More kitchen prettiness.

I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't stand another minute staring at the sad-looking, stained, and torn blue flowery kitchen curtains that looked like they were salvaged from an old lady's estate sale.

I've been searching for the perfect kitchen curtains for awhile now, and up until very recently it's been a fairly impossible task. This was mainly due to the size we needed, which apparently doesn't exist. Okay, I lied - it does exist, but basically everything we found in stores and online looked like it was cut from the same Old Lady Country Shag collection as our current ones.

One recent Saturday I took one look at them and knew their time was up. I grabbed the fam, hightailed it to Hobby Lobby and bought some cute fabric. Because I'm really not great at sewing, I cheated and got iron-on adhesive and clip-on rings.

I don't have any before shots - just take my word for it that you're not missing much.

Here's the after (you may have seen a sneak-peak of them in last week's post):

Here are the project details at-a-glance:

• Total cost: $30
• Time: 1.5 hours to measure and cut material, as well as iron the hem
• Other deets: I used a 1-inch hem all around, and on the bottom I did a 4-inch hem. The iron-on adhesive worked really well - just make sure you use the "steam" setting with a damp washcloth on top so it gets hot enough to set.

Not too shabby, eh? I still can't stop looking at them - they really brighten up the joint. :)

We have a light!

The light fixtures in our house are so obviously the ones that came with it. You know the ones - brassy, with clear glass and light bulbs that will burn your eye sockets to a pulp if you dare to glance directly at them. Yeah, those lights.

In a desperate attempt to stave off the Seasonal Affective Disorder that I have been afflicted with for what seems like years at this point, I drove my family to a neighboring suburb and somehow blundered into Crate & Barrel Discount Heaven (otherwise known as their outlet store).

I knew I didn't want the typical chandelier for the kitchen/dining room areas, so I was excited to find the following too-cool-for-school option:

I'm sure you noticed the $249 price tag. Although this quirky bunch of teak love was right up my alley, there's no way I would ever spend that much on a hanging lamp.

I checked the price tag, and the total came to...

$30.

No, that is not a typo. It was indeed a cool $30. Granted there was some scuffing on the inside of the lamp, and a couple of minor scratches on the outside, but it was still structurally sound. My reaction can pretty much be summed up as follows:

My handyman hubby installed it later that day. I'm super in love with it, although I'm still debating whether or not to paint/stain the outside once the weather warms up....we'll see how I feel in a month or so.

*Please note that this is not an official endorsement of Crate & Barrel - these are my personal thoughts and opinions.