Wow! "Abigail's Alcove" actually has an alcove!
The coolest thing happened to me today. So forget "Design on a Dime" this Carmelite has NO dimes and NO time. We moved with absolutely nothing. Seriously, all of our possessions had to fit into a 10 feet by 5 feet storage locker for the past 30 days. Basically we moved into our house with five beds.
In the middle of the move on Thursday, my whole family of 6 stopped by IKEA to buy everything we needed to furnish a house in 2 hours for less than $1600. (Poverty is all about constraints. Thursday was the only day we had a U-Haul truck, so it was the only day to purchase all the big ticket items). Thankfully, my graphic designer husband taught me that "constraints make good design."
It's been crazy. Interior design stuff that should take me months, is instead taking me minutes. I just pray, plunge in, find great deals, bring it home and am SHOCKED at how much "Serendipity" (or the Holy Spirit) can make a new home look amazing.
Ikea had this amazing leather couch deal: $400 for the couch and $150 for a matching chair. I got this cool black and white photograph of cherry blossoms to put over the couch (to remind us of D.C.'s Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival). Then I found these fun light blue circle curtains at Target.
Curtains have been a real struggle for me this week. The only real place to shop in town is Target and for some reason the curtain section is picked over bare. I'm such a former city girl, if an item is missing from the shelf I flag down a Target employee. I just assume it's back in storage and they can bring it out for me. I got told the three times about "the truck delivery dates" before I figured out "oh, they don't keep all there items in stock out here. It's hit or miss."
So the problem with picking out curtains is that you have a more limited selection to start with and then many of the colors or sizes that you want are "out of stock." As a result, instead of double curtains, we have singles in the living room. I wanted to get matching curtains for the living room and dining room--but that was a no go. (Yes I could have waited, but our houses are literally six feet apart and I couldn't imagine waiting 7 to 10 days without privacy in my house. Plus, I'm simply an impatient girl in general.)
Before:
I almost didn't buy this house because of this ugly view. Our neighbor's grill is like three inches from our dining room window.- But now it's fixed!
After:
Instead of waiting for the right curtains to arrive, I prayed and went with PINK.
I LOVE it. I have such a girly dining room. You have to simply imagine my delight. I was a child raised in the 1970s my Mom dressed me in pants and didn't let me play with Barbie dolls. I certainly was not allowed to indulge in pink decorations since that was all "cultural nonsense" that was best squished out of a girl as soon as possible.
I now have pink silk (looking) Shabby Chic balloon curtains in my dining room. They are darling. I've got two built in china cabinets which are show casing my grandmother's pink floral wedding Tea Service. Jon found this amazing white metal dining room table that was $35 at IKEA. We found this sweet "shell shaped" retro dining room chairs for $20 each. (For all of my friends whose kids fell out of my wobbly former folding chairs come visit me now!) I picked up sea shells in the corner which my four year old loves to line up along the window sill. (So happy my Cape Cod house can feature "beach" stuff without the ketch factor.
I didn't even know until I started to unpack my picture frames that the new dining room show cases my Blessed Mother pictures --beautifully! It is like a Mommy Mary love feast going on. I love that I can meet someone new at church and bring them home to an instant "Marian Tea Party." Any of my readers want to stop by for a house-warming party soon?
And my husband figured out our new wireless internet connection---so now I feel like a rich woman who can blog and write letters in her sunny morning room. (Which I kindly share with my large family for three meals a day).
Thank you to my husband and my son who let a family of four girls have a pink dining room. You men are the best!
(PS I LOVE that during the summer of "gender equality" where they are actually raising little kids to be without a sex, two formerly hip college students have now designed a house with a pink drawing room for her and leather "club chair", cigar smoking feeling living room for him. It's like we're going back to the Victorian Era and I love it!)
