Yellow Ruffles for my Kitchen

I had a decision to make after work today: I could go over to the cottage and start painting by myself, or wait until tomorrow, when I most likely will have one or more helpers. Since the extent of my room painting experience is exactly one (albeit, large) wall in my husband's classroom last year, I decided to come home and get some work done on textiles instead. Ah, yes, textiles - all the colorful, cozy, eye-catching, soft things that make a house a home. Or, in this case, a teeny-tiny, century-old mother-in-law out back into a cottage in the heart of the city.

First thing on my list was curtains - 2 windows in the bathroom, 2 in the bedroom, 3 in the living room, and 1 in the front door. I call it the front door, although there is only door in/out of the cottage. If I get really curtain-excited, there are also 2 tiny (yet functional) windows in the attic/storage room. I have a dream of making the attic into a combination storage space for me and hideaway for Monkey but, you know, it may just be a dream. We'll see. For now, I'm starting with the more liveable spaces. My kitchen curtains were built on this photo & linked tutorial I found on Pinterest. Here are the curtains in progress:


...and here is the finished product:


I promise I'll post pictures of the curtains in the kitchen, which will be much more impressive, once the walls have been painted and the curtains hung.

The teeny-tiny bedroom has a charming, built-out closet (complete with a super-tiny window inside of it), as well as built-in open shelving to hold clothing. Wary of spending tons of cash on bins large enough to hold the necessities and make good use of the space, I decided to get crafty and try my hand at making some. More to come on that later.

In other news, my Dad & Step-Mom (who have been kind enough to let me squat in their large, beautiful, daylight-basement guest room since July) have been on vacation in Switzerland for the past two weeks, which means that I have been house-sitting. And cat-sitting. Guess which one is harder? That's right, the sweet, mild-mannered, somewhat skittish kitty has turned into a whiny, needy, infant-like creature who meows at me day and night, demanding...what? I've already fed her...I've already let her out to potty...I gave her a tummy-rub...aargh! I don't know what you need!! Total flashbacks to Monkey's infancy. I've said it once and I'll say it again: Monkey is very lucky his Daddy is a baby person!

Here is my little charge, on her way out to stalk the neighborhood from the the safety of under a bush in the front yard. She's a little picture-shy, so the only good photos I'm getting of her are from the back. Poor little kitty - Be strong! I'm picking your Mommy & Daddy up from the airport on Monday!