Lighting for a grand entrance

We are fortunate to have a large foyer in our house. It's the perfect place to kick off your shoes, park the wagon and wipe off the dog after a walk. And until recently, we did all those things in the dark, as there was no light fixture in the foyer.


Not good. To make the entrance to our home as grand as possible, we bought a very impressive fixture at Lowe's.



Mr. Electric installed it. He also put in the 100 watt bulbs we bought to make our entrance as bright and grand as possible.




Count 'em: nine 100 watt bulbs. For a chandelier. That's grand, right?




Now, turning on the light in the foyer is like turning on the sun itself.




We may have overdone it with the grand. Just a bit.

Office curtains

Another day, another set of curtains to be hung. This time, we targeted the office.

At this point, I must warn you: please, please, please ignore the paper mess and boxes. We just moved in (okay, it was over seven months ago) and we still have some unpacking and organization to do.

That "we just moved in" excuse is good for two solid years, right? Good. Just checking.

Before we could put the new curtains up, we had to take the old damaged blinds and hardware down. Thanks, previous homeowners, for installing the blind hardware directly into the window casing.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

In happier news, these gorgeous curtains were a steal from Ikea: "As is" for $10.00. There are a few small spots (rust stains) but I am confident that a washing will get it out. Or I can convince myself that it did, and happily ignore any imperfections for the next 20 years. Either way works for me.

I am really loving the big silver grommets on these drapes.

The fabric is too long for the space, but I'll save hemming them for another day. Along with the washing and ironing of these gorgeous drapes. Which will be in the far off future. I think I have an opening in April 2011. Maybe.

Ceiling fan

In accordance with the energy audit we had way back in January, we had a ceiling fan installed in the family room. A ceiling fan won't do much for the energy efficiency of the house, but it will complement efforts to keep us warm in the winter by pushing the hot air that rises back down to our level, and it will help us feel cooler in the summer to have air circulating with a slight breeze.



Plus, the gaping hole in the ceiling just wasn't nice to look at. Something had to be done.




Being as our family room ceiling is above the 18 foot mark, and we only had a 6 foot ladder at the time, we had to call in outside help for the installation.




And who do you call for such a task? Mr. Electric, of course.




No lie--that's the company name.




The ceiling fan is installed and working. I wonder if Martha calls her own Mr. Electric for things like this, or if she just gets up on her 15 foot ladder to do it herself.

I bet she does it herself. I'm going to have to get my Martha-wannabe hands on a bigger ladder.

Family room curtains

Our family room is huge--18+ foot ceilings and 11 windows. For better energy conservation and privacy, we put up curtains.

Before:




Please ignore all the random stuff (step stools, VHS tapes, etc.) laying around. Our housekeeper has really been slacking off lately. Apparently, she'd rather write on her silly blog and tweet all day rather than clean house. I should really have a talk with her.




My wonderful husband occasionally helps me with TMI by taking action shots. When I saw him reaching for the camera, I told him to get a shot that made me look like a supermodel. This is what he came up with:






Thanks, honey!



The curtains rods are Gangbar from Ikea. The anchor is screwed to the wall, and the top part slides right over it. Very handy. The curtains are Stockholm Blad, also from Ikea. I don't know what Gangbar or Blad mean in Swedish. I certainly hope they mean curtain rod and curtain, because I really don't want to be saying something vulgar on my blog, you know?




And after:





Better energy conservation? You bet!
More privacy? Absolutely!
Am I feeling more and more like Martha?
You bet your Gangbar I am!

Martha Monday!

Tomorrow, Martha comes out with her new Cupcakes book. If it's anything like her Cookies book from last year, it is going to be a great collection of delicious recipes, beautiful pictures and user-friendly instructions. Hooray! Cupcakes for everyone!

Today, I'd like to give a special shout-out to one of my most faithful readers*...my wonderful husband of seven years. Happy Anniversary!

*Hopefully he's reading because he wants to, and not because of the nightly quizzes I give him about my posts. Which he totally enjoys. Right, honey?