Spring Cure Continues

Good morning! 

I've been up and at it again, trying to get this place 

in order and figuring out where to hang these prints:

I put this one in the hallway - it's a photograph by 

Grumpy George, a photographer on Skye.  

The view is from the Ardvasar Hotel, 

where I've spent many a Friday night playing

pool and chatting up the local farmers.

I can't decide where to hang this one, 

which I bought years ago and absolutely adore:

Sorry these pics are so unclear; 
they barely do it a bit of justice!

There's another framed print, a retro travel poster of 

Quebec City, sitting against the wall of the bedroom; 

I'll find a home for it as soon as our two Pam Carters 

return from the framer and I decide where they will live.

I'm so excited because yesterday when 

we returned from dinner, a package was 

on our front door step: my curtain had arrived!

This curtain matches the ones hanging in 

our bedroom; however this one is not going 

to dress a window, it's going to dress our headboard!

What do you think?

I'm hoping to get started on the project today

but more likely, I'll start it on Saturday.

I took some more pics this morning; I apologize

for the quality but man, it's raining 

cats and dogs and frogs and bats today and 

it's dark and gloomy - not the best the lighting 

for taking After shots but oh well.

Before

After

Before

After

Ok, so only the first two shelves are organized 

but it's a start.  The bottom two shelves will get their turn

as soon as we buy four more place settings of our dishes.

Kitchen Update:

Choosing how to go about it has 

been a constant back and forth, wavering

between painting the existing cabinets or

buying new lower cabinets and putting up 

open shelving to, well, open up the space.

If our kitchen wasn't such a small, awkward size

and if we weren't sticking to such a tight budget,

I would have everything made custom here.

Instead, I'm spending hours trying to figure 

out how to make one miserable corner functional:

Seriously - the drawer can't open unless the oven 

door is down! And while that space measures

38" wide and 26" deep, all of its storage space hidden

behind that little door is inaccessible - talk about a cruel joke!

That's why whoever designed this kitchen 
wins my Asshole by Design award.

What was he thinking?
Ugh, that corner is such a bitch!
We could leave it as is but wouldn't that 
make us Assholes by ReDesign?
Um, no thank you.

On a brighter note, on Saturday afternoon I received a 

$15 gift certificate from Crate and Barrel, for being 

such a "good customer" of their 58th and Madison Avenue store

(you know, the store I window shopped once a few years ago).

By pure chance, we already had planned on being in 

the city the following day... conveniently on 57th and Sutton Place.

Although $15 is barely enough to sway Matty to go out of his way,

I managed to convince him (after a brunch-load of Bloody Marys 

made from the secret family recipe) to swing by and 

lo and behold, we finally used some of our 

wedding gift cards, in addition to the $15,

and bought these (and a few not pictured):

I love them.  

They make me ridiculously happy and will

look fabulous in our pantry... after we shell out the cash

to have it California Closeted (or bootlegged by a 

similar company), that is. I had such fun yesterday rummaging

around the kitchen in search of dry goods (note to self: buy

 more dry goods so four containers can be put to better 

uses than housing bags of tea we don't drink).