Blinded

July 11, 2011

First things first: Yes, I finished painting the cabinets. We are gonna give them a few days to dry before hanging them, but you can definitely look forward to after pictures along with the whole process (pronounce it with a long O for fun) later this week. Quite a few of you mentioned that you were thinking of painting your cabinets, or maybe you were on the fence about the project. I hope I can give you the push you need to get it done, because even though it was a completely daunting task, 4 days later I am d-o-n-e and I did it completely by myself during Greta’s naps and after she went to bed while Chris was out of town. He’s back now and surprised and excited to cook in our new airier kitchen–well, it’s really the same kitchen, but it just feels bigger, ya know? More on that later this week. I am getting off topic. Today’s topic: blinds. Even with painting the cabinets all weekend (last time I am gonna mention it) I still had time to hang our new bamboo blinds in the dining room with Chris’s help. And here they are:

Remember how the windows looked with our white, metal blinds–sans curtains just last week?:

I am a sucker for bamboo blinds (we used darker ones in Greta’s room) and I think it is a great way to bring some warmth into a space. We opted to mount ours outside of the window frame so we could cheat the window up slightly. Also, our windows don’t have any molding framing them, so the outside-mounted blinds and the white curtains serve as a great frame and make it look like there might be one HUGE window instead of three separate ones.

When choosing which blinds to go with, I headed over to Overstock.com which happens to be where I got Greta’s from, as well. I have found it to be the cheapest place to get bamboo roman shades, and I was not disappointed this time. I wanted to keep a natural feel to the windows, so I went with the Nantucket Bamboo Roman shade. I measured my windows and then chose a slightly larger blind accordingly. 2 small ones for the side windows and one large one for the center. And it was CHEAP! For all three blinds, my total with tax and shipping was just $45.19. So…yeah. Gotta love the O.

Of course, I will sell the blinds that used to hang here to help fund other projects, because that’s how we roll. These blinds are 100% functional unlike some roman shades. So if we feel like blocking the hot sun from coming in or some extra privacy at night, we can just unroll them. We fastened the cord wrapper thing (???) right behind the curtains and out of view.

Although I never like to say that a room is “done” because I am one to constantly tweak and change and update, we have no other immediate plans for the dining room. When we renovate our kitchen in the next year or so, the countertop on the peninsula will get cut down. Right now there is space for benches there, but I think a good rule is if your dining room is tight–don’t add benches even if there IS space at the bar for them. So we’ll be chopping that countertop back and eventually down the road redoing the floors. But other than that–nada. Which makes this a great time to look back at where we’ve been and how far we have come since we moved in 3 months ago.

This picture cracks me up because wow, it is bad!! We could have at least fixed the wonky blinds before snapping a picture, but that just makes this an even better before picture, I guess.

Since moving in, we sold that old chandelier (yes, someone actually bought that) and DIYed a new one. We painted the walls and railing. Added an area rug. De-cluttered the table by storing two chairs in the basement. Added window treatments.

And painted some large artwork for the wall:

We have come a long way, especially for not really having any plans for this room. Yes, we knew we wanted a large painting and a new fixture, but everything else just evolved and came together. Isn’t it the best when that happens??

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What do you think?

kitchen countertops says:
December 31, 2012 at 9:57 pm
Wood countertops and plastic laminates in a wood design give your bathroom a definite charm and rustic flavor that is sure to impress. Wood has the added benefit of being a highly affordable countertop material that won’t hurt your savings.
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Chris loves Julia says:
December 31, 2012 at 9:56 pm
I love when people say prOcess. It makes me smile every time. We don’t have OWN–only basic cable for us. But there isn’t anything not beautiful about Shania so I would expect nothing less from her accent.
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Meagan Briggs says:
December 31, 2012 at 9:56 pm
perfect perfect perfect! The color of those blinds is so warm and inviting. annnnd a killer deal. PS my MOTHER says PROcess. It’s a Canadian thing I think. She says all sorts of funny words. Actually, I’ve decided that Canadian’s pronounce things much more clear and accurately. Have you seen that Shania Twain show on OWN? (love her) but her accent is so beautiful. Reminds me of my roots :-)
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Kathy says:
December 31, 2012 at 9:48 pm
Hi Julia (and Chris),
I have been reading your blog for a few weeks now and have been going back through the archives to make sure I am up to speed on everything Marcum ;-) I have a question for you – I have a bay window as well, but the wall comes up to the windows to create a “shelf” (not a seat) and the windows jut out from that point. Because of this, I can’t hang normal floor length curtains against the winodw – the previous homeowners installed vertical blinds across the top of the wall – which I HATE but I have no idea what else to do. I like the blinds drawn most of the time but when we put the A.C. on, I close them to keep out the sun. Any suggestions you have would be great, you’re so talented!
Kathy
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Jessie McKinley says:
December 31, 2012 at 9:00 pm
WOW it looks amazing!! can i hire you to come design my entire house?!?
we are just about finished with our kitchen remodel too…unfortunately, ours wasn’t as speedy a prOcess as yours :) but it’s almost done, and that’s all i care about!
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Jami says:
December 31, 2012 at 9:00 pm
It looks great!! I wish I had the artistic ability to paint! I have some walls that need a little pop!
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amber, this is the life says:
December 31, 2012 at 9:00 pm
the finished product looks great!! you guys did a fabulous job with the room :)
Reply
Chris loves Julia says:
December 31, 2012 at 8:49 pm
Kathy,
Thanks for reading! I am trying to visualize your window and having a little trouble. It seems like if there are vertical blinds (which I don’t blame you for hating), there should be room for curtains. Of course my favorite option is bamboo blinds paired with floor length curtains. As you can see in one of the pictures above, I actually attached the curtain rod to the ceiling. We also never close the curtains, if we need to block sun, of just want privacy, we draw the shades. Perhaps if you mounted three separate curtain rods (like I did) to the ceiling of your bay window, slightly away from the wall to clear the “shelf”, your curtains would be able to hang straight and you can still have some nice bamboo blinds.
Another great option that can look equally as nice is a roman shade, or roller shade even, in a fun pattern. This gives the window interest, without running into the problem of hitting the window shelf. If you still have questions, feel free to email me a picture.
Hope it helps!
-Julia
Reply

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