kitchen transformations

Our rental house is old.  To make it sound more charming, I like to tell the story of how it was a Sears kit house that the original owner bought and had built on his property.  He made some additions, and while I would've picked a second bathroom over a huge kitchen, nobody asked me.  So that's a nice little story, and it's plopped in the middle of five acres, which is kind of what made us fall for the place, despite some of its flaws.  Anyway, one of the home's charms is a farmhouse sink.  These are all over Pinterest and people seem to have a real thing for skirted sinks.  I might have thought I had a thing for them too, until I lived with one, and now I'm content to have cabinets under the sink.  But it kind of fits the vibe of the kitchen (old-timey).  

When we first moved in, there were red curtains under the sink:

But I was having a hard time working the red in with the yellow walls and blue backsplash (sigh), so I took on my first-ever sewing project to create this:

Lemon-yellow curtains.  With one upside-down panel and perhaps hemmed a few inches too short.  Ta-da!  Despite my original feelings of pride over my first sewing experience, I ditched the green rugs and found a big yellow and brown one, and the decided I didn't love the lemons anymore.  Actually I had picked up some fabric for a different project and wondered if that might be a nice change under the sink. I hung it up for an afternoon to see if I liked it.  

I had no idea that someone ELSE had an opinion about it!  I heard a bit of a scuffle and a growl in the kitchen, and came in to see Moose hilariously interacting with the big piece of fabric.  I didn't think dogs cared about that kind of thing, but apparently Moose is a breed apart.

Oh, Moosey.  What would we do without you?

So, I liked the change so I made some new curtains for under the sink.  

Hooray.  

They also go with THESE new guys, another summer project:

Ice cream parlor stools!

I don't think that's the actual name of these guys, but that's what they remind me of.  My mom bought them for me at a garage sale when she was visiting.  The owner said her parents had purchased them in the fifties as part of a table set.  They looked pretty lame when we got them:

Except you have to picture the seat as cracked in half.  And everything all cobwebby. 

Matt dismantled them for me and I sprayed them down with the red we had leftover from last year's porch furniture.  Matt also had to use a jigsaw and cut a new seat for me.  Thanks, dear!

I purchased the thickest foam I could find from JoAnn's and cut it to size before covering with the same fabric I used for the curtains.  

It looks cute on the stools but I think it's too matchy-matchy.  Oh, well.

They were originally supposed to go on the side, where the lip is bigger, but I think they're too big.  

I do like a summer project. :)