I will probably try and slowly post some before and after shots of rooms throughout the house as they are being “finished” (part of being a homeowner, you’re never truly done). So here is our breakfast nook/kitchen.

Here are the before pics:

This pretty much sums up our house and what it looked like the day we got the keys. Floral, floral EVERYWHERE! And wherever there was wallpaper, there were matching, I mean exactly matching curtains. I can’t imagine what that cost.

You can somewhat see it in this picture, but we have a mail slot. Can I just tell you how much that tickles me! At our old house we  had a PO box so to have our mail come to the house and not only to the house, but in the house is such a small pleasure. Its just another one of those charm features that I love about our house. I need to go and buy a cute little basket to go under the slot to catch our mail since it hits the floor and scatters all over. Anyhow, moving on.

This is our retro kitchen. We will be saying buh-bye to that sometime soon hopefully. We just need to make up our minds on what we want for this space. I want to make sure that we get it just right since I spend so much time in there, it’s the most expensive room to redo and won’t be getting changed for another 25-30 years or more.

The first thing to go, wallpaper. I think paint is the biggest way to change a room and a fairly cheap fix. The color that I chose is from the Valspar line at Lowes and the color is called Homestead Parlor Resort Sage. It’s a clean, light and refreshing color and it makes me feel so happy being in there when the sun is shining in.

We took down the previous chandelier which will be getting a facelift and going elsewhere in the house and replaced it with this simple white shade from where else……??? Ikea of course! I believe the shade was either $12 or $15. I wanted to go with a simple and clean, airy feel in this room. So this lighting option accomplished just that. Now I just need to create a cord cover to hide the ugly cord and some electrical tape.

I LOVE built-ins and had a great one at our old house so I was very happy to see this little one when we first looked at our house. I chose to display some glass pieces that I had so it wouldn’t feel cluttered. And of course, as I said before, I love a pretty wreath and will put one just about anywhere so this little hydrangea wreath worked just great with the green and added a little purple into the mix. Love! The runner is a light paisley print by Ralph Lauren Home and I got it from Home Goods. I do know they still have some table clothes and placemats at our TJ Maxx in the same print. So run on out and get some if you are looking to add a touch of spring to your table.

I don’t have any pictures of the old knobs that used to be on the built-in but they were gold and plastic and pretty beat up. So a quick way to completely change the look  was to replace the knobs. I bought these pretty little glass knobs at Hobby Lobby. They are normally $4.99 a piece but they were half of so I got them both for that price. All I had to do was loosen the bolt off the back of the old knobs and place the new ones on. 1 minute task that makes a world of difference!

All of my wall decorations were ones that I already had from the old house. I love the accents of black for some contrast. I knew that I wanted a simple white curtain but couldn’t find what I was envisioning in my head. Everything that was white was either a sheer or to grannyish looking. So my solution……went to trusty Wal-Mart and bought, ready for this? A full sized flat bed sheet. It’s the perfect solution for someone like me. NO SEWING! The seams are already perfectly finished for you.

And then went to Hobby Lobby and bought some of this trim. (It can be found back in the fabric dept. by the ribbon.)

All I did was cut my bedsheet in half width wise, iron the wrinkles out and take your trim and hot glue it onto the sheet. When I was ready to hang it, I draped it over the curtain rod and then took some sage green ribbon I had and tied it up. You could tie a bow but I thought it made it a bit to girly so I just knotted it and hid it in the back at the very top. That way you can’t see it from outside. Since I draped it in half over the curtain rod, I didn’t do anything with the cut edges.

So what do you think? Does it look like a bedsheet hanging on the window?

The cost break for the curtains:

Full sized flat bedsheet: $10.00 (you can buy individual sheets at Wal-Mart in quite a few different colors)

Ruffle Trim: $5.38 (I got 4.5 yds and had a little left over. It was $1.99 a yd and I printed off the 40% coupon from Hobby Lobbys website to use)

Ribbon was free since I had plenty laying around

TOTAL: $15.38 (+ tax) for 2 curtains

So, there you have it. If your looking for simple and cheap maybe think about using a bedsheet for your curtain!

 

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