' type of site.  So if happen to be on the site, or you sew yourself and want to try it out.  Come on over and we'll be 'friends'!

They say a change is a good as a rest, but I'm not so sure.  After all the changing I've been doing, I feel a rest is well deserved.

S x


Comments

  1. I love your wallpaper! Our house is coated with Cath Kidston from top to bottom, hubby seems to go along with it which is lucky! hehe!
    Mizzle is one of my favourite F&B colours, it is so pretty! x

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  2. Wow - you have been busy! I do sometimes wish that you could buy bottles of 'Can-Do' in the shops, I'm certainly going through a bit of a slump at the mo and would buy a few!!!!! Love your new dining room (esp. the ties!) and freshened up kitchen. All gorgeous! Ohh, and I've also signed up to the Sewing Circle (Sonic - same as my rav ID) 'cos obviously I don't spend enough time on ravelry as it is......!!!!!

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  3. Oh what a lovely change to the dining room. The wallpaper is so pretty and the room looks so much brighter. The curtain tabs and tie backs are a lovely addition too. Clever you! Great kitchen paint colour. Reminds me of another job I need to do - repaint the kitchen. My white walls are very grubby and have blue tac marks all over them from sticking leaves to the walls for a Halloween party a few years ago!. Enjoy your well deserved rest.

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  4. Oh my, I love, love, love the CK paper - its so nice to see a real pic of it in a real room, it looks a lot different to on Ck's website - I think I might have to do some arm twisting on the hubby!!

    I too do the papering and I too swear every time I'm never doing it again - until the next time!!

    Love the paint colour too!!

    S x

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  5. Oh I'm in LoVe with that wallpaper, the room looks so light and fresh and airy! Gorgeous! Your tie backs are so so pretty too!
    Victoria xx

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  6. Both the wallpaper and paint look great! I know what you mean about wallpaper. I always say i'll never do it again, but then the perfect design comes along:)

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  7. It looks beautiful, loving the wallpaper and the tie backs look so sumptuous! We have so much we need to do and now I feel inspired :) x

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  8. Well i think your room looks amazing what a difference a lighter colour makes and cath kidston oooh my favourite and well done for those curtains ,what a talented lass you are ,love it all xxx

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  9. This is so lovely, and an amazing change to the room.

    I'll add you on My Sewing Circle. Are you on Rav as well?

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  10. What a change! Much brighter. Love the CK.

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  11. totally love the wallpaper, beautiful x and what a change its made x

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  12. Gorgeous, what a difference the wallpaper makes!

    Alison
    x

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  13. Your hard work has really paid off, it looks absolutely stunning. I am still really trying...I am still at the decluttering phase! I have worked like a Trojan today. I have been getting clothes to the clothing bank, shoes to the shoe bank, toys and books to the charity shop and I have another carload to go tomorrow...will this ever end? :) x

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  14. Your dining room is absolutely gorgeous! Completely stunning.
    Claire

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  15. Love the wallpaper, and it brightens up the room so beautifully!! Great job! Love your sweet white shelf, too! xo Heather

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  16. Hi. The wallpaper looks amazing and it makes the shelf look really good!
    Also love the colour in your kitchen. I shall certainly be investigating my F&B paint charts!

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  17. We have some "fake" curtains too, which were here when we bought the house - annoyingly, in the bedroom which gets far too light far too early as a result - and it had never occurred to me that I could convert them! I must look into that. Love the new wallpaper - what a fresh change!

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  18. Your dining room looks lovely. I switched from the same dark red to a ice cream colour a few years ago and it made a huge difference to the room. I liked the red when I was working and only saw it at night but when I gave up work I found it a bit oppressive in the sunlight. I love the wallpaper. When I move later this year I am determined to have wallpaper but the Other Half will need persuading as he sees it as too much work overhead (I WILL win!!) Lily. xxx

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  19. Oh how lovely, such a change! Your kitchen was gorgeous before but I do love the new colour... mine is still a horror but we're currently working on the bathroom so i'll have some PCH to show soon!

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  20. Love our newly decorated room - gorgeous wallpaper and fabulous tie backs!
    Carole x

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